Chapter 6

Rhys’s POV

Nyra was in my arms and that was all that mattered right now… the only thing that had held back my wolf from tearing Silas by his limbs.

Silas let out another groan as Dante slammed him into the ground again.

No one intervened but rather took their places at the sides of the hall letting Dante ruin this sick fucker.

It was just Nyra and I standing amidst the chaos that never came too close.

How had he gained so much power that he felt speaking to her in that manner could be justified?

The good thing was that he once had her and lost her to our gain.

And he should be thankful Dante was being merciful… judging from the look on Alpha king's face, that was the only reason he was still standing a free man.

Nyra stirred as Silas reached for Dante’s hair and I held back a chuckle before pulling her even closer… if possible.

She could never be close enough.

The last time I had held her in my arms was back at the academy before our stupidity ruined what we shared…

Slowly I leaned down to take in her scent.

Fuck!

She smelled like the temptation I remembered… except now there was this underlying darkness mixed with sweetness.

Ash.

Rage.

My wolf prowled restlessly at the thought of corrupting something so sweet.

Mine… my eyes caught Dante’s… OURS!

What Nyra didn’t know was that we had never truly let go…

Goddess, we tried so much to tuck in that sense of possessiveness after the bet had bit us in our faces.

But we knew we had hurt her and there was no going back… not after she had cried all night.

The next morning when she left, we hadn’t stopped her… we convinced ourselves leaving her alone was the right thing to do.

She had been too innocent back then… too soft for men like us and didn’t deserve to mix with a cursed bloodline.

Our darkness would have ruined her eventually.

After her, we hadn’t been with another… there wasn’t any scent that drove my wolf this insane.

So we watched from the sidelines while Silas slithered his way into her life.

The thought alone made my jaw tighten.

We were cowards.

And as such turned our faces away as the sunflower we had loved disappeared into a shadow of herself and convinced ourselves she was better off without us.

If she hadn’t made the first move… we wouldn’t have done anything today.

The woman who walked into this hall earlier on was no longer the innocent one who once looked us with trust while writhing under us nor the one that followed meekly behind Silas… She was different.

In a pleasing way.

And standing here now with her pressed against me, while wearing a wedding dress meant to be removed by another man.

I realized we should have never let her go in the first place.

The battered body of Silas landed at her feet.

The sight brought a smile to my face, blood spilled by his busted lips while one of his eyes had already been swollen shut… the sight of his broken nose was merely the finishing touch.

Still, the fool tried getting back up.

Pathetic.

“ENOUGH!” the Alpha King’s voice thundered through the hall just as Dante launched himself at Silas.

Nyra stood unfazed.

There was nothing sexier than watching our woman stay calm in the face of violence without flinching.

She was going to be the end of me.

The thought of ruining her made my wolf practically salivate… I was such a sucker for her.

It took the whole force to hold Dante back because once he had tasted blood… it blurred the lines between reason and violence.

Especially now it involved her.

I watched as his chest heaved fast as they restrained him, with his eyes locked on Silas like he was still debating whether or not to finish him.

Honestly? I wouldn't have stopped.

My wolf snarled as Silas, all bloodied up and barely conscious, now being held in safety threw glares at Nyra.

Across the hall, nobles whispered among themselves while servants scrambled to clear the hall.

Typical.

Nothing entertained the wereworld more than public humiliation and a topic to fill their ears for the time being.

As she stepped away from me I felt my wolf pant restlessly almost as though he could sense my fear of her leaving once again.

She turned to face the nobles and lowered her head in a bow, “I apologize you had witnessed this but it was necessary so everyone would see the man I was about meeting in his true nature.”

I knew these men and women were itching so badly to bombard her with questions but they didn’t..

couldn’t..

not when Dante was now standing beside her.

“I had stayed silent for so long for the sake of the child but now… I know what we had wasn’t love hence why I decided it wasn’t wise to go ahead with his wedding.”

I hated to see her head bowed to these peopke but I knew it was a necessity.

A queen needed the sympathy of her people before demanding their obedience.

Still it was only going to happen once.

Never again should she show anyone the top of her head.

I searched for her slutty sister before I remembered that somewhere between the chaos I had seen her scramble out with her tail tucked in between her legs.

Silas must have been an easy pick because while we were with Nyra, she had tried and failed so woefully.

Perhaps if we have ended her then like we wanted to, Nyra wouldn’t have made her way back to us.

“The wedding is dismissed and on your way out, you’d still get your party favours as an apology to what transpired today”

Her voice wasn’t loud nor did it need to be.

“I hope I made up for cancelling the wedding with this scene.”

Now she held her head up high, authority rolled off her voice in a way that left no room for argument.

Following her words, the guards promptly led people towards the exit.

As the crowd slowly began dispersing, Silas was dragged away.

We stood with her until the crack in her defiance.

It looked as though the adrenaline she has been running on had been exhausted.

Dante noticed it too because he immediately said, “We’re escorting you back.”

The guards the Alpha king had entrusted to stand guard looked at each other unsure but no one dared to object.

Nor did anyone move.

Nyra just started walking ahead to which Dante and I followed suit in silence.

Despite the fatigue of the day and that dress wearing her down, she held her shoulder up high.

That dress…

My eyes trailed down the curve of her body.

Following the fitted material taht hugged her hourglass figure down to her waist before settling shamelessly on the way her hips swayed as she walked.

Fuck.

Silas was going to unveil her if she hadn’t…

I felt a nudge and turned to my brother.

He just shook his head once, like he could already tell exactly where my thoughts had gone.

And annoyingly enough… I knew he was right.

This wasn't the time to wallow on what we would have missed…

…what we would have likely spent the rest of our lives regretting.

Nyra had kissed us and made her claim, how we used this second chance mattered.

One thing was sure, there was no way I was ever letting her out of my sight.