Chapter 26

“Noone was taken last night, thanks to you,” Natalie said, slapping Sylvie on the back beside the roaring campfire.

The logs had been shifted back multiple times as the heat scorched her eyelashes, but the warmth seemed to follow her.

Sylvie stood, placing her half-eaten lunch platter beside the sawn log and walked towards the lake, serenely lapping along the shore as the midday sun beamed overhead.

“Hey, why’re you walking away?”

The blood stains from the night before had been calculatingly washed away by the other shifters, and the bodies were long gone, but the memory still seared behind Sylvie’s eyelids.

“I’m gonna take a walk.”

“Oh-kay...”

All the other shifters were still training, and her mates were M.I.A with Kerensa planning for their trip, which Kian promised they wouldn’t leave for without her.

Her feet scuffed the loose pebbles as she approached the water’s edge. It called to her. Just a dip, it said.

Before she knew it, she was waist-deep, fully clothed and blindingly numb from the cold.

“Vee? I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

Rosie’s cheerful voice took on a wary edge from the shore, but Sylvie didn’t turn back. She’d be fine. She could still touch the bottom-

“Vee! Ugh. That’s it; I’m getting Alpha.” Rapid footsteps scampered away, only to be replaced by Natalie’s grating voice.

“Bitch, what are you doing? You can swim, right?”

No.

“Go away,” Sylvie croaked back, letting the water rise over the swell of her breasts to her neck. Chin. Mouth.

She pressed onto her toes to suck in more air when her foot slipped on a mossy boulder, and she swallowed a mouthful of lake and algae.

Her feet gripped the slippery ground, desperate for traction as she coughed and sputtered, using her hands to flail at her sides. Surely, if she kept swiping them down, her body would float up to the top.

Her face breached the surface just in time to gulp one last breath before she sank, wide-eyed into the darkness. It almost felt peaceful in the icy depths when a burning hot grip clasped her waist and hoisted her about the surface as she coughed and heaved breaths past blue lips.

“What are you doing, woman?” Rowan hissed, slapping her back as she collected herself.

She wrapped her legs around his taut abdomen, and his flesh against hers sent waves of pleasure straight to her pussy. With a whine, she rocked her hips lightly.

Rowan scoffed, cutting through the water like a sea beast as she clung to his neck.

“It’s the full moon,” she whispered, hiding her flushed cheeks in the crook of his neck.

His chest rumbled quietly, almost purring, before he dropped her with a splat at someone’s feet.

Kian.

Tears slipped from her eyes as Kian pulled her up, turning her chin this way and that to check her over.

“I wish I could have been there last night to stop you,” he whispered, pressing his head to hers. The way he knew her deepest pain and sent her peace made her sob, her hands covering her face as he held her tightly.

No judgement marred his voice. He knew she did what she had to do to protect Natalie and the shifters. So why did it feel so bad? Memories of Trion resurfaced, and she pushed herself free from Kian to vomit the small contents of her stomach and lake water on the ground.

“What is wrong with her?”

Kian’s hands pulled her hair back as he answered. “Guilt.”

“About what? Those beasts have been taking our people for months. They deserved worse.”

“She was raised human; her morals are not like yours.”

“Ours.”

Sylvie lifted her head, wiping the bile from her lips. The other shifters were nowhere to be seen; even Natalie had disappeared.

“Where's Elias?”

“Packhouse. Sun’s too bright.”

Of course. Sometimes Elias’ resistance to the sun confused her. But, unlike all the shows she’s seen, he didn’t spontaneously combust. Instead, the sun just seemed more of a nuisance.

She sniffled and blinked against the sun directly overhead. “I need to tell you something.”

Rowan shifted on his feet, his eyes narrowing. “What are you talking about?”

Kian pulled her up again and met her eyes. “Are you sure?”

She muffled a sob, and his brows rose.

“I need Elias too.”

A myriad of emotions crossed his face as he nodded and walked her back to the packhouse, Rowan following a half step behind.

The moment they crossed the threshold of the packhouse, Elias wrenched her from Kian’s arms and whisked her up the stairs to her room. “What were you thinking?”

She shook under his furious gaze, and he softened immediately, pressing his lips hard to hers. Her skin burned where he kissed her, but she welcomed the pain opening her mouth to accept him, her moans of pleasure slowly turning into ones of pain.

