Claimed By The Twin Alphas

Chapter Eight: Unwanted Visitors

ROWAN'S POV

I hadn't slept.

Not one goddamn minute since the Claiming Ball ended and we'd watched Lara drive away in that car, officially claimed by an Alpha who wasn't us.

My wrist had been burning ever since, a constant reminder of what we'd lost before we even had a chance to find it.

Cian sat at the table in our shared quarters at the Frostborn fortress, surrounded by ancient texts and scrolls. He'd been researching for hours, trying to understand what these marks on our wrists meant.

The silvery shimmer that had appeared the moment we laid eyes on Lara at the ball.

"Anything?" I asked, pacing behind him like a caged animal. My wolf was going insane inside me, clawing at my control, and demanding we go find our mate.

Our mate. The woman who'd just been claimed by another Alpha.

"Mate bonds," Cian said without looking up from the text he was studying. "True fated mate bonds. The marks appear when destined mates first see each other." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "But I've never heard of marks appearing when one party has already been claimed by someone else."

"Maybe because it's not supposed to happen." I stopped pacing and braced my hands on the table, staring down at the diagrams and symbols that meant nothing to me. "Maybe the Moon Goddess made a mistake."

"The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes." Cian finally looked up at me, and I could see he'd slept as little as I had. His storm gray eyes were bloodshot, exhausted. "Which means Kael isn't her real mate, no matter what he claimed last night."

My wolf howled in satisfaction at that. She was ours.

Fate had chosen us for her, not him.

"So what do we do?" I demanded. "Just sit here while she plays Luna to the wrong Alpha? While she carries his mark and sleeps in his bed?"

The thought made me want to rip something apart.

Preferably, Kael's throat.

Cian closed the book he'd been reading. "We can't just show up at Northwind Palace and demand to see her. Kael will take it as a challenge to his claim.

It could start a war between our packs."

"I don't care." The words came out as a growl. "She's our mate, Cian. Our fated mate."

Cian stood, moving around the table to face me. "If we storm in there, Kael will lock her away. We'll never get near her. We need to be smart about this."

Smart and strategic. That was always Cian's way.

But my wolf didn't care about strategy right now. It only cared about getting to our mate.

"Fine," I said, already heading for the door. "You are smart. I'm going to see her."

"Rowan, wait—"

But I was already out the door, taking the stairs three at a time down to the courtyard where our motorcycles were parked. I could hear Cian cursing behind me, his footsteps echoing as he chased after me.

"Damn it, Rowan, if you're going to be reckless, at least let me come with you," he called out.

I threw my leg over my bike, the engine roaring to life. "Then get on your bike and keep up."

Cian hesitated for only a second before mounting his own motorcycle. "This is a terrible idea."

"Probably." I gunned the engine. "But I'm done sitting around while she's with him."

We rode hard toward Northwind territory, the cold morning air biting at my face. The mate bond pulled at my chest like a physical cord, tugging me in the direction of the palace. In the direction of her.

Lara. Our Luna, whether she knew it yet or not.

The Northwind Palace rose in the distance, all stone and timber against the winter sky. Guards were posted at the main gates, and they straightened when they saw us approaching.

I didn't slow down.

"Alpha Rowan, Alpha Cian," one of the guards said as we pulled up, trying to sound respectful, but I could hear the wariness in his voice. "What brings you to Northwind territory?"

"We're here to see Luna Lara," I said, not bothering to get off my bike yet.

The guards exchanged glances. "Luna is in a private meeting this morning. Perhaps you could return another time—"

"No." I cut him off. "We see her now."

"I'm afraid that's not possible without Alpha Kael's permission—"

I was off my bike and through the gates before he could finish the sentence. Cian was right behind me, and I heard him mutter an apology to the guards as we passed.

"Rowan, slow down," he hissed. "We need a plan."

"The plan is we find her." I could feel her through the bond now, somewhere in this massive palace. The pull was stronger here, almost overwhelming.

