Page 6 of Owned by Four Alphas (Silverthorn Alphas #2)

Even Elian had to admit, the dragon managed to handle the situation spectacularly. Just as he knew Kaelen would.

It was only to be expected that he would have a foul temper about it, and Elian wasn’t at all ashamed to admit that the barely concealed fury on the dragon’s face made him laugh all the harder.

“Elian?” Selena asked, her voice pitching upwards.

“Fucking Fae,” Ronan growled, filling his cup near to the brim.

“That was magnificent, Selena, truly brilliant,” Elian managed to choke out. “That’ll teach the old pervert a lesson or two.”

Selena turned to Kaelen, who looked about ready to shift into a dragon then and there and set him on fire. Now that would be quite the entertainment.

“Kaelen, what is he talking about?”

“Sarya isn’t his daughter, she’s his mate,” Kaelen bit out, struggling to keep his expression neutral.

“ What? ”

Elian raised his goblet. “Her father owed Hagas a huge debt of gold. Sarya was the deal they struck instead. A barbaric practice that should be ridiculed. Trust me, nobody in this hall will have any sympathy for Hagas whatsoever.”

“B-but…you told me…you said she was his daughter !”

“Ah!” Elian raised a finger, “No, I didn’t. You assumed she was his daughter. I simply failed to correct your assumption.”

Ronan slammed his goblet down onto the table beside him, scent thick with aggression. “You arrogant little shit Elian! I should rip your—”

“Ronan,” Kaelen’s smile was strained, his muscles bunching under his fine red leathers. “Save the threats for later. For now, we need to appear careless and happy.”

“ Appear ,” snarled Ronan. “It’s almost fucking appearances with you. No matter that he just embarrassed our mate in front of all these people!”

“Ronan!” Kaelen was losing his composure now, “If this is about Phane and Vallin, save it . We can discuss it later.”

“We shouldn’t have had to discuss it in the first place! I thought we agreed to present a united front, and you won’t even discipline your own young!”

“I don’t have the time to babysit them, as I’m too busy trying to keep this pack safe from the many different attacks it currently faces. Including Ordovic, which is something I had thought you would be able to deal with!”

Selena was getting agitated now, her head whipping between Kaelen and Ronan, her hands clutching her stomach. Her breaths were coming in shorter, her silver eyes growing teary.

“Perhaps,” Malek’s voice was frosty and cool, “you two might take that particular discussion elsewhere. Or had you forgotten that your mate is currently in distress?”

“Fuck, sweetness, I’m sorry, it’s just—”

“Ronan,” Kaelen’s voice brooked no room for argument, “it would be incredibly useful if you could go and join the wolves and dragons. Explain this little mishap to them.”

Ronan paused, before nodding stiffly, grasping his goblet and lumbering over to the shifters with a well-honed easy smile on his face. Fortunately, everyone seemed preoccupied with a troupe of performers in the center of the hall, acting out the defeat of Theldir around an ornately carved ten-foot-tall marble volcano.

Selena shrank into the chair between Elian and Kaelen, anger rolling off her in waves.

“Selena,” Elian said, pushing his bottom lip out and looking at her from under his eyelashes, letting his pheromones roll freely from him. “I’m sorry, little dove, I only wanted a bit of fun!”

“A bit of fun!” Selena’s voice was full of fury. “What about Sarya, do you think that was fun for her? Being forced to mate that—that— pig and then being publicly humiliated over it?”

Elian sighed. He had suspected that perhaps this may have been a bad idea, but Hagas had been rubbing him the wrong way for years. And this way, Selena could show to the Fae that she had some teeth. He honestly couldn’t see what the problem was.

“That’s not how our kind work, little dove. All these strapping males will have seen how elegantly she handled the situation, how demure and polite she is to her mate despite the unfortunate circumstances of their match, and how utterly pathetic Hagas is. I’m willing to bet he’ll have at least five challenges to the mating bond before the night is out. She’ll end up with someone much better suited. Really, I did you and her a favor.”

Selena opened her mouth to argue, but Kaelen got there first, his voice crackling over Elian’s skin. “Do not speak to her like that.”

“Like what? With honesty?”

“With manipulation. You undermined her by tricking her into doing something she did not consent to do, no matter what the outcome. How do you think our people will react to a ruler who can be so easily led astray by her mate?”

Elian scoffed, sitting higher in his chair, “Oh, so now you’re the champion of her freedom. A few hours ago, you were threatening to physically force her into submission.”

“That is not what I was doing.”

“Hah! Who’s trying to manipulate her now?”

“ Stop it ,” Selena hissed, wiping furiously at her eyes and the tears that threatened to fall. Instantly, Elian felt a bolt of shame, wincing at the sight of his mate so upset.

Perhaps he had misjudged this particular incident.

Kaelen tried to pull her into his side, but she pushed him away. A flash of hurt crossed the dragon’s face, and his hands balled into fists.

“Both of you,” she said, her voice wobbling slightly, “you’re just as bad as each other. Trying to control me, undermining me, tricking me. Just because Kaelen was a controlling dick earlier, it doesn’t give you permission to also act like a fool!” She jabbed a finger into Elian’s chest.

“And you!” She turned to Kaelen, “You don’t get to act all high and mighty after this morning because he thought it would be funny to purposefully mislead me. Both of you are in the wrong!”

