The Forbidden Eclipse Queen Claimed By Two Alphas

CHAPTER FOUR

ELENA POV

My head throbbed as I opened my eyes. I was lying in a cold room with high stone walls and zero windows.

My entire body felt like it had been dragged through gravel, and my wrist throbbed with a dull, sickening heat. I looked down at my skin. The three dark symbols were still there, glowing softly on top of my flesh.

I sat up slowly, my heart racing.

I turned to the side and saw two heavy guards standing right outside the heavy iron door.

They had taken my phone, locked me inside, and ignored every single question I shouted through the bars.

Over a single night, my entire life had vanished. I was no longer a high school student, I was a dangerous monster locked in a cage.

Everyone was terrified of me, and I did not even know why.

The heavy lock clicked, and the door swung open. Damian walked in.

He looked terrible. His hair was messy, dark shadows hung beneath his eyes, and his shoulders were rigid with tension.

He walked toward me with guarded, cautious steps, completely unlike the gentle boy who used to hold my hand in the hallway.

"Damian," I gasped, jumping off the bed. "Please, you have to tell me what is going on."

He stopped a few feet away, his jaw tight. "I found something, Elena. In my father's study. Something about your mother and..."

"Get away from her, Cross," a sharp voice barked from the doorway.

Lucian stepped into the room. He looked furious, his bare chest showing the pulsing black mark across his ribs.

The second he stepped closer, the first symbol on my wrist burned like hot coal. I gasped in pain and squeezed my arm.

Damian growled and reached out, grabbing my hand to comfort me.

The moment his skin touched mine, the second symbol ignited and heat shot up both of my arms, straight into my chest.

Then Lucian stepped right beside us.

The moment both men stood next to me at the same time, the third symbol exploded with blinding purple light.

A violent wave of pressure blasted outward. The heavy stone floor cracked, and the entire building shook on its foundation. Shouts rang out down the hallway as the elders panicked, scrambling back in fear.

Images violently flooded my brain.

I saw myself dressed in dark velvet robes, sitting on a high throne of black bone.

Lucian stood on my right, wearing a heavy crown while Damian knelt at my left, his head bowed in complete surrender.

Then the vision changed and I saw my hands holding a silver dagger. I watched myself drive the blade into Lucian's throat, then turn and plunge it into Damian's heart.

"No!" I screamed, pulling my hand away from Damian and stepping back. "No! I would never hurt you!"

Headmaster Vance stepped into the doorway, flanked by four armed guards. "You cannot fight what you are, girl," he said coldly and ruthlessly. "The Eclipse Mate appears once every few generations. You were born under a bloody moon, meant to bond with two Alpha bloodlines. But the prophecy is absolute. Only one bond can survive."

My blood ran cold. "What does that mean?"

"It means you must choose," Vance replied. "And the male you reject will die."

"No," I whispered, tears filling my eyes. "I will not choose. I refuse!"

"You do not have a choice," the elder snapped.

Hot anger flared sharply in my chest.

All my life, I had been the quiet girl who hid in the corner.

I had always let people speak for me and decide things for me. Now, these arrogant men were treating me like a prize to be won or a monster to be put down. Something inside me snapped.

"I am a person!" I yelled, stepping toward the elders. "I am not a trophy, and I am not a war!"

A pretty girl with blonde hair stepped forward from behind Headmaster Vance. It was Victoria, an elder's daughter who had hated me for years.

"You are a filthy little traitor," Victoria spat, her face twisted in rage. "You are using dark magic to seduce both of our Alphas!"

She raised her hand to slap me across the face.

Before I could think, my hand shot up and caught her wrist in midair. A wave of dark, electric energy surged straight out of my palm.

BOOM!

The blast hit Victoria like a speeding truck. She flew backward across the room, smashing hard into the stone wall before sliding to the floor, completely unconscious.

The entire room went dead silent.

I stared down at my trembling hand, completely shocked by my own terrifying strength.

Lucian smirked, a look of pure pride gleaming in his dark eyes. Damian just stared at me, looking utterly terrified of what I had just done.

"She is out of control!" Headmaster Vance screamed, drawing a silver sword. "Execute her now!"

Lucian instantly stepped in front of me, his fangs extending as a deadly snarl tore from his throat. "Touch her and die, old man."

Damian stepped right beside Lucian, drawing his own blade and pointing it at the elders. "You will not lay a finger on her."

For one brief second, my heart swelled. Despite everything, both men were willing to fight the entire world to keep me safe.

Then, the heavy doors burst open.

A guard stumbled into the room, gasping for air.

He dragged the lifeless body of a dead servant across the floor.

The servant's throat had been torn out, and carved deep into his forehead was the exact three-symbol mark glowing on my wrist.

"He was killed inside the royal wing," the guard panted. "Just moments ago."

Everyone turned their eyes toward me.

I felt a strange warmth running down my arms. I looked down at my hands and gasped.

Bright red blood was dripping from my fingers, pooling onto the stone floor. I had no idea where it came from. My hands were clean just a second ago.

"She killed him!" Headmaster Vance shouted, pointing his finger at my bloody hands. "She is a murderer!"

"I didn't!" I sobbed, taking a step back. "I swear I didn't! Lucian, please! Damian!"

I looked at Lucian. He was staring down at the fresh blood on my hands, his jaw locked tight.

I looked at Damian, begging him with my eyes to save me. But for the very first time in two years, I saw pure, dark doubt in Damian's eyes. He took a slow step away from me.

Lucian stepped toward me, but Damian held out an arm, stopping his best friend in his tracks.

My heart broke into a thousand pieces as I looked down at the dead servant on the floor.

I stepped closer to the corpse, my hands shaking violently. As I stared down at his blood-soaked face, my breath caught in my throat. I recognized him. He was the tall, scarred man who used to haunt my childhood nightmares, the man who had stalked my house when I was four years old.

I knelt down and touched my bloody fingers to his cold skin.

A sudden, terrifying memory flooded my mind. I saw myself standing over him in the dark hallway just ten minutes ago, plunging a blade directly into his neck while he begged for mercy.

I had killed him. And I had enjoyed every single second of it.