More guards appeared in the courtyard, but none of them tried to physically stop us. We were Alphas, after all. Attacking us without direct orders from Kael would be a declaration of war.

I followed the pull-through corridors and hallways until I found myself standing outside a set of ornate wooden doors. The bond sang in my chest. She was close. Right on the other side of these doors.

"Her chambers," Cian said quietly beside me.

I didn't hesitate. I knocked.

For a long moment, nothing happened. Then the door opened, and there she was.

Lara stood in the doorway wearing a deep blue dress with long sleeves, her dark hair braided over one shoulder. Her eyes went wide when she saw us, shock and fear and something else flickering across her face.

She couldn't hear the knock, I realized. She'd opened the door because she'd felt the vibration. Because she was deaf right now.

Her eyes darted between Cian and me, and I watched her mouth form a silent word. “You”.

I held up my wrist, showing her the silvery mark.

Then I looked down at her wrist, the one she'd been hiding under long sleeves.

Her reaction was immediate. She hid both hands behind her back, her eyes darting down the hallway like she was checking for witnesses. When she looked back at us, I could read the terror in her face.

"Please," she said aloud, her voice slightly too loud the way it got when she couldn't hear herself. "You can't be here."

Cian's hands moved in sign language, fluid and practiced. “We need to talk about the marks. About what you are to us”.

She shook her head frantically, her own hands coming up to sign back. “I chose Kael. I'm his Luna now. Whatever you think this is, you're wrong”.

But even as she signed, I saw her eyes drift to our wrists again. Saw the longing she was trying so hard to hide.

"Lara," I said, knowing she'd read my lips. "You felt it too. When our eyes met. You felt the bond."

She looked away, refusing to meet my gaze. Her hands moved again. “Please leave before someone sees you. If Kael finds out you came here—“

The Movement at the end of the hallway caught my attention. A guard was approaching, young with dark eyes that I recognized. Dante. Her bodyguard, if the reports were accurate.

He reached us quickly, his hands already moving in sign language before he even stopped. “Luna, guards are coming. They saw the Alphas enter the palace”.

Lara's face went pale. She turned back to us, her hands moving frantically now. “Leave now. Please”.

Kael will kill you both if he finds you here.

"We're not afraid of Kael," I said flatly.

Her eyes flashed with something, anger maybe, or frustration. Her hands moved sharply, almost violently. “I am. I'm terrified of what he'll do. Not just to you but to me. Do you understand? If he thinks I encouraged this, if he thinks I want—“

She stopped signing abruptly, her hands dropping to her sides. But I'd seen enough. She was afraid of Kael. Afraid of what he'd do if he found out about the mate bond.

Cian touched my arm, signing with one hand while keeping the other on me. “We should go. We're putting her in danger”.

Everything in me rebelled against leaving her here.

Against walking away and letting her stay with an Alpha who made her afraid.

But Dante was signing urgently now, pointing down the hallway where I could hear footsteps approaching. Multiple guards, moving fast.

Lara's eyes were pleading as she looked at me. Her lips formed words I could read clearly. “Please. If you care about me at all, leave.”

I stepped back reluctantly, every instinct screaming at me to grab her and run. Cian was already backing away, pulling me with him.

But I kept my eyes on Lara. On the way, her hands trembled as she clutched the doorframe. On the way, her gaze kept drifting to our wrists even as she begged us to leave.

"This isn't over," I said, making sure she could read my lips.

Something flickered in her eyes. Not quite hope, but not quite fear either. Her hands moved one last time, so quickly I almost missed it. I know.

Then she stepped back and closed the door, Cian was dragging me down a side corridor as the guards rounded the corner behind us.

We made it out of the palace somehow, back to our bikes. As we rode away, I looked back at the massive stone building where our mate was trapped with the wrong Alpha.

"We're going back," I told Cian as we hit the forest road.

"I know," he said simply.

Because now we'd seen her fear. Seen the marks on her wrists that matched ours. I saw the longing in her eyes that she couldn't quite hide.

Lara was ours. And we weren't giving up on her, no matter who claimed her first.