Page 79 of Owned By Four Alphas

Chapter 29 - Selena

Little Eveya was already proving to be a perfect child. Two weeks old, and she slept through the night, barely made a fuss, and had most of the palace staff utterly in love with her.

A good thing too, as following their ordeal, Selena and her mates had needed all the sleep and rest they could get.

But now it was time to rebuild. To reforge old alliances, reestablish power, and welcome in the new era. After several long, tiring conversations, her pack had a tentative plan for how things would be handled from that point on. Selena would take a more active role, empowered and supported by her mates, to pass laws and govern as she chose.

The second anyone stepped out of line, she would defer to her mates. She acquiesced that she had not grown up in the First Realm, she was not a shifter or a Fae, and as such still had a lot to learn about their ways and customs. So while brutal, violent punishment still seemed far too harsh to her, she trusted that her mates knew what they were talking about.

That night had been the first of many feasts to come, with wolves and Fae travelling to the Palace of Embers to pay their respects to Eveya, to Selena, to the pack. It seemed, to Selena’s untrained eye, like the beginnings of peace. The feast itself had been a triumph, although Selena had excused herself early, leaving her mates to laugh and drink and build bonds. Even Malek, clasped around the shoulders by Ronan, had stayed.

It warmed her heart.

For the past hour, she had been sitting in her daughter’s nursery, staring dreamily down at her beautiful little face. She liked to think she could see parts of her mates in Eveya. The shape of Elian’s nose, Kaelen’s mouth, Malek’s quiet intensity,Ronan’s fierce adoration. But Eveya was mostly her. Selena wondered if her mother, Eveya’s namesake, had looked down at her and seen herself?

Selena liked to think so.

The party was getting louder, more boisterous, laughter drifting through the dark basalt halls of Kaelen’s palace. There were a series of thumps from next door, followed by a quiet string of swearing.

“Where the bloody fuck does Kaelen keep his good fucking whiskey?”

With one final soft smile at her daughter, she rose, walking through to Kaelen’s bedchamber and closing the door to the nursery softly behind her. Instantly, her magical barriers snapped into place, blocking any sound from disturbing her daughter, warding the door.

She couldn’t help but laugh at the sight that greeted her.

Ronan and Elian, halfway to drunk, climbing up Kaelen’s shelves to try and swipe the top cabinet open and raid it.

“Has Kaelen not provided whiskey at the feast?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“Not the good stuff,” Elian said, having much more success than Ronan heaving himself up. “I know it’s hiding here somewhere!”

Ronan jumped down to the floor, his grin positively feral. “Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” he rumbled. “I thought you’d gone to bed by now!”

“Not yet,” she said, heat coiling low at the dangerous glint in his eyes, “why do you ask?”

“Well, I had come to steal liquor,” he said, lunging forward and picking her up, ignoring her squeaks of protest, “but now I think I’d prefer something a littlesweeter.”

Without giving her more time to protest, he crushed his lips into hers, one hand drifting low to the curve of her ass. She gasped into his mouth, arms wrapping around his neck, his scent threatening to overwhelm her.

“You might be onto something,” Elian purred, dropping down from the shelves and uncorking a bottle with his teeth, taking a swig of liquor, “Selena darling, be an angel and get rid of those clothes.”

“Elian,” she squeaked as Ronan dropped her to her feet.

“You heard me, Omega,” he said, his voice darkening.

She gulped as Ronan spun her around to face Elian. “Better do as he says,” Ronan rumbled, “otherwise he might do all manner of wicked things to you.”

“Better yet,” said Elian, “why don’t you let us?”

She could do nothing but whimper as Elian descended, his clever fingers making quick work of the various clasps and fastenings of her silk dress, letting the fabric whisper to the ground around her feet. Ronan’s hands explored every inch of revealed flesh, his hardness pressing into her back.

“Are you two stealing my fucking—oh.” Kaelen stopped short in the doorway, his eyes immediately latching onto her bare flesh, widening slightly in surprise before they darkened and a savage grin spread over his face. “I see.”

Malek was behind him, taking in the scene with his normal stoic, stony impression. But as Kaelen advanced, and Malek shut and locked the door with a definitiveclick, Selena knew she was completely at their mercy.

Her cheeks heated under the ravenous gaze of her mates, her hands flying automatically upwards to cover her breasts.

“Now now, little dove,” Elian stalked forward, “we’ll have none of that.”

---