Page 7

Aliya

A FTER CLEANING THE table from dinner, I wandered around the castle in search of them. I didn’t really know what I was going to say, but I hoped the right words would come to me in the moment.

They weren’t in the den or anywhere outside, so I ventured up to the royal chambers where I had set up rooms for them. I could hear muffled voices carrying down the wide hallway as soon as I emerged from the staircase.

They were in the room in which Jax had found me this morning.

Okay, I can do this. Offer them whatever they want. Food, riches, even my body if that’s what it takes to make them stay.

Though, at this point, that wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice. I didn’t understand this intense desire for both men, but I was more than willing to give in to it.

I walked up to the door and lifted my hand to knock, but something stopped me before my knuckles could touch the wood. I paused there, curious at this strange hesitation.

“I saw the way you touched her at dinner,” Jax’s voice said angrily on the other side. “You can’t fool me, brother !”

“You’re one to talk,” Tannin countered. “Your hands were all over her when she fell in your lap, and you were looking at her like you wanted to bend her over the table!”

My breath hitched. They were talking about me. My intuition told me to listen in, and though I felt slightly guilty for eavesdropping, I was also burning with curiosity. So I hunched down and peeked one eye into the keyhole.

Tannin was leaning against the bed post, his arms folded, and Jax was pacing across the floor, moving in and out of my limited scope of sight.

“Ugh! I didn’t want to say anything, but I’ve bonded to her,” Jax said.

Bonded? I’d only heard that term in reference to...

“You what?” Tannin growled.

“I know,” Jax shot at him. “I tried to deny it, and I’m trying very hard to fight it. We don’t get to choose who the mate bond connects with, okay?”

“That’s not possible,” Tannin said, shaking his head.

“Why? Because she’s a Wielder? Or because she’s the Varinyan princess? Trust me, I’m aware of the irony.”

Tannin pushed away from the bed post. “No, because I’ve bonded to her. She’s mine.”

Jax immediately stopped his pacing and stared at Tannin. “No, you didn’t,” he seethed.

“Yes, I did,” Tannin asserted. “I felt the stirrings of it last night, before you even knew she existed.”

Jax shook his head, tapping his foot. “That’s not possible. Two men can’t bond to the same woman.”

“I know, and yet here we are,” Tannin said. “So, what do we do about this?”

Jax shrugged arrogantly. “Well, as Alpha, I have right of first choice.”

“Bullshit!” Tannin barked, stomping up to within inches of him. “That right doesn’t apply when a mate bond is present.”

“But if you’re saying that we’re both meant to be with her, then we have to settle this.” Jax argued, puffing up his chest. “And the way to settle the dispute of who gets to claim her is to defer to hierarchy. I’m the Alpha, you’re my beta, and you will relinquish her to me.”

Alpha? Beta?

“The fuck I will!” Tannin rebuked. “I saw her first. And she likes me better anyway. You’ve done nothing but treat her like shit since you woke up!”

I nodded and frowned in agreement as I hovered above the doorknob, spying. Tannin had a point there.

“You’re only nice to her because you want to fuck her and can’t control yourself,” Jax snarled. “I’m the one who saved her life from that cusith, so I should be the one who gets to have her.”

“You would have killed that cusith whether she’d been there or not, so don’t pull that chivalry bullshit with me,” Tannin said. “I have just as much right to claim her as you do, and you know it.”

“Then I guess there’s only one way to settle this.” Without warning, Jax swung a punch at the side of Tannin’s face.

I gasped and pressed my hands over my mouth.

Tannin spat blood off to the side. “Bring it on, asshole.” Then he lunged at Jax, tackling him to the floor and out of sight.

I moved my head all around the space in front of the keyhole, trying to get a better angle to see them, but they were too far away.

They were fighting over me. Two drop-dead gorgeous men were fighting over me and beating the shit out of each other from the sounds of the bangs, grunts, and slaps.

I couldn’t remember ever being this excited about anything in my whole life, and I was desperate to see this play out.

Who would win? Not that their stupid fight would prove anything, because I was a fucking princess and not some voiceless trinket.

I would choose my suitor, and silly as it may sound, I didn’t know who I’d pick, given the chance.

Tannin was sweet and gentle, and Jax could be snide and callous. But he’d risked his life to protect me, and I’d caught small glimpses of his caring heart.

What if I didn’t have to choose? I could stop this fight right now and tell them I wanted both of them. Oh gods, I wanted to do that so bad!

I lifted my hand toward the knob, but a loud crash from inside made me jump back. What the hell were they doing in there?

I leaned closer, peering through the keyhole again. Tannin was in sight, taking off his shirt and pants. My insides tightened at the sight of his naked body, and I didn’t even care why he was stripping for a fight.

But then thick black fur sprouted all over his body, which grew and stretched and mutated, and in the next instant, he was no longer my handsome, kind Tannin, but a massive black wolf.

Another wolf shot out from the side and swiped a clawed paw at him. Jax.

In horrified disbelief, I stumbled backward until my back smacked into the wall.

Black wolves. My men were black wolves!

As quietly as I could, I ran down the hall and into my room, softly closing the door behind me and sliding my back down until I slumped on the floor.

They’d been lying to me from the very moment I met them. They were black wolves, the ancient enemy of my kingdom. That’s why they’d been talking about Alphas and betas and mate bonds, but I’d been too lust-driven and desperate to think rationally.

Mate bonds. They said they’d mated to me. And even now with my pulse racing and my body trembling in fear over what I’d just seen, I couldn’t deny the powerful yearning I felt for each.

What was I going to do? They were the enemy of the kingdom I now ruled alone. It was my duty to my ancestors to kick them out. But I’d already invited them to stay, and with this whole mate bond business, there was no way they’d leave willingly.

A shadow caught in the corner of my eye, and I snapped my head in that direction.

“Willow,” I sighed in relief after she came into the moonlight spilling through my window. “It’s just you.”

She curled up on my lap, and I busied my anxious hands with petting her.

I really didn’t want them to go, even with this revelation. I couldn’t bear the thought of returning to the solitude I’d been wallowing in before they stumbled into my life.

But I was the last of the Varinyan line. Allying with them went against everything my ancestors fought and died for. Letting them stay would be like spitting on my parents’ graves.

There was only one right choice. I had to protect my castle from its enemies, even if that meant shattering what was left of my battered heart.