Chapter 2: Cross Fire

CHAPTER 2: THE CROSSFIRE

The Grand Hall was a powder keg, and I was the stupid match that lit it up.

"Mine!" Kael roared. Shadow-fire crawled up his arms. The scent of pine and dark magic grew so heavy I could taste it.

"She is my mate!" Ryker's voice dropped the temperature. Frost crept across the marble floor.

"Step aside, Bloodhound, before I freeze you to death."

"Try it, Silvermane. I will melt your skull to the floor."

I was trapped between a hurricane of fire and a blizzard of ice. The mate bond—something I thought was a myth for a defect like me, was tearing me apart. My skin burned where Ryker had touched me, yet my soul yearned for Kael's massive, terrifying presence.

But something else was happening too.

A burning in my chest. A pull. Like hooks digging into my ribs from the inside.

Sterling marched forward, his face purple with rage. "This thing is a half-breed! An unshifted Omega! She cannot be your Luna!"

The frost surged forward, trapping Sterling's boots. Kael had him by the throat a second later, lifting him off the ground.

"She is a queen," Kael growled. "And you let her scrub your floors."

Ryker's voice sliced through the hall. "Who touched her? Confess now, and I'll only take your hands. Lie to me, and I'll slaughter every firstborn in this territory."

"Stop," I croaked.

Both Alphas froze. Kael's grip loosened. Ryker's head snapped toward me, his expression softening.

"Let him go," I pleaded.

"Your word is law, little wolf." Kael threw Sterling across the hall like garbage.

Sterling crashed into a table but didn't stay down. His eyes darted between Kael and Ryker. He caught Thorne's eye and gave a sharp nod.

"If I'm going down," Sterling snarled, "I'm taking them with me."

I tried to stand, but the burning in my chest was spreading. Ryker was at my side in an instant. "You're in pain."

"I'm fine."

"You're not." His cold hand pressed against my forehead. His eyes widened. "You're burning up."

Kael dropped to his knees beside me. "What's wrong?"

"The bond." Ryker's voice was tight. "It's too strong for her body. She can't process the pull of two Alphas."

"What happens if she can't?"

"She dies."

The word hit me like a slap. Dying? I was supposed to disappear into the human world.

"How do we fix it?" Kael demanded.

"We share." Ryker said it like the word physically hurt him. "The bond is pulling from both of us. If we keep fighting, she dies."

Kael's shadows flared. "I'd rather die."

"You might get your wish. If she dies, the mate bond snaps. We both go with her."

The weight of that truth settled over them. Centuries of hatred. And now, the only way to survive was to do the impossible.

Share.

The doors burst open. Beta Thorne stood there, grinning. Behind him, twenty fully shifted wolves snarled in the doorway—warriors Sterling had stationed outside.

"Rogues," Ryker breathed.

"Get her out!" Kael roared, launching himself at the first wave.

Ryker grabbed me, running. Behind us, I heard Kael's battle roar, the crunch of bone, the howls of dying wolves.

Ryker burst through a side door, racing down a corridor. The burning in my chest was spreading uncontrollably.

"Ryker," I gasped. "Something's wrong."

He looked down at me. Black veins were crawling up my neck.

"The bond. It's poisoning you faster than I thought."

A sharp whistling sound cut through the air. I looked over Ryker's shoulder—a rogue hurled a silver dagger straight at my back.

Kael was there. He threw his massive body between me and the blade.

Shhhk.

Silver sank into his shoulder. Kael didn't even move. He snapped the rogue's neck, his crimson eyes locking onto Ryker.

"Go!"

My vision blurred. My heart stuttered.

"Stay with me, Elara!" Ryker's voice sounded far away.

I couldn’t.

The darkness swallowed me whole.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a rundown motel room. Flickering neon outside. Rain on the roof.

The human world.

Kael stood by the door, his shoulder wrapped in bloody bandages. Ryker sat on the edge of the bed, his cold hand wrapped around mine.

"You're awake." Kael's voice was rough.

"The poison," Ryker said quietly. "It's stabilized. For now."

"For now?" I croaked.

They exchanged a look. A look that said everything.

I looked at Kael's bandaged shoulder. At Ryker's exhausted face. At the cheap motel walls.

"You're the two most powerful Alphas on the continent. You could have killed every rogue in that hall."

Kael's jaw tightened. "We could have."

"Then why did we run?"

Ryker's hand squeezed mine. "Because you were dying. Every second we spent fighting was a countdown to your death."

"And if we'd stayed," Kael added quietly, "you wouldn't be here."

I stared at them.

The bond was still killing me and the only cure was something neither of them wanted to give.

Each other.