My Rival Alpha Mates

Chapter Three : Sold Like a Breeder

Lyra POV

I take a few slow breaths and check the mirror. The dress fits me like a glove. Hair up, makeup on, dark circles hidden well enough. I need my contacts before my eyes decide to put on a show.

I can't find them anywhere. Damn it.

Nathan walks in without knocking, a folder in his hands, his expression caught somewhere between guilty and nervous.

"Emma's waiting, I know. I'm almost ready." I put in an earring without turning.

"That's not why I'm here. I need your signature."

"What for?"

"A non-objection form. As the alpha's daughter, it confirms you have no issue with the peace treaty terms." He holds it out.

"Formality," reading the document.

"You don't trust your own brother?" he asks.

"That's not it, Nat." I sign it and hand it back.

He tucks it under his arm. "Now go. Emma fired her makeup artist and her hairstylist. She wants you, and she told me not to come near the room until it's done." He exhales. "Full bridezilla mode."

Emma's room tells me everything before she opens her mouth. Mascara tracked down both cheeks, hair half done, the energy of someone two minutes from unraveling.

"You're here." She pulls me inside. "I'm scared."

"Of the wedding?"

"The pregnancy." Her hands tremble. "After the rogue attack, I came so close to losing the baby. I keep thinking about it."

"Hey," I step closer. "Security is tighter than it's ever been. The treaty's being signed tonight; every alpha is here, and everything Nathan put in place is holding. You and the baby are safe," I take her hand. "I promise." She nods her head. “Take a deep breathe in and slowly exhale.”

Her breathing evens out. She takes her medication and steadies herself, and we finish getting her ready. By the time we're done, she's stunning.

In the hall, my father waits at the head of the aisle. He sees Emma and his whole face changes. Soft, open, like she's the daughter he actually wanted. The expression I've spent my life waiting for, aimed at someone else. When his eyes find mine, they go flat with the hate of seeing me around.

I look away first.

"Lyra." Kyle appears beside me, already comfortable in his suit, best-man energy from head to toe. Nathan's best friend for as long as I can remember, and mine somewhere along the way. "Emma, you look ethereal. Lyra, you look gorgeous." He says it like he means both equally. My father scoffs at the second half; Kyle slides past it the way he always does. "Let's move. Nathan's losing his mind in there."

The entrance music starts.

We walk. The hall is full. Every pack member was present, the kind of turnout that only happens when something matters. I take my place beside Emma at the altar. Nathan's eyes glisten the moment he sees her. Everything else in the room quietly ceases to matter.

The ceremony is quiet and certain and exactly right. Rings. Vows. My father's eyes stay bright through all of it. My heart fills watching them. Two people I love most finding their way to each other and choosing to stay.

The reception opens up and the hall fills with noise and warmth. I find a corner and stay in it.

Across the room Caden stands apart, deep in conversation with someone, composed as ever. Landon has already found a cluster of women to charm, working the room like it's second nature. Dante has a girl attached to his arm, her grip possessive, her eyes doing the talking for her.

"Why are you standing in a corner?" Kyle materializes with two glasses.

"I'm comfortable here." His gaze drifts across the room and sharpens. "Why are those three alphas staring at you? Did you steal their firstborn?"

A laugh tries to rise. Grandma's voice clips in like a reflex, mask what you feel, and the urge passes. Kyle watches it happen and sighs.

"Your father is still pushing the superstition?" he asks.

"He thinks I'm the reason attacks happen at pack events. Because I'm always there when they do." I keep my voice even. "Pack members believe what my father believes."

He's quiet for a second. "So what's the story with those three?"

I catch my reflection on my phone screen without meaning to. Gold hue A thin ring of it around my iris, there and gone quickly. "I have a history with all three of them."

Kyle stares. "What? You can't just leave me with that."

"I've said enough. I'm not dragging you into this." I step around him and head back toward the mansion before my eyes decide to give me away.

Dante steps into my path.

"Running back to your hiding spot."

"I'm not running." He raised his eyebrow at my response.

"Dance with me." He takes my hand before I agree to anything.

I pull against his grip. "I don't dance. I'm sure your partner's a better fit."

Something cold moves through his onyx eyes. "She's not my partner."

"I said no. "I push him back.

He leans in, mouth near my ear. "Getting bold, Frost Princess. Should we go back to the old ways? Remind you what happens?"

The chill that runs through me has nothing to do with the night air. I remember exactly what the old ways looked like. Him, a crowd, my father somewhere in it, watching me break and calling it weakness.

"One dance," I say.

He smiles, charming and easy, like he didn't just threaten me, and leads me onto the floor. My body finds the rhythm without permission. His calloused hand presses against my palm and something pulls tight in my chest, the kind of tension that lives right on the edge of fear and something I refuse to name. He looks down at me and the weight of it is suffocating.

"You can move, Frost Princess." The mockery sits right under the surface. "You sure you want me as your mate? You really want to spend your life in hell with me?"

I don't answer. He believes Elder Beau's word that I pulled some trick to lure the three of them. Nothing I say will move that. I look away from him, straight into Caden across the room, whiskey in hand, watching. Those amber eyes find mine like a predator finding prey.

Dante pulls me sharply against him. "Focus on me."

