CLAIMED BY THE FOUR ALPHA BROTHERS
Bright enough that I could see the light of it reflected in Draven's wide, stunned eyes.
"Nobody is taking me anywhere," I said, and my voice shook even as it carried, fury and grief and exhaustion tangled together into something that didn't sound entirely like my own voice anymore. "Not you." I looked at the old man. "Not you." I looked at his son. "And not any of you either," I said, turning last to the four brothers standing frozen at the treeline, watching me like they'd never actually seen me before tonight. "I am done being handed between people who decided what I was worth before I ever got a say in it."