Chapter 10- Claims
1169 Words
The applause died away, but the silence that followed was worse.
Mikaela stood frozen on the platform, her heart pounding so loudly she was certain the entire clearing could hear it. The air around her felt charged—tight, electric, alive.
Her gaze never left him.
Rhys.
Not the stranger from the hallway. Not the voice on the phone.
Her mate.
The bond surged violently now that there was no space left for denial. Her wolf rose fully, fierce and aching, pushing forward with absolute certainty.
MATE.
“No,” Mikaela whispered, then shook her head, disbelief trembling through her voice. “It can’t be—”
Her eyes lifted to his, and the truth crashed into her like a wave.
“You,” she said hoarsely, taking a step toward him. “It’s you.”
Rhys’s breath left him in a sharp exhale.
The word hit him before she even said it.
“My mate,” Mikaela breathed.
The clearing erupted into gasps.
Rhys went completely still.
She knew.
Every careful lie. Every distance he’d maintained. Gone in a single word.
“Mikaela,” he said quietly, helplessly, taking a step forward on instinct.
Her wolf lunged toward him, unrestrained now. She reached out without thinking, hand lifting as if drawn by gravity itself.
Before she could cross the space between them—
Eirik moved.
He was on the platform in an instant, stepping between them, one arm firm across Mikaela’s path.
“Stop,” he said sharply, eyes never leaving Rhys. “Not here.”
“Eirik, move,” Mikaela pleaded, voice breaking. “That’s my mate.”
The word echoed.
Claiming. Unmistakable.
Rhys’s wolf roared in answer, rage and longing colliding violently inside him. His hands curled into fists at his sides as he fought the urge to close the distance and anchor the bond with touch.
“I didn’t want you to find out like this,” Rhys said, voice strained. “I was trying to—”
“To what?” Mikaela demanded, tears burning her eyes. “Protect me from you?”
Ronan stepped forward.
The air shifted.
Alpha pressure rolled outward, forcing the crowd back into stunned silence.
“This ends now,” Ronan said calmly.
He turned to face the pack, posture unyielding.
“I have not found my fated mate,” Ronan announced.
The words sliced through Mikaela’s chest.
“But fate is not the only path forward,” Ronan continued evenly. “Nor is it the only bond worthy of respect.”
His gaze slid deliberately back to Mikaela.
“My choice is already made,” Ronan said. “On someone who has proven her value to this pack. Someone already trusted. Already loved.”
Mikaela shook her head, horror dawning.
“No,” she whispered.
Ronan’s voice did not waver.
“She would be my chosen mate,” he finished. “And Crescent Moon’s Luna.”
Rhys took a step forward before Eirik could stop him, blue eyes burning.
“She already has a mate,” Rhys said, voice low and dangerous. “And it’s me.”
The clearing went deathly still.
Eirik’s heart pounded.
Ronan met Rhys’s gaze, something dark flashing behind his eyes.
“Then,” Ronan said coolly, “we have a problem.”
Mikaela stood between them—bond blazing
The silence shattered.
Voices rose from the crowd in sharp bursts—confusion, disbelief, anger rippling outward like a shockwave.
“Did she just say mate?”
“That’s Red Moon’s Alpha-in-training—”
“You can’t challenge a fated bond!”
“What does this mean for the alliance?”
Mikaela barely heard them.
Her entire body was pulled forward, every nerve ending screaming the same command.
Go to him.
Her wolf was no longer pacing—it was clawing at her chest, desperate, frantic, furious at the space still separating them.
“Rhys,” she whispered again, taking another step.
Eirik tightened his grip on her arm. “Mikaela—please.”
“I can’t,” she said breathlessly, tears spilling now. “I can feel him. It hurts to be away from him.”
The bond flared violently in response, the air between her and Rhys thrumming with visible tension. Several wolves in the crowd shifted uneasily, instincts reacting to the raw power rolling off them both.
Rhys took a step forward.
Then another.
His restraint was fraying, blue eyes locked on Mikaela like she was the only solid thing left in the world.
Ronan stepped directly into his path.
“That bond,” Ronan said sharply, his voice cutting through the noise, “is not law.”
The crowd quieted just enough to hear him.
“Fate makes mistakes,” Ronan continued. “Or worse—fate does not consider what a pack needs.”
Mikaela’s head snapped toward him, disbelief and fury flashing through her exhaustion.
“You don’t get to say that,” she cried. “You don’t get to decide what this is when I can feel it in my bones!”
Ronan turned to her, his expression controlled but eyes dark with jealousy he could no longer fully mask.
“You are overwhelmed,” he said firmly. “You are exhausted. And you are reacting to instinct without thinking of consequence.”
Rhys snarled.
The sound was low, feral, and unmistakably dangerous.
“She knows exactly what she’s feeling,” Rhys said, voice vibrating with barely restrained power. “And so do I.”
Ronan squared his shoulders, Alpha energy surging outward in challenge.
“Then prove it,” Ronan said coldly. “Because I will not allow Crescent Moon’s future to be dictated by a bond that arrived unannounced and untested.”
Gasps erupted again.
Several elders shouted at once.
“You can’t deny a mate bond!”
“This could tear the packs apart!”
“She’s choosing him—can’t you see that?”
Mikaela wrenched her arm free from Eirik and stumbled forward, nearly losing her balance as the pull intensified.
“Rhys,” she sobbed, reaching for him openly now. “Please. I need to be next to you.”
Rhys broke.
He surged forward at the same moment Ronan stepped toward Mikaela, the space between them collapsing as shouts erupted from every direction.
“Enough!” someone yelled.
“Stand down!”
“By the Moon—stop them!”
The ground seemed to hum beneath their feet, the bond screaming its defiance, fate pressing down hard and unforgiving.
Eirik moved again, placing himself at Mikaela’s side, not to block her this time—but to brace her.
Ronan lifted his hand, jaw tight, eyes blazing.
“This gathering is over,” he commanded. “No one leaves until this is contained.”
Contained.
The word echoed bitterly in Mikaela’s mind as she stood shaking, eyes locked on her mate only steps away.
Because nothing about what burned between her and Rhys could be contained.
And the pack knew it.
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