Like hell. I keep my eyes elsewhere, and he knows it. His next move is quick. A sharp step that catches my heels off balance, and I go down hard. A low scatter of giggling moves through the crowd.

I should have known. I should have known he'd do exactly this.

Dante crouches in front of me, hand extended, performing the gentleman for anyone watching.

"Can't even dance," someone says.

"Useless alpha's daughter."

"Something bad always happens when she shows up."

The last voice cuts off when Dante glances toward it. I look around. No one from my family is close. Nobody's coming.

"Doesn't seem like your own pack is on your side," Dante says. I push his hand aside and get up on my own. My dress is ruined. I walk past him, and his fingers close around my wrist.

"You know why I hate you." He lets go before I can pull away. Dante believes I'm Caden's fated mate, and he hates Caden with everything he has. What he doesn't know is the full truth: Caden let that rumor breathe on purpose. He uses rumors the way other people use weapons, and whatever his reason was, I'm the one who paid for it.

"Hey. You alright?" Kyle is at my side at once, jaw tight, eyes on Dante. "That was deliberate."

I put a hand on his arm. "Leave it."

"How are you this calm right now?"

"Leave it, Kyle."

Then the howling starts. One long note, then another, cutting through the music like a blade. My skin prickles. I know the sound before my brain catches up.

Ferals.

The screaming starts a second later. People scatter, chairs overturn, wolves shift mid-stride, fur and bone and snarl filling the space where a reception was. I see the ferals already moving at the edge of the crowd. Already killing. Two she-wolves down near the east entrance, not moving.

I run toward them. My ruined dress works in my favor for once. The scent on it masks mine enough to keep the ferals from locking on.

I look for Emma.

She's struggling to shift, one hand pressed to her belly, face twisted with effort, eyes wild with horror. No. Not again. I move toward her, and a scream tears through everything, high and broken, and I stop.

A feral has her.

Nathan hits it from the side in wolf form before I reach her, ripping it off. But the damage is done. She writhes, blood pooling fast. I drop to my knees and press both hands to the wound, trying to hold it back.

She goes still before I can do anything. I check her pulse. Nothing.

Her eyes are half open. I close them with my fingers, slow and careful. You and the baby are safe. I promise. The heir Nathan waited for, the family they were building, gone in the same moment. The tears come before I can stop them, dropping onto her white gown.

"Emma." Nathan's voice is barely a voice. He pulls her into his arms and shakes her, like shaking her will change what his body already knows. "Emma! No, come back. You don't get to leave me."

"Brother." I can barely get it out. "She's gone."

"No." He looks at me, his eyes already changing, grief cracking open into something animal. "Save her. Do something. You're a

doctor, Lyra, do something."

He shifts before he finishes the sentence.

I scramble back. His wolf is all grief and no control, eyes wild, and he comes at me without recognizing me. I roll; claws catch air where I was. My father appears behind him, wolfsbane pressed to Nathan's neck. Nathan goes down hard. Silence settles over the wreckage of what was a wedding an hour ago. My father looks at Nathan with the kind of pain that breaks a person open. He looks at Emma the same way. Then his eyes find me, and everything soft in him disappears.

"You did this." That almost makes it worse. "I lost my daughter-in-law and my grandchild. Nathan lost his mate and his child. All because of you." His gaze sharpens. "Your eyes. They change color."

My hand moves to my face before I can stop it.

"You knew," I say.

"Yes. It's the mark of a cursed she-wolf."

My grandmother's voice rises against it. You are not cursed. You are special. I believed her. I still want to. Maybe she was lying.

"This pack has suffered enough because of your curse." His voice drops. "That ends tonight."

"What does that mean?"

Hugo hoists Nathan over his shoulder. Gina moves quietly to Emma's side, wrapping her carefully. My father takes my arm and walks me away from the wreckage, through the estate, into his study. He points to the papers on the desk.

The papers I signed. I read it clearly this time.

"You're marrying three alphas," My father says it.

I stare at him. "I signed a non-objection form."

"You signed a marriage contract." He doesn't blink. " Our pack needs this treaty and those alphas were ready to walk after the mate bond incident you pulled. So I made them an offer. You're the only unmated alpha bloodline daughter in the community. This solves the problem and gives us a united front against the ferals."

"You sold me." My voice comes out flat. "Like a breeder."

"You started this, pulling that trick." Dante's voice comes from the doorway.

"I didn't do anything," I whisper.

"Stop lying, Lyra." My father hisses it.

Of course. No one will ever believe me.

"Alphas don't share," I say.

"You're mateless," Landon's mouth curves. "So are we. A woman of alpha blood can only carry an alpha child. None of us have a choice."

I grab the papers and tear them in half.

"That changes nothing," Caden says, flattest of the three. "Those are copies. Each of us holds an original. As of tonight, Lyra is mated to three alphas. The announcement goes out in the morning."

My father nods and lights a cigarette. The smoke curls toward the ceiling.

"We'll be taking your daughter with us."

Before I can protest, the shock and exhaustion crash over me at once. Emma's face flashes behind my eyes, half open, the fear she wore right before the ceremony. The grief and this news together are too much. Every plan I made dissolves. I can't run. Not now. My head goes light, my vision blurs at the edges, and the darkness takes me before I can fight it.