Page 30 of Bound to Four Alphas

“I didn’t say anything!”

“You were about to,” she grumbled, reading the mischief dancing in his eyes.

“Selena,” said Ronan, tucking her against his side, his voice unusually somber, “I don’t think you understand what just happened. Kaelen is right to worry. You are in very real danger.”

“Don’t you start,” she said, but her anger was cooling, worry replacing it as she combed through the conversation with Damien again. Was it true? Could he sever the mating bonds? Was he planning to try? The thought of being forcefully separated from the four alphas panicked her more than she would like to admit.

“I don’t want you going anywhere by yourself,” said Ronan, his tone brooking no space for argument. “I want one of us to be with you at all times. Will you do that for me?”

She looked up into his warm face, eyes kind despite the grim determination. “Yes,” she muttered eventually. “It’s notlike I really know anyone else here anyway. Except for Rania and some of the priestesses.”

Ronan nodded once, his jaw tense as he glanced over the crowd in the direction the humans went. Selena tried not to be jealous of the view his height granted him. As a human herself, she was ridiculously short compared to most people in the room, her alphas in particular. Next to Ronan she was sure she looked like some sort of doll.

“Bold of him to show his face here,” said Elian, far too brightly. “How did you know who he was?”

Ronan’s eyes narrowed. “It’s my job to guard the territories bordering the human lands,” he said, his voice tight. “I’ve seen him a few times from afar attempting to breach the forest. He never got very far.”

“How did he get here, then?” Selena asked, growing ever more frustrated at her own lack of knowledge. How was she supposed to mingle with so many magical beings without revealing her ignorance? She would look like a complete fool.

Malek’s words hit her. Silence was a preferable option when you didn’t know what to say. No wonder he was quiet so much of the time.

“The southern road, most likely,” growled Ronan. “There are human territories there. With armed guard it’s plausible he could have made it safely to the temple. Technically, we’re on neutral ground here.”

She chewed her lip, instinctively looking through the crowds for a glimpse of Kaelen’s red hair, suddenly desperate to see him. “What does Damien want with me?”

“Ah,” Elian’s eyes sparkled, “another question to add to the growing list. But we can worry about that tomorrow.Tonight, I have many interested in meeting you. Stay here, I’m going to find them!”

As Elian danced away through the throngs of people, Ronan dipped his head down, his hand hot against her waist. “Give him time,” he said quietly. “Kaelen is just as stubborn as you, but he doesn’t do anything without reason. He just wants to protect you.”

“By controlling me,” she said. “That’s not what I want.”

“I know,” Ronan’s words were soft. “And he will come to learn that too. As I said, give him time.”

Selena let Ronan press a brief but searing kiss to her lips, her omega purring at the contact, before he stretched out to his full size and threw an easy grin at Malek. “Some of those bear clan lot brought some fantastic barrels of ale, fancy a horn?”

The look of pure shock on Malek’s face was enough to leave Ronan roaring with laughter as he disappeared into the crowd, seemingly in search of some beer. Malek moved closer to her, one arm automatically curling around her waist. It seemed that her alphas were only happy when they were touching her in some way or another.

If she was being honest, she didn’t mind it.

“What…” Malek’s face was pulled into a confused frown. “What isale?”

Selena giggled, leaning into his warmth. So far, Elian and Malek had managed to resist the overt protectiveness, possessiveness even, that seemed to plague Kaelen and Ronan. Perhaps it was a shifter thing. Or perhaps their threshold for triggering it was just higher. Either way, she appreciated that Malek in particular had never once tried to tell her what to do.

The irony that the alpha she had been most terrified of was somehow the gentlest to her was not lost.

Ronan and Elian soon returned with beer and introductions to be made, and Selena spent the next few hours meeting countless family members, generals, friends, and followers from the Benellane Court and the western wolf clan. The Fae she found to be charming, if slightly secretive, with the same easy ability to brush unwanted questions aside as Elian. The wolves, on the other hand, were a rowdy bunch, shouting and hollering and toasting to Ronan. She found herself laughing until her sides hurt at the myriad of stories of what Ronan was like as a young pup.

Malek too seemed more at ease, even going so far to smile at some of the jokes, an untouched horn of ale in his clawed hand. Selena had also turned down any offers of wine, not wanting to lose her senses.

After a particularly raucous joke, she noticed an older man approaching, the hair at his temples graying. He paused, waiting for the laughter to fade, before speaking.

“Selena,” he said, his voice warm, “it is an honor to meet you. My name is Iveir, I am the general of King Kaelen’s forces.”

Her eyebrows shot up. None of the dragons had yet come over to greet her, probably because Kaelen was still seething with rage at her disobedience. “Iveir, it’s lovely to meet you.”

“I wonder, my lady, might I have a word?”

Chapter 15 - Selena

---