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“Gamma Cain,” Theresa calls out rushing over, the train of her red dress dragging across the rich wood flooring of the room. Gods, the wavelength of her true emotions hit me again, and my legs shake. It beats against my stability in this weakened state, but I stand strong. “What seems to be the problem here? Are you defying an order from your alpha and king?”
“Yes.” No hesitation while those around us bare their teeth at that, snap them in our direction. All, except a tall woman who takes her place beside him. Their fingers intertwine and each gives a squeeze while their bond fills my chest with the first pleasant feeling since I walked out of Xadiel’s office: true mates. “My vow is to the Alpha King and his mate, our Luna. Not one or the other.”
“That’s a treasonous stance you’ve taken, Gamma.” Her cold eyes shift toward a set of guards coming closer. Not sure if they’re here to stop the fight or grab Cain, but I breathe in deep and begin centering myself. I forget about the shackles and the soreness in my limbs—ready to protect us—but the near suffocating throb of a vision hits me at the most inopportune moment.
No matter how much I fight it, the scene before me flickers and a hidden room appears with a woman attached to a wall just like I’d been. She’s older and unkept, the frailty of her body causing my chest to constrict because her health is declining and fast.
Then, there are her eyes.
So much like those of the man who’s broken my heart, and what’s more shocking is how they’re staring back at me. They’re warm with hope and a near suffocating sadness; I swallow hard.
“Help me, sweet girl. Only you can find me.”
She’s the voice I heard a few days ago. Who told me not to leave.
However, I’m yanked from the vision by the sudden slam of the large, ornate doors. The wooden frame cracks upon the harsh impact, and a painting falls to the ground. Power radiates throughout the room, nearly crushing in its force, and every shifter bares its neck to the huge black wolf who’s currently staring at me.
I don’t bow, though.
Not for him. Not for anyone.
His chest rumbles and his eyes turn molten, the bright gold swirling with black as both man and beast take a step closer. Then another. Xadiel towers over every man in this room, his size so imposing that those who’d been serving drinks scurry out with their heads bowed so low they almost kneel.
Not that he pays them any mind. No. His heated stare is on me and my appearance, lips curling over his teeth while saliva drips from those large fangs. Teeth that have blood on them.
From head to toe, I’m taken in and King Xadiel isn’t happy at the sight of my dirty white dress and the heavy metal around my wrists and ankles.
Displeasure. Anger. Yet the strongest emotion is possession.
It’s lustful and fills the room as another snarl rips through his chest, causing many to whimper. They take a stand and step back, many now resting against walls and out of the way, expecting my bloodshed to paint the floors.
How wrong they are.
His ire isn’t directed at me.
Yet I don’t take my eyes off him in distrust. Not that I could if I wanted to.
The mate bond, while not fully established, is damming me.
The bite on my neck throbs once again, harsher this time, and I’m unable to control the way I react to his scent, woodsy with a hint of mint. Or the way his strength makes my thighs clench in need.
Being this close to him is a punishment. More so than being tossed inside that dirty room.
“Nephew, let us handle her. Don’t dirty your—”
“Silence.” Garbled and deadly, the single word leaves the muzzle of his wolf, and the stunned expressions around us cause me to take a step back. So does gamma Cain and his wife, placing themselves now between me and their alpha as my mate is the biggest threat to my life. Not that it stops the animal who slowly begins to shift; bones snap and realign while the soft, thick fur becomes tanned, bare skin. His snout is the last to change, his sharp jaw and golden eyes forcing a gasp from my parted lips.
Why must he be so beautiful. A literal God walking among us.
Jealous energy fills me then, a consuming rage at the many eyes watching him, yet when I flick my stare around the grand room, I find something surprising. Females all around me close their eyes while their faces fully turn toward the floor. Even the men avoid our direction.
All except his family, the gamma, and a guard who rushes over with a pair of trousers in his shaky hands.
I hate the way him stepping into the bottoms and then tucking his thickness inside affects me. How the flaring of his nostrils and then low vibrations in his chest cause a rush of wetness to drip from my sex while at the same time soothing my emotions.
It’s not fair.
I need to get out of here.
