The silence in the hall lasted exactly three heartbeats. Then everything exploded into chaos. Gasps rippled through the crowd. Chairs scraped against stone as wolves jumped to their feet. Voices overlapped in shocked exclamations:
"Did he just say—"
"A mate bond? With her? The cursed one?"
"That's impossible!"
"A second chance mate...? But she's wolfless!"
Selene couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. The bond hummed in her chest like a living thing, pulling her toward Lucian with an intensity that made her knees weak. It was different from what she'd felt with Darius. This bond was stronger, clearer, like the difference between a candle and a bonfire.
But she wasn't even excited, because she knew what would come next. The rejection. The pain. The confirmation that even fate was cruel to her.
Lucian had risen from his seat, his eyes never leaving hers. His hand was pressed to his chest, right over his heart, and his expression was a mixture of shock, wonder, and something that looked almost like relief.
"You," he breathed. "You're my—"
"NO!" Darius's roar shook the hall. He slammed his fist onto the table with enough force to crack the wood. Goblets jumped, wine sloshing. The rage radiating off him was palpable, his wolf clearly rising to the surface.
"This is not possible," Darius snarled. "She is nothing. Wolfless. Cursed. There must be some mistake..."
"There's no mistake." Lucian's voice was steady despite the chaos around them, his eyes still locked on Selene. "I feel it. The bond. She's my mate."
"Your mate?" Darius looked between them, his expression twisting with disbelief and fury. "She was MY mate. I rejected her. Five years ago. The bond was severed!"
"Then the Moon Goddess has granted her a second chance." Lucian finally tore his gaze away from Selene to face his brother. "With me."
The words hung in the air, heavy with implication. Second chance mate bonds were rare, sacred, granted only when the Moon Goddess deemed the first bond a mistake. It was a sign that fate had intervened, that something had gone wrong the first time.
It was also a massive insult to the Alpha who'd done the rejecting.
"You dare..." Darius started.
"I dare nothing. I claim what is mine by right." Lucian's voice hardened, taking on the Alpha command Selene had heard from Darius a thousand times. But where Darius's commands were brutal, Lucian's was firm, unyielding. "By the Sacred Law, a fated mate bond cannot be denied. You know this, brother."
"Sacred Law?" Darius laughed, the sound ugly and sharp. "You would invoke ancient laws to claim my reject? She's a slave, Lucian. Property of this pack. Property of me."
"She's a person, not a thing." Lucian's words were quiet but they cut through the noise like a blade. "And she is my mate. So therefore, you will release her."
Darius growled. "Never."
The single word fell like a death sentence.
Selene watched the brothers face off across the table, both radiating barely controlled power. The air between them crackled with tension, with old wounds and new insults. The entire pack held its breath, waiting to see which Alpha would break first.
This couldn't be happening. This had to be some nightmare, some cruel joke. She'd finally accepted her lot, finally stopped hoping for rescue or redemption, and now fate was throwing her into the middle of a power struggle between two Alphas?
"Lucian." Darius's voice dropped to something dangerous. "I understand this is... unexpected. But be reasonable. Look at her."
Against her will, Selene's eyes lifted. She saw herself through their gaze... thin, bruised, and dressed in rags. The Cursed Luna. The wolfless slave. What Alpha in his right mind would want her?
"I am looking at her." Lucian's tone gentled as his eyes found Selene again. "I see my mate."
Something in Selene's chest cracked at those words. The bond pulled tighter, and she felt it... his sincerity, his wonder, his immediate acceptance of something she'd been rejected for. It was too much. Too overwhelming.
"She has no wolf!" Darius gestured at her like she was a pile of thrash. "She cannot shift, cannot run with the pack, cannot produce proper heirs. She is useless as a mate, as a Luna. I did you a favor, brother, rejecting her before she could contaminate our bloodline."
Lucian scoffed. "Then you won't mind me taking her as my mate."
"She's not yours to take!" Darius growled.
"Then name your price." Lucian's posture shifted, becoming more formal. "Territory? Resources? Alliance? Name it, and it's yours. But she leaves with me. And that is final."
The hall erupted again with murmurs. This was unprecedented...an Alpha offering tribute for a slave, for a rejected mate. The insult to Darius was massive, but so was the offer. Territory was precious. Alliances were power.
Selene saw the calculation in Darius's eyes, saw him weighing options. For a moment... just a moment, she thought he might actually agree.
Then his gaze slid to Kira, who stood beside him with an expression of pure venom. Kira, who'd wanted Darius for herself from the beginning. Kira, who'd made Selene's life hell out of jealousy for a bond that had been severed years ago.
She then leaned close and whispered something in Darius's ear, and whatever she said made his expression harden instantly.
"No," Darius said flatly. "She stays."
Lucian sighed. "Brother—"
"This discussion is over." Darius's Alpha command rolled through the hall, making lesser wolves flinch. "She is property of Bloodfang. You have no claim here. And if you persist in this... delusion... you can leave. Now."
Lucian's jaw clenched. His hands, resting on the table, curled into fists. For a moment, Selene thought he might challenge Darius right there, might let his wolf loose and fight for her.
But he was outnumbered. One Alpha and six wolves against an entire pack on their home territory. It would be suicide.
Lucian's eyes found hers again, and she saw the apology there. The frustrated plea in his gaze.
"Very well," he said quietly. "I'll respect your decision. For now."
The last two words carried weight. A threat and a promise wrapped together.
Darius smiled, cold and victorious. "Excellent. Now sit, brother. Let's not allow this... unfortunate incident... to ruin our evening. We have much to discuss."
Lucian stood frozen for a long moment, clearly warring with himself. Then, slowly, he sat back down. But his eyes never left Selene, and the bond between them hummed with unspoken words.
I won't leave you here.
I'll find a way.
Just hold on.
Could she hear his thoughts? No, that wasn't possible unless they'd completed the bond. But she felt his intention, his determination, through the connection between them.
"You." Kira's voice snapped Selene back to reality. "Get out. You've caused enough disruption for one night."
Selene didn't need to be told twice. She set down the wine pitcher with shaking hands and fled, acutely aware of dozens of eyes on her back, of whispered conversations starting up as she left.
-"The cursed one has a second chance mate? And with the Alpha's brother, no less."
-"What will Alpha Darius do?"
-"This definitely won't end well."