Page 31 of Owned By Four Alphas

“I don’t think you realize quite how much danger you’re in every single day, Selena.” She sucked in a breath, her hands braced against his chest, her eyes wide. “And I don’t think you know quite what that does to me. How could you? There are enemies at every turn, just waiting for the merest hint of areason to depose you. I have to deal with it day in and day out, while also making sure you don’t kill yourself with your own magic.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but his growl cut her off. He wasn’t done.

“Don’t argue with me, Omega. You know it’s true. I would burn the whole world down to keep you safe, and all you do is fight me at every turn. I should chain you to this bed and never let you leave.” He punctuated the statement with a harsh thrust of his hips, his knot swollen and deep within her writhing form.

“Kaelen!” she gasped, pushing against him.

He didn’t yield.

“I offer you the entire world, Omega. I would lay it at your feet. All you have to do is obey me. Why can’t you do that?”

“I don’t want the entire world!” she cried, her eyes growing wet, turning her head from him. “I just want to be a part of it!”

He let out a bitter laugh. “My naive little mate. If I let you do as you pleased, you’d be dead within a day. There are so many that would see you fall. Some of my own people even, sniffing around my throne, seeking to weaken me in the hopes of getting to you. The only way I can keep you safe is by keeping you at my side.”

“If I’m in so much danger from your people, why don’t you go back to your lands and regain control?” she argued, her eyes turning fiery.

“Because I can’t leave you.”

“Yes, you can!” her little fists thumped against his chest, tears falling down her cheeks freely. “You have to trust that I’ll be alright! That I can look after myself, that you can rely on thewhole pack. You don’t have to carry the weight of the world, Kaelen, nothing is going to happen to me! And if something does, you’ll survive it!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he rumbled, flashing his teeth, pressing her deeper into the bed.

“Yes, I do!” she wailed, the fight raging inside her clear as day, her legs hooking around his hips and pulling him closer even as her hands shoved at his chest. “I won’t live like this, Kaelen, I can’t! If you carry on like this, you’ll lose me either way!”

“I don’t care if you hate me,” he snarled. “I don’t care if you never forgive me. As long as you’re safe, I’ll do anything. I’ll burn it all down.”

Her resistance was weakening, her body exhausted from her magical outburst and their activities. Some part of his mind reared in warning, desperate to care for her, to nurture her, to keep her safe and warm andhappy.

He growled, shaking his head. She was making him choose. And he would choose her safety over her happiness any day.

She slumped down, her hands falling to her sides, her glowing silver eyes still shimmering with tears. “I can’t live like this. The magic, the pregnancy, the constant weight of everybody’s expectations. I need you on my side, Kaelen. I need my mate, not my alpha.”

“That’s not what you were purring into my ear moments ago,” he sneered, bucking his hips in emphasis.

She sucked in a breath, her eyes turning impossibly sad. “That’s cruel, Kaelen.”

Everything in him roared at the heartbreak in her voice, the quiver of her lip. This wasn’t right. He was failing her. Failing the pack. He was spinning out of control and he didn’t know how to stop it.

But he had to keep her safe. That was all that mattered. Nothing else.

He had to keep her safe.

“Keep testing me, Omega,” he snarled, “and I’ll show you exactly how cruel I can be.”

Chapter 13 - Selena

When she woke from yet another dream, her head pounding, her mouth dry and her bladder complaining, she didn’t even have to look before straightening out the books on the desk that had moments ago been her pillow.

She rarely left the library these days.

Ever since that day two months ago, since Kaelen had loomed above her with nothing but wicked contempt in his eyes, she had felt herself withdraw and crumble. More often than not, she found herself weeping amongst the cold aisles of books, wrapping her arms around her swollen stomach, trying to find strength and warmth in her child.

It wouldn’t be long now. Maybe a few weeks.

Kaelen had only gotten worse. She wasn’t allowed to leave the palace now without at least two of her mates. When she walked the corridors, there were always guards behind her. He barely let her be alone in the library, his amber eyes narrowed and watchful of her every step, waiting for her to fight back.

She hadn’t. She didn’t know how to. If she fought him, disobeyed him, flaunted his stupid rules in his face, then he would only get more draconian, draw further from her, widen the chasm between them. She didn’t want that. She wanted to fix it. She wanted him back.

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