4. A Wolfless Mate For Three Alphas

Reyna

I stumble backward as three pairs of blue eyes look at me as if I’m their last meal. The crowd moves out of the way, but then Alpha Malachi turns to face the other two with a frown etched on his face.

“Pardon my fucking language, but did I just hear you both recognize my mate as yours?” he growls, and I see his claws start to extend. “Correct me if I am wrong, please, gentlemen.”

Alpha Rune drops his hood and glares at him. “There’s no need for violence, Malachi,” he says, and the latter scoffs.

“Violence!” Alpha Malachi chuckles. “I am prepared to go back to war to have her as mine alone—”

“Such a brute. No wonder your father died at my hand,” Alpha Cassian says and crosses his arms. “It is obvious what has happened, and if you don’t put those kitten claws away, I will break them.”

Alpha Malachi growls and I take a step back…then another… until I’m running out of the hall as fast as my legs can take me. There is no way I’m going to stay in the middle of this! The Moon Goddess could not have given me three mates; three mates who literally hate one another!

Before I can reach the door, I get pulled into someone’s arms and slam against a hard chest. The scent of apple pie floods my senses and when I look up, it is directly into Alpha Cassian’s eyes.

“Where do you think you’re running off to, little one?” he says in that deep timbre of his and I swear I am a literal puddle right now. “There’s nowhere to run, not when we know you’re ours.”

“Ours? Cassian, are you listening to yourself?” Alpha Malachi says and I finally tear my gaze away from the Alpha holding me. “She cannot be ours because there is no way I am sharing her with the likes of you two. She needs to choose.”

I push Alpha Cassian away and shake my head. “You can’t make me choose—”

“She’s right,” a woman’s voice sounds out and Alpha Malachi rolls his eyes as he steps to the side. “She must not choose.”

I look at the woman who I know as Alpha Cassian’s mother and swallow deeply when she looks at me. She’s a classic beauty, one where her age does not show on her face. Her eyes are the soft yellow of a Luna, and I can tell there’s no anger in them.

“And what wisdom do you hold, oh great Queen Consort Deana?” Alpha Malachi says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Have you forgotten—”

“We must not speak here or have YOU forgotten we have an audience behind us?” she chastises, shaking her head before turning around to face everyone staring at us. “Alpha Alaric, please permit us to have a moment in private with this young lady.”

My heart drops at the mention of my father, and Alpha Rune looks at me with a frown. “Why does the name of this Alpha scare you?” he asks as my father approaches. “What has he done?”

I cannot get over the possession in his voice and I attempt to spew out a lie, but nothing comes to mind. “Ehm…he’s my father—”

“Your father?!” Alpha Cassian bellows, just as my father stops in front of us and I flinch. “You are the daughter of an Alpha and yet he has you working as a slave? Do not tell me he caused those bruises as well?”

“Hush, all of you!” Queen Deana says, before turning back to my father, who is as white as a sheet. “Is there perhaps a room where we can speak to this young lady?”

“Of course, Queen Deana!” he says, and gestures to the staircase leading up. “Please follow me.”

I stand there, feeling a bit lost, when someone places a firm hand on my lower back and when I look up, I see Alpha Cassian staring down at me. “Come, follow us,” he says, and I hear Alpha Malachi growl at this.

As we make our way through the hall, my eyes inadvertently catch sight of my scattered gold coins and a sharp pain pierces through me as I realise that I am now bound here forever. As I raise my head, I see Abby's face with a look of horror, and at that moment, I realise that it was all worth it.

But that little feeling all comes crashing down when my father opens a bedroom door and we all walk inside. He can’t even look at me, instead, he just tells the Queen he’ll be outside if they need him before walking out and closing the door behind him.

Now it’s just me and my supposed mates and a Queen mother.

I feel their eyes on me before I even glance up at them, but it doesn’t do anything to soften the blow at all. The intensity behind their stares makes me want to jump out the bloody window, and yet I cannot move at all.

“Could you three please give her some room?” Queen Deana says, breaking whatever spell they had me under, and I blink it away. I look at the Queen as she walks towards me, then she takes my hand in hers. “What is your name, love?”

“Reyna,” I say in a voice just above a whisper before repeating it again. “My name is Reyna.”

“Hmm, it’s lovely to meet you,” she says to me with a kind smile on her face, before she turns to face the three Alphas. “Now, you three need to listen to me. Reyna cannot reject this bond with any one of you, or it would risk us angering the Goddess.”

