2. I Belong to No One But Myself

The first thing I heard was shouting.

Not the distant murmur of the crowd.

Not celebration.

Anger.

"...can't leave her alive!"

My eyes flew open.

"The Moon Goddess would never—"

"You dare question the Goddess herself?"

The voices crashed over one another until they became a single throbbing ache behind my eyes.

For a moment, I didn't know where I was.

Stone ceiling.

Firelight.

The sharp scent of herbs and smoke.

Not the temple.

Then everything came rushing back.

Silver light.

A voice inside my head.

Mine.

Kael Veyron.

Darian Valen.

And a third silver thread disappearing through the temple doors.

Three.

I had three mates.

My wolf had awakened.

And apparently, while I'd been unconscious, someone had started discussing whether I should be allowed to live.

Honestly, passing out felt like the reasonable response.

"...She's awake."

The room went silent.

Every eye turned toward me.

I was lying on a narrow chaise in one of the temple's private chambers. My mother sat beside me, her fingers wrapped so tightly around mine that I could feel her trembling.

The High Priestess stood near the hearth with several elders.

None of them looked pleased.

Across the room, Kael Veyron stood beside a heavy oak desk, both hands gripping the edge.

As far from me as he could get without leaving the room.

His face gave nothing away.

Cold.

Controlled.

Almost indifferent.

Except the wood beneath his fingers had begun to crack.

Then I looked beside me.

Darian.

The tension in his shoulders disappeared the moment our eyes met.

"You're awake."

The relief in his voice did something strange to my chest.

The frantic pounding eased.

Only slightly.

But enough that I noticed.

I barely knew him.

I'd barely spoken to him before tonight.

Yet with him standing there, something inside me whispered that I was safe.

I didn't know if that thought belonged to me or the bond.

That frightened me almost as much as everything else.

And then there was the stranger.

He stood in the farthest corner of the chamber, half-hidden in shadow.

Pale silver hair.

Violet-gray eyes.

The third man fate had somehow tied to me.

He watched the elders with the faintest trace of amusement, as though their panic entertained him.

But every few seconds, his attention returned to me.

And every time it did, the amusement disappeared.

Something else took its place.

Worry?

Recognition?

I couldn't tell.

Looking at him felt like trying to remember a dream I'd forgotten the moment I woke.

I pushed myself upright.

Pain protested through every muscle.

"What happened?"

No one answered me.

The moment they realized I wasn't dying, the argument simply continued.

"She is cursed."

"She's the fulfillment of prophecy."

"There is no prophecy."

My head snapped toward the speaker.

Another elder immediately hissed, "Enough."

Something passed between them.

Quick.

Almost imperceptible.

But I saw it.

Then the shouting started again.

"We don't even know what she is!"

I stared at them.

They were discussing me as though I weren't sitting ten feet away.

"Excuse me."

Nothing.

"I said—"

Still nothing.

Fine.

I threw the blanket aside and stood.

My knees nearly betrayed me.

Darian's hand shot toward my arm.

I caught myself before he reached me.

His hand stopped.

Then slowly lowered.

Good.

At least one of them understood boundaries.

"If you're deciding my fate," I said, "the least you can do is let me participate in the conversation."

That got their attention.

Silence settled across the room.

My voice had sounded steadier than I felt.

Inside, my thoughts were screaming.

Three mates.

My wolf.

A prophecy no one wanted to explain.

And someone had just suggested killing me.

But if I let them see how terrified I was, I suspected they'd start making decisions for me again.

Darian looked at me with something suspiciously close to pride.

The stranger's mouth twitched.

Kael didn't move.

Then his storm-gray eyes met mine.

Heat rolled through my veins.

I inhaled sharply.

The bond.

Even with an entire room between us, I could feel him.

Anger.

Resistance.

And beneath both—

Pain.

Kael's jaw tightened.

"A Luna stands beside her Alpha."

His voice was calm.

Too calm.

"She leads his pack with him. Bears his heirs. Shares his authority."

His gaze flicked briefly toward Darian.

Then toward the stranger in the corner.

"She does not divide that bond between three men."

Something inside my chest twisted.

"The Alpha of Ironfang cannot accept this."

There it was.

Rejection.

He hadn't even spoken ten words to me.

Didn't know what books I liked.

Didn't know what made me laugh.

Didn't know anything about me.

And he had already decided the bond was unacceptable.

Darian stepped forward.

"You mean her."

Kael's gaze shifted to him.

Darian's voice hardened.

"Stop talking about her like she's some damaged ceremonial object."

"No one called her damaged."

