Chapter 3: An Unwanted Possession

Ryker's POV

Mate.

The word left my mouth before I could stop it. Before I could think. Before I could do anything except feel the absolute certainty slamming into my chest like a freight train.

This tiny, terrified maid was our mate.

I was already walking toward her when a guard stepped right in front of me, his arm stretched out like a barrier, his chest puffed up with fresh courage that was going to get him killed.

"Alpha Ryker, security protocol," he announced, loud enough for the whole room to hear. "Nobody moves through this hall until the check is complete, sir."

The entire room went still.

I smiled at him and said, "Come here," so softly that he had to lean in to hear it, and that was exactly what I wanted.

His neck snapped before anyone saw my hand move.

The body hit the marble floor, and the sound echoed all the way up to the ceiling.

Nobody moved.

A maid near the window pressed her cloth against her mouth, tears running silently down her face. An older servant grabbed the wall beside him like his legs had stopped working. Even the air in the room felt different, thinner, like it was afraid too.

Cax stepped over the body without looking down, and Zephyr cracked his knuckles and smiled like something in him had just woken up and was very, very happy.

I kept walking toward her as if nothing had happened.

Because for me, nothing had.

I felt Cax stiffen beside me. Heard Zephyr's sharp intake of breath. They felt it too. Of course they did. The bond was screaming at all three of us, demanding we claim her right now.

But I was the oldest, the leader, and I knew better than to act on instinct alone.

I grabbed both my brothers by their arms and pulled them back. Hard.

"Outside. Now." My voice came out rough. Commanding.

Cax looked like he wanted to argue. Zephyr looked like he was in pain. But they followed me out of the hall, through the side door, into the private corridor.

The second the door closed, Cax shoved me.

"What the hell are you doing? Our mate is in there."

"I know exactly where our mate is." I kept my voice level. Cold. The way I always did when I needed to think clearly. "That's why we need to talk before we do something stupid."

"Stupid?" Zephyr's voice was strange. His eyes flickered with something I didn't recognize. "She's ours. What's stupid about claiming what belongs to us?"

"Everything." I started pacing. My mind was racing, going through a thousand scenarios at once. "Think about it. A maid in our palace. With a bond this strong, which means she's been here less than an hour, or someone would have noticed already."

"So?" Cax crossed his arms. He looked ready to fight me. Or fight anyone. The bond was making him aggressive.

"So where did she come from? Why is she here? And why does she look absolutely terrified?"

That made them both pause.

"You saw her face," I continued. "She wasn't happy about the bond. She looked like she wanted to run."

"Maybe she's just scared of us," Zephyr said quietly. "People usually are."

That was true. We'd built our reputation on fear. On ruthlessness. We took what we wanted and destroyed anyone who got in our way. It's how we'd survived. How we'd claimed this territory and held it against every challenge.

But this girl, this mate, she made me want to be different.

No. I shoved that thought away immediately.

"We need information," I said. "Before we do anything, we need to know who she is. What she's running from."

"Running from?" Cax frowned.

"You think someone shows up as a maid in a pack's palace by choice? She's hiding from something." I stopped pacing and looked at both of them. "And if she's hiding, that makes her a liability. To us. To the pack."

Zephyr made a sound like a growl. "She's our mate."

"Which makes her even more dangerous." The words tasted wrong in my mouth, but they were true. "If our enemies find out we have a mate, they'll use her against us. They'll hurt her to hurt us."

"So what do you want to do?" Cax asked finally. His voice was quieter now. More controlled.

"We keep her close. We watch her. We figure out what she's hiding." I met both their eyes. "And we don't let anyone else know about the bond until we're ready."

"You want to keep it secret?" Zephyr looked horrified.

"I want to keep her alive." I felt my temper rising. "Use your head. The moment the council finds out we have a mate, they'll want to meet her. Question her, judge her, and if she's running from something bad enough that she ended up here as a maid, that scrutiny could destroy her."

Or destroy us, I didn't add. But they understood.

Cax nodded slowly. "Fine. We keep it quiet. For now."

"Zephyr?" I looked at my youngest brother. He was still acting strange and distant.

"Whatever you think is best." His voice was flat. 

Something was wrong with him. But I didn't have time to deal with that now.

"I'll talk to her first," I said. "Alone. I need to find out what we're dealing with."

I found her an hour later in one of the storage rooms off the main hall. She was putting away cleaning supplies, her hands shaking so badly she almost dropped a bottle.

I closed the door behind me. Locked it.

She spun around.

"Don't scream," I said calmly. "No one will hear you anyway. These rooms are soundproof."

Her face went white. She pressed back against the shelves.

Good. Fear would make her honest.

I walked closer slowly. She was even smaller up close, but there was something in her eyes, something stubborn and fierce that made my wolf sit up and pay attention.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Ava." It came out as a whisper.

"Ava." I let the name roll around in my mouth. "Why are you here, Ava?"

"I needed work. I needed a place to stay."

"Try again." I stepped closer. She had nowhere to go. "Why would someone come to a rival pack's palace? What are you running from?"

Her jaw tightened. "Nothing."

"Liar." I leaned in close enough to smell her. She smelled like fear and something else. Something sweet and wrong. "I can feel the bond between us. I know you feel it too. Which means you can't lie to me. So I'll ask one more time. What are you hiding?"

Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them back. 

"It doesn't matter what I'm hiding," she said quietly. "Because I'm not accepting this bond. I don't want a mate, and I don't want you and the others."

The words hit harder than they should have. My wolf snarled inside me, furious at the rejection.

But I kept my face blank. 

"You think you have a choice?" I laughed, and it wasn't kind. "You're in our palace. Under our protection. That makes you ours whether you like it or not."

"I'll leave then."

"You won't." I grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at me. Her skin was so soft. "You walked into our territory. You triggered the mate bond. You're not leaving until I say you can leave."

She jerked away from my touch. "You can't keep me here."

"I can do whatever I want. I'm the Alpha." I straightened up, looking down at her. "You're going to stay here. You're going to do your job. And you're going to figure out pretty quickly that fighting this bond will only make everything worse."

"I've already had one mate reject me." Her voice broke. "I won't let another one own me."

So that was it. Someone had rejected her before.

The rage that filled me was instant and overwhelming. Who would dare reject our mate?

But I pushed it down and controlled it.

"Then you should know that in this palace, your only choice is us." I walked to the door and unlocked it. "And if you refuse, you won't just break the bond. You'll break the reign."

I left her there, shaking and crying.

My wolf was screaming at me to go back. To comfort her. To claim her.

But I was the leader. And leaders didn't let their feelings control them.

Even when those feelings were tearing them apart.