Alpha Cassian steps forward with a frown etched on his face. “Mother, are you forgetting we were just at war with these two? There is no way we could share a mate.”

“There is no way I’m sharing her with anyone,” Alpha Malachi growls. “End of fucking discussion.”

“Must you always resort to violence, Malachi? This decision is not yours to make, but Reyna’s,” Alpha Rune’s hoarse, smokey voice echoes through the room and when I turn to really look at him, I am quite surprised at what I see.

He’s actually incredibly handsome. With dark hair and tanned features, his blue eyes stand out more than the other two Alphas, and I’d be lying if I didn’t find it alluring. Not only that, but he smells of…Oh, gosh, that’s where the rich chocolate smell came from.

The Queen claps her hands together to get our attention and we all look her way. “Well, tensions are high right now, so let us not make any hasty decisions. We need to get tonight over with so we can decide on what to do in the morning,” she says, then she sighs. “We need to speak with the Seers, then we can decide from there what happens.”

“Why the Seers?” I ask after miraculously finding my voice, and they all look at me. “Why do I have to wait for them when I can just reject you all and we can be on our merry way?”

Three separate sets of growls reverberate all around me and my heart nearly leaps out of my chest. I clutch the front of my dress and take a step back from them as all three advances on me with their teeth bared and blue eyes blazing.

“You would reject your Alpha Kings, little mate?” Alpha Cassian says with a smile on his face. “You would anger the Goddess so?”

I swallow hard and fumble over words, but nothing makes sense to me right now. Why are they looking at me as if they’re starved? Wouldn’t a rejection work out better for all three of us?

“But… you three hate one another,” I say as goosebumps shoot up my spine. “Why would the Goddess mate me to three enemies? What is the point of that?”

“Peace, perhaps,” Queen Deanna says with a slight frown on her face, then her eyes widen slightly. “That is the only thing I can think of. Perhaps this is her way…of uniting the kingdoms?”

“Rubbish,” Alpha Malachi says, shaking his head. “But be that as it may, we have to show face and so-called solidarity outside of these walls. So why don’t we have ‘our’ little mate go about as normal and speak again in the morning?”

Everyone nods and seems to agree with this, but as soon as we’re out of that locked room, I am already planning my escape. The horse should still be where Headmistress Neave left it, so if I can sneak out silently…

Breathing out a sigh with my mind made up, I form a small plan in my head where I run the heck away from all this!

As soon as we get back downstairs, I keep my head down even though I can feel everyone’s eyes burning into me. I have to act like everything’s okay, like I wasn’t just upstairs with three Alpha Kings and a Queen Consort telling me what’s going to happen with my life next.

I have to act like my life isn’t slowly being unraveled by the Goddess herself.

“Don’t run too far, little mate,” I hear Alpha Malachi’s taunting voice behind me as we reach the bottom steps. “Remember what we spoke about.”

“Yes, sir,” comes out of my mouth and I scurry away before he can say another word to me. I don’t know where I’m going right now. All I know is I need to get away from this stifling ballroom.

I run through the kitchen and out the maid’s entrance into the back alleyway, and as soon as I’m out of there, I take a huge gulp of fresh air… then I run for my life.

How did tonight go from something I was looking forward to, to my life being turned completely upside down? I’m supposed to be miles from here by now if I stuck to my plan of leaving as soon as everyone was distracted by the Alpha Kings’ arrival.

Instead, my dormant wolf decided to recognise her mates. MATES! PLURAL!

Rushing towards the manor, I slow down to a crawl as soon as I get home so the guards won’t think me odd, and change into something dark. Then I tie my hair up, find the rest of the money I had stashed away and sneak back out of the manor.

I am not sticking around for whatever the Alphas have planned for me. I can’t do that. My life will not consist of being chartered between kingdoms whenever the Alphas feel like they’re in the mood for me. 

With my mind made up, I run back towards the castle and sneak to the stables out back. The bag with my things is hidden right by the black horse, as Headmistress Neave said. Now all that’s left for me to do is leave this godforsaken place.

“She’s a beauty,” 

My heart skips a beat when I hear the hoarse, smoky voice behind me, and it feels like my legs want to give out from under me. I was so preoccupied with getting my things and leaving, that I didn’t even catch a whiff of the chocolate smell permeating the very air I’m breathing.