Page 12 of Bound to Four Alphas (Silverthorn Alphas #1)

The alphas had been called away by the time her heat broke.

It was like icy water had been thrown in her face.

Every moan, every whimper, every single mortifying detail of her actions had been thrown into stark, harsh reality. Gone was the lust-addled omega telling her to submit, to beg, to obey.

The things she had done. The things they had done to her.

She buried her face in her hands, her cheeks growing hot as memory after memory rocked through her.

Rania, who had collected her from the chamber and taken her upstairs to bathe, eat, and rest, simply laughed.

“You don’t need to be ashamed, Selena,” she said, throwing back the curtains of the bedchamber where Selena would be staying from now on. “It’s all completely natural.”

Selena gaped at her. “But I … but they….”

Rania took her hand. “I know it’s overwhelming. You’ve never properly handed yourself over to your omega before, but it gets easier. You’re bonded for life; you shouldn’t have any shame about what you do with your mates. They certainly seem entirely too smug for their own good.”

She groaned, unable to even contemplate how she was supposed to look any of them in the face ever again. It was all far too much. She had been so wanton, so shameless for them, what must they think of her?

“Selena,” Rania said, her voice turning from gentle amusement to complete no-nonsense, “I know that you grew up on the edges of a human pack, and they have entirely different sensibilities. They hide their omegas, see them as a source of shame. Here, amongst the magical kind, omegas are to be revered. Trust me, judgment for your actions is the farthest thing from anyone’s mind. A mating ceremony is to be celebrated. Do you understand?”

Selena nodded meekly, trying to push down the waves of embarrassment and trust that Rania spoke the truth. But still, it wasn’t even just the mating. It was how open she’d been, how honest. Her heat had driven away all of her fear, but now that she was firmly back in her right mind, she couldn’t help the small tendrils that still flickered on the edges of her consciousness. There was still so much she didn’t know about the four alphas who were to be her mates for life.

“What happens now?” she asked Rania, fiddling with a strand of her hair.

“First things first—there will be a ball tonight.”

Her mouth fell open in shock. “A ball? Why on earth would we have a ball?”

Rania raised a rather unimpressed eyebrow. “As I said, your mating ceremony is to be celebrated. So we will celebrate it. Besides, Kaelen and Ronan have been away from their territories for nearly two weeks now, and both are getting anxious about the state of affairs. Delegations from the wolf and dragon clans are expected to arrive this afternoon.”

“Delegations, what? Why would they come here?”

“You do know who they are, don’t you?”

“Of course,” replied Selena, a little too quickly. She knew they were important; Elian had mocked Kaelen by calling him ‘king’ a few times, but as for the specifics…

“Ronan is the alpha of the western wolf pack. The most powerful in the five realms since he killed the previous alpha of the northern clan, Landon. He commands hundreds, if not thousands, of wolf shifters. The dragon clans are slightly more pompous, they have royal dynasties. Kaelen is ruler of the largest clan; he is the King of Embers, son of the Great Burning Moon from whom all dragons are descended, as far as the legend goes. He too commands armies. As you can imagine, it was quite the shock to both clans when their leaders suddenly left, not sending word for days.”

Selena felt her cheeks grow hot. “I hope I didn’t cause any issues,” she said, her voice small.

Rania laughed. “Don’t worry, they had me send word as soon as they arrived here. We’ve been communicating with both clans for days. They are very curious about the strange young omega who’s managed to bond the four most powerful beings in this realm.”

As she spoke, she beckoned in a few priestesses all laden with silks and jewels, each shade richer than the last, sparkling in the rays of light pouring in through the glass windows.

“You keep mentioning the realm, I thought we lived in the Silverthorn Kingdom?” Selena asked, intent on answers despite the sumptuous gowns paraded before her, a rainbow of sheer gauzy skirts and sleek satin bodices.

“Hah,” Rania’s nose crinkled. “The humans would certainly love you to think that. But no. Long before they established their squat, this land was the First Realm, domain of the Forest God. One of five.”

“Have you been to any of the others?”

“One or two,” Rania smiled.

“What are they like?”

“The same, but different. The human threat is everywhere, and the old Gods aren’t acting. War seems more and more inevitable.”

Selena swallowed, her throat thick. She was a human, but she recognized the Silverthorn Kingdom as exactly what it was. Stories of the cruelty of the King, of his son Damien, would occasionally make their way to the village.

She accepted a box of glittering jewels, searching through them absent-mindedly. “What about Malek? He’s a king too, isn’t he?”

She could not help the tightness in her voice. During her heat, Malek had simply been one of her alphas, no threat to her at all. But now, the familiar fear had crept back, and no matter how much she reassured herself that he had not hurt her when she was at her most vulnerable, she couldn’t stop the wariness.