“Get off her, vampire,” Rowan growled, pulling them apart. Sylvie touched her tingling lips and let her shaky gaze flit between her three mates all hovering around her, Elias at the forefront, flanked by Kian and Rowan.

From her position, they were a sight to behold. Beautiful and dangerous and about to be repulsed by her.

“I need you to know everything.”

From Trion to her abuse riddled past, she needed them all to know. The burden of her secrets grew far too heavy, her body sagging under its weight.

“Before I tell you anything, I want you to tell each other everything I’ve told you in confidence. Please.”

She blinked away tears nodding at both Elias and Kian when they silently questioned her, knowing exactly what secrets she asked them to reveal. “Tell each other.”

Rowan looked between the three of them with narrowed eyes. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Come.”

Elias pulled her two mates from the room and disappeared, leaving Sylvie to slump on her bed, curl into a soaking wet ball, and sob.

Twenty minutes ticked by before all hell broke loose.

“I was asleep, and I don’t know exactly what he did, but his head was between my legs and-” Sylvie bit her lip to stop the screams from pouring out.

“You don’t need to continue,” Kian said, his body tense and strained as he held her hand. Elias stood deadly still as she revealed the last secrets she hid from him while Rowan paced irate.

“That’s why I killed him. That and he was my grandfather-”

“What?”

Rowan roared, slamming his fist into the wall. Kian and Elias turned from her, hiding their expression as she continued.

“His wife died giving birth to my mother; as punishment, they cast her to the earth realm.” She sniffed, wiping her eyes, ignoring the growing unrest in her mates.

“That’s it, I guess. My last secret-” Lip wobbling, she broke out in a wail as Kian turned, scooping her into his arms and pushing more love than she had ever felt.

Elias’ cold fingers brushed across her temple, tucking hairs behind her ear, while a pair of very angry stomps left the room, turning into clawing paw steps halfway down the stairs.

Rowan left her alone when she most needed comfort.

How could he?

The rejection stung in her chest right where his mate mark should’ve been. It hurt far more than the sting from Elias and Kian’s touch.

Why did she even let herself open up to him for a second?

She was an idiot-

“Don’t-” Kian whispered in her ear. “We’re here, Princess. Elias and I are here.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I just couldn’t.”

“You do not need to apologise,” Elias said, the bed dipping as he sat beside them. “Ever. For something like that. I am only disappointed you had to take justice into your own hands yet again.”

“Yes, you’ve been through enough for two lifetimes,” Kian said, pressing his face into her neck.

Elias grunted, standing and pacing to the door. “Both of you.”

Wiping her eyes and unravelling herself from Kian, she stood, reaching a hand for Elias. He took it and kissed her knuckles, pulling her close, but this time his touch burned. She jerked her hand back with a soft apology and slipped passed him.

“Where are you going?”

“I-” she swallowed, smiling sadly at Kian before looking back at Kian. “I need to blow off some steam, I think.”

“I’ll go with you-”

“No. You rest. Both of you. I love you, but the full moon is making my emotions all fucked up, and I don’t want to fight with you like last time.”

She turned and dashed down the stairs, searching for something to fight, stab or shoot.

“Hey.”

Drenched in sweat and feminine rage, Sylvie spun about to swing on the intruder when Claudine’s downcast face appeared in her vision. The shifters had long left the fighting squares for dinner, but she had more energy to burn. Even the thought of Rowan triggered a fury she couldn’t quell until her knuckles bled.

She wiped her face across her forearm and squinted. “What do you want?”

Claudine’s shocked expression toned her down a bit, and she sighed.

“Ah, fuck. Sorry, hey. Do you need something?”

“I, uh, wanted to apologise. My time cleaning out the cells made me realise I went too far.”

So she’d been cleaning the cells and not imprisoned in them? “How so?”

“The fight. And... the way I behaved with the Alpha was wrong. I should never have... I will never do it again. He is yours.” She lowered her head then and shrank to her knees, keeping her palms open.

Sylvie stared, confused. “Um. I appreciate the apology... I guess.” She paced the square. “Well, what now?”

Claudine stood, shrugging. “Maybe we could start over? Be friends...”

A laugh escaped Sylvie’s lips which she turned into a cough. “We can start over, but I’m not in the mood for making friends.” She turned and picked up the pair of wooden sticks she had been training with, throwing them to Claudine.

“You could train with me, though. I’m still not sure how exactly to fight with these things.”

A genuine smile flickered on Claudine’s lips as she stood in a fighting stance. “I’ll show you, Alpha.”