Page 77 of Owned By Four Alphas

“Step back,” she said, her voice full of wonder, “I think…I think I still have powers of my own. Powers that are my own.”

She lifted her hands, glowing faintly silver. Elian felt her magic reach out through her bare feet, to the earth beneath her. To the rock, the stone, the fire, thelifestill clinging on.

Grasping onto tendrils of power, sheheaved.His shadows swirled around them, testing and bolstering her.

Demigod. She was a demigod.

That was why she had always struggled, why she could never keep control. It wasn’t her own magic she was fighting against, it was her father’s.

Her daughter’s.

She had rejected being a goddess, and the magic had latched on to the next best thing. A child with the power and essence of four of the most powerful alphas the Realm had ever seen. A body that could contain all the might of her grandfather.

And Selena was left, a demigod, with magic in her own right, unlocked all those months ago when she was crowned, but never free to express itself on its own.

Selena clenched her hands and the rock trembled and cracked, a great schism shooting upwards from the ruined tunnel, towards the great lip of the volcano. Elian and Malek staggered backwards as great chunks of rock lifted into the sky from the depths of the volcano, tumbling down the sides, swirling through the air.

There was an almighty bellow, a pause, a breath the world took.

And then a red-gold streak shot upwards into the sky, clutching a dark wolf in its claws.

Selena breathed out, and the rocks tumbled down, crashing to the earth below.

The dragon soared for a few moments before spotting them, shooting towards them with a powerful beat of its wings.

Kaelen had shifted into a human, bloodied and weeping, by the time he reached them. Selena staggered into his embrace with a choked sob, and he pressed her into him, lips crushing against hers, cheeks wet with tears.

“My Selena,” he breathed. “My beautiful mate.”

Elian didn’t know if Selena was laughing or sobbing as Ronan pulled her towards him, claiming a kiss of his own. Elian staggered closer, Malek beside him, to join the circle.

Selena choked back a gasp as she took her daughter from his arms, a finger tracing over her perfect cheek.

“She’s beautiful.”

“You both are,” said Elian, kissing her forehead, an unimaginable well of emotion swelling through him.

“Kaelen,” Selena sobbed, “Ronan, you’re both suchidiots!”

Ronan laughed, cracking and joyous, but Kaelen’s face was somber.

“In so many ways,” he said, his throat bobbing, “Selena, there’s so much I want to say, so much Ineedto say…”

“It’s okay,” she replied, her silver eyes bright with love, “I know. I know.”

Kaelen fell to his knees, taking her hand, “Never again,” he promised, “I won’t ever do that to you ever again. My Selena, my beautiful Selena.”

She pulled his hand, forcing him to stand, “It’s okay,” she wept, leaning into his chest. “I maybe could have listened to you about the danger. If I had been honest about everything…Elian, if I had told you what I was doing, asked for your help, then maybe…”

“None of that matters now, little dove,” Elian said, stroking her hair, “we all have regrets.”

“How are you alive?” Malek asked, his hand braced on Ronan’s shoulder, his pale, stony face cracked in devastation.

“Kaelen here was trying to fight a fire god with fire,” said Ronan, and Kaelen choked out a laugh.

Malek’s brow furrowed, “But Ronan, aren’t you…”

“Vulnerable to fire? Incredibly so. When I leapt onto the great big bastard’s head and began to attack, it distracted him enough that Kaelen was able to break free from his grasp and decide that saving me beat taking out Theldir’s eye.”

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