Chapter 87: Introductions - Callista's POV

The world moved before I could do anything. One second, he was a few feet from me. Next, I landed on my back with him on top of me.

I barely had time to throw my arms up before his body collided with mine. The impact knocked the air from my lungs in a painful rush. His hand slammed against the floor beside my head, his claws digging into the surface hard enough to leave grooves.

For a moment, neither of us moved. His face hovered inches from mine as his jet-black eyes bore a hole straight through me. Black veins pulsed up his throat.

“Callista!” Riven yelled again before he came to a skidding stop. “Get off her.”

“What are you going to do? Make me?” He asked, his voice low. Not once did he bother to look at Riven. “If you move, it’ll be too late, Riven.”

My eyes darted to the black veins, watching them spread across his skin like cracks in glass. They continued to pulse. When he chuckled, my eyes jerked back to his eyes. They seemed to swallow the light the hallway had. Even his breathing sounded wrong. It was too sharp and uneven, like something inside him was fighting for control.

I froze. I didn’t want to freeze, because that meant surrender, but every instinct in my body screamed that moving was wrong. It would just make things worse.

His nose brushed the air near my neck as he inhaled again, deeper this time.

“You smell exactly like he does,” he murmured, his lips ghosting over my throat.

My stomach twisted. “He’s my mate,” I said, my voice cracking with each word.

His lips twitched slightly, as if he found that amusing.

“Oh, I know exactly who you are and what you are.” His gaze lifted to meet mine again, and something dangerous flickered behind those black eyes. “You’re the seer, but you also are so much more.”

The word rolled off his tongue like a secret. Before I could respond, the bond inside my chest flared suddenly, sharp and violent. The warmth I felt had turned into something else. He was panicking.

“Please don’t hurt her,” Riven said, his voice dangerously low. “Just get off her.”

“Why? Because she’s yours?” He asked softly, still staring down at me. “I guess your adoptive mother never taught you to share.”

“Adoptive…mother?” Riven asked, his voice hesitant. “What do you mean by 'adoptive’?”

His fingers tightened slightly against the floor beside my head. The stone cracked again under the pressure of his claws.

The bond flared violently in my chest. Riven took one slow step forward.

“Don’t,” the man on top of me warned immediately.

Riven froze. For the first time since he had arrived, the man finally glanced over his shoulder at him. The movement was slow and deliberate, as if he was bored, but the moment his gaze locked on Riven, I could see the moment it clicked.

“Why do you look like me?”

“Well,” he murmured. “There you are, dear brother. Have you missed me?”

“Missed you? I don’t even know…you,” he said, his voice cracking. “You’re not my brother. This has to be some kind of cruel joke.”

Riven’s eyes were glowing now, a faint gold breaking through the darkness as his wolf pressed dangerously close to the surface, though it didn’t conquer the red.

“Get off her,” he repeated, his voice tighter this time.

The man above me laughed under his breath. “You’re shaking,” he observed. “Like a little trembling leaf.”

“I’m controlling myself,” Riven snapped. “Unlike you.”

“Are you?” His head tilted slightly as if studying him. “Because it doesn’t look like control from where I’m sitting. You’re struggling…brother.”

My heart pounded so hard I could hear it in my ears. The bond between us pulsed again, stronger now that he was this close. I felt every ounce of Riven’s panic pouring through it.

It made my chest ache. The man leaned down again, his breath brushing my ear.

“You feel it too, don’t you?” he whispered. “That pull between you.”

My fingers curled slightly against the stone floor. “Yes,” I said quietly.

He hummed thoughtfully. “Fascinating.”

His gaze drifted back to Riven again, and for the first time, his smile widened into something almost delighted.

“You really did it,” he said softly. “You bonded with her, though not completely. I guess they wouldn’t let you have a ceremony yet.”

Riven didn’t answer. The silence stretched between them like a wire pulled too tight.

“Get off of her,” Riven said again. “Don’t make me tell you again.”

This time, the words sounded more like a growl. The man finally shifted his weight.

For one horrible second, I thought he was about to sink his teeth into my throat. Instead, he slowly pushed himself upright and stepped back, giving me just enough room to breathe again. The moment his weight lifted, I scrambled backward across the floor until my back hit the wall.

Air rushed into my lungs in sharp, uneven breaths. Riven was at my side instantly. His hand hovered near my arm but didn’t quite touch me.

“Are you hurt?” He asked, his voice rough.

I shook my head quickly, though my heart was still racing. “No.”

His shoulders sagged with relief. Across the hallway, the other man watched us with curiosity. Up close, the resemblance between them was even harder to ignore now that they were standing in the same space.

Same height. Same dark hair. Same sharp line of their jaws.

But where Riven looked tense and furious, the man across from us looked… amused, like this entire situation entertained him.

“Well,” he said lightly. “That was anticlimactic.”

Riven’s eyes snapped back to him. “What do you want?”

The man spread his hands slightly. “At the moment?” He replied. “I was enjoying the conversation.”

“You were threatening her.”

“I was studying her.”

Riven took a step forward. “Try it again and see what happens.”

The man’s grin widened. This was nothing but him toying with us.

“There he is,” he said softly. “That temper. You’re just like our father.”

My stomach tightened. Their father. If the Alpha King was this man’s father, then he would be…Riven’s. My eyes darted to the side of his face. Not once had I ever thought about how much they looked like until now. But now that I saw it, it was hard to unsee.

“What do you mean by that?” Riven demanded.

The man tilted his head slightly, considering him. “You really don’t know,” he said, his voice amused.

Riven’s jaw clenched. “Know what?”

The man’s black eyes flicked briefly toward me before returning to him. “Oh,” he whispered. “This is even better than I thought.”

“Answer the question.”

Instead, the man chuckled and took a slow step backward toward the doorway of the ruined room behind him.

“You came to see what he becomes,” he said to me, his voice almost conversational now.

My pulse spiked. “Yes,” I admitted.

“Well,” he said with a crooked smile, “now you have.”

Riven’s patience finally snapped. “What are you talking about?”

The man’s gaze slid back to him. For a moment, something almost sympathetic flickered there, then it vanished.

“You really should ask our father,” he said, his voice low. “Ask the Alpha King what he did and why you were adopted.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. Riven stared at him, his breathing coming out in ragged pants.

“You’re lying,” he bit out.

“Am I?” The man mused.

“Yes.”

The man shrugged. “I suppose we could ask him together.”

Before either of us could respond, a slow clap echoed down the hallway behind us. Every head turned.

The Alpha King stood at the far end of the corridor, watching the three of us with calm interest.

“Well,” he said mildly. “I see introductions have already begun.”