Chapter 4
LIORA
“Mate”
The word, said by the three of them, at the same time, played in my head over and over again.
Here were the Hawthorne Brothers, the triplet princes of the royal pack, surrounding me and proclaiming me their mate.
The moon was still directly above us, brighter than ever, and there was a feeling in the air that I couldn’t name, one that didn’t feel natural, one that made my heart beat faster, not of fear for them but out of a sensation of bonding
“What the fuck is this?” Adam yelled at the top of his voice, and just like that, whatever magic that was starting to bloom in the air evaporated
My heart pounded faster, and this time around, it was out of fear.
“I believed I just asked you a question,” he yelled again, and I instinctively cowered back. “What the fuck did you do?”
I.. I just…” I stutter, shaking, and trembling, “I lost my way, and the strange moon brought me here. I just…”
“Ohhh,” his sadistic laughter echoed through the forest, chilling my blood to ice. He bent down and picked me up with the collar of my uniform like I weighed nothing.
“This forest is forbidden to mere wolves, and any human that mistakenly enters it would have died because they can’t handle its powers, but here you are, still breathing, and with our wolves calling you their mates. It’s impossible. Princes have never had a single mate and even if it’s going to happen now, we wouldn’t be mated to a stupid wench of a human!”
His voice boomed, and his wolf shone brighter in his eyes out of anger. I couldn’t help the tears that fell from my eyes in torrents.
“I promised, I didn’t do anything. If you let me go now, no one will know of this. I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone.”
“We can’t just let you go,” came Carlton’s reply as he walked up to where I was dangling from Adam’s hold, “you’re our mate. You’re a royal mate.”
“Stop calling her that!” Adam growled. He glanced at his brother, and when he turned to me again, there was a look of undiluted and feral anger in his eyes. Like a murderous type of rage, an animalistic one that made it look like he was mere seconds away from yanking my head off my body.
It terrified me. His anger was terrifying.
“Let her go, Adam”
“And what?” he barked al Carlton, “take her to the palace? Declare her as our mate or what?”
“We could reject her right here and now” Braxton said from where he now stood, leaning against a tree and observing us as if we were a scene from a soap opera, “we’ll reject her and go our separate ways. No one has to know we found our first mate.”
The other two brothers were quiet for a while before a relieved smile cracked open Adam’s face and he dropped me to the floor like ! was nothing. I ignored the searing pain that I felt. The pain didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was how I’d get out of here in one piece.
“Yes yes that’s a good idea. That’s perfect. Let’s.”
“Do you really think the palace and the royal sorceress wouldn’t have gotten notified that we found our mate already?”
“I don’t care if they’ve found out or not!” he yelled at Carlton, and while the latter didn’t blink at his voice, I trembled at it.
“The only thing I care about is rejecting her and sending her on her way. We’ll think of a way to deal with the repercussions later.”
“Okay then, if that is what you want, let’s do it, Carlton conceded easily, and I nearly cried in relief. Whatever nightmare this was, I couldn’t wait to leave it behind
*1, Adam Hawthorne, first Alpha Prince of the Silvermoon Pack, son of Rerai and Nick Hawthorne, hereby reject you, Liora, as my
1/2
Chapter 4
“I, Braxton Hawthorne, second Alpha Prince of the Silvermoon Park, son of Amber and Nick Hawthorne, hereby reject you, Liora, as
my mate.”
“1. Carlton Hawthorne, third Alpha Prince of the Silvermoon Pack, son of Amber and Nick Hawthorne, hereby reject you, Liora, as my
mate
–
I waited for what seemed like hours before the brothers exchanged glances, and Adam punched the ground in anger. Both 1, the ground, and the nearby trees shook from the sheer force of his anger.
“Let her reject us” Carlton suggested, and Adam didn’t waste a second before he picked me again.
“You heard him.” he growled at me, “do it.”
“I Liora Cole of of…” my voice was shaking, “1, Liora Cole reject Alpha Princes Adam, Braxton, and Carlton Hawthorne as my mate.”
Nothing happened, not to me and definitely not to them because Adam’s hold tightened around my collar before he dropped me to the floor again.
“She did something. She’s doing something.” he said as he pranced around the opening while my fear and apprehension grew. I was afraid he’d pick something and hit me with it. I was worried that he’d suggest that they kill me and bury my body so that no one would find out about this mate bond.
This nightmare was getting too overwhelming. I wanted nothing more than to wake up from this. It was better when I was in the dark room. At least, back then, I was sure that I’d die. Now, I didn’t know what they’d do to me, and whatever options they decided to go weren’t going to end well for me.
“I think we have to take her to the palace,” Braxton suggested again.
“Take a human mate to the palace? I think I’d rather die first.”
“So what do you suggest we do now?” Carlton asked.
for
“I suggest we.. Adam didn’t complete his statement when some uniformed men suddenly stepped into the opening with us. It was so abrupt because I didn’t hear their footsteps at all.
“My princes” the one who seemed to be their leader, greeted. Adam seemed even more pissed and he wasn’t looking at the men, he was looking at me.
“The palace has been notified that you found your mate. The alpha and Luna ordered that we escort you back safely to the palace.”