Elian exchanged a glance with the dragon. Kaelen’s jaw was working, and he ran a hand through his dark red hair, eyes flashing. Raising an eyebrow, Elian fought back a scoff. There was no chance in this life or the next that Kaelen would ever apologize to—

“I’m sorry,” the dragon said, and Elian’s mouth fell open.

Selena gaped at him, her eyes wide and hopeful. It was in moments like these that Elian remembered how young she was, how soft. She sat next to an enormous brute of a dragon shifter, easily twice her size, all hard muscle and anger where she was soft round curves and kindness, and she still looked at him with baseless yearning.

Kaelen’s jaw clenched again, his eyes fixed on some distant spot. “I overstepped this morning. I do have concerns about your safety, concerns that it would please me greatly to discuss with you, but I was wrong to try and impose my will on you like I did.”

“So are you going to let me explore the city alone, or with Malek, without getting so angry?”

Kaelen opened his mouth, then shut it again. A moment passed. A moment too long. And just like that, all of Selena’s gentle hope was gone again, melted away back into fury.

Stupid dragon.

“What is the point of an apology if nothing changes!” she hissed.

“I thought I made it clear that I won’t compromise anything when it comes to your safety!”

“My safety wasn’t at risk. Elian’s guards were there, Malek was there, you were all of thirty seconds away—”

“Like I was when Phaendar captured you? When the humans at the temple nearly took you from me?”

“You can’t use that as an excuse to keep me locked away for the rest of my life!”

“I won’t apologize for trying to keep you safe!”

Elian sighed, taking a swig of wine, watching the dancers twirl around the ridiculous volcano statue. “Some celebration this is.”

Selena whirled on him, her hair practically crackling with magic, her eyes glowing eerily bright in the low candlelight of the hall, “Don’t act like you’re some innocent bystander caught in the middle of this, Elian, you let me humiliate myself —”

“Omega,” Kaelen growled as Selena’s voice grew louder, drawing the attention of some nearby Fae. Malek shifted, the shadows swirling around him vibrating through the air, agitated and unsettled.

“Don’t, Kaelen, just don’t. I’ve had enough of you telling me what to do!”

Elian laughed at the furious scowl on Kaelen’s face, unable to stop himself leaning over and poking further. “She really has. I tried to explain to her that you take it literally when she fills your head with I belong to you and all that when you have your cock in her—”

Kaelen’s magic lashed out, striking Elian in the side, waves of burning fire lancing through him.

“ Ow , Kaelen, what the fuck —”

“Elian, I can’t believe you would—Kaelen, that is not helping —”-

“Maybe I should take Selena back to our chambers,” Malek interjected. “Her magic seems pretty unstable—”

“Oh, so the golden boy finally deigns to speak,” Elian snarked, rubbing his side where Kaelen’s fire had burned a hole through his shirt. His expensive spider-silk shirt.

“You leave him out of this!”

“No, no,” Elian continued, pain and shock biting at him, “He’s part of the pack, I think he’s spent far too long silently letting us get all the heat. Is it nice, Malek? Not contributing anything and then lapping up Selena’s affection when we piss her off for actually doing something —”

“Benellane, I swear to all the gods—”

“— dare you talk to him like that for treating me with a modicum of respect—”

“I have been doing something,” Malek’s voice was wounded despite his strange, stony face. “I’ve been trying to help my Nightwalkers. You know that. It benefits everyone for them to learn civility.”

“ Nightwalkers ,” Elian replied with a scoff. “I’ve been dissecting your kind for centuries. There’s not an ounce of civility to be found.”

Malek’s shadows thrashed outwards, and Kaelen curled instinctively around Selena, but her own magic swelled and repelled him. Her skin was glowing silver now, her eyes iridescent, laced with divine fury.

A frisson of fear shot down Elian’s spine. He lifted his hands. “Look, I didn’t mean—”

The music swelled. And the volcano, the ridiculous, towering statue at the center of the hall, exploded in a great booming arc of silver light.

The hall fell silent as chunks of marble thudded to the floor, thankfully going no further than a few tables loaded with food.

Everyone turned to Selena.

Selena. Whose magic had lashed outwards in her anger. Uncontrolled. Dangerous.

She stared at the shattered remains of the volcano in shock, her mouth opening and closing, the last glow of silver fading from her skin. Her eyes widened. Her terror was palpable.

Without a word, she stumbled out of her chair, tears falling down her cheeks.

“I didn’t…I…I’m sorry, I…”

She turned on her heel and fled. Kaelen jumped to his feet to follow her, but Ronan was there, his teeth bared.

“I think you’ve done enough,” he growled, before storming out after their mate. Malek looked back over the hall and swallowed, before following after Ronan, his shadows jittering around him.

Kaelen, ever the handler of unfortunate situations, turned to the hall with a wide smile, “The magic of the Forest God!” he called, lifting his goblet yet again, “Lest we forget its power.”

He drained his goblet, falling back into his seat as people raised uneasy toasts, their eyes still fixed on the destruction in the center of the hall.

“I thought you said she was getting better at controlling it,” Kaelen bit out under his breath, not looking at Elian.

“She is,” replied Elian, “but I think the pregnancy is causing some instability. She has a long way to go. And she’s only getting stronger.”

“A hunk of rock today,” Kaelen breathed.

“A mountain tomorrow,” Elian finished.