"You didn't have to."

The air changed.

Heavy.

Charged.

My wolf stirred beneath my skin.

Kael pushed away from the desk.

Slowly.

Deliberately.

"Careful, Moonshadow."

Darian moved slightly in front of me.

Not enough to block me completely.

Enough that I noticed.

Kael's eyes narrowed.

"Are you challenging me?"

Darian didn't hesitate.

"If standing between you and my mate is a challenge, then yes."

Kael's eyebrow lifted.

"Your mate?"

The two words were almost amused.

Darian's wolf flashed gold through his eyes.

"Yes."

Kael's mouth curved into a humorless smile.

"How convenient."

Darian went still.

Kael glanced toward me.

Then back at him.

"Moonshadow has always had a rather flexible understanding of what belongs to whom."

The room froze.

I didn't understand the insult.

Darian did.

His entire body changed.

"Take it back."

Kael didn't blink.

"No."

Darian lunged.

"Darian!"

His fist crashed into Kael's jaw.

The sound echoed through the chamber.

Then everything exploded.

Kael slammed him backward into the desk.

Wood cracked.

The elders scattered.

My mother grabbed my arm.

"Lyra, stay back."

Like hell.

Darian swung again.

Kael ducked and drove his shoulder into Darian's chest.

They crashed into a chair, splintering it beneath them.

Neither shifted fully, but their wolves were there.

Claws.

Fangs.

Eyes burning with something barely human.

Darian fought like a warrior.

Fast.

Powerful.

Furious.

Kael fought differently.

Every movement was controlled.

Calculated.

Brutal.

He didn't waste anything.

Every strike forced Darian backward.

Every counter reminded me why the other clans feared Ironfang.

"Stop!"

Neither listened.

Darian landed a blow across Kael's mouth.

Blood appeared at the corner of Kael's lip.

Kael wiped it away with the back of his hand.

Then his eyes lifted to Darian.

Oh, no.

I didn't know Kael.

But I knew that look.

He was done holding back.

Kael moved.

Darian did too.

And suddenly I understood exactly what was about to happen.

One of them was going to seriously hurt the other.

Something inside me panicked.

Not one bond.

All three.

They tightened around my chest at once.

Kael's burned—hot and furious.

Darian’s pulsed with desperate fear.

And the stranger's...

Possessive.

Certain.

Mine.

Before anyone could stop me, I ran between them.

"Lyra!"

My mother's scream followed me.

Both men had already committed to their attacks.

Kael's fist came toward my face.

Darian's claws swept from the opposite direction.

There wasn't time.

I closed my eyes.

Nothing happened.

I opened them.

Kael's fist hovered less than an inch from my cheek.

Darian's claws had stopped beside my throat.

Neither man moved.

Kael's eyes widened.

Darian stared at his own hand.

His muscles strained.

He tried to pull forward.

Couldn't.

Something invisible held both of them in place.

The room went completely silent.

My heart thundered.

The bond.

It wasn't shielding me.

It was controlling them.

Slowly, Kael lowered his fist.

Darian's claws retracted.

I looked at Kael first.

Anger burned through the fear.

"What is wrong with you?"

The room collectively inhaled.

Kael's eyes narrowed.

"We don't even know what's happening," I continued. "And your first instinct is to decide the bond is unacceptable?"

His jaw tightened.

"You don't even know what rejecting it would do."

"I know what accepting it would do."

"No. You know what you think it would do."

Something flashed across his face.

Then disappeared.

I turned toward Darian.

"And you."

His eyebrows lifted.

"You don't get to start throwing punches because someone says something you don't like."

"I was protecting you."

"By destroying half the room?"

His mouth opened.

Closed.

Good.

"I don't belong to you," I said.

His expression hardened.

"You're my mate."

He said it without apology.

Without hesitation.

The certainty in his voice sent warmth through the bond.

My temper flared anyway.

"Yes," I snapped. "Yours."

I pointed at him.

Then Kael.

"And his."

Kael went rigid.

Finally, I pointed toward the stranger.

"And apparently his too."

For the first time, the stranger's amusement disappeared completely.

Something unreadable crossed his face.

The room fell silent again.

I could feel all three bonds inside me.

Different.

Alive.

Waiting.

Everyone else seemed determined to decide what they meant.

What I should do.

Who I should become.

No.

I lifted my chin.

"I belong to no one but myself."

"For now."

The stranger's voice cut through the silence.

Every elder in the room went rigid.

I turned toward him.

He smiled.

"You wanted answers, little Luna? Ask them why I'm supposed to be dead."