Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Txälina

Kaluen listened to Mätxin tattle with rapt attention. I couldn't eat. My appetite had diminished. I took a sip of wine, the taste vanished, replaced by the tang of fear at the tip of my tongue.

"You'll abdicate the Beta position?" Kaluen questioned.

"Yes."

"But why?"

Mätxin smiled as he jabbed a chunk of meat with his fork and ate it, washing it down with wine.

"I'm aiming for something greater," he said.

"And what could that be?"

Taut silence filled the space between them as both males stared at each other before Mätxin eventually spoke.

"I covet the Alpha position, and I intend to challenge my brother, Alpha Wyränkla, by the next full moon," Mätxin explained. "But I need your aid."

I stared at Täneli. Her frail hands trembled as she raised a small piece of meat to her mouth.

"Are you in or...?" Mätxin trailed off.

"Of course I'm in. Who wouldn't want to be the Beta of Säli?" Kaluen said.

Mätxin solemnly stared at Kaluen.

"I'm inquiring if you'll let me claim her after I attain the Alpha position," he said, head poised meditatively.

"You can have her," Kaluen replied immediately. "You can use her. Break her. Do whatever pleases you. As long as I get what I want, I don't care."

Mätxin's smile broadened, then he turned to me. I heard his voice imbue my mind. "Mine."

A wave of shock crested inside me at Kaluen's response. It ricocheted in my mind, leaving behind only sadness. I had been feeling pessimistic about this dinner, and i was right.

Visions careened at the edges of my mind, images of Mätxin's calloused hand on my skin as he planted his seeds inside me, of his cubs growing in my belly, just to be snatched from me after birth.

The grip around my goblet loosened, and I set it back on the table.

"No," the word unfurled from my mouth. "You can't do this. Please… please… He can't claim me."

Kaluen's jaw ticked. The gold in his eyes darkened as he sent me a narrowing stare that pierced through me.

I bit down on my tongue. I should've tarried in the silence. But the words had unfurled from my mouth before I had the chance to stave them.

"Have you forgotten your place?" His voice reverberated through the room.

"Perhaps she needs some reminding," Mätxin said.

"You are a slave, like every woman in Säli. The fact that you sleep under my roof shouldn't make you feel superior here. I own you, and I'll use you however I wish."

His words landed on me like bricks, striking with brute force. I flinched. Anxiety flooded through my veins, invading my mind.

Across the table, Täneli made a muffled sound. Her eyes tethered with mine, and I felt her voice coaxing into my mind.

Don't weep. Don't break in front of them.

But I was already broken. My body and soul were fractured.

Mätxin turned to me, boring into me with a stare I recognized as possessive. His gaze crawled across my skin, causing the hairs on my arms to stand.

"She's a brat," Mätxin said drily. "You've marred her. Let me have her. I'll hone her to be docile."

The tears I had been trying to suppress finally broke free, slicking down my cheeks.

"You can punish her all you want when she's yours," Kaluen said, sipping from his goblet. "But for now, she's still mine."

"I heard they turn submissive once they're heavy with your cubs."

A humorless chuckle rolled from Kaluen's lips. "Täneli used to repel. But she's now benevolent and sweet, despite the fact that she's not yet swollen with my cubs. Isn't that right, Tän?"

"Yes, my Lord," she murmured.

I opened my mouth. "Brother—"

He tilted his head, face lined with aggravation.

"I didn't permit you to speak," he snapped.

The air suddenly felt taut, and I had to remind myself to breathe. I fought the hollowness carving its way into my heart.

"Eat," he growled. "And stay out of our affair."

I shrouded the hardness on my face, lowered my head, and grabbed the fork, stabbing it into a chunk of meat and envisioning that it was Mätxin and Kaluen's flesh. A flicker of satisfaction flitted through my mind.