Claimed By The Alpha Twins

Golden Shadows

SARA:

The silence that followed Elder Vane’s sickening decree was louder than a war horn. It pressed down on my chest like a ton of granite, suffocating the air straight out of my lungs.

Whichever Alpha makes their bound mate pregnant first.

The words repeated in my head, a dark, venomous chant that made my blood run ice-cold. My hands trembled in the tight grips of the twins. Every eye in the cavernous hall was pinned to my skin, dissecting me, sizing up my hybrid heritage, reducing my entire existence to a mere vessel, a biological trophy to settle a bloody royal feud.

I felt small. I felt exposed.

Then, the twin bond flared.

It wasn't a spark of jealousy between the brothers; it was a wall of pure, unadulterated fury. On my right, Zayne’s hand tightened around mine, his knuckles turning stark white. On my left, Kyle’s golden aura expanded, radiating a lethal heat that made the air shimmer.

"You dare," Zayne’s voice cut through the silence, vibrating with a terrifying, low frequency that caused the iron chandeliers above us to rattle. He didn't yell. He didn't lose his composure. But the sheer weight of his Alpha aura slammed against the council members like a physical shockwave, forcing several elder wolves in the front row to avert their eyes. "You dare speak of the Alpha line as if it is something for you to barter, Vane."

"It is ancient law, Lord Zayne!" Vane retorted, though his hand trembled slightly as he gripped his staff. "If the co-heirs will not yield, the pack must have absolute certainty of its future!"

"The pack will have order when we decide it," Kyle snarled, stepping half an inch in front of me, his body fully shielding my side from the hungry stares of the crowd. His amber eyes burned with a dark, wild fire. "This assembly is dismissed. Anyone who steps toward my mate before we leave this room will lose the hand they reach with."

Without waiting for Vane or the council to reply, the twins turned in unison.

With Zayne on my right and Kyle on my left, they formed an impenetrable wall, sweeping me out of the assembly hall before the elders could utter another word. Whispers exploded behind us like a swarm of disturbed hornets, but the sheer, oppressive pressure radiating off both brothers kept the crowd at bay. Guards scrambled to open the double doors, and we marched down the long, vaulted stone corridors in a heavy, charged silence.

My mind was a chaotic storm. I felt numb, my skin crawling from the gaze of the pack, but beneath the shock, a dangerous warmth hummed against my veins where their hands held mine. They hadn't fought over the decree. They hadn't turned on each other. They had shielded me.

We reached the secure, heavy iron doors of Zayne’s private study in the high tower. Zayne slammed the door shut, locking the heavy deadbolt with a sharp, echoing click that sounded like a final sentence.

"That old bastard," Kyle growled, tearing off his leather guard gauntlets and hurling them onto the grand mahogany desk. "He’s trying to corner us. He knows if we start fighting over who touches her first, the pack splits in half and he steps into the vacuum as regent."

"Precisely," Zayne said quietly. He walked over to the stone fireplace, leaning his uninjured hand against the mantle. His face was carved from pale marble, his blue eyes dark with exhaustion and cold calculation. "Vane doesn't care about an heir. He wants us at each other's throats. He wants us distracted so we don't look at the border breaches or question how the human task force knew exactly where our patrol gaps were in Sector Four."

I leaned against the locked door, my breath still coming in shallow gasps as I looked between them. "So what do we do? The entire pack heard him. My... my family heard him." The memory of my father’s cold, averted face sliced through my chest all over again, making my eyes sting with unshed tears. "They look at me like I'm a threat. Like I'm a wedge driving you two apart."

Zayne turned his gaze to me, the icy sharpness in his eyes softening for a brief, fleeting second into something intensely protective. "You are not a wedge, Sara. You are our mate. Vane thinks he can use ancient laws to force our hand, but he underestimates what we will do to keep this pack, and you, safe."

He stepped toward Kyle, the two brothers standing face-to-face. The air between them hummed with tension, but the hostility from the night before was gone, replaced by the grim solidarity of two wolves backed into a corner.

"We play along just enough to keep the council quiet," Zayne said, his voice dropping an octave. "We make them think we are honoring the trial while we secretly pull Vane’s records and expose his treason to the high guard. Once he is removed, his decrees die with him."

"And until then?" Kyle asked, his voice rough, his amber eyes flicking toward me for a fraction of a second before returning to his brother.

