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CHAPTER 3
~Kael's POV~
The moment her body sagged, falling to the ground unconscious, the room shifted.
The tension snapped—like a taut wire finally cut. Around me, my brothers exhaled, some in relief, some still brimming with the urge to fight, to claim what wasn't yet theirs.
So typical.
"She's stronger than we thought," Riven muttered beside me, flexing his fingers like he could still feel her skin under them. He shook his head, golden hair falling back from his icy blue eyes.
"She's volatile," Lucien said, slipping the dagger he'd been spinning back into his belt. His voice was easy, but his gaze never left her—sharp and too calculating to be casual.
I stayed where I was, arms crossed over my chest, every muscle coiled tight. My glacial stare remained locked on the girl chained to the stone floor.
I didn't need to move to feel the bond straining between us, pulling tighter with every shallow breath she took.
The wildness in her wasn't just strength. It was raw, untouched, untamable, and somehow beneath that fire was something filled with hatred.
I did not know if it was hatred born out of being captured, auctioned and sold to five men or just something deeper and older.
For a long beat, none of us spoke. The crackling of the torches filled the silence.
Then Talon, ever the one to break tension with poorly timed honesty, said bluntly, "Anyone going to talk about the big elephant in the room?"
I turned my head toward him, as did Riven, Darian, and Lucien. We did not speak but we all had the same expression on our faces—blank, arched brows.
"That she's mated to all five of us?" Talon asked, lifting an eyebrow.
Another few seconds of silence before Luien spoke. "That's true." He leaned lazily against the wall, though the tightness in his jaw betrayed him. "Is this some kind of joke or what?"
Riven crossed his arms tightly, scowling. "Maybe she's a witch," he muttered sharply. "Or maybe this isn't the Moon Goddess' blessing at all."
"Or maybe," Talon said easily, "it's exactly what it looks like."
Darian's voice cut through, steady but laced with tension. "Either way, the bond is real."
Lucien tilted his head, still watching her as if she might wake and bite him. "But we need to check facts."
"Does that matter?" Talon asked, folding his arms.
"It does," I finally answered, my voice cutting clean through the room.
Talon frowned. "How?"
I looked at each of them, one by one, making sure they understood. "Because now we have to wonder if it affects the reason she was bought in the first place. To sire sons and daughters for the future of our bloodline. To strengthen our reign. To prove to every pack that we stand above them."
Silence.
My brothers took in my words, heavy. Their breathing was deep and expectant.
"So what do we do with her?" Lucien asked finally, impatience thick in his voice.
I looked at our mate again. Even unconscious, she fought her bonds, fingers twitching restlessly.
"We move her," I said. "Put her in a more comfortable cell. But she stays chained until we know she won't run."
Riven growled low. "Chained like some common criminal?"
"Until we know she won't gut us in our sleep," I snapped back.
Lucien snorted. "Fair enough."
"And if it will suit your palate, a room, but the chains stay. We can't have her running away or being captured by a rival pack."
Darian was quiet, eyes locked on her, deep in some thought he didn't share.
Talon shifted his weight, his mouth pulling into a grin. He raised his hand like a schoolboy asking a question. "I know. Why not just marry her?"
Everyone turned.
Talon shrugged. "Seal the bond. Tie her to us. Problem solved," he analyzed, like some spoiled brat who got all he wanted.
And truthfully, he did. We all did.
We were five brothers, of the same father but different mothers. All born in the same year but in different months.
Growing up, we had to share everything, and when our father fell ill, we were each given the position to rule as Alphas of the pack, but our crowning shall be done when we find our wives or mates, if the Moon Goddess blesses us.
Now, we had a mate and an alpha born, but something gnawed at the back of my mind to be cautious.
"No," I said sharply, my voice cutting the room in half.
Talon blinked. "No?"
"She's ours," Darian stated, almost like he felt obliged to speak on her behalf.
"She's mine," Riven snapped, stepping closer like he might rip through the bond itself.
I turned slowly, pinning him with a stare sharp enough to cut flesh. "She's no one's yet," I said, my voice like frost. "Push her—and she'll reject us all."
Silence slammed into the room. The torches along the walls crackled loudly in the stillness.
Talon shifted uneasily. "What if she doesn't accept us?"
"She will," Darian said immediately, too sure. "She has no choice, remember. We bought her. We own her."
Lucien gave a lazy smirk, though his hands were clenched at his sides. "Eventually."
I watched them—my brothers, my rivals—and knew the truth they wouldn't say aloud.
