Page 53 of Bound to Four Alphas

“No,” replied Ronan, his ears perking up, his face softening, “you are my packmate. He insulted you. It is your right as a king to challenge him. I would not have stopped you.”

“Nor would I,” Kaelen walked to stand next to Ronan, barely reaching the wolf’s shoulder in his human form. “He had no right to say the things he said. I am sorry for not intervening earlier.”

Elian swallowed, his face conflicted. “He is my father. But you…”

Malek turned to him, the snarl dying in his throat at the expression on Elian’s face.

“You are our brother.”

Malek fell silent and still, his eyes moving from Elian, to Ronan, to Kaelen, and back again. All of them had the same determined expression, warm and fierce.

His chest constricted.

Slowly, he let his human skin crawl over his flesh, rising from his crouched position on the floor. Ronan too shifted, andthe four stood in a circle, Elian’s words heavy in the air between them.

After a long time, Malek spoke.

“I am … pleased.”

What passed between them, the pack magic, swelled with power. And Malek breathed out.

Finally.

He finally had a pack.

He didn’t say anything more, couldn’t even begin to find the words. The bond thrummed, vibrant with power, bolstered by their acceptance. The only thing that would have made him even more at peace in that moment would be if Selena…

Selena.

The bond twisted over itself, but there was an absence there. Where a gentle silver light once sparkled there was now just … empty air.

The realization hit him like so many spears.

“Selena,” he gasped, turning towards the door. “I think there’s something wrong with Selena!”

Chapter 24 - Kaelen

The room was pristine. Untouched, even.

Kaelen had to fight not to rip the whole place to shreds.

She was missing. Vanished into thin air, not a single wisp of her left.

As soon as Malek had spoken, they had raced back to the chambers, Elian’s hands slashing through the air to remove the complicated layers of wards he’d erected over the threshold.

The wards hadn’t worked.

She was gone.

How could they have been so stupid? As the four of them whipped around, desperation and agitation thick on their scents, Kaelen felt as if he had been stabbed in the stomach. He was supposed toprotecther. They were all supposed to protect her.

And not just her. The child she carried. That perfect, tiny being growing inside her. His heir. Their heir. When he thought of the fear in her eyes when she had questioned whether he wanted a child, wanted a family, he could have wept.

He wanted nothing more in the entire world.

But she had been stolen away, and he couldn’t stop the screaming in his head.

It washis fault.

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