CHAPTER THREE — A Bond That Should Not Exist
1180 Words
Nyxara's POV
The words hung in the air like a death sentence. She's our mate.
"No." Veyr's voice exploded through the room. He lunged forward, grabbing Rhex by the collar and slamming him against the stone wall. "Take it back. Tell her it's a lie."
Rhex didn't fight back. Just met Veyr's furious gaze with eerie calm. "You feel it same as I do. Same as Zephyr. Denying it won't make it disappear."
"This is wrong." Veyr's hands trembled with barely restrained violence. "One mate. That's the law. That's nature. Not three. Never three."
"Let him go." Zephyr's command cut through the chaos. When Veyr didn't move, his voice dropped lower. More dangerous. "Now."
Veyr released Rhex with a snarl, but his amber eyes burned with betrayal when they found me. "You did this. Some kind of witch magic, some trick to trap us."
"I didn't do anything!" I scrambled out of the bed, my legs shaking. "I don't even know what a mate bond is supposed to feel like. I don't want this any more than you do."
"Good." Veyr crossed his arms. "Then we agree. We reject it. All of us."
"We can't just reject it," Rhex said, rubbing his throat. "That's not how bonds work."
"Then we'll find a way." Zephyr moved to the window, his back rigid. "Distance. Separation. Whatever it takes. This bond, this connection, it cannot exist."
The heat in my chest flared at his words. Like the bond itself was protesting. Fighting. And with it came a wave of emotions that weren't mine. Veyr's rage. Zephyr's iron control masking something deeper. Rhex's curiosity mixed with fear.
"Stop," I whispered, pressing my palms against my temples. "I can feel you. All of you. Your emotions, your thoughts, I can't, this is too much."
"You see?" Veyr gestured at me like I was evidence in a trial. "She's already worming into our heads. This is exactly why we can't allow this."
"Allow?" The word tasted bitter. "You talk like I have a choice. Like any of us do. But I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask for any of this!"
My voice cracked. Three weeks. My parents had been dead for three weeks while I lay unconscious. My pack slaughtered. My uncle, the man I'd trusted, the one who'd taught me to hunt, had murdered everyone I loved.
And now these strangers were telling me I was bound to them forever.
"I just want to go home," I said, hating how broken I sounded. "I want my mother. I want my father. I want everything to go back to the way it was before the fire, before the blood, before,"
"There is no home to go back to." Veyr's words were cruel. Harsh. "The sooner you accept that, the better."
Something inside me snapped.
"You think I don't know that?" My voice rose, power crackling through it. "You think I haven't replayed every second of watching them die? Of feeling my mother's blood on my hands? Of seeing my own uncle standing over their bodies like it meant nothing?"
The room began to tremble.
"You saved me?" I laughed, the sound sharp and jagged. "Or did you just trade one prison for another? Because that's what this is, isn't it? These stone walls. These locked doors. You watching me like I'm some dangerous animal that might bite."
"Nyxara," Rhex started, but I wasn't finished.
"I didn't ask to survive. I didn't ask to be the last anything. And I certainly didn't ask to be shackled to three Alphas who can't even stand to look at me!"
The floor cracked beneath my feet.
All three Alphas froze. Zephyr spun from the window. Veyr's hostility shifted instantly to alertness. Rhex's eyes widened.
"How are you doing that?" Zephyr demanded.
I looked down. Fissures spider webbed across the stone floor, spreading out from where I stood. And my hands, they were glowing. Faint, silvery light emanated from my skin, pulsing in rhythm with my racing heart.
"I'm not," I stammered. "I don't know how to,"
Moonlight suddenly flooded the room, though it was still afternoon. It poured through the window like liquid silver, drawn to me, wrapping around my trembling form. The light felt alive. Ancient. Wrong.
"Impossible," Veyr breathed.
The door burst open. An elderly woman in flowing robes rushed in, her eyes wild. Two other elders followed, their faces painted with shock and something that looked like fear.
"The Moon stirs," the woman gasped. "We felt it through the entire stronghold. A power we haven't sensed in centuries."
"What is she?" one of the other elders whispered, staring at me like I was a ghost.
"I'm nothing," I said desperately, trying to make the light stop, to make the ground stop shaking. "I'm just, I'm just broken. I'm just,"
"You're Moonveil," the elderly woman said softly. "True Moonveil. The bloodline we thought had thinned to nothing. Child, your ancestors were Moon Blessed. They could call the celestial light itself."
"My mother never, my father never said,"
"Perhaps they didn't know." She stepped closer, her aged eyes kind despite her obvious fear. "Or perhaps they were protecting you from those who would kill you for such power."
The trembling stopped. The light faded. I swayed, suddenly exhausted, and Rhex caught me before I could fall.
"Easy," he murmured.
"Don't touch me," I whispered, but I didn't have the strength to pull away.
The sound of heels on stone echoed from the corridor. Sharp. Precise. Purposeful. A woman appeared in the doorway.
She was beautiful in the way weapons were beautiful. Dangerous and perfectly crafted. Long black hair cascaded down her back, and her ice blue eyes swept over the scene with cold assessment. She wore leather armor that hugged her athletic frame, and everything about her screamed Alpha blood. Power. Dominance.
Her gaze locked on me in Rhex's arms, and her perfect features twisted with contempt.
"So this is the little stray you brought home." Her voice dripped with disdain. "How charitable."
"Lyssara," Zephyr said carefully. "This isn't the time."
"Isn't it?" She glided into the room like she owned it. Owned them. "I leave for three weeks to handle border disputes, and I return to find some orphaned Omega disrupting the entire stronghold."
"I'm not an Omega," I said quietly.
Her laugh was sharp. "No? Then what are you, exactly? Besides a convenient excuse for them to avoid their responsibilities."
She moved closer to Veyr, her hand trailing possessively across his shoulder. He didn't pull away.
"Responsibilities?" I echoed.
"Veyr and I have an understanding." Lyssara's smile was razor sharp. "Our packs agreed years ago. A union to strengthen both bloodlines. I was promised to him."
The bond in my chest twisted painfully. Veyr still didn't move. Didn't deny it.
Lyssara stepped away from Veyr and walked toward me. Rhex's arms tightened protectively, but she ignored him. She leaned down until her face was inches from mine, her voice dropping to a whisper only I could hear.
"You don't belong here. And I'll prove it."
- Writer
