CHAPTER 5

"You can't remain here forever, Rhea." Micah's voice was barely a whisper, yet it rang out in the quiet of the empty Mooncrest Estate. We were in the ancient conservatory, its glass panes letting in the faint afternoon light.

"I know," I whispered. What had occurred in the school hall remained with me, a pain in my back and a greater one in my heart. The bond had been a muffled thrum ever since, but now it was… changing. A gradual heat was beginning to permeate me, a fluid fire that caused my skin to prickle.

"What is wrong?" Micah asked, his Beta senses recognizing my distress.

"I… I don't know," I lied, trying to push the spreading heat back down. It was too soon. It could not be happening now. The Healer Mira had said I had more time. The pack would not be ready. I was not ready.

A biting, acute scent cut through the dusty air of the conservatory. Not a familiar scent of pine, earth, or the other Alphas. This was unlike that. Dark and wild. It was a smell of burned earth and blood. My body, which was already warming, reacted at once, a primitive fear seizing me.

"Micah."

The conservatory glass doors shattered inward. The shape that walked through was a wall of muscle and menace. Darius Blackmaw. His eyes glowed a startling, evil red, and his scent was a warning bell, a rogue Alpha who had trespassed into Silverfang lands.

“Well, well,” Darius growled, his gaze sweeping over me with an unnerving possessiveness. “Look what I found. A little Omega, left unprotected. The pack must be desperate to leave a treasure like you unguarded.”

Micah immediately shifted, his Beta instincts flaring. “Get out of here, Blackmaw. This is Silverfang territory.”

Darius simply laughed, a rough, grating sound. “This land belongs to the strongest. And I don’t see any Alphas here. Just one Beta and an Omega ripe for the taking." His eyes located me, and a hunger, thick and predatory, ignited in them. The rogue Alpha's scent, combined with the onset of my heat, was a flammable, deadly mix. My body was working against me, a siren song of submission over which I had no control. The bond, the connection to the four Alphas, flared in a violent, untamed rush. As though they felt Darius's presence, as though they knew. A flood of conflicting emotions—anger, fear, confusion, possessiveness—pounded into my mind, sending me stumbling.

"Don't touch her," Micah said, moving between us.

Darius simply laughed. "I am not looking for a fight with a Beta, Mooncrest. I am here for what is mine." He took a step closer to me, his hand reaching out. "Omega, you will be my mate. And your bloodline… will be mine."

Before his fingers could even make contact with my skin, a deafening bellow echoed through the conservatory. A sound of pure, unadulterated Alpha rage. The four glass-panelled doors to the main hall burst open, and they were upon us, a terrifying phalanx of anger.

"Back off her," Ash growled, his voice low and deadly. His eyes were pure gold, the Alpha wolf in complete control.

Darius, caught off guard, froze. "Ryder? What are you doing here? This Omega is unbonded."

"She is mine," Ash snarled, the possessiveness I'd felt across the bond now a spoken command. His eyes, however, were not on Darius. They were on me, his eyes wide and shocked as they took in the look of fear and the scent of my rising heat.

Kai stepped ahead, his face a mask of frigid fury. "Her loyalty to us is none of your concern, Blackmaw. But your visit to this land is a blatant violation of the treaty. You will leave now, or you will be dealt with."

Blaze, his muscles all tense and ready, cracked his knuckles, a feral glint in his eyes. "I'd love to deal with him. He smells like he could use a lesson."

Zane, flippancy forgotten, was white-knuckled, his eyes darting back and forth between Darius and me. "How did you even find her? This place is secure." He looked at me, a shadow of worry crossing his face. "Rhea, are you alright?"

"She's in heat," Darius announced, a smug smile spreading across his face. "You can scent that, can't you? That's her call. A call no Alpha can resist."

The words were a spark to a powder keg. Ash's control snapped. He launched himself at Darius, a swift, powerful movement that allowed the rogue no opportunity to react. The two Alphas collided, a storm of fists and teeth, the sound of their battle echoing in the shattered conservatory.

"Ash! Stop!" I shrieked, the sound of my own voice a foreign thing, rimmed with an ancient hunger. The bond was a wildfire, a physical manifestation of Ash's rage and my fear, all crashing together.

"You will not touch her, Blackmaw!" Ash roared, pinning Darius to the wall, his hand wrapping around the other man's throat. "She is a Mooncrest! She is our protected!"

"Your protection? She is unbonded! And in heat! She will choose me!" Darius snarled, his eyes locked on mine. He fought out of Ash's hold and moved towards me, a snarl distorting his face. "Come, little Omega. Do not be scared. We can create something powerful together. Something the Silverfang Pack would fear."

He moved another step closer before Kai stepped in front of me, a wall of pure Alpha dominance. "Do not presume. She is a member of this pack. You have no right to her."

"The law states an Omega in heat can be claimed by any Alpha who is strong enough to prove it!" Darius challenged.

“The law also states rogues are not welcome in our territory!” Blaze yelled, stepping up beside Kai. “You want to prove yourself? Come on, then. I’ll break every bone in your body!”

The air was thick with the scent of five powerful Alphas, all competing, all clashing, all demanding to be noticed. My heat was intensifying rapidly, a furious, desperate thing. The conflicting emotions from the bond—Blaze’s rage, Kai’s icy command, Zane’s frantic protectiveness, and Ash’s overwhelming possessiveness—were a maelstrom inside me.

"This is a new kind of insanity," Zane snarled, at my other side, his hands a gentle, protective barrier. He looked at me, his eyes holding a strange mix of horror and fascination. "Rhea… you have to calm down. The bond… it's feeding off this. It's too much."

I couldn't. My body was an oven, my mind a storm. Darius saw his opportunity, his eyes shining with a cruel intelligence. He shoved Kai and Blaze out of the way and launched himself at me, his mouth open, aiming for the exposed flesh of my neck.

"MATE!" he roared, a savage challenge.

But he didn't get to me. Ash was there in a flash, his hand clamping over Darius's face, his grip a vice. He pinned the rogue Alpha into the wall, a feral snarl reverberating in his chest.

"She is not yours to claim!" Ash snarled, his eyes burning into Darius's. "The bond is there. It is not marked, maybe, but it is there. And it is ours! Get out of this territory at once, Blackmaw. And if you ever come near her again, I will tear out your throat with my own teeth."

The menace was so bare, so potent, that even Darius's rogue wolf seemed to cringe in fear. He growled at Ash, then at me, before a final sneer contorted his face. He vanished through the shattered doors as suddenly as he'd arrived, leaving a faint bitter scent behind.

The silence that followed was dense and strained. All three Alphas were staring at me. Ash's gold sparks were fading, yet the possessiveness remained, a dangerous, obstinate flame.

"He said she was in heat," Blaze said, his rage morphing into another sort of frustration.

"We need to get her to Healer Mira's," Kai said, ever the pragmatist. "The bond is too unstable. It's not safe for her."

Zane stepped forward, his eyes shining with genuine concern. "Rhea, can you stand? Let's get you out of here."