Page 63 of Bound to Four Alphas

“Elian,” Phaendar replied. “Always so meddlesome. I told you once that this plan of yours was a fool’s game. It’s a shame you chose to disobey me.”

“What, you would kill your own heir?” Elian hissed.

Phaendar scoffed, “When I have the magic for myself, I won’t need an heir. I will be a God.”

“And what does your human tool think of that?” If Elian’s voice was ice, Kaelen’s was molten fire. He and Malek werecircling around, testing their enemies’ resolve, looking for an entrance to get to Selena.

“You got in my way once,King of Embers,” Damien spat. “You won’t this time. I’ll have power enough to crush your entire clan, wipe it to ashes.”

Selena sobbed at his words, thrashing harder. Phaendar and Damien were in front of her now, blocking her from view. Blocking Kaelen and Malek from getting closer. But Ronan could still smell her anger, her panic, her all-consuming terror. One wrong move, and Damien would kill her in front of them.

It was burning him alive.

“And what do you think of Damien’s plan to wipe out my people?” Kaelen growled at Phaendar. “After the dragons, what would stop him from coming after your people next?”

“A blood oath,” Phaendar said. “He is betrothed to—”

“To Caeda, yes, we figured that one out,” Elian said, twirling two blades in his hands. “Will you wait for a spring wedding? Or force her to the altar once you’re done here?”

“There will be no greater honor for her than to be my mate,” Damien gloated. “I will be one of the most powerful beings in the world. The heir to an Empire.”

Phaendar’s jaw worked, a flash of anger crossing his eyes.

It seemed this alliance was less than friendly.

“YourEmpire,” Selena spat, “is nothing but a regime of murderers and cowards.”

Pride welled in Ronan’s chest. His brave little mate had claws, after all.

Damien cocked an eyebrow. “You know, it really issuch a shameyou filthy creatures got to her before I did. She would have made such a pretty, obedient little mate.”

Ronan snarled, “Don’t you fucking talk about her like that.”

Damien laughed, high and thin, continuing as if Ronan hadn’t said a word, “It would have been a nuisance, don’t get me wrong. Having to bind her in magical chains and siphon her magic from her for the rest of her life. But it would have been worth it. And I’m not the only one who thought so, isn’t that right, Elian?”

Elian froze beside Ronan, a vicious growl erupting from his chest. “You found my notes.”

“Indeed I did,” Damien said. “It seems we found the same sources and drew the same conclusions. Bind her in silver chains and take her magic. She would be miserable, yes, but what would it matter? Imagine my surprise to find you hadn’t carried out the ritual, that you’d instead beenprotectingher.”

“Elian?” Kaelen’s voice was a mixture of anger and fear. Fear that Elian would ever,couldever, have considered hurting Selena. Ronan bared his teeth, unable to fathom such a thing.

“She’s mymate,” Elian thundered. “Whatever research I carried out, whatever theories I explored, I knew from the moment I first saw her that I would never even dream of going through with them. There is a different sort of power in the magic that binds us together.”

“Is it because she fucked you?” A disgusting smile wormed its way onto Damien’s face, his lips peeling back to reveal his teeth. “I bet that was it. You got drunk on her pussy. I bet she moaned so prettily when you held her down and—”

Ronan didn’t see Malek move. One moment he was prowling by the wall, eyes sharp and teeth bared in anger, and the next he had lashed out with an almighty roar, slamming Damien back with a sickening crack. Damien slumped to the floor, blood welling from a cut on his head.

“I’d consider your next moves very carefully,” Phaendar’s words were like silk, but there was nothing elegant in the way he hunched over Selena, a blade to her terrified throat.

Malek whined in desperation, and Selena shook her head infinitesimally, her silver eyes wide with fear.

“Don’t be a fool, father,” Elian’s words, while icy, were tinged with panic.

“On the contrary, son,” Phaendar sneered, “I think perhaps you may want to rethink your loyalties. After all, without your research, we never would have been able to figure out how to perform the ritual. It would have taken us months—very uncomfortable months, for your little mate here.”

Kaelen snarled, his hands frozen over his curved blades.

“As a reward, I think it’s only fitting that I offer you a place here. By my side. I’ll even let you talk to your sister.”

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