3
1575 Words
Maya's POV
The break of the bond burned hotter than ever, ripping through my chest. My wolf cried from the pain, and my legs gave in as she was unable to support my body.
I gasped for air, tears streaming down my face. Jalen stood there with no ounce of remorse.
“How could you lie, Ja… Jalen?” I choked out the words.
“Silence!” Elder Abram, a face so lined with disapproval it looked like a crumpled paper bag, glared at me with utter contempt.
“Who are you to speak when your Alpha is addressing the pack? You have no voice here!”
Onlookers began to hiss and curse me for a crime I had not committed, and I remained helpless on the floor.
“Look at her, crying like it’ll change anything.”
“An Omega for that matter! A worthless Omega, and she dared to betray our Alpha?”
“She was lucky he even looked at her!”
“Probably been planning this with the brother the whole time.”
Their words were stones pelting me, burying me, and my truth was a tiny fragile thing they were stomping on with heavy boots.
My eyes scanned the sea of hostile faces and landed on one… Tessa, hiding at the back with that pathetic wide-eyed ‘who, me?’ look.
Rage cut through my chest, and I cried to my wolf. “Please, stand. We need the truth to come out,” I pleaded through my thoughts.
When she wouldn’t comply, I tried to mind-link with Tessa, hoping my best friend was still in there.
“Tessa, please. You can have Jalen, but tell them what happened. Tell them the truth, and I swear I will walk away from the both of you,” I begged, my eyes reddened.
Tessa’s brows creased, and in front of everyone she spoke out loud.
“Maya, please! I don’t know what you’re talking about! Stop asking me to cover up for you and betray the Alpha!” She turned to the elders. “She mind-linked with me, begging me to frame Alpha Jalen. I cannot believe I made friends with you!”
I felt sick. I actually felt nauseous. She’d been bent over our bed a few hours ago, and now she was giving an Oscar-winning performance as the victim. I wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled, but Jalen’s face was a display of perfect wounded righteousness.
“How low can she go?” Elder Abram asked. “Alpha, you have to do something now. I know it hurts for your mate to betray you, but this woman will ruin this pack.”
Jalen delayed his nod like he was badly wounded by my actions. Then he spoke.
“Your attempts to deflect your shame onto others only deepen your disgrace.” He turned to the two pack enforcers at the door. “Take her. Get her off this ship. I want her gone!”
The guards stepped forward with grim expressions. This was it! They’d throw me overboard themselves if he ordered it. I braced myself, my heart beating like a trapped bird.
They pulled my limp body off the ground, but before they could move, someone spoke.
“I’d really love to see you fuckin’ try.”
The voice was low, a gravelly rumble that cut through the room and froze everyone in place. It was like someone had hit the pause button on all the hatred.
Every head turned to see Alpha Rafe leaning against the doorframe with arms crossed over his chest, like he’d been watching the whole s**t-show all along.
He pushed off and started walking forward, and the crowd literally parted for him, people stumbling over each other to get out of his way. Jalen was the oldest brother, but Rafe was the one they were truly afraid of.
Jalen’s eyes lit up with a vicious triumphant gleam.
“Come to defend your w***e, brother?”
Rafe stopped a few feet from him, a slow, dangerous smile spreading across his face. It didn’t touch his cold eyes.
“You always did love the sound of your own voice, Jalen. Dramatic little bastard.”
The silence that followed was so thick you could have heard a pin drop.
“This doesn’t concern you, Rafe,” Jalen snarled, but I heard the slight tremor in his voice.
“See, that’s where you’re wrong,” Rafe said, his tone conversational as if they were discussing the weather. “The little lady here is under my protection.”
The gasps were audible this time, and Jalen’s face flushed a dark, furious red.
“You cannot be serious! You would claim my rejected mate? That is forbidden! Even you wouldn’t break that law!”
Rafe actually laughed harshly.
“Who said anything about claiming her as a mate? Think your tiny brain can keep up? I said she’s under my protection. As my concubine.”
The word landed like a bomb. Concubine?
It was so archaic and brutally demeaning, yet it wasn’t against the rules. It was a loophole big enough to drive a truck through.
A mate had rights, privileges, and respect. A concubine was just… property. In this case… protected property.
I stood there, stunned, my mind completely blank. I’d gone from a rejected wife to a claimed concubine in under sixty seconds!
Elder Abram, after a moment of stunned silence, nodded slowly.
“The concubine law remains valid. It is permissible.”
Jalen looked like he was about to have a breakdown. He sputtered with pure rage, rendered speechless.
Rafe didn’t wait for him to find words. He walked over to me, and that damn electric buzz shot through me again, making my breath quicken. He didn’t touch me, just jerked his head toward the door.
“Let’s go.”
The men holding me let go. He led me out of that condemning room past the stunned faces of my former pack.
***
The next hour was a blur of cold sea air and the deafening roar of a speedboat engine as Rafe navigated the dark water with grim focus, not saying a single word.
I just sat there, shivering in my ruined wedding dress, trying to process the fact that I was now the officially declared concubine of the most terrifying man I knew. My tears had dried up because there were non left to cry.
We finally reached the shore, and the sudden silence was jarring. We got off the boat, and I wrapped my arms around myself.
Rafe lit a cigarette, the flame briefly illuminating his sharp features.
“Bike’s being brought around by my mates,” he grunted, blowing out a stream of smoke.
The silence stretched uncomfortably, broken only by the lapping of the waves. My traitorous body was hyper-aware of him, of his sheer size, of the way the moonlight caught the leather of his cut. Being around him made me f*****g horny. This was so inappropriate, because I should be mourning my lost mate, but being close to Rafe made me forget Jalen totally again.
He glanced at me, a flicker of amusement in his eyes.
“You’re welcome, love,” he grumbled. “I take it you are thrilled I saved your ass back there.”
“Well, I don’t want to be your f*****g concubine!” I snapped, the words exploding out of me. “What is this, the dark ages?”
Rafe actually laughed, and that startled me.
“Saved your ass, didn’t I? You saw that lot back there. They weren’t gonna give you a parade and a goodbye cake. They were going to tear you apart and feed you to the sea.”
I hated that he was right.
“That was what I wanted, and if you hadn’t stopped me the first time, I would be long gone!”
He took a long drag of his cigarette, studying me while ignoring my tantrum.
“What the f**k do you even want from me? Say something!” I demanded, hating the pent-up ball of confused emotions swirling around me.
“Simple. You’re gonna pretend to be my kept woman. It gets you protection, a roof, and keeps you out of my brother’s reach.”
“And?” I pressed. I knew there was more.
He smirked with a flash of white in the darkness.
“And you’re gonna help me nail my cunt of a brother to the wall.”
A partnership. A dangerous, insane, mutually beneficial partnership with the brother of the man who had just shattered my f*****g world.
It was no big secret that both brothers hated the f**k out of each other for reasons best known to them, but I never thought I’d be dragged into it.
Before I could form a response, twin pinpricks of light appeared in the distance, growing rapidly brighter, and the sound of rumbling motorcycles soon filled the air.
“Right on time,” Rafe muttered, dropping his cigarette and crushing it under his boot.
But then his posture changed, his shoulders tensed, and his head c****d. Even with my own dulled omega senses, my wolf suddenly became tense with alarm.
Rafe’s head snapped toward me with his eyes deadly serious.
“Get down!” he roared. “Now!”
Before I could even speak, the peaceful night was shattered by the deafening blam-blam-blam of gunfire.
- Writer
