June 15 2026, 9:15am
Rhy’s eyes trailed down Nyx’ara’s dainty body, the ghost of heat rising on his cheeks. Something about her fierce eyes and the way she carried herself called out to him in ways that felt perilous, but he immediately shut it off and glared at her.
"Did you strike her first before she retaliated?" Azriel suddenly asked Jasper, snapping Rhys out of his train of thought.
He blinked and then looked at Jasper who immediately shook his head. "I did not. I only picked her up because she was refusing to come with me. I didn’t try to hurt her."
At his utterance, the people gasped again. Nyx’ara on the other hand didn’t seem fazed. Her hands were resting on her hips and her eyes were so bright, the sight irked Rhys immensely—
I will turn out that light before it shines any brighter.
She cried out; "I-in my def-defense, I-I thought t-that h-he was about to-to h-hurt me. H-he just p-picked me up wi-without g-g-giving me a heads-up, a-and I d-do not appreciate that!"
But at the time, no one cared to listen. At least, not visibly.
Draven waved Jasper off with a flick of his wrist, and after asking the pack’s physician to attend to him with immediate effect, and in his words: "In case the girl had rabies," he turned back to Nyx’ara.
His voice was cold and clipped. It was as sharp as glass and for some reason, made her body erupt into a million and one goosebumps as he seethed; "and as for you... murderer!"
She flinched.
The nickname made heat rise in her cheeks. It made her body flare up and made embarrassment slam into her with a force so intense, it knocked a sharp breath out of her mouth.
To her, it was one thing to be accused of a crime she never committed and another to have to live with the stigma for the rest of her life.
And in this case, she would.
This realization made most of the bravery... the sharpness... the wit she had possessed only moments prior disappeared into the wind, and she was left feeling hollow. Drained out and weak.
Her face drain of color, and without realizing that people were watching, she clutched at her chest and listed her eyes.
The brothers noticed this shift but they did not care.
Rhys, the one who was most desperate to see her break, was the first to speak up next. He drawled; "We have discovered that you are not only a murderer but also a spy..."
The words snapped Nyx’ara out of her reverie. She glanced up at him with both shock and fear fused together. In a desperate attempt to understand what he meant by that— because truth be told, she did not understand shit— she shuffled closer...
...and goddess, all four brothers almost shot out of their chairs when she walked closer.
Maybe she hadn’t noticed yet or maybe this was one of her ’innocent’ ploys, but her dress... it was too flimsy. Too sexy. It hugged her curves too intimately and made her nipples which were straining against the sheer material due to the cold weather appear more alluring.
Draven gulped so loudly, his Adam’s apple bobbed. He snapped; "Stay back!"
She froze.
"A-alpha..."
"Shut up!" He snapped again, and this time, she could only snap her lips shut. Her heart raged against her chest. Her blood roared in her ears. Fear, panic, and desperation surged through her veins until one could not be distinguished from the other.
Draven continued; "Last night, we caught two male werewolves from her pack trying to attack."
The crowd erupted into chaos.
"They were seen with guns containing silver bullets, some poisoned darts, and tranquilizers."
Nyx’ara’s heart fell. Those weapons were meant for her. They were meant to hurt her... to destroy her, not the other way round.
However, what she struggled with the most was how to explain this to the Alphas without looking stupid. How to save her face without appearing like she was lying.
And these people already think she is a liar.
"After interrogating them last night, we discovered that they were a crew sent to retrieve this murderer from us. They had planned to bring her here freely, pretending to be sorry for her actions."
A choked sound slipped past Nyx’ara’s lips and with a wave of her hand, she moved forward. However, just as she took the first step, the brothers shifted again.
Kieran was the one to snap this time around. He shouted; "STAY BACK!"
His voice had made her flinch. It made her stop abruptly. A single tear made its way down her face and with all the sadness she could feel, she muttered; "I-I did not p-plan t-to e-escape. I h-have no idea what y-you’re ta-talking about."
Azriel scoffed. "Well, that doesn’t matter now, does it? No one cares if you’ll try to act like a saint or not... and that is why we have decided to take matters into our hands by settling both you and your little spies respectively."
The subtle threat made her legs wobble and when a loud, nerve-grating sound rumbled behind her, jolting her out of her trance, she froze.
"Turn around!" One of the quadruplets barked at her but she wouldn’t move. She couldn’t.
"Turn now!" Another person yelled, but still, she felt frozen in place.
Her legs had suddenly grown heavy as if laden with lead and for a moment, the only sound she could hear was that of her blood roaring in her ears.
She was pulled out of her daze when rough hands settled on her shoulders and with a forceful shove, she was spun around abruptly.
Instantly, her breath hitched.
Her legs gave way.
Her body collapsed to the floor with a loud thud and whatever was left of her dignity flew out of the window when she saw the horrifying scene unfolding right in front of her.
It was the men from last night.
The same horrified men from her pack who had been tortured until their screams rang in her ears for hours nonstop.
They were not breathing. They were not alive... and goddess, they had been beaten to a stupor and staked.
I know that for a lot of you, after hearing the word: ’staked’ you would imagine an arrow passing through their chests or stomachs or whatever thought you may have thought;
But that was not the case here.
In this case, a very long, very old, very rusty and very bloody spear had been passed through their buttholes and buried so deep until it found its way out of their bloody mouths.
Their heads were thrown back, all bruised, broken and bloody, and their eyes were now stuck open with a look of permanent horror etched deeply into their corpses.
A loud cry tore its way from the depths of her soul but no one sympathized with her. No one cared.
From behind her, Nyx’ara heard a rumble and it took her a moment to realize that it was Alpha Draven talking. He said; "The spies have been attended to and taken care of... and as for you, little murderer, there is no way out of this pack for you."
What is my punishment?
"For trying this stunt and for putting the people of Stormborn pack in danger, we have come to a united conclusion... a permanent conclusion that will clip your wings and make it impossible for you to flee..." Rhys cut in, sounding every bit like the boogeyman that he was.
For a moment, Nyx’ara lifted her head and the look in his eyes had her breath failing. She clutched at her chest, holding her breath as she waited for him— for them—to pronounce her sentence.
A second passed and then two.
Then five more.
Ten.
"You will marry us."