Chapter 26 Twenty Six
Rhea's POV
My hands were still aglow with the energy from healing Orin’s wound. Except that my eyes were fixed on the wounded woman struggling in Alaric's grasp.
Cassian's mother. I had never met her, but thanks to our unfinished bond, I could feel Cassian’s grief. It was brutal, shattering, like witnessing his universe collapse.
“Let her go,” Cassian barked, his voice trembling in a way I’d never heard before. "Please. This is between us."
Alaric grinned that cruel, calculating grin that I was far too familiar with. The one that said he was relishing someone else’s pain.
"Everything is between us, boy. I raised you. I own you." He squeezed the woman’s throat, causing her to gasp. “Did you really believe that you could dishonor me with impunity?”
Theron stood shakily, and I realised, he was alive: saved by mine and Lilith's power together. Lilith stood at his side with a unreadable look on her face.
“Holding a wronged woman hostage,” Theron snarled, his voice hoarse but firm. "How far you've fallen, Alaric."
“I do what I gotta do,” Alaric said simply. "Now, here are my terms. Rhea returns with me. Immediately. The Lycan and co. retreat. The twins concede defeat and head back to Moonvale.”
He stopped, letting the words hang in the air. "Or this woman is going to die. Slowly. And the war goes on until you’re all dead.”
I glanced around me at the faces.
Hawk, poisoned and grunting but sitting up, piercing silver eyes blazing in protective rage. Our mate bond pulsed with his resolve to protect me at all costs, whatever that may be.
Orin, bleeding away before my eyes, our mate bond raw and scorching. Through that, I felt his agony, his stunned disbelief, his overwhelming need to protect a woman he hardly knew.
Kieran gazing down at his brother with icy rage in his eyes. Our bond was not established, but I could feel it tugging at me, demanding focus.
And Cassian swirling the broken emptying eyes panic helpless at his mother. His alpha flare died out, dull pings blocked by sheer terror.
All of them I could feel through the bonds. Complete with Theron. Forming with Orin. And tugging insistently at Cassian and Kieran.
Four mates. Four men who would give their lives for me.
And they will, if I don’t intervene.
"I'll go," I said quietly.
"No!" The word issued from all four of them at once.
Theron caught my arm, fingers leaving a bruising grip. "Rhea, you can't. He’ll murder you the second he’s alone with you.”
“Perhaps,” I acquiesced, locking on to his silvery gaze. “But he’ll kill Cassian’s mother if I don’t. And then this war prolongs, and more people are dying.”
I glanced at each of my companions in succession. Theron, desperate. Orin, trying to sit up against his wound. Kieran, his mask cracking. Cassian’s face, wet with tears he didn’t bother to conceal.
"I wont allow it," I replied firmly.
I jerked my hands off Orin’s wound. It was well enough that he wouldn’t die, but he’d still need some more recovery.
“Rhea, trust me,” Orin-dun said, seizing my wrist. "Don't do this. We'll find another way."
"There is no other way." I gave his hand a squeeze, took one step and stood.
I made my way to Alaric with my head up. Every step was a walk to my doom, but I tried not to let him see that I was afraid.
I felt the protests of my mates through the bonds. Their desperation. Theron attempting to rise, to go after me. Kieran restraining him, and yet coveting to follow me.
But I felt something different, too. My powers, they would only increase with the binding of my kin.
The silver flames that had mended Theron and Orin. The kink magic in my blood that needed stress and pressure to bring it out.
I'd been underestimating myself. I was allowing people to define my strength, my worth, proving what I could do.
Not anymore.
“Let her go first,” I bare my fangs around ten feet from Alaric. "Then I'll come with you."
Alaric considered, his expression calculating. He then pushed the mother of Cassian forward.
She turned to lead the way, and fell with a thud before Cassian caught her. He took her battered body in his arms, hands trembling.
I inched closer to my dad. And another.
I could feel Theron fighting to get away, but Lilith held him down. Miraculously to my side, however.
Alaric reached out for me as I drew near. His hand was out again, ready to grab my arm and take me away.
That's when I struck.
I was engulfed in silver flames, even more intense than I had ever felt. It was hot, but it didn’t burn me. I was it, part of me, extension of my will.
Alaric staggered backward, his hand smoking where he had attempted to grab me. "What—"
"You think I'm still that scared little omega you could manipulate?" I demanded, with a power in my voice that was not entirely comprehensible. "I have four mates now. Four bloodlines flowing through me. I'm done being anyone's pawn."
I held up my arms and the fire came to me. They drew up a ring around Alaric's men and ensnared them in a circle of silver fire.
The show of force jolted the conscience of all. Even me. I didn’t quite know what I was doing, but intuition took over. The magic figured out what I needed before I did.
Alaric's face contorted with rage. "You ungrateful—"
He didn't finish.
Out of the tree line came King Thanos, his army of shifters at his back.
They had to be watching the whole thing, waiting for the right time to pounce.
“Well, well,” the shifter king laughed sardonically. ” Finally my niece reveals her true colours. Magnificent."
He strolled into the battle field as if he literally did own it, his power causing even Alaric to pull back. He made golden fire prance over his fingers, not mine silver flames but just as deadly.
"’I remember we had a deal, Rhea. Three days to decide." He tsked. “But when I see this spectacle, I’m afraid I just can’t wait.”
His golden eyes were lit with inhuman brightness. "You're coming with me. Now. And if anyone tries to stop me, they’ll all burn.”
I had the sense of my four mates behind me, arming themselves for battle. Their resolve seeped through the bonds, fierce and indomitable.
Before us stood two armies. Shifters and wolves. Both desiring me in different ways.
And in the center, me. Torn between two worlds I don’t really get.
But before anyone could do anything, everything went dark.
Not naturally. Not like clouds rolling in. It was instantaneous, stifling, as if someone had dropped a blanket over the sun.
A voice boomed across the battlefield, old and powerful. "Enough."
A woman materialized, suspended in the air. She was swathed in shadow and starlight, hardly a body at all.
Nyra. The witch and seer.
"The prophecy must be carried out," Nyra asserted spreading her wings wide. "But not like this. Not through force or manipulation. Rhea Morwen will change her destiny when the four bindings are all in place. "$30 is all you're going to have till then, y'all stand down."
She hesitated, looking over the gathered warriors. "Or face the consequences."
She made a motion with her hand and everyone stopped.
Werewolves, shifters, Lycans. Ditto were also sealed, neither yet able to move or speak.
That is except for me and my four buddies.
"The girl and her chosen have exactly one week," Nyra spoke to me without breaking eye contact. “To complete the bonds in a week, to understand the prophecy, to prepare for what’s coming.”
Her expression was grave. Then the true war starts. The war that will change the face of the supernatural world is here."
She disappeared as quickly as she had arrived. The freeze broke.
Chaos erupted immediately. Armies scrambled, leaders shouting orders. Thanos’s forces fell back to regroup. Alaric's mercenaries scattered. Their contract was apparently void now.
But the only ones I had eyes for were my mates.
Theron, up with Lilith's help. Orin, still bleeding but alive. Kieran with his mask completely removed, wearing his feelings on the outside. Cassian, who was carrying his mother but had his eyes on me.
I had the weight of Nyra's words pressed down on me like a prophecy all of its own.
One week to find four mates.
One week to fall in love four times.
A week before the world began to rip itself over me.