Seducing My Ex’s Twin

Episode5

Chapter 5: The Line in the Sand

MAVERICK POV

I watched Rose sleep, my jaw clenched so tight it ached. She looked like a broken doll against the black silk sheets, her skin so pale it was almost translucent. My wolf was pacing a frantic, bloody circle in the back of my mind, snapping its jaws at every shadow. Finding her like that—bloody, naked, and mocked by that crowd of royal vultures—had changed something inside me. I had spent ten years thinking I knew what rage felt like. I was wrong. True rage is quiet. True rage is the cold realization that you are going to kill every single person who made your mate cry.

Malachi was standing by the window, his back to me. He was the "calm" twin, but I could see the way his hands were balled into fists. We were the same in this. We were predators who had finally found the only thing in the world worth keeping.

"She’s too small," I muttered, my voice a low, rough growl. "How did she survive this place for so long without us?"

"She won't have to survive it anymore," Malachi answered without turning around. "Now, she owns it."

A soft knock at the penthouse door made my head whip around. I moved like a blur, ripping the door open before the person on the other side could even breathe. It was a group of three palace maids, clutching bundles of fine linen and trays of food. They looked at me and froze, their faces turning a ghostly white. They had spent years ignoring Rose, or worse, making her life hell. I could smell their fear. It smelled like sour milk.

"W-we are here to tend to the girl," the oldest one stammered, her eyes darting to the floor.

I stepped out into the hallway, looming over them. I didn't care about being polite. I wanted them to feel the weight of my Alpha aura until their knees buckled. "Her name is Rose," I hissed, my voice vibrating with power. "And if any of you so much as scratches her skin while you bathe her, I will personally ensure you never work in this kingdom again. You will treat her like she is the Moon Goddess herself. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Alpha!" they squeaked in unison, scurrying past me into the room like frightened mice.

I watched them for a moment, making sure they moved with the gentleness I demanded. I saw them gasp when they saw the state of Rose’s back, and for a second, I saw a flicker of genuine shame on their faces. Good. They should be ashamed. They had let a Blue-Blooded Queen scrub floors while they bowed to a fake Prince.

Malachi joined me in the hallway, his face a mask of cold stone. "The King has summoned us. For the fifth time."

"Let the old man wait," I spat. "I’d rather stay here and watch her breathe."

"We need to set the line, Maverick," Malachi said, his eyes turning that dangerous, golden hue. "We need to let them see exactly who has returned. And we need to deal with Leo."

The mention of our stepbrother’s name made my claws itch to come out. "Leo is mine," I growled. "I want to hear his bones snap."

We made our way down to the throne room, ignoring the gasps of the guards and the bowing servants. We didn't walk like returning princes; we walked like conquerors. When we reached the massive gold-leafed doors of the throne room, we didn't wait for the herald to announce us. I kicked the doors open, the heavy wood slamming against the stone walls with a sound like a gunshot.

The room was full. The high-ranking Alphas of the Silverfang packs were there, along with the Empress and, of course, the King. Our father sat on his throne, looking old and grey, his crown sitting heavy on his head. He looked up as we entered, and for a moment, I saw a flash of pride in his eyes. He saw the power we carried. He saw that we were the wolves he had tried to break, but instead, we had become gods.

We didn't bow. We didn't even slow down. We walked right into the center of the room and stood before the throne, our heads held high.

"You summoned us," Malachi said, his voice flat and bored.

"You took the girl," the King said, his voice raspy. "The servant. She is a thief, Malachi. She belongs in the dungeons."

"She belongs to us," I snarled, stepping forward. I didn't care that he was the King. "She is our fated mate. And if anyone calls her a thief again, I will rip their tongue out of their head and feed it to the dogs."

The Empress let out a sharp, fake gasp. "Maverick! This is your father! And that girl is a nobody. She is a wolfless Omega. You are Crown Princes! You cannot mate with a servant."

"She isn't a servant," Malachi said, his voice like a falling guillotine. "She is a Blue-Blood. You were too blind to see what was right in front of you. You treated a Queen like a dog, and now, the debt is due."

Suddenly, the side doors burst open. Leo stormed in, his face red with rage, his royal cape fluttering behind him. He looked like a spoiled child compared to us. He marched up to us, pointing a finger at my chest.

"Where is she?" Leo screamed. "Rose is mine! I marked her for two years! She belongs in my bed, not yours! You think you can just show up and take what I threw away?"

I felt the growl rip out of my throat before I could stop it. I moved so fast Leo didn't even have time to blink. I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against a marble pillar, lifting him off the ground. His feet dangled, kicking uselessly at the air.

"You touched her," I whispered, my face inches from his. I could smell the expensive wine on his breath and the scent of his fear. "You used her. You whipped her. And you laughed while she bled."

"She's... she's my mate!" Leo wheezed, his face turning purple. "I... I felt it too!"

"You felt nothing!" I roared, my grip tightening. "If she were your mate, you would have died before you let a whip touch her. You are a parasite, Leo. You used the bond to feed your ego because you knew she was special."

Malachi stepped up beside me, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade. He looked at the King, then at the Empress, and finally at our gasping stepbrother.

"Listen well," Malachi announced, his voice echoing through the massive hall. "Rose Backlin is the Lunar Sovereign. She is the mate of the Twin Kings. From this moment on, anyone who speaks her name without respect, anyone who looks at her with anything but awe, is an enemy of the Thorne Twins."

He looked at Leo, his eyes cold and pitiless. "She is ours, Leo. Every inch of her. Every drop of her blue blood. You had your chance, and you broke her. Now, we are going to fix her. And then, we are going to destroy you."

I threw Leo onto the floor at the King’s feet. He coughed and sputtered, clutching his throat. I looked at my father, seeing the realization in his eyes. He knew he had lost. The kingdom was ours. Rose was ours.

"The war has started," I said, looking around the room at the terrified Alphas. "And we aren't stopping until the floors are stained with the blood of every person who watched her bleed."

We turned our backs on the throne and walked out, the silence behind us more powerful than any cheer. We were going back to her. Back to our Rose. And as the doors closed, I knew one thing for certain: Leo Thorne was a dead man. He just had to wait for us to decide how he would die.