“Malek was not crowned,” Rania said, her voice hard. A surprising wave of outrage hit Selena at the aggression, the venom with which she spoke.

Rania must have seen the look on her face, as her voice softened. “I am sorry. I do not mean any disrespect. Malek is the oldest of the beings that came from the dark places after the Forest God left. He is the very embodiment of my God’s absence. Plus, the nightmares are not friendly. Most of them are mindless, raging beasts who would tear you limb from limb. Malek is one of the rare ones. He is sentient, somewhat reasonable. But make no mistake, Selena, he is deadly.”

Selena swallowed, her affront melting away to nervousness. She had suspected as much. But still, the rage she had felt when Rania had spoken harshly about Malek was entirely unexpected. Could it be that she was starting to care for them?

She shook her head. No. It was the heat, nothing more. She knew nothing about them, they barely knew her. This arrangement was the magic. That was it. She was playing her part and in return would be kept safe. She would be a fool to think that they would ever actually care for her.

But still, it would be useful to learn all she could about them.

“Elian isn’t a king, or the leader of his people. How is he as powerful as the others?”

It was a question that had played on her mind for a while, but she hadn’t asked for fear of offending him in front of the other alphas. They were all leaders of their people, all but Elian. And yet he commanded the same respect as they did.

“The Fae are different to the shifter clans,” said Rania after a while. “For one, we live much, much longer. Fathers sit thrones for a millennia while their sons reap glory after glory. Power, respect, all of these things can be accrued without leading. If Elian wanted to rule, he would. Phaendar the Blight is mighty indeed, but he is not as strong as his son. Whatever reasons Elian has, they are his own. You are better placed to ask him.”

Selena nodded, making a note to corner her slippery mate at some point during this ball. As gown after gown was presented to her, trunk after trunk of beautiful jewelry, she realized she was entirely out of her depth.

“You’ve got a lot of gorgeous clothes,” she said, picking up a sage green gown and holding it against herself. “Do you host a lot of balls?”

Rania gave her a strange look. “These aren’t ours,” she said. “What possible use would we have for them?”

“But, where else would they come from?”

Rania sighed, casting her eyes upward. “Child, you really do have a lot to learn. These are from Kaelen. He commissioned you an entire wardrobe while you were in heat. These all belong to you now.”

Selena gaped at the hordes of treasure before her, her mind going blank. This. All of this had come from Kaelen? All of it was hers? She had never owned more than three dresses at all back home, all plain and in various states of disrepair. Something clenched inside her, tense and uncomfortable at Kaelen’s presumption. What, just because she was a poor little human omega, he had to provide her with everything down to the clothes on her back?

Another voice, her omega, primped and preened at the thought of him looking after her, bathing her in jewels, but she shoved it down. She was more than just her omega, and right now her pride was smarting.

“So what, they don’t think I’m capable of even dressing myself?”

“Do you have any clothes that would be suitable for a ball?”

“Well, no, but—”

“And do you have any means of getting a ballgown suitable for tonight?”

“That’s not what I—”

“It’s really very simple, Selena,” Rania said, adopting the now-familiar tone that betrayed just how old she really was. “Your alphas recognize the responsibility that has been put on you. You have been driven out of your home, taken against your will, and given the impossible choice to bond to four alphas who you only met a few days ago. You have to balance them, balance their magic, learn a huge deal about them and their world, and live up to this prophecy. It would be an enormous undertaking for anyone. Kaelen is doing whatever he can to make life as easy as possible for you so you can focus on the things that really matter. That is his job.”

Shame welled deep in her stomach, and she bit her lip, picking up another dress. “I … I didn’t think about it that way.”

“In future you might consider that your alphas are not trying to insult you by looking after you. I’m sure they’re very well aware that you can take care of yourself. But just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should have to. Are we clear?”

“Yes,” replied Selena meekly.

“Excellent. Now, choose which dress you would like to wear tonight, and we’ll begin getting you ready.”

What followed was hours of preparation, the likes of which left Selena slightly dizzy. After carefully selecting which dress she wanted to wear, Rania showed her a selection of jewels that might complement it nicely. Blues and pinks and greens and golds whirled together in a sparkling miasma of beauty, until her eyes were blurring.

Then, every inch of her was scrubbed and she was sat down, her long dark hair wrapped around heated rods of metal until it hung in beautiful curls down her back. Her face was painted with red ochre and black kohl, her fingernails buffed into a perfect shine.

When night had fallen and the sounds of laughter and music began drifting up through the window, Selena was finally ready. As the priestesses fluttered around her, cooing in delight, there was a firm knock at the door.

Selena turned as Rania went to open it, her heart in her throat. For waiting, dressed in sweeping dark robes, antlers adorned with silver chains, was Malek.