Chapter 4

Mina's POV

"Step away from her, Rhydian," a cold, biting voice commanded from the shadows of the courtyard.

I jumped, my back hitting Rhydian's solid chest as Alpha Prince Alaric walked out from the tree line. His face was a mask of pure arrogance, but his jaw was clenched so tightly a muscle twitched in his cheek. He looked between his twin brother and me, his nostrils flaring as he picked up our scents mingled together in the night air.

"I don't think I will," Rhydian replied. His voice was entirely calm, but his hand moved to my waist, pulling me firmly behind his broad shoulders.

"She is a rejected female of this pack, and I am your Alpha prince," Alaric sneered, taking a menacing step forward. His alpha pressure flooded the courtyard, trying to force us to our knees. "You have been back for five minutes and you are already lingering around my garbage. Have you lost your mind?"

"She isn't garbage, Alaric. You are just too blind to see what is right in front of you," Rhydian growled, his own power flaring up to completely block Alaric's suffocating aura from hitting me.

"Look at her, brother!" Alaric laughed, a cruel, mocking sound that reopened the raw wounds in my chest from the night before. He pointed a finger at me, his eyes filled with absolute disgust. "She is a fat cow that nobody wants. Her own family is moving her to the cellar because she is a total embarrassment to our lineage. I took her celebrated sister because Odalys is actually worthy of a crown. If you want to play hero, find a female who doesn't strain the seams of her dress."

The words burned like hot acid poured directly onto my soul. I shrank back, my eyes stinging, the shame threatening to swallow me whole. I wanted to run, to hide in the dark where nobody could look at my body or judge my worth.

"Let me worry about what I want, Alaric," Rhydian shouted back, his voice shaking the stone arches around us. He didn't back down an inch, his grip on my waist tightening. "You rejected her. You threw her away in front of the entire pack. You don't get to dictate who stands by her now just because your pathetic pride is pricked."

"You always did like taking my leftovers," Alaric spat, his eyes flashing dangerous midnight wolf-blue. He stepped closer, his chest nearly touching Rhydian's. "But remember your place. She has no protection here. If I decide she is a liability to the Nyxmoor borders, I can exile her by sunrise."

"Try it," Rhydian whispered, a terrifying promise in his tone. "See what happens to your kingdom if you touch a single hair on her head."

Alaric held his brother's gaze for one long, agonizing second. He looked over Rhydian's shoulder, throwing one last look of pure hatred at me. "She will always be nothing, Rhydian. Enjoy the weight." He turned on his heel and walked away, disappearing into the dark paths toward the main palace.

I let out a shaky breath I didn't realize I was holding, my knees trembling so violently I could barely stand. The emotional storm inside me was a chaotic mess of old pain and terrifying new warmth.

"Mina," Rhydian murmured, turning around completely. He grabbed both of my hands, his palms warm against my freezing skin. "Don't listen to him. Please. Look at me."

"How can I not?" I choked out, a single tear finally escaping and slipping down my cheek. "He is right about one thing. I am unprotected. I am the pack joke. Why are you doing this, Rhydian? We haven't seen each other in five years."

"Do you really think five years changes anything for me?" he asked softly, his thumb gently wiping the tear from my skin.

A sudden memory flashed vividly across my mind. We were twelve years old, sitting by the old riverbank. I had been crying because the other kids called me clumsy and heavy during agility training. Rhydian had taken my small hands just like this, looked me dead in the eyes, and made a promise. 'I have to go to the Ironhide pack for training tomorrow, Mina, but I swear to the goddess I will come back for you. Don't let them change who you are.'

"You remember," I whispered, staring up at him. "I thought you forgot. I tried so hard to forget it myself."

"I never forgot a single second of it," Rhydian said, his voice thick with an emotion that made my inner wolf scratch wildly against my ribs again. "And I need to tell you the truth about why I came back so fiercely. I didn't just run because Alaric rejected you. I ran because of what I knew even before I left."

I furrowed my brow, my breath catching. "What do you mean?"

"Even when we were children, before our wolves fully emerged, I sensed something different in your wolf, Mina," Rhydian admitted, his eyes locking onto mine with a fierce intensity. "Something ancient. Something incredibly powerful that the rest of this blind pack was too stupid to see. I knew you were special. But I was young, and they forced me to leave. The guilt of leaving you unprotected, letting them spend years breaking your spirit and making you feel small... it has eaten at me for years."

"Rhydian..."

"I am not letting them do it anymore," he muttered, stepping into my personal space until the heat radiating from his body completely enveloped me.

The physical tension between us stretched close to a breaking point. His hands slid down from my shoulders, his large palms settling at my waist, holding me securely against him. A second passed. Then another. He held me there a second too long, his gaze dropping to my lips. My breath caught in my throat, my heart drumming a frantic rhythm against my ribs. The guilt of wanting him so soon after Alaric was completely drowned out by the electric, undeniable pull drawing my face toward his.

Rhydian leaned down, his eyes fluttering shut as his breath fanned softly against my lips, everything in the world fading into the dark shadows around us.

Suddenly, a piercing, agonizing howl ripped through the distant night air.

We both froze. It was the frantic, high-pitched alarm howl of the western border patrol.

Rhydian pulled away mid-sentence, his eyes snapping open as the alpha warrior inside him instantly took over. "Mina, I—”