Claiming Her Reign

chapter 7

Xian'na pov

The world was soft and warm, smelling like pine and the strong, safe scent of Davon. I was too heavy to open my eyes, my body broken and aching from the shift, but my mind was awake. My new wolf, Xiuan, was a fierce, protective presence inside me, resting but alert. She had awakened every single sense I possessed.

I heard voices, low and rough, close enough to feel the air move with their words.

"What should we do with her?" a voice asked. It was deep and gravelly, like stones shifting in a river. Samuel, my mind supplied, remembering the name from Xiuan’s history lesson.

"We take her. That is the only choice," another voice said, sharp and commanding. "She's our sister. She comes with us." James.

"But which territory will she be in? All of us have our own pack right now. I need her strength for the Purple Moon," James argued, his tone rising with Alpha intensity.

A third voice, smooth and deceptively calm—Isaac, or Kelvin as he was known—cut in. "We will tear her apart and take the shared piece to our homes. That way, we all get a part of the prophecy."

A beat of silence. Then James gave a short, dark chuckle.

"That joke wasn't funny at all, James." It was Davon's voice, tired and laced with warning.

The shock of their words—especially the joke—ripped through the fog of my exhaustion. Tear me apart? My eyes snapped open, fighting the fatigue.

I was lying on a bed of soft moss inside a shallow cave. Four figures were looming over me. Davon was closest, his human form tall and lean. Beside him stood the three others, towering Alphas who looked like walking mountains.

They all turned their heads at the small sound of my gasp.

They were magnificent. Their eyes, though different colors, were equally intense. They rushed toward me, their faces contorted with fierce, overwhelming emotion.

"Little sister, you must come with me to the Purple Moon! It’s the safest place—" James started, dropping to his knees.

"No, the Black Moon is best! We have the strongest defenses. I can protect you," Samuel pleaded, reaching out a giant hand.

"They're both wrong. You need the neutral territory of the Green Moon. Come with Kelvin," Isaac insisted, leaning in with a desperate glint in his eyes.

I stared, completely overwhelmed. I had been a maid, an empty slave just hours ago. Now, four powerful, strange men were surrounding me, begging for me to choose them.

Before I could form a word, Davon’s hand shot out. He grabbed James's arm and pulled him back with surprising force.

"Stop!" Davon roared, his voice cracking with frustration. "You’re going to freak her out! She just shifted and woke up to four strange Alpha dogs arguing over who gets to keep her!"

Davon looked down at me, his eyes full of worry and apology. "Xian'na, I am sorry. These... are your other brothers. James, Samuel, and Isaac. And they are all very, very stupid."

I just lay there, the words brother and pack colliding with the fear of the strange, possessive men surrounding me. My whole world was still spinning.

Davon's pov

My sister's eyes fluttering shut was the last straw. The fragile balance I was trying to keep shattered into a thousand pieces. I watched Xian'na collapse back onto the moss bed, completely unconscious from the sheer terror and the physical shock of her first shift.

"You fools!" I roared, the sound echoing off the cave walls. My control was gone. I spun on my three brothers, my red wolf roaring just beneath my skin. "Look at her! You couldn't manage five minutes without turning her sacred awakening into a territory war! She was a human slave twenty minutes ago, and you're talking about tearing her apart!"

"Hey, hey, not me!" Samuel protested, lifting his massive hands. "I just said the Black Moon had the best defenses. It was Kelvin, he's the one who said the terrifying part about tearing her up!"

"I said it was a joke!" Isaac (Kelvin) bit back, his calm facade finally cracking. "It was dark humor, you know that! I was trying to ease the tension of the reunion, not actually"

"Silence!" I slammed my fist against the cave wall, sending loose earth showering down. I didn't care about their motives. My little sister was broken and my alpha fury was absolute. "All three of you. Stand against that wall, facing the stone. Now. I want to hear nothing but the sound of your stupidity for the next hour."

They grumbled—three Alphas being ordered around by the youngest—but they did it. They knew my anger was real, and they respected the gravity of the situation.

I went back to Xian'na, gently pulling the moss around her small, weak body. The weight of her situation was suffocating me. We had been eighteen years too late.

A minute later, a sudden, sharp rap came from the mouth of the cave. I heard a wolf’s voice, crisp and arrogant, slice through the quiet night.

"I know the maid, Xian'na, is on your property, Alphas. Please let me in so we may punish her for not following our new Alpha's order."

I stiffened, my blood instantly turning to ice. Punish her.

James, Samuel, and Isaac simultaneously turned their heads from the wall. They looked at the entrance, then down at Xian'na's sleeping form, and finally back at me. They had heard the word: maid.

