MATED TO THE ALPHA KING AND HIS SON

CHAPTER 4

ALESSIA♡

The grand hall erupted into chaos.

Voices rose in heavy shock and disbelief.

Someone dropped a glass, the sharp sound drawing attention away from the noise for a split second.

I heard Uma's voice rise above the others. "That's impossible!"

She was right. It was impossible.

But Alpha Jared's hand was still on my face, burning hot against my skin.

And that bond in my chest, I could feel it now, doubled and tangled.

Two threads pulling in different directions. One toward Lucian, wherever he'd fled to.

One toward the man standing inches away, staring at me like I'd rewritten the laws of the universe.

"Everyone out." Alpha Jared's voice cut through the noise like a blade.

When no one moved immediately, his voice thundered "OUT. NOW."

They fled. Even the most dominant pack members practically ran for the exits, stumbling over themselves to escape the Alpha King's wrath.

Within seconds, the hall was empty except for the two of us.

And the terrible, impossible bond between us.

Alpha Jared finally dropped his hand from my face. He stepped back, running both hands through his hair, his chest rising like he'd been running.

"How is this possible?" He wasn't asking me.

He was asking the Moon Goddess herself, staring up at the ceiling like he expected an answer to reveal itself in the walls.

"Two mates? A father and son? This doesn't happen. This has never happened."

I found my voice, finally. "I don't understand."

"You don't understand?" He laughed, dryly.

"You're mated to both of us. My son and me. Do you have any idea what that means? What that could do to this pack? To my relationship with Lucian?"

"I didn't ask for this!" The words burst out of me, weeks of suppressed emotion finally breaking through.

"I didn't ask for any of this! I didn't steal that bracelet. I didn't ask to be framed and humiliated and banished. And I certainly didn't ask to be mated to two men who hate me!"

"I don't hate you." The words were quiet, but they stopped my rage.

Alpha Jared was looking at me now, really looking at me, and something in his expression had softened.

"I don't even know you. But the mate bond doesn't lie. If you're truly my mate, then everything I thought I knew..."

He shook his head.

"Tell me the truth. Did you steal from my son?"

"No." I met his eyes steadily, even though my whole body was trembling.

"I was framed by someone who wanted Lucian's attention. She planted the bracelet in my room and made sure I'd take the fall. I found out too late, and no one would believe me."

"Who?"

"It doesn't matter. She was right, I have no proof, and no one trusts the word of an omega thief."

Alpha Jared was quiet for a long moment, studying me with his intense eyes. I could practically see his mind working, analyzing, calculating.

"The mate bond suggests you're telling the truth. It wouldn't bind me to someone fundamentally dishonest. But my son..."

He stroked his jaw slowly.

"Lucian believed you were guilty. He still does."

"He made that very clear." The memory of his disgust made me almost want to vomit.

"He ran away rather than accept me."

"Can you blame him? Finding out your mate is someone you think betrayed you?" Alpha Jared moved closer again, and I forced myself not to step back.

"Though I have to say, his loss might be my gain."

Something in his tone made me uneasy.

"What do you mean?"

"You're my mate, Alessia. Mine." His voicesuddenly became dominant.

"The fact that you're also bound to my son is... complicated. But it doesn't change what I feel right now. This pull. This need."

He was close enough now that I had to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact.

Close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his body, his intoxicating scent of cedar and pine overpowering me.

"You were going to banish me tomorrow," I whispered.

"That was before I knew you were mine." His hand came up again, this time tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

The gesture was surprisingly gentle for someone so powerful.

"I can't let you leave now. Even if Lucian refuses to accept the bond, I won't lose my mate."

"But he's your son…"

"I know what he is."

"And I know what it means if I claim you and he doesn't. It means war between us. It means our relationship, already strained, might shatter completely." He cupped my face in both hands, forcing me to meet his eyes again.

"But you're my mate. My fated mate. I haven't felt this kind of bond since... since Lucian's mother passed. Do you have any idea how rare that is? How precious?"

I did, actually. My mother used to tell me stories about true mates and how the Moon Goddess only granted such bonds to a lucky few. How once you found your mate, you'd do anything to keep them. How the bond was sacred, unbreakable, written in the stars themselves.

She'd never mentioned what happened when you were mated to two people.

"What about Lucian?" I asked. "What if he comes back? What if he decides to accept the bond?"

Alpha Jared's jaw tightened. "Then we'll have a problem, won't we? Because I meant what I said, Alessia." He lifted my chin slightly.

"I don't like to share."

The possessiveness in his voice should have scared me. Instead, it made me feel warm inside.

After days of being treated like garbage, of being rejected and shamed, here was someone claiming me.

Wanting me. Looking at me like I was something precious instead of something he'd scraped off the bottom his shoe.

Even if that someone was the Alpha King himself. Even if accepting him meant coming between a father and son.

"I need time," I managed to say.

"This is all... it's too much. Too fast."

"You have until midnight." Alpha Jared stepped back reluctantly, his hands dropping to his sides.

"I'm moving you to my private study at midnight. We'll talk then, figure out what happens next. But know this, Alessia…you're not leaving this pack. You're not being banished. You're under my protection now, as my mate. Anyone who tries to harm you will answer to me."

He turned to leave, then paused at the doors.

"One more thing. Don't try to run. Don't try to leave pack lands before we talk. I will find you, and I won't be pleased." He glanced back over his shoulder with a straight face.

"And for what it's worth, I'm sorry. Sorry for what you've been through. Sorry I didn't listen when you said you were innocent. I should have looked deeper, should have questioned the evidence. I won't make that mistake again."

Then he was gone, the doors closing behind him with a soft click.

I stood alone in that beautiful, empty hall, my mind questioning everything.

Two mates. The Alpha Prince who hated me and the Alpha King who wanted to claim me.

Not one thing about this whole situation made sense to me.

And I had until midnight to decide what I was going to do about it.

Painfully, the one person I would've turned to for advice, my mother, had since left me. My next option, my best friend, was now my sworn enemy.

My legs finally gave out, and I sank to the floor right there in the middle of the hall, my back against one of the decorated pillars.

My hand came up to touch my face where Alpha Jared had held me, and I could still feel the warmth of his skin.

This morning, I'd been preparing to leave the pack as an outcast. Now I was at the center of what might be the biggest scandal Black Paw Pack had ever seen.

I should've run, grabbed my bag and disappear into the night before midnight came. It would be easier for everyone.

Lucian wouldn't have to deal with a mate he despised. Alpha Jared wouldn't have to choose between his son and his mate.

The pack wouldn't have to witness whatever disaster was about to unfold.

But even as I thought it, I knew I wouldn't. I couldn't.

Not just because Alpha Jared had ordered me to stay, but because some part of me, the part that had been beaten down and dismissed and humiliated for days, was screaming that I deserved this.

Deserved to be wanted. Deserved to be protected and claimed and treated like I mattered. Even if it meant destroying everything in the process.

I pulled myself to my feet and walked out of the grand hall on shaky legs. The pack grounds were deserted, everyone was probably in their homes, spreading the gossip about what had just happened.

By morning, every wolf in Black Paw Pack and the surrounding regions would know that the omega thief was somehow mated to both the Alpha Prince and the Alpha King himself.