Chapter 6 An Unexpected Savior
LYRA
Still, Dean doesn't listen. Instead, his hold tightens. His hands roam over me without permission.
My panic spikes.
I wrench my mouth free from his, anger and fear overtaking me now. “What the fuck are you doing? I said let go of me!”
But he still doesn’t. If anything, his grip only tightens, bruising my skin. His hands roam greedily across my body, trying to grab at my breasts and ass while I fight to push him away.
“You should be grateful I even chose you,” he grunts through the struggle. “All those girls throwing themselves at me… begging to be my mate, to become Luna when I take over as Alpha… and I pick YOU!” His voice grows harsher. Tears sting my eyes as I keep pushing, but he shoves harder, like a crazed animal trying to force his way in. “You should be giving yourself to me every fucking night. Thanking me for even considering your pathetic—”
He never finishes.
Someone grabs him from behind and throws him off me with brutal force. His body flies across the room and slams into the wall with a heavy crack. I swear I hear bones snap.
I stagger back, breathing hard, wrapping my arms around myself like it’s enough to hold my shaking body together. Tears spill freely down my cheeks, and my vision blurs.
A tall, lethal shadow approaches slowly in long, controlled strides. It is only when he reaches me that he comes into focus.
It’s Reid.
My heartbeat stops.
“Hey.” His voice is low as his arms come around me, pulling me gently against him. I tremble. His usually cold dark eyes now burn with worry for the second time today. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
I try to respond, but my throat is stubbornly locked shut on its own accord. I’m speechless, partly from the shock of what happened, and partly because Reid is the one who saved me.
“Who the fuck are you?!” Dean shouts, forcing himself up from the floor. He clutches his side, rage hardening his face. “How dare you lay your filthy hands on me?!”
Slowly, Reid turns to face him.
The moment their eyes meet, I can instantly feel the shift. The rage in Dean’s expression evaporates instantly. First, it shifts to confusion. Then recognition. Then disbelief.
Reid steps toward him, quiet yet deadly. The silence in the room thickens; heavy and suffocating. He towers over Dean by a few inches, but it’s not just height. It’s aura. Dean stands stiff, eyes now filled with stubborn hostility, while Reid’s is laced with ice-cold wrath.
Watching them, I suddenly find myself feeling scared and worried for Dean. Reid is a rogue. And not just any rogue, but the son of the Alpha king. He could do the unthinkable to Dean and never answer for it.
And honestly, Dean deserves worse. But I’d give anything not to witness a fight in my room over this.
“Reid Hades?” Dean scoffs, disbelief dripping from his tone as he scans Reid’s frame with his eyes as if seeing him for the first time. “At first, I thought my vision was blurry. But then I remembered the rumors about you being shipped to my pack as punishment for trying to kill the Alpha King’s new Luna.”
My eyes widen again, panic slamming into me harder than before.
This is bad. Like, really bad.
But Reid doesn’t explode like I expect. Instead, the corner of his lips tilts into a slow, dangerous smirk.
“Your pack? Or your father’s? You that eager for your old man to die?”
Dean bristles, his lip curling into a matching smirk. “Whenever he dies, at least I get my throne. Unlike ‘somebody’ who got banished—”
Reid doesn’t let him land before cutting in. “Last I checked, there’s a small obstacle between you and the throne. Your older brother. What’s the plan? Kill him too? The same way you’re waiting for your father to drop?”
Dean’s smirk vanishes instantly. His eyes darken with the same rage from earlier. The room thickens with even more tension.
I stand frozen, unsure if I should step in before this turns into something bloody.
“You bastard!” Dean snarls, lunging forward. He grabs Reid by the collar, shoving him.
Reid is unfazed.
He just stares down at Dean with that infuriating smirk, hands still buried in his pockets.
Okay, time to intervene.
I rush toward them and yank Dean’s hand off Reid’s shirt. I hiss in a tone of finality. “Get. Out.”
Dean holds my gaze for a long, heavy second. Then he shifts his glare back to Reid, as if debating whether to leave or throw a punch.
A few tense seconds pass.
Then he chooses to walk away. But just before he walks out of the door, he throws one last warning over his shoulder. It’s directed at Reid.
“This isn’t over.”
I let out a long, shaky breath as Dean disappears through the door. Silence finally crashes over the room.
I bite down on my lip and drag my fingers through my hair, frustration prickling under my skin before I turn back to face Reid.
“You too,” I say, my voice heavy with exhaustion. “Get out.”
He scoffs mockingly. “That’s the thanks I get for saving your ass from your charming excuse of a boyfriend?” His dark gaze drifts over me, unreadable. “Anyway, you’re welcome.”
Without waiting for a response, he brushes past me and walks further into my room instead of taking the door.
I frown. “Hey, what do you think you’re—”
The words cut off when I catch sight of him crouching near the floor. He picks something up and straightens. A pendant necklace glints between his fingers.
He lifts it and fastens it around his neck smoothly. “Came back for this,” he says.
“Must’ve fallen off during your little disaster of a ‘revenge spell’ that didn’t quite go as planned.” His tone drips with sarcasm, his eyes flickering with amusement he doesn’t bother to hide.
I stand rooted to the spot, speechless, as he walks past me again. This time he heads for the door without pause.
Then, he’s gone.
I let out another breath; part disbelief at his obnoxious attitude, part pure bone-deep frustration.
No matter what it takes, I’m finding a way to break this soulmend bond. I don’t care how powerful the Soulmend spell is, or how much I have to hate him, just to break it. I’d rather risk consequences than stay tethered to his infuriating, dangerously attractive self.
But first… I need to deal with Dean.
I swallow hard, my nerves biting sharp.
How do I even begin to tell my father that I no longer want to follow through with the mating arrangement between Dean and I?