Rejected For His Brother's Widow

Chapter 5 – She Is Mine

I couldn't feel my feet.

Riven carried me out of the great hall while the entire pack was still on their bellies. He didn't stop for the elders. He didn't stop for Kael, who was still on his knees with blood on his mouth.

He kicked open the doors to the King's chambers and laid me on the furs by the fire like I was something breakable.

"Don't," I whispered when he knelt to look at my soles. "It's fine."

It wasn't. The silver had left faint white lines across my skin, like lightening under the surface. They pulsed in time with my mark.

Riven didn't answer. He poured warm water into a basin and washed my feet himself. His hands were shaking.

"You saw something," he said quietly. "On the Path. At the end."

My throat closed. "Snow. You were in snow. Bleeding. Your eyes were closed."

His hands stilled in the water. For a long moment the only sound was the fire.

"She is Mine. He is Hers," he said finally. "Do you know what those words mean, Elara?"

I shook my head.

"It's not a mating vow. It's older. It's a Guardian Oath." He looked up at me, and his amber eyes were haunted. "When a Blessed chooses a protector, your lives tie together. If I die, you die. If you die, I die. My first mate... she took a blade meant for me. I felt her heart stop in my own chest."

Lira whined inside me and pressed closer to him.

"That's why I waited three years," he whispered. "I couldn't choose wrong again."

The door slammed open so hard it hit the stone wall.

Kael stood in the doorway, flanked by two of his guards. His face was gray, his nose still bleeding from the severed bond.

He looked at Riven's hands on my bare feet and his jaw ticked.

"By Pack Law," he said, his voice raw, "a wolf who severs a fated bond without consent of the Alpha is rendered packless. You are no longer Southern. You are no longer under my protection."

He pulled the silver signet ring off his thumb, my family's crest, and dropped it on the floor. It clinked against the stone.

"I, Alpha Kael of the South, banish you."

The room went silent. Even Riven froze.

For two years I had begged to stay. I had scrubbed floors to earn a place in his house. Now he was throwing me out like trash.

Good.

I stood up, ignoring the pain in my feet, and stepped over his ring.

"Then I renounce you, Kael," I said, and my voice didn't shake. "I renounce your pack, your name, and your bed. I am not yours. I never was."

Something flickered in his eyes. Hurt, maybe. Or panic.

Before he could answer, Selene pushed past the guards, her burned hand wrapped in linen. She was crying, real tears this time, one hand clutching her belly.

"Healer!" she screamed. "I'm bleeding! She cursed my pup with that witch silver!"

The Southern healer rushed in, pressed his hands to her stomach, and went pale. "There is blood. The pup is in distress."

Every Southern wolf in the doorway turned to stare at me. The whispers started instantly. Witch. Cursed. Barren jealousy.

Kael pointed a shaking finger at me. "You see? This is what happens when you let Northern sorcery into our hall!"

Riven stood slowly. He moved in front of me, his shoulders blocking me completely.

"Enough," he said, and his voice carried the weight of a King.

He lifted me into his arms in one smooth motion, holding me against his chest where everyone could see the silver mark on my throat glowing against his skin.

"Hear me, South and North," he growled. "She is under my Crown, my Fangs, my Life. Harm her and you declare war on the North. Touch her and I will burn your packlands to ash."

He turned his wrist up and bit down hard. Blood welled, dark and rich. He held it to my lips.

"Drink," he whispered only for me. "My blood will steady your wolf."

I should have said no. I was angry, I was scared, I was everything at once. But Lira surged forward, and I parted my lips.

His blood was hot, metallic, and wild. The second it hit my tongue, the mark on my throat flared. Heat raced down my spine, down my ribs, and pooled low in my belly.

A faint second light, a tiny crescent no bigger than my thumb, flickered to life just under my navel and then faded.

The healer gasped and stumbled back. "The Line... the Line Continues..."

Selene made a choked sound. Kael's face went white.

Riven pulled his wrist away, his eyes locked on that spot on my stomach where the light had been. His hand covered it possessively, warm through my dress.

The vision slammed back into me, harder this time.

Snow. So much snow. Riven on his back, blood spreading across his chest. And standing over him, holding a silver dagger slick with blood, was Kael. Behind Kael, Selene was smiling.

I ripped my mouth from Riven's wrist, gasping.

"He's going to kill you," I choked out, loud enough for the whole room to hear.

Riven's head snapped up. He looked across the chamber directly at Kael.

Kael didn't deny it. He wiped the blood from his lip with the back of his hand and smiled, slow and bloody.

"This isn't over, little ghost," he mouthed.