Page 3 of Bound to Four Alphas (Silverthorn Alphas #1)

The beast—creature—whatever it was had not yet broken the tree line. Selena was openly sobbing now, the waft of sulfur and blood thick on the air, and try as she might, she couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down her face.

The hawk seemed utterly unmoved by her distress.

“Malek! It’s been so long since I’ve heard a word from you.” His voice was delighted, feathers rustling. “You never come by the Marble Halls, why is that?”

The creature finally broke free of the tree line, and Selena whimpered, her whole body frozen in place.

It was huge. A great, slavering beast that seemed half encased in shadow. From its body, Selena would guess that it was some kind of black lion, but its head was from no creature she had ever seen. Some nightmarish mix of bear, wolf, and buck, with a gaping maw and huge antlers reaching up into the sky. Its tail lashed around its form, thick and spiked at the end. And the sheer size of it—it was bigger than a horse, bigger than the great oxen that pulled the plows in the field.

“Elian.” Its voice was like the cracking of stone. “What are you doing here?”

“Same as you.” The hawk extended his wings in a lazy stretch. “I felt the magic come alive.”

The monster growled, and the hawk jumped from his perch to land on the ground, fearless in the face of the threat before him.

“And it’s her?” asked the monster, silent as it paced closer. Selena scrambled further back, her hands digging uselessly in the ground for something, anything—

The hawk’s head cocked round. “Yep! Sacrificed to the forest by the humans.”

The monster snarled at the mention of her kidnappers, turning his nose to the forest to scent the air. “And are they—”

He was cut off as a red-gold beast, bright as lava, shot down from the sky with claws extended, fire pouring forth from its mouth.

Selena screamed as the beast made impact with the monster, the two swiftly turning into a blur of teeth and snarling. The monster snapped its great jaws towards the beast—a dragon , she realized with a start. The dragon bellowed in response, digging its claws deep into the monster’s fur as the two mighty creatures clashed.

“Well, shit.” The hawk hopped closer to her, settling its wings. “This makes things a little more complicated.”

Selena couldn’t summon a response, too focused on the beasts before her, tugging and wrenching, desperate to just get away —

The hawk snapped its beak at her. “Stop doing that, little dove, or you’re going to injure yourself!”

“But they’re—we have to— I have to get out of here !” she cried, twisting this way and that.

The hawk sighed and shook itself. Selena watched, mesmerized, as the feathers melted away, revealing a man.

Except he wasn’t a man. He couldn’t be. No man was that beautiful.

As he eyed her with slight irritation, she could do nothing but drink him in. Golden hair curled around his temples like some kind of halo, his green eyes shining and vibrant in the darkness. His sharp cheekbones swooped upwards to ears that tapered into long, fine points. He was tall, taller than any man Selena had ever met, his body lean and chiseled with muscle.

For a moment she forgot about the battling creatures behind him, so enrapt was she in the devastating beauty of his face.

“They’re not going to hurt you,” he said, his voice low and purring. “I don’t think they’ll even hurt each other. You see, little dove, they’ve come all this way because you’ve done something.”

“W-what have I done?” Her voice cracked, and he tutted, kneeling before her, impervious to the bellows and snarls behind him.

“You’ve woken up the magic. Magic that I haven’t felt since before The Breaking. Magic that these two are too young to have known, but are nevertheless tied to.” He reached out a hand and tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear, the intimate gesture flooding her body with heat. “Little Omega, what have you done?”

She was saved from replying by yet another beast, a wolf, leaping into the clearing, its yellow eyes assessing the scene before snarling and launching towards the fight.

“Malek,” it roared, and Selena flinched at the voice. “Malek, stop!”

The dragon reared back, fire dripping from its teeth, and fell into step with the wolf. Now, both turned on the monster, growls reverberating through the clearing. The monster’s hackles rose as it snarled back, but it backed away, head lowering.

“Now, now,” the man sprang up, sauntering towards the three beasts as if he didn’t have a care in the world, “is that any way to treat a fellow visitor? I know you were raised in a barn, Ronan, but you really don’t have to be quite so rude.”

The wolf pounced forward with a snarl, but the man didn’t flinch; if anything, his grin got wider.

“Elian,” the dragon turned towards the man, “don’t antagonize him.”

“Kaelen!” Elian threw his arms up in greeting. “How wonderful to see you! I trust you got Father’s letter today? And I do hope you enjoyed the flowers I sent along with it.”

Now, it was the dragon’s turn to launch forward, wings curving in a great arc, teeth glinting. But instead of attacking, his skin rippled, scales falling away as he too transformed into something that looked like a man but wasn’t.

His stern face, all hard angles and planes, was pulled into a grimace, dark red hair tumbling to his shoulders and brushing the polished brown leather that stretched over his muscles. He was just as tall as Elian but broader, older.

But hadn’t Elian said the dragon was younger? Selena bit her cheek so hard that the metallic tang of blood exploded across her tongue. She had to remember she wasn’t dealing with humans. She was facing the beasts of the forest.

“Malek,” said Kaelen as he strode past Elian, ignoring him entirely, “transform. Now.”

