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Chapter 2
~Rhiannon’s POV~
The first thing I noticed was the cold. Sharp, biting, and deep in my bones. The second was the wild scent that assailed my nostrils.
It was neither rot nor mould nor stone nor blood.
It was them.
The scent struck like a blow to the chest—feral, wild, heady.
Leather worn in battle. Crushed pine needles. Spice and smoke. Fresh steel. Sun-ward skin after a run under the moon.
Five separate scents, potent, different, and all twisted together like a storm fighting for space in my lungs as if they were trying to prove sothing just by being near .
My eyes flew open, and I shot upright too fast. The cold chain at my neck clinked against stone. My wrists were bound but loose enough to slip free if I wanted.
Perhaps, they weren’t worried I’d run.
Smart because I wouldn’t. Not yet.
I looked up finally to see all five of them in the room, standing there and watching with curious eyes.
They looked carved out of the elents—too much power and danger, packed into one space.
I didn’t know their nas or their faces, but my bones and blood knew from their aura.
They were alpha born and the very kind I was taught to hate. A flicker of that ingrained aversion sparked within , quickly overshadowed by sothing far more primal.
Their presence pressed down on like gravity, and sohow, I recognized each of their voices before they even spoke.
The one in the centre stood like a storm ready to break—tall, steady, arms crossed, glacial blue eyes locked on . Raven-black hair tousled over his forehead as dark clothes hugged a body built for war.
His silence weighed heavier than chains. He didn’t blink. He didn’t look away. His stare pinned in place as he silently controlled the room.
To his left, another, leaner, sharper, golden blonde hair that seed to capture the sunlight. Ice-blue eyes bore into with the focus of a blade poised to strike. Tension rippled off him, ready to move at a heartbeat’s notice.
Against the far wall lounged the wild one, all careless and in mischief. Reddish-blond hair ssy, dagger spinning between his fingers, crystal-blue eyes glinting with sothing reckless, hungry and a face too handso to trust.
Near the stone archway, shadowed and still, stood another. Brown hair which shone the faintest burgundy sheen when he shifted in the low light. Hazel-green eyes flickering, calculating, watching everything at once.
My gaze darted to the one furthest back—the tallest, the broadest. His red hair burned like firelight, erald-green eyes raw with emotion he couldn’t hide.
He vibrated with unspent energy, like he was seconds away from shattering and rushing toward .
I didn’t know their nas or their intentions. As soon as I took in their appearance, the way their intense eyes stared at , their scents collided again, crashing into the air.
Sothing inside cracked.
My head snapped back as heat blood under my skin. My spine bowed. Fire surged through my veins.
Not a full shift—no claws, no fur—but my wolf rose from exile.
"Finally," she growled inside . "Finally, you let breathe."
My mind raced back to the day I first heard her speak and how she introduced herself—the day I had wolfed out first. It wasn’t on my eighteenth birthday, like most, but on my sixteenth.
My father had always said I was a blessed child, which was why, when she spoke, I felt a chill run down my spine.
"My na is Ravyn. And I don’t bow."
Ravyn didn’t ask for permission, not after she had been shunned all those years. She took over, and in that mont, I felt it, the bonds snapping into place at once. The inherent, undeniable connection of the mate bond, sothing my father had warned against, flared to life.
Bonds snapped into place so fast it stole my breath.
.
Five cords, five pulses, syncing into one unbearable rhythm.
"Mate. Mate. Mate. Mate. Mate."
"No," I gasped, stumbling back against the wall. "No, that’s not—"
"It’s real," Ravyn crooned triumphantly. "You’ve been starving us. They’re the feast. And I want every bite."
I bit my cheek hard enough to bleed.
Across the room, the jittery redhead stepped forward. "What’s happening to her?" he demanded.
"She’s syncing," the golden-haired fighter said coolly, as if my world wasn’t collapsing. "Her wolf’s waking up."
The blond snarled under his breath. "I can sll it—her scent. It’s not normal."
"She’s not normal," the dagger-spinner murmured, grinning without humour. His dagger froze mid-spin, but his focus didn’t.
The black-haired leader—the one who hadn’t spoken yet—stepped forward. I flinched instinctively.
.
The air stretched taut between us, pulling, crackling, and tearing at my defences.
"Kael?" the erald-eyed one called out.
My entire body recoiled, not out of fear, but from sensation as Sparks erupted beneath my skin. "Get away from ," I rasped hoarsely.
"Liar," Ravyn purred triumphantly. "We want them closer."
A harsh gasp tore from my lungs, making Kael halt mid-step, frowning. "Are you—" he started.
"Don’t talk to !" I snapped, more panic than anger.
Silence slamd down.
The one with burgundy-brown hair cocked his head, amused.
"We?" he corrected quietly. "Or do you an your wolf, mate?" The word resonated with a weight that made my stomach clench.
Around , I felt it.
Possessiveness. Hunger. Restraint. The primal urges of five alpha wolves, suddenly tethered to .
They wanted to move toward .
They wanted to touch. To claim. To tear each other apart for the right to stand nearest.
But they held back.
Barely.
The tension thickened like a brewing storm.
I saw it in their eyes—the struggle not to give in, not to lunge, not to lose themselves to the bond already sparking in the air.
And then it ca—their thoughts, crashing into like a tidal wave.
"She’s mine."
"The Moon Goddess must love us to bless us so well."
"This changes everything."
"If the others touch her, I’ll kill them."
"This is the mont I dread. She’s the one."
I shook, chest heaving.
They weren’t just voices in my head.
They were real.
And sowhere in the tangled storm of their emotions, Ravyn whispered smugly:
"The Moon Goddess really must love —for she gave five rewards."
I barely held onto myself as the world shifted beneath my feet.
Kael’s voice finally broke the silence—low, dangerous, absolute:
"Chain her properly," Kael ordered and attempted to turn, but before he could fully pivot, the raw panic and defiance churning within erupted.
"Don’t you dare co closer," I snarled, hoping they would take my threat seriously as my gaze darted between all five of them.
Like a trapped animal assessing its predators, my chest heaved with each shallow, rapid breath.
The strange connection pulling at , the bond I didn’t want, all clashed with my deep-seated fear and mistrust.
I noticed his lip curled at the side, a fleeting hint of sothing calculating, as he turned his head to look at . "She’s still processing, brothers."
"But she’s a wild one," the erald-eyed alpha spoke up, his gaze intense. A flicker of sothing akin to understanding crossed his features.
"That she is." Almost as if a switch had been flicked, the faint amusent in Kael’s expression vanished, replaced by the sa glacial coldness I had witnessed before. A dark glint, sharp and decisive, flickered in his blue eyes.
"Knock her out."
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