Page 6 of Bound to Four Alphas

The creature finally broke free of the tree line, and Selena whimpered, her whole body frozen in place.

It was huge. A great, slavering beast that seemed half encased in shadow. From its body, Selena would guess that it was some kind of black lion, but its head was from no creature she had ever seen. Some nightmarish mix of bear, wolf, and buck, with a gaping maw and huge antlers reaching up into the sky. Its tail lashed around its form, thick and spiked at the end. And the sheer size of it—it was bigger than a horse, bigger than the great oxen that pulled the plows in the field.

“Elian.” Its voice was like the cracking of stone. “What are you doing here?”

“Same as you.” The hawk extended his wings in a lazy stretch. “I felt the magic come alive.”

The monster growled, and the hawk jumped from his perch to land on the ground, fearless in the face of the threat before him.

“And it’s her?” asked the monster, silent as it paced closer. Selena scrambled further back, her hands digging uselessly in the ground for something,anything—

The hawk’s head cocked round. “Yep! Sacrificed to the forest by the humans.”

The monster snarled at the mention of her kidnappers, turning his nose to the forest to scent the air. “And are they—”

He was cut off as a red-gold beast, bright as lava, shot down from the sky with claws extended, fire pouring forth from its mouth.

Selena screamed as the beast made impact with the monster, the two swiftly turning into a blur of teeth and snarling. The monster snapped its great jaws towards the beast—adragon, she realized with a start. The dragon bellowed in response, digging its claws deep into the monster’s fur as the two mighty creatures clashed.

“Well, shit.” The hawk hopped closer to her, settling its wings. “This makes things a little more complicated.”

Selena couldn’t summon a response, too focused on the beasts before her, tugging and wrenching, desperate to justget away—

The hawk snapped its beak at her. “Stop doing that, little dove, or you’re going to injure yourself!”

“But they’re—we have to—I have to get out of here!” she cried, twisting this way and that.

The hawk sighed and shook itself. Selena watched, mesmerized, as the feathers melted away, revealing a man.

Except he wasn’t a man. He couldn’t be. No man was that beautiful.

As he eyed her with slight irritation, she could do nothing but drink him in. Golden hair curled around his temples like some kind of halo, his green eyes shining and vibrant in the darkness. His sharp cheekbones swooped upwards to ears thattapered into long, fine points. He was tall, taller than any man Selena had ever met, his body lean and chiseled with muscle.

For a moment she forgot about the battling creatures behind him, so enrapt was she in the devastating beauty of his face.

“They’re not going to hurt you,” he said, his voice low and purring. “I don’t think they’ll even hurt each other. You see, little dove, they’ve come all this way because you’ve done something.”

“W-what have I done?” Her voice cracked, and he tutted, kneeling before her, impervious to the bellows and snarls behind him.

“You’ve woken up the magic. Magic that I haven’t felt since before The Breaking. Magic that these two are too young to have known, but are nevertheless tied to.” He reached out a hand and tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear, the intimate gesture flooding her body with heat. “Little Omega, whathaveyou done?”

She was saved from replying by yet another beast, a wolf, leaping into the clearing, its yellow eyes assessing the scene before snarling and launching towards the fight.

“Malek,” it roared, and Selena flinched at the voice. “Malek, stop!”

The dragon reared back, fire dripping from its teeth, and fell into step with the wolf. Now, both turned on the monster, growls reverberating through the clearing. The monster’s hackles rose as it snarled back, but it backed away, head lowering.

“Now, now,” the man sprang up, sauntering towards the three beasts as if he didn’t have a care in the world, “is that anyway to treat a fellow visitor? I know you were raised in a barn, Ronan, but you really don’t have to be quite so rude.”

The wolf pounced forward with a snarl, but the man didn’t flinch; if anything, his grin got wider.

“Elian,” the dragon turned towards the man, “don’t antagonize him.”

“Kaelen!” Elian threw his arms up in greeting. “How wonderful to see you! I trust you got Father’s letter today? And I do hope you enjoyed the flowers I sent along with it.”

Now, it was the dragon’s turn to launch forward, wings curving in a great arc, teeth glinting. But instead of attacking, his skin rippled, scales falling away as he too transformed into something that looked like a man but wasn’t.

His stern face, all hard angles and planes, was pulled into a grimace, dark red hair tumbling to his shoulders and brushing the polished brown leather that stretched over his muscles. He was just as tall as Elian but broader, older.

---