The monster bristled slightly at Kaelen’s harsh voice, but when the wolf released a great snarl, he lowered his head in obedience, his form melting into shadow. The darkness cleared and what was left was something out of a nightmare. He was tall, cloaked in dark robes, deathly pale skin giving way to blackened claws and the same antlers as his monstrous form. His eyes were completely black, no whites showing, and when he opened his mouth Selena could see the fangs shining.

“Kaelen, I don’t mean you any harm.” Malek held up his hands, and Selena nearly choked. It was as if this monster was afraid of Kaelen, but Selena could not see how that was possible. Surely it should be the other way around?

Kaelen didn’t respond, his eyes not leaving Malek’s form, muscles tense.

“Your turn, Ronan,” sang Elian, skipping towards the huge wolf. “Be a good pup and shed some fur!”

The wolf, Ronan, bared his teeth before transforming. Much like Elian, his fur receded, his form growing smaller, until a man stood dressed in hides and leather.

He was enormous. By far the biggest of the group. His height, the sheer width of him, made panic crawl up Selena’s throat. His long dark hair was pulled back, gleaming yellow eyes shining from a face half-hidden by a dark beard. His ruddy skin was littered with scars that danced as his muscles tensed.

“Watch your mouth, Fae.”

Elian chuckled, “Easy there, doggy, you’ll get no trouble from me.”

“Elian,” Kaelan warned again, turning away from Malek.

“A thousand apologies, Your Majesty,” Elian stepped into a low, mocking bow with a flourish of his wrist. “Now, do you think we should be expecting anybody else? One of the centaurs, perhaps? Or a member of the northern wolf pack?”

Kaelen snarled and grasped Elian by the throat, copper eyes blazing. “You dare even joke about that?”

Elian smirked, and in a blink, Kaelen was holding nothing but shadow, grasping at thin air.

“Perhaps we should greet the fifth member of our little entourage,” the voice came from the tree above her, and Selena glanced up to see Elian reclining in a branch. “I’ve already said hello to our little dove, but perhaps you may also want to make her acquaintance.”

Three sets of eyes turned to her, seeming to notice her for the first time, and she shrank back.

“So you’re what I can smell,” said Ronan, stepping forward with an easy grin. “Hello, Omega.”

She swallowed, her mouth dry, fear pulsing through her. They were alphas. All four of them. She could scent them all clearly now, deep and seductive, nothing like the stench from the village alphas. But she was only too aware of how vulnerable she was, tied to the tree, an offering trussed up and ready for them.

Ronan’s nose twitched, and his expression grew troubled. “Easy there, we’re not going to hurt you.”

Selena tried to get to her feet, but her restraints meant she could only get as far as her knees. Nevertheless, she tried to make herself as big as possible, baring her teeth, her mind telling her that if she couldn’t run, then she might as well fight . There was a rock by her hand, small, but hard. Her fingers curled around it.

“This is it?” Kaelen’s voice was incredulous, offended. “This little girl woke up the magic of the Forest God? Elian, if this is one of your tricks, so help me— ”

“It’s not a trick,” Malek’s voice was quiet, but certain. “I know the magic. I was born of it. This Omega disrupted something. The forest is unhappy.”

“Finally, the elusive monster king wants to spill his secrets,” Elian said. “Please, do share, I’ve been waiting for this for centuries— ”

“If the forest was unhappy, I’d be the first to know about it,” Ronan growled. “What could she have possibly done?”

“Maybe this is the humans,” said Kaelen, his expression turning murderous. “Maybe they’re finally making their move.”

“I fail to see how the humans have anything to do with this.”

“This wouldn’t be the first time they’ve tried something.”

Their voices turned angry, bleeding into each other, a storm inside her head.

“If the humans are moving against us, we’d know about it—”

“ — whispers from the shadows, something big is coming—”

Selena shrank away, something growing in her, not fear anymore, but anger .

“—ever since The Breaking, I knew it wasn’t over—”

“—want a war, then we’ll give them one!”

“Enough!” she shouted, and something inside deep below, deep in the earth beneath her, snapped.

The effect was instant.

A blast of silver light exploded from the tree, racing through the clearing, encompassing them all, bathing them in starlight.

Selena could only watch as silver threads, tiny chains, wove their way between the four alphas, binding them together. She shrank back as each of them howled in shock and outrage, wrenching this way and that, trying to escape the tendrils.

She sucked in a breath, huddling back into the tree, heart racing.

And then, just like that, it was over.

The alphas staggered to their feet, clutching their chests, looking wildly between each other. Elian had fallen from the tree, landing as gracefully as a cat, and Ronan turned to him. Lightning sparked from all their skin.

“You! What did you do?” he roared, descending on him.

“I didn’t do anything!” Elian replied, shoving past him. As they made contact, the lightning cracked between them, and they fell away from each other, bellowing in pain.

“Fuck,” growled Ronan, staggering back to his feet, rubbing his arm. “What the fuck was that?”

Elian whipped around, eyes narrowing on Selena. The other three alphas paused too, their brows furrowed, expressions grim.

They seemed to reach some conclusion at the same time.

“Is it possible?” asked Kaelen.

Elian’s jaw was tight, “Only in the ancient tomes. But yes, it’s technically possible.”

He turned to the other alphas, running a hand through his hair. “The forest has bound the four of us into a pack.”