They Will Kill For A Girl They Don't Love

Dawn came in like a thief, quiet and cold.

The sky outside the Council chamber windows was pale, clouds strung like torn silk across the horizon. But the room itself… the room was all stone and judgment. Harsh lighting. Harsher faces.

I stood alone at the center of it, a dozen high-ranking Alphas seated in a semicircle ahead of me. My breath frosted in the morning air. My heart thudded like a drumbeat in a war march.

They watched me in silence. Every single one of them. As though I were something to dissect, an anomaly, a threat, or worse… a broken weapon.

Killian stood behind me to the left. Aiden, to the right.

I didn't want either of them there. I didn't trust them to speak for me.

But I also knew exactly what this hearing was. A show. A performance designed to test me, poke at me, and see how long I'd survive before I snapped.

Alpha Ricard spoke first. Of course he did. He was the one who had ordered my exile three years ago, after what he called the bond breach scandal. He hadn't aged much. Still had that slick, snake-oil smile and the voice of someone who thought kindness was a weakness.

"Seraphina Blake," he said, slowly, as if tasting the name. "Or do you still go by Rae?"

"I go by whatever the hell I want," I replied evenly.

A couple of the Alphas bristled.

Killian shifted slightly behind me. I felt Aiden go still.

Ricard smiled. "Still as charming as ever."

"I could say the same, Ricard. But that would require lying."

The silence that followed buzzed with tension.

Alpha Renna, the only female Alpha in the room, raised a brow. "Let's not pretend this is a trial, Ricard. You called her here for a reason. Let's get to it."

He leaned back in his seat like a cat denied the pleasure of tormenting a mouse. "Very well. Seraphina, three years ago, you were rejected by not one, but two fated mates, both sons of Council bloodlines. That alone should have severed your mating bonds."

"It didn't," I said. "Obviously."

"And yet… here we are," he murmured.

"You brought me here to ask questions you already know the answers to?" I folded my arms. "This could've been a letter."

Aiden spoke for the first time. "The bonds didn't break because we were interrupted before the final ritual was complete."

Killian added, "And because the rejection wasn't mutual. She never rejected us back."

Renna frowned. "But it's been three years. The bond should have decayed."

"Unless," Ricard said, voice low, "it evolved."

Silence.

A word like that wasn't thrown around lightly. Everyone in that room knew what he was implying.

"That's impossible," Killian said. "Triple bonds are myth. They're unstable."

"Triple bonds?" I snapped, whipping around to face him. "Who the hell said anything about three?"

He stared at me, eyes wide.

So did Aiden.

"What are you talking about?" Aiden said slowly.

I turned back toward the Council, but I could feel the sudden tension behind me like a lit fuse.

Ricard leaned forward. "You didn't tell them, did you?"

"Tell us what?" Killian demanded.

My stomach dropped. I hadn't meant for this to come out. Not here. Not like this.

"You're not the only ones the bond didn't sever with," I said, voice low. "There's… someone else."

Time stopped.

The air in the chamber turned sharp and metallic, like a storm about to break.

Killian's voice was a growl. "Who?"

I didn't answer.

Aiden stepped forward, fury darkening his golden eyes. "Who, Seraphina?"

"I don't owe you answers," I bit out. "Neither of you."

But the Council had latched onto it like wolves to blood.

"A third mate?" Renna murmured. "Fascinating."

"Dangerous," Ricard said. "Triple bonds have no precedent in modern packs. The emotional instability alone—"

"I'm not unstable," I snapped.

"No," Ricard said smoothly. "But you're a liability."

The words sank into my skin like claws.

"You exiled me," I said, my voice trembling with fury. "You let my entire pack treat me like a mistake, like a curse. You let them drag me away and chain me like an animal."

"Because you were," he said.

And then Killian moved.

Fast.

Too fast.

He slammed Ricard back into his stone chair with one hand, the other already shifted into claws at the Alpha's throat.

"She's mine," he snarled, voice edged with rage and something darker.

"Is that a confession?" Ricard wheezed.

"Let go," Renna ordered. "Now."

Killian hesitated.

Aiden stepped between them, one hand pushing Killian back, the other holding me in place.

The moment broke. But the damage was done.

Renna rose slowly. "This bond, whatever it is, has destabilized three Alphas. You're walking time bombs."

"I didn't ask for this," I said, my voice raw. "I didn't choose it."

"No," Ricard said, brushing dust from his coat. "But you are still the center of it. And that makes you the most dangerous."

"Then what?" I snapped. "You'll kill me?"

No one answered.

But in their silence, I heard the truth.

They were considering it.

Aiden growled low in his throat. "You lay a hand on her, and you'll have war."

Killian nodded. "Agreed."

"And here we are," Ricard said, standing now. "The two of you would burn the world for a girl you rejected."

"She's not a girl," Killian said. "She's our fated mate. And you were fools to ever think we could outrun that."

They dismissed me with a wave after that. As if I were no longer part of the conversation. As if I hadn't just been told I might be executed for something they never understood.

I left the chamber shaking.

Killian and Aiden followed behind, their steps thunder in the quiet halls.

I didn't stop until we were in the garden just beyond the council wing. The air was damp with dew, the roses still sleeping. I turned to them both.

"Don't you ever speak for me again."

"You could've told us," Killian said, his voice barely controlled. "Another bond? Are you out of your damn mind?"

"Don't you dare," I whispered. "Don't you stand there and pretend like you have any right to be hurt."

"We're trying to protect you," Aiden said, stepping forward.

I laughed, sharp and bitter. "You can't even protect yourselves from your own guilt."

They flinched.

Good.

"I'm done playing your puppet," I said. "I'm not yours. Not anymore. And if you get in my way again, I'll rip those precious bonds out myself."

And with that, I turned and walked away.

Alone.

Exactly how I'd learned to survive.