Marked by Four Exiled Alphas

Chapter 3: The Bond That Should Never Exist

“Take your hand off her.”

Rhaen’s voice cut through the room before I could pull away from Kaelor.

Kaelor’s fingers were still wrapped around my wrist. His touch should have made me angry. It did. But beneath the anger was something hotter and far more dangerous. My wolf pressed forward inside me as if she wanted me closer to him.

That frightened me more than Kaelor did.

Kaelor slowly released me, but the smile on his face never disappeared.

“Jealous already?” he asked.

Rhaen’s jaw tightened. “This is not a game.”

“No,” Soren said quietly from beside the table. “It isn’t.”

I looked at him. The mark on Soren’s wrist still glowed faintly beneath his skin. The same crescent-shaped symbol had appeared on Kaelor, and Rhaen had one too.

Three marks.

Three Alphas.

And every one of their wolves had called me mate.

My stomach twisted.

“This can’t be real,” I said.

Rhaen looked at me. “I agree.”

Kaelor gave a low laugh. “That almost sounded insulting.”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Rhaen said.

“Of course not. You were too busy staring at her.”

“Enough,” Soren said.

His voice was softer than his brothers’, but both men stopped.

I hated that I noticed the difference between them already. Rhaen filled a room without moving. Kaelor filled it by refusing to stay still. Soren watched everything before speaking, as if words mattered too much to waste.

I should not have cared.

Yesterday, I had been preparing to become Draven’s Luna.

Today, I was hiding in the home of three exiled Alphas who believed fate had tied me to all of them.

The thought brought a sharp ache to my chest.

Draven.

I saw him again in my mind with Vaela. I remembered her hands on him and the cold certainty in his voice when he spoke about my blood as if I were something to be harvested.

The heartbreak had not disappeared just because something stranger had taken its place.

Soren must have seen my face change.

“You don’t have to decide anything tonight,” he said.

I looked at him.

There was no command in his tone.

That almost hurt more.

Draven had spent years telling me what was best for me. What I should wear. Where I should stand. Which pack matters I was allowed to question.

I had called it love because I did not know better.

“What happens if I reject this?” I asked.

Kaelor’s expression changed first. His teasing smile faded.

Rhaen answered. “We don’t know.”

“That is not good enough.”

“No,” he said. “It isn’t.”

I stood from the chair. Pain pulled along my injured side, and Soren immediately stepped forward.

“I’m fine,” I said.

He stopped.

That simple act, stopping because I asked, made something inside me loosen.

Kaelor noticed.

His eyes narrowed at Soren before returning to me.

So much for brotherly peace.

“I want answers,” I said. “Not instincts. Not wolves growling mate at me. Actual answers.”

“You’ll get them,” Rhaen said.

“When?”

“When I know what questions we should be asking.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “That sounds convenient.”

His eyes hardened. “You came into my territory with Mooncrest warriors behind you. An unknown mark appeared on all three of us within hours of your arrival. I’m trying to keep my brothers alive while deciding whether your former Alpha intends to start a war at my border.”

“My former Alpha?”

The words left my mouth before I could stop them.

Rhaen held my gaze. “Isn’t he?”

My heart clenched.

I wanted to say yes immediately.

Instead, memories betrayed me. Draven kissing my forehead after my father died. Draven promising I would never be alone. Draven standing beside Vaela while discussing how my bond would make him stronger.

Love and disgust crashed together so violently that I felt sick.

“He is,” I whispered.

Kaelor’s face lost the last trace of amusement.

Something warm brushed against the inside of my mind.

Not words.

Emotion.

Approval.

Possessive satisfaction.

I froze.

Kaelor froze too.

His eyes snapped to mine.

“You felt that,” I said.

He took one careful step toward me.

Rhaen moved between us.

“Don’t,” he warned.

Kaelor ignored him. “What did you feel?”

I swallowed. “Something that wasn’t mine.”

Soren came closer. “What emotion?”

I looked at Kaelor.

“Possession.”

His mouth curved.

Rhaen shoved him back by the shoulder.

“Stop looking pleased.”

“I didn’t send it on purpose,” Kaelor said, though he looked far too pleased for my comfort.

Then another sensation moved through me.

Cold restraint.

Anger beneath it.

Rhaen.

I stared at him.

His face changed.

“You felt mine too.”

It was not a question.

Fear crawled over my skin.

Then Soren’s emotion reached me last.

Concern.

Gentle, steady concern.

For me.

My throat tightened.

“No,” I said. “I don’t want this.”

All three men went still.

“I don’t want your emotions inside me. I don’t want to feel what you want. I don’t want another bond deciding my life.”

Soren’s expression softened. “Avelyn.”

“I spent years being told fate chose Draven for me,” I said. My voice shook, and I hated it. “Do you know what that got me? A man who planned to drain whatever power is in my blood. So forgive me if I’m not excited that fate has apparently made the same decision three more times.”

Silence filled the room.

Kaelor looked away first.

Rhaen’s anger faded.

Soren said, “Then we don’t treat it as a decision.”

I blinked.

He continued, “A bond can exist without owning you.”

Kaelor leaned against the wall. “He’s right.”

Rhaen glanced at his brother in surprise.

Kaelor shrugged. “Don’t look so shocked. I can be reasonable once a year.”

A small laugh escaped me before I could stop it.

The sound startled all four of us.

For one brief second, the room felt lighter.

Then a howl ripped through the night outside.

Rhaen changed instantly.

“Stay here,” he ordered.

I folded my arms.

His eyes closed for half a second. “Please stay here.”

“Better.”

Kaelor grinned as he followed Rhaen toward the door.

Soren remained with me.

Another howl sounded, closer this time.

Not one of theirs.

Soren’s face tightened.

“Rogue,” he said.

“Mooncrest?”

“No.”

“How can you tell?”

“The scent.”

A third howl rose from somewhere beyond the walls, and something inside my chest answered.

Not my wolf.

The mark above my heart burned.

I gasped and grabbed the front of my shirt.

Soren caught my elbow. “Avelyn?”

The heat became unbearable.

Then it stopped.

A knock sounded at the front entrance.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Rhaen’s voice carried from the hall. “Who are you?”

A stranger answered.

His voice was deep, unfamiliar, and calm enough to make my fear worse.

“I’m looking for the woman you brought across the Black Veil.”

Every muscle in my body tightened.

Rhaen said, “You have five seconds to leave.”

The stranger laughed softly.

Then he said something that made the blood drain from my face.

“Tell Avelyn Morcant the Eclipseborn have not all been forgotten.”

Soren stared at me.

I stared back.

“How does he know my name?” I whispered.

Before Soren could answer, the door crashed open.

Rhaen growled.

Kaelor swore.

I stepped into the hall just as a tall man crossed the threshold.

Dark hair. Black coat. Eyes so pale they looked silver in the moonlight.

His gaze found me immediately.

Everything stopped.

My wolf rose inside me with a force that stole my breath.

The stranger’s expression changed.

Not surprise.

Recognition.

He crossed the room before anyone could stop him and caught my wrist.

The moment his skin touched mine, fire exploded beneath it.

A new mark burned into my flesh.

His hand jerked away.

For the first time, fear appeared on his face.

Rhaen stared at the mark.

Kaelor went completely silent.

Soren whispered, “That’s impossible.”

The stranger looked from the symbol on my wrist to the identical one forming on his own.

Then his silver eyes lifted to mine.

“Mate,” he said.

My heart stopped.

Three Alphas had already broken every law I knew.

Now there were four.