"Until then, we protect her," Zayne declared firmly. He turned to me, his expression unreadable once more. "I have to head down to the lower vaults to inspect the silver ammunition we seized from the ridge and check on my father's guards. Kyle... stay with her. Keep her in the private wing. Do not let anyone from the council near this floor."

Kyle gave a single, slow nod. "She's safe with me."

Zayne looked at me for one long, silent moment, his blue eyes burning with an unspoken promise, before he unlocked the side door and slipped out into the guarded corridor, leaving the room heavy with a sudden, suffocating quiet.

The silence in the study swallowed us whole.

I stood near the heavy velvet curtains, staring out at the snow sweeping over the jagged mountain peaks, but I couldn't focus on the landscape. Every nerve ending in my body was firing on high alert. The smell of cedar, ozone, and pure, concentrated heat filled the room, wrapping around my senses like a thick blanket.

Kyle hadn't moved from his spot by the mahogany desk, but I could feel his gaze on me. It was heavy, physical, dragging across my spine like a velvet brush.

"You're shaking," his voice broke the quiet, low and smooth as liquid gold.

"I'm fine," I lied, my voice barely above a whisper as I kept my back to him. "Just... processing how my life turned into a political prize in less than twenty-four hours."

I heard the quiet thud of his boots against the rug. He was moving, taking slow, deliberate steps toward me. My heart gave a violent leap against my ribs, my wolf stirring beneath my skin, purring in anticipation of his approach.

"It's not a political prize to me, Sara," Kyle said, his voice closer now, hovering just behind my right shoulder.

I turned around slowly, my back pressing flat against the cold stone wall beside the window.

Kyle stopped just a foot away. He had discarded his tactical vest, leaving him in a thin, fitted black tunic that showed off the broad, lethal breadth of his chest and shoulders. The amber in his eyes was vivid, glowing with a raw, dangerous intensity that made my breath catch in my throat.

"Vane is a fool," Kyle murmured, stepping closer until the heat radiating from his body bathed my cold skin. He raised one hand, his long fingers stopping just short of touching my cheek, hovering in the air between us like a spark waiting to catch. "He thinks this is about power. He thinks a decree can make an Alpha take what isn't freely given."

"Kyle..." My voice betrayed me, coming out breathless, a fragile sigh that hung in the small space between our lips.

"Tell me to step back, Sara," he purred, lowering his hand until his knuckles lightly, so lightly it felt like a ghost of a touch, brushed down the side of my neck, tracing the frantic, fluttering pulse in my throat. "Tell me you don't feel this. Tell me your wolf isn't screaming for me the exact same way it screams for Zayne."

My eyes fluttered shut for a second as a wave of intense, dizzying heat surged through my blood. The split mate bond roared to life, golden and wild, drowning out the fear, the shame, and the cold rejection of my family. It filled every empty corner of my soul with a desperate, agonizing need.

I couldn't tell him to step back. The lie wouldn't even form on my tongue.

When I opened my eyes, Kyle was watching me with a dark, triumphant smirk, realizing his victory before I even spoke. He took the final step, trapping me between his massive frame and the stone wall. He placed one palm against the stone right beside my head, leaning down until his lips were a breath away from the sensitive skin beneath my ear.

"Zayne is noble," Kyle whispered, his hot breath fanning across my skin, sending a violent shiver straight down my spine. "He restrains himself because he thinks he has to be the leader this pack needs. But I don't care about noble, Sara. When I look at you... all I see is mine."

His free hand came up, wrapping firmly around my waist, his broad palm resting against the small of my back to pull me flush against him. The contact was electric. I gasped, my hands automatically coming up to rest flat against his hard chest, feeling the heavy, thunderous beat of his heart echoing my own.

He didn't press his lips to mine. He tantalized me, dragging his nose up the slope of my neck, inhaling my scent deeply, his grip on my waist tightening until there wasn't a sliver of air left between us. Every instinct in my body screamed at me to pull him closer, to bury my fingers in his copper hair and surrender to the golden fire burning between us.

"Kyle..." I whimpered, my hands tightening on his shirt, tugging him down.

He paused, his amber eyes locking onto mine, dark with a ravenous, possessive hunger that promised total ruin.

"Say my name again," he rasped, his thumb pressing possessively into my hip as his face leaned in, his lips brushing mine, teasing the edge of a point of no return. "Say it, Sara... and tell me who you belong to."