Chapter 5
1404 Words
No one moved after Alexander's command.
The rain kept falling.
The silver kept burning.
Then the royal Beta stepped through the gate, and every Blackthorn guard stepped aside.
Ethan snarled. "She is my mate."
The royal Beta's face did not change. "She is under royal contract."
"Temporary paper does not break a fated bond."
"Silver chains on a wounded mate do."
Ethan lunged.
The air cracked.
A force like winter slammed through the courtyard. Ethan dropped to one knee before he reached the royal Beta.
Every guard followed.
Even Marcus.
Only I remained upright because the chains held me there.
My breath shook.
Royal command.
Alexander was not even here, and his wolf had forced Blackthorn to kneel.
But the pressure never touched me.
Not once.
My wolf lifted her head because another Alpha's power had passed around her like a shield.
The royal Beta crossed the last steps and crouched in front of me.
"Lady Claire," he said. "My name is Rowan. May I remove the chains?"
May I.
Two words nearly broke me.
I nodded.
"Say it," Rowan said quietly. "His Majesty was clear."
My lips trembled. "Yes."
Only then did he unlock the first chain.
Silver peeled away from my skin.
I screamed.
Rowan's hand stopped at once.
"Continue?" he asked.
Ethan lifted his head, rain running down his face. "Stop asking her. Just get them off."
Rowan did not look at him.
I dragged air into my lungs. "Continue."
The second chain fell.
My body pitched forward. Rowan caught my elbow, not my waist, and only long enough to keep me from hitting the stone.
"I have you by the arm," he said. "Is that acceptable?"
I almost laughed through the pain.
Alexander had sent a Beta who asked permission to touch a dying woman.
Ethan had called that weakness once.
Tonight, it felt like safety.
"Yes," I whispered.
Ethan forced himself to his feet. His wolf shook under the royal pressure.
"Claire," he said. "Come here."
My body flinched before I could stop it.
Rowan shifted slightly between us.
Ethan's eyes went black. "Do not stand between me and my mate."
A car door opened beyond the gate.
This time Alexander stepped out himself.
The storm seemed to pull back from him.
Black coat. No crown. No ceremony.
Just power.
His gaze went to my wrists.
Then my stomach.
For one second, the air turned so cold the rain felt sharp.
He looked away from me and closed his eyes.
His hands curled into fists.
When he opened them again, his voice was calm.
"Claire."
My name in his mouth did not command me.
It gave me something to hold.
Cold fir and snow moved under his scent, and my half-dead wolf leaned toward it.
"Do you want to leave with me?"
Ethan laughed once, harsh and disbelieving. "She is injured and confused."
Alexander did not answer him.
His eyes stayed on me.
"Claire," he said again. "Yes or no."
My throat hurt. "Yes."
Ethan stepped forward and hit the edge of Alexander's command like a wall.
"You drugged her with your power," Ethan spat.
Alexander finally looked at him.
Every Blackthorn wolf lowered their head deeper.
"If I had used power on her, she would not be shaking when you speak."
Ethan's face went white.
Alexander turned back to me. "May Rowan carry you?"
I hated how badly I needed help.
But he waited.
Not impatient. Not annoyed. Waiting as if my answer mattered more than the rain, the guards, Ethan's rage, everything.
"Yes," I said.
Rowan lifted me carefully.
Pain tore through my wrists and stomach. I buried my face against his shoulder because I refused to scream for Ethan again.
Ethan reached for me.
Alexander moved one step.
Nothing more.
Ethan froze.
"Touch her without permission," Alexander said, "and I will remove that hand from your body."
Lily gasped under the porch.
Alexander did not even glance at her.
I closed my eyes.
That, more than the threat, hit me.
For once, Lily did not become the center of the room.
Ethan seemed to understand that too.
"You don't even know what she did," he said to Alexander. "She hurt a pregnant Omega."
Alexander's gaze stayed on me.
"Did you?"
My throat was raw. "No."
"Then that is my answer."
Ethan's face twisted. "You believe her because you want her."
Alexander finally turned his head.
"I believe her because she answered. You should try asking before punishing."
At Crownfall Medical Center, white light burned above me.
Dr. Helena Cross cut away the ruined bandages and inhaled sharply.
"Silver chain trauma on both wrists," she said. "Silver puncture to lower abdomen. Bond disturbance. Possible memory burn."
"Can a fated bond be broken?" I asked.
Dr. Helena's hands stilled. "Damaged, yes. Formally severed, no. The innocent mate heals slowly. The guilty one pays later."
"How later?"
"When the bond stops protecting him from what he did to you."
Alexander stood near the door, not beside the bed.
Too far to crowd me.
Close enough that his cold fir scent kept the panic from eating me alive.
Dr. Helena looked at him. "Your Majesty, your wolf."
He stepped out before she finished.
The room warmed at once.
I turned my head. Through the glass, Alexander stood with one hand braced against the wall, shoulders locked, fighting his own power down.
He was furious.
He left so I would not have to feel it.
Through the glass, his eyes flashed gold.
His wolf wanted the room, the blood, the man who had caused it.
Alexander gave it the hallway.
The kindness hurt in a new way.
Dr. Helena followed my gaze.
"He does that when his wolf gets too close to a patient," she said.
"Leaves?"
"Controls himself."
I had no answer for that.
Ethan arrived before sunrise.
He slammed his palm against the medical room door. "Claire!"
Alexander stood between him and the glass.
"You are not entering."
"She is my mate."
From the bed, I said, "I am not going back to Blackthorn Manor."
Both men went still.
Ethan pressed closer to the glass. "Claire, you don't mean that."
"I do."
"You are hurt."
"Yes."
"Then let me take you home."
"You hurt me there."
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Alexander did not speak for me.
He did not even turn around.
He let my words stand by themselves.
Ethan hit the glass once.
"You are making a mistake."
"I made one when I forgave you."
His hand slid down the glass.
Later, after Ethan was forced out by royal guards, Alexander entered with a folder in one hand.
He stopped beside the bed.
"May I sit?"
I nodded.
He sat in the chair, not on the bed.
"The contract is active," he said. "It protects you. It does not require a shared room, a shared bed, or a mark."
"And the witness bond?"
"Dormant unless you ask for it."
"What do you want from me?"
His jaw tightened once.
"I want you alive."
My eyes burned.
He looked down at the folder instead of reaching for me.
"I want you out of Ethan Black's shadow. I want you to sleep one night without fearing an Alpha's scent. If you never give me anything else, that will be enough."
"People will say you bought me."
"Then you will correct them if you want to. If you do not want to, I will endure the insult."
"You are the Alpha King."
"And you are the injured woman in this bed. Only one of us needs protection tonight."
I turned my face away because tears had started again.
"I hate crying in front of you."
"Then I will look at the wall."
And he did.
The silver wounds flared.
Pain climbed fast.
Dr. Helena reached for a vial. "Her wolf is destabilizing."
Alexander stood so quickly the chair scraped back.
"Claire," he said. "I can use the witness bond to steady you. Only if you say yes."
The pain blurred the room.
Ethan's bond clawed at the edge of me, demanding, angry, possessive.
Alexander waited.
"Yes," I whispered.
He took my hand like it was made of glass.
Cold fir wrapped around my wolf.
Not a chain.
Not a command.
A hand under broken ribs.
Far away, the ruined link went silent.
At Blackthorn Manor, Ethan tried to reach my wolf.
This time, there was nothing there for him.
- Writer