"Xian'na was your maid?" James bellowed, his voice filled with cold, dangerous disbelief. "Davon, please don't tell me you were just in a pack where your Holy Blood sister was scrubbing floors for a few mangy, small-pack mongrels?"

"And they want to punish her?" Samuel’s voice was a low growl of pure, murderous intent. "My sister? By the Moon Goddess, I will burn this entire pack to the ground."

Their shared Alpha rage was a powerful, terrifying wave, but it was mine that drove the action. The woman demanding access was clearly Jerick's sister, a high-ranking member of the Blue Moon. I needed to control this.

"Stay here. All of you," I commanded, my voice flat, holding every ounce of cold power I possessed. I stood and walked to the entrance, my steps slow and heavy.

I stopped at the edge of the cave, blocking the moonlight and the view of Xian'na. I saw a tall, sharp-faced female wolf standing there, surrounded by four of Jerick's strongest guards. She stopped smiling when she saw my face.

"Lady," I said, my voice dangerously calm, the words tasting like ash. "You want to talk about punishment? I want to talk to your Alpha."

I stood at the cave entrance, blocking the view of my sister and my furious brothers. Jerick’s sister—tall, sharp-faced, and foolish—was staring at me, her initial confidence fading fast under my glare.

"I asked you to let me in, Alpha," she stammered, using the title instinctively because she could feel the power radiating off me.

"And I told you I want your Alpha," I stated, my voice low and even, a counterpoint to the raging red wolf beneath my skin. "Tell him that Alpha Davon of the Red Moon Pack is done congratulating him. I have a more serious matter of pack business to discuss. Right now."

She looked at her guards, then back at me. I didn't move. I didn't have to. The air itself pressed down on her, demanding obedience. She finally gave a nervous nod and spun around, barking orders for the guards to stay put.

I turned back into the cave, where James, Samuel, and Isaac were staring at the entrance, their patience thin.

"James, you and Samuel stay here. Guard her with your lives. If anyone, anyone from this pack tries to enter, you kill them," I commanded.

"Don't worry, little brother," Samuel growled, his eyes fixed on the entrance. "I’m looking forward to it."

"Isaac," I continued, "you're coming with me. Your scent is neutral, and your presence will be useful." Isaac nodded, his 'Kelvin' mask back in place. He understood political theater better than anyone.

We left the safety of the cave and followed Jerick’s sister back toward the main pack house. The scent of celebration—rich foods, sweet wine, and hundreds of joyous wolves—clashed violently with the dark, metallic tang of my own rage.

We walked straight into the packed dining hall where the coronation feast was underway. The noise stopped instantly. The crowd parted, creating a path through the tables of food and wine, leading straight to the head table where Jerick sat, still wearing the smug, fresh look of a new Alpha.

He looked surprised and annoyed to see me, especially with Isaac at my side. He quickly plastered on a fake, welcoming smile.

"Alpha Davon! Alpha Kelvin! A pleasure. Why leave the festivities?" Jerick asked, rising only slightly.

I stopped a few feet from his table. "We found something you lost, Alpha Jerick."

His smile didn't waver, but his eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Lost? I'm afraid I don't follow."

"The little maid," I said, my voice cutting through the silence of the room. "The one with 'no wolf' who was working in your kitchen this morning."

Jerick’s face flashed with pure fury and embarrassment that I had brought up the subject of his failed mate in public. "Ah, the rogue. Yes, my trackers are out. She tried to use some pathetic black magic to disrupt the ceremony. She's of no consequence."

My world went red. Pathetic black magic. He didn't know the golden power of the Moon Goddess had just freed his mate and rejected his tyranny.

"Of no consequence?" I took a slow, deliberate step closer. "That maid, as you call her, is under my protection now. She is kin. And you have dishonored her for eighteen years."

Jerick laughed, a harsh, dismissive sound. "Kin? You're claiming a wolf-less maid who scrubs my floors as kin? Alpha Davon, you need to—"

"Her name is Xian'na," I interrupted, dropping my Alpha voice an octave lower, making the air around me vibrate with an unnatural stillness. I wasn't just using my Red Moon dominance; I was stirring the sliver of holy power I inherited from my mother.

The power was subtle, a cold, golden pressure. It didn't force submission, but it forced truth.

Jerick gasped, stumbling back half a step. His wolf howled silently in confusion, terrified by the pure, godly scent of the power it had just rejected. His eyes, for the first time, held a flicker of genuine, unmasked panic.

"You will not call her 'the maid' again," I commanded, my heart pounding with furious satisfaction. "You will address her by her name. And now, you will come with me. I want to know exactly how your 'pack business' with her was conducted over the last eighteen years."