The real danger wasn't her.
It was us. The bond was fire licking under our skins, and it wouldn't take much to turn it into an inferno.
"She has no idea who we are," Talon said after a beat. "Or why she's important."
I let a humorless smile tug at the corner of my mouth. "She'll find out soon enough."
I moved toward the door, boots silent against the stone floor. Still, I paused, looking back.
She stirred in her sleep, a low growl rumbling from her throat, her hands fisting in the chains like even unconsciousness wasn't strong enough to break her spirit.
My wolf, Kale, snarled inside my chest, urging me to claim her.
"Claim her. Now. Before the others do. Ours. Only ours."
I gritted my teeth, holding myself still by sheer force of will. I could feel their eyes on her. My brothers. My rivals.
And it clawed at something primal inside me, something savage that wanted to tear them apart just for looking.
I schooled my expression. She wasn't ready, and we weren't ready for her.
The bond already burned between us, half-formed and dangerous, and if I touched her now, if I gave in to what my wolf demanded, we'd all be undone.
I forced a breath through my nose, locking my instincts down hard.
"Prepare her new room," I ordered in a rough voice. "She wakes in comfort. But she stays chained."
"And after?" Riven asked.
I glanced back at her—wild, beautiful, furious even in sleep.
"After," I said, "we meet with the Council. We sleep on it. And tomorrow, we figure out what the hell we're going to do with a mate none of us were ready for."
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~Rhiannon's POV~
The first thing I felt was the throbbing in my head.
The second was the ache in my wrists, the heavy pull of cold iron biting into my skin.
I stirred slowly, blinking into the dim light filtering through the stone ceiling. My mouth tasted like dust and blood. My body hurt in ways I couldn't name—deep aches, shallow cuts, bruises on top of bruises.
For a wild moment, I forgot where I was. Then it all slammed back—the auction.
The five wolves.
The chains.
And now, this room.
Not the same stone cell as before. This one was... different, warmer, and cleaner. It was an actual room.
To some extent I almost wondered if the werewolves lived in a stone age, but I guess I got an answer to my question.
A thick blanket had been tossed over the thin mattress I lay on. The chains were still there, secured to a heavy iron ring bolted deep into the stone wall, but they were looser, not cutting off my circulation.
They hadn't let me go.
They were giving me just enough comfort to soften the edges of the cage.
My heart twisted painfully as another memory surfaced—father.
Pale, coughing up blood, lying in his bed back home.
I had crossed the border for him. I had risked everything for the moonlotus root tucked inside my satchel—and now it was gone, and I was here.
Trapped.
I shoved the thoughts down hard, breathing through the rising panic.
I couldn't afford to break.
The door creaked open and I tensed immediately, my body going rigid on the mattress.
Bootsteps. Slow. Measured.
The one in the center—the one whose gaze had pinned me in the auction room when his voice sealed my fate, offering one million for me—entered without hesitation.
Raven-black hair, glacial blue eyes, and dark clothes clinging to a body built for command.
He moved like he expected the room to obey him just for breathing in it.
Kael stopped a few feet away, arms loose at his sides, but his presence filled every inch of space between us.
For a long moment, he just watched me.
I glared back, refusing to look away.
"Your name," he said finally in a low voice. "Tell me."
I said nothing.
His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly, but he didn't push. If he had tried to force it, I might have bared my teeth.
I shifted slightly on the bed, testing the chains again. Loose, but not enough to run. Not yet.
He watched every movement with unsettling focus, like he was memorizing how I breathed, how I blinked.
I studied him back, dragging my gaze over him slowly. Tall. Solid. Dangerous in a way he didn't need to advertise.
There was a stillness to him that made my skin crawl—the way predators sometimes went utterly still before they pounced.
Behind him, I caught glimpses of the others through the open door—watching from a distance, shadows half-hidden by the stone walls. Golden blond hair, fiery red, burgundy brown, pale crystal blues flashing.
Five of them. Five alphas.
And somehow... somehow, the bond still buzzed faintly under my skin, half-formed and wild.
I clenched my hands into fists, feeling the raw heat of it.
"You're not going to tell me your name," he said finally, more statement than question.
"You didn't ask nicely," I said, my voice hoarse but steady.
Something flickered in his glacial eyes—amusement, maybe. Or annoyance.
Another long, heavy silence stretched between us.
Finally, I broke it. Pushing myself up with effort until I sat upright, I leveled a look at him. "Why did you buy me?"