Chapter 7
1181 Words
The silver tipped arrows poised on the archers bows, glinting like death under the noon sun. I stood at the center of the cracked rink, Leo's pained howls echoing in my ears as his small body fought the forced shift. The widow's smug smile burned into my memory, her hand still resting on her swollen belly while Darius circled like a predator who thought he had already won.
Time slowed to surgeon's precision. O e cut and everything would bleed out.
I slashed the glowing scalpel across the largest rune line on the ice. Sparks exploded upward in a fountain of red and silver energy. The ritual faltered, the old mate bond pulling at my chest like barbed wire. Pain lanced through me, but I pushed forward, dropping to my knees beside Leo.
"Hold on, baby," I whispered, injecting the last of the suppressants directly into the glowing chains. The metal hissed and weakened under the counter agent I had spent months perfecting in secret. Leo's golden fur receded slightly, his tiny chest heaving with relief, but the shift wasn't stopping completely. The silver was too deep.
Ryker roared and charged the nearest archer line, his massive frame slamming into two wolves with bone crunching force. Blood sprayed across the frost. "Rhea get the boy and run!"
But the rogue Alphas had other plans. Jax moved first, his strong arms wrapping around my waist from behind and hauling me upright against his chest. The contact was no longer accidental. The broken pact had stripped away every barrier. His breath was hot against my ear, voice rough with years of suppressed hunger.
"You don't have to fight alone anymore," he growled, one hand splaying possessively over my stomach, fingers brushing the curve where my red dress clung to sweat damp skin. "We've waited long enough. Let us take what should have been ours since the beginning."
Kai pressed in from the right, his thigh sliding between mine as he fired a precise shot that dropped an archer. His free hand cupped my jaw, turning my face toward him. "One word, Rhea. Say yes and we claim you right here on this ice. All four of us. The pact is dead. You're the only thing that's ever mattered."
Zane and Draco closed the circle tighter, their bodies forming a living shield. Zane's palm grazed my hip, deliberate and scorching. Draco's wolf eyes glowed as he tore through another enforcer, then turned back to me, voice low and filthy. "We'll ruin every memory of Darius and Ryker until the only name you scream is ours "
The tension was electric and suffocating. Four dangerous Alphas - my brothers best friends - surrounding me. Their touches lingered longer now, hands roaming my waist, my arms, testing the edges of what I would allow. Heat flooded my body despite the chaos, traitorous and dangerous. The queen inside me recognized the power in their hunger. The broken Luna remembered how it felt to be wanted after being discarded.
Ryker broke through the line, golden eyes black with fury as he saw the rogue Alphas caging me in. "Get your f*****g hands off her!" He slammed into Jax, the two massive men colliding with enough force to crack the ice further. Fists flew. Growls tore through the air. Kai and Zane turned to join the fray, but their eyes kept flicking back to me, the broken pact turning brotherly loyalty into something darker and more possessive.
Darius laughed from the sidelines, voice dripping with venom. "See, Rhea? They are over you like wolves over meat. Come back to me. Complete the ritual."
The widow stepped closer to Leo, her hand glowing with dark runes. "Or I finish what the silver started. Your choice, Surgeon."
Leo whimpered, his small body convulsing again as the suppressants began to fail. Golden eyes locked on mine, terrified. "Mommy..."
Rage and maternal fury surged through me hotter than any mate bond. I pulled the scalpel free again, the blade morphing into glowing wolf claws under the curse's influence. With steady hands, I slashed at the chains binding Leo, precise cuts severing the suppressants runes one by one. The metal groaned nad snapped.
But the ritual wasn't done fighting back. The old mate bond flares violently, yanking me towards Darius like invisible chains. Pain doubled me over again. I cried out, knees hitting the ice.
Ryker was there in an instant, hauling me up and crushing me against his chest. His mouth crashed down on mine in a bruising, desperate kiss. "Fight it," he growled against my lips, one massive hand tangling in my hair, the other gripping my ass and pulling me flush against the hard line of his body. "You're mine, Rhea. The curse, the rude, the obsession- everything. Break him like you broke me that night."
The kis ignited every nerve. My hands fisted in his leather cut, body arching into him despite the battle raging around us. For one stolen heartbeat, the world narrowed to his scorching touch, the taste of blood and dominance on his tongue.
Then the rogue Alphas closed in again. Jax grabbed my arm, spinning me partially our of Ryker's grip. "She doesn't belong to you anymore." His mouth hovered over my neck, breath hot, teeth grazing skin in a promise of claiming. Kai's hand slid boldly along my thigh, pushing the red dress higher. Zane and Draco pressed against my back, their combined hear overwhelming.
The broken pact had turned them feral. Four Alphas, one woman. The air crackled with the threat of total chaos.
Darius saw his opening. He lunged forward with a group of enforcers, aiming straight for Leo. "Take the boy!"
I twisted free, scalpel flashing. I drove the blade into the final chain holding Leo, snapping int completely. My son collapsed into my arms, shift halting but body still trembling with aftershocks. "I've got you," I whispered, tears freezing on my cheeks. "Mommy's got you."
But the widow screamed in fury and slammed her palm onto the ice. The remaining runes detonated.
A shockwave of dark energy exploded outward. The ice rink shattered in a spiderweb of cracks. Ryker, the rogue Alphas and I were thrown backward. Darius roared in triumph as he reached for Leo.
In the chaos, Kai made his move. He grabbed me around the waist, pulling me tight against him as the ground gave way. "Now, Rhea. Choose us. We'll protect the pup better than any cursed King ever could."
Ryker's enraged roar cut through the noise. "Kai!"
The widow's voice rose above everything, cold and final. " Too late. The cursed is transferring. Ryker's power is mine now and the boy's first full shift will bind him to Silver Moon forever unless Rhea submits right here."
Leo stirred in my arms, golden eyes flickering with uncontrolled power.
The ice continued to crack beneath our feet, threatening to swallow us all.
Darius stood over us, claws extended, smiling like the victor.
My heart slammed against ribs as every Alpha in the broken circle waited for my decision.
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