The door opened.
I emerged first, my steps unsteady, my hand pressed against the wall for support. Every movement sent fresh pain radiating through my body, a throbbing ache that made my vision blur at the edges. I was wrapped in a sheet, my hair tangled and damp with sweat, bite marks visible on my shoulder, my neck, the curve of my breast where the fabric slipped.
Ravin saw me first.
His eyes tracked the bruises on my hips, the teeth marks, the way I winced with every step, the sheet stained with blood and seed and the evidence of what had happened behind that closed door. His expression shifted, transforming from concern to confusion to dawning horror to something I had never seen before.
Rage.
Pure, uncontrolled, murderous rage.
He moved so fast he was a blur of gold fur and fury, shifting mid-lunge, his lion form massive and terrifying, his jaws aimed at Veylan’s throat. "I let her take you as a mate!" he roared, the sound shaking the walls, making the cubs whimper in their sleep. "I listened to her! I let her helped you with the moonrut poison, and you dare to hurt her!"
Veylan didn’t move. Didn’t shift, didn’t defend himself, didn’t raise a hand to block the killing blow. He stood there, his silver hair matted, his eyes hollow with guilt and shame, waiting for death as if it were mercy.
"No!" I screamed, throwing myself between them, my pain forgotten in the face of losing him, losing Ravin to blood rage, losing Veylan to execution. "Ravin, stop! Please!"
My other mates had risen too, their own fury palpable in the air. Soryn’s serpent eyes had slitted completely, vertical pupils dilated with threat, his fangs bared and dripping venom. Leon’s claws had extended, his fangs visible, a low growl rumbling from his chest that promised violence. And Caelion, my gentle Caelion who never raised his voice, his face was contorted with an anger so cold, so intent on inflicting harm, that I barely recognized him.
"Guys, please," I begged, my voice cracking, my body trembling from exhaustion and pain. "I’m okay. He was being a little rough, that’s all. I promise I’m tougher than I look. I’m literally thicker than some of the girls here." I tried to smile, tried to make them laugh, but the joke fell flat, swallowed by their protective fury.
Leon stepped forward, his gaze raking over my exposed skin, cataloging every mark, every bruise, every wound. "You’re beautiful," he said, his voice dangerously soft. "Everything about you screams tasty. But that don’t mean I want to bruise you." He pointed at Veylan, his claw extended, trembling with restraint. "This idiot took tasty to a whole new meaning. You are literally riddled in bite marks. He’s lucky you’re standing, or he’d be dead where he kneels."
My face heated, embarrassment mixing with the ache in my body, with the fear still coursing through my veins.
"Enough for now," I said, forcing strength into my voice, pushing past the pain to stand straight, to be the voice they needed. "We need to deal with Rina. This could have ended badly. What if Veylan had rejected me too? He would have died. She needs to be punished for this."
"She needs to be punished by the beast gods," Leon agreed, his claws slowly retracting, but his eyes still promising violence deferred, not denied.
We found Raon in the great hall, Soryn and Caelion having stayed behind to watch the cubs while Ravin, Leon, Veylan and I went to face the king. Raon was already surrounded by guards and elders, his expression thunderous, scrolls and vials scattered across the stone table before him. He looked up as we entered, his golden eyes immediately finding the marks on my skin, the way I leaned against Ravin for support, Veylan’s hollow expression of guilt.
"I know," Raon said, his voice cutting through our explanations before they could begin. He held up a vial of amber liquid, the remnants of moonrut sap coating the glass. "My scouts found this in the forest near where Veylan was found. And the servant who gave him the tainted water has confessed." He set the vial down with a crack that made us all flinch. "I was already dealing with it when you arrived."
Rina was brought to the clearing with ropes of vines, dragged before the entire tribe under the midday sun. She stood there, defiant, her chin raised, her eyes burning with hatred and madness.
"I did nothing wrong!" she screamed at the crowd, at the elders, at Raon himself. "He was promised to me! He was supposed to become my mate and no one else’s! I was only claiming what was mine!"
Raon stood from his throne of stone, his shadow falling across her like a death sentence. "Tomorrow," he said, his voice carrying across the silent clearing, "we will exile you. After we pray to the beast gods to decide your fate once you leave the protection of the lion tribe. You will walk into the wilds alone, and what finds you, finds you."
Rina’s face twisted, ugly with spite. "You will regret this," she hissed, her voice dropping to a whisper that somehow carried to every ear. "All of you. If I live, I will make you beg for my forgiveness. I will destroy everything you love. I will—"
They dragged her away, her screams echoing off the trees, her threats hanging in the air like poison.
Tomorrow, her fate would be sealed.
The next day, the entire tribe gathered at dawn. The elder stood before the great stone altar, his voice rising in ancient incantations, prayers to the beast gods to witness, to judge, to decide. We knelt together, my mates and I, Veylan included now, bound by blood and soul, and we prayed for justice, for protection, for the strength to face what came next.
Then they kicked her and her mates out, unfortunately because they are her mate, their fates are to follow her until death.
The gates opened, and Rina and her remaining mates walked through them, alone, unarmed, with just to fur wraps on her body, her hair wild. Her mates carrying whatever essential they could gather in their arms. She turned once, her eyes finding mine across the distance, and the look she gave me made my blood run cold. It was hatred distilled, pure and focused, a promise of vengeance that transcended words.
"It was all because of you," she said, her voice carrying on the wind, reaching my ears alone. "My life has become nothing because of you."
Then they was gone, swallowed by the tall grass, walking into exile and whatever fate the gods decreed. I stood there, watching where they had disappeared, and I could not shake the feeling that settled over me like a shroud. The look she had given me, the promise in those eyes, made me feel suddenly out of place, suddenly vulnerable, suddenly certain that this was not over.
Something bad was bound to happen.
---
When we finally returned home, the house was quiet, the cubs already asleep in their corner, tangled together in a pile of fur and innocence. Soryn and Caelion looked up as we entered, their expressions shifting from worry to relief to renewed anger as they saw me limping, leaning heavily on Ravin’s arm.
"Go," Ravin told them softly, his voice carrying the weight of command. "Rest. I’ll care for her tonight."
They hesitated, their eyes tracking over my bruises, my torn sheet, the way I could barely stand upright. But they obeyed, filing out to their own spaces, leaving us alone with Veylan, who stood in the corner like a ghost, unable to meet anyone’s eyes.
Ravin helped me to the bed, stripping the soiled furs with efficient movements, replacing them with clean ones from the chest. He moved gently, careful not to jostle me, his hands warm and steady. My body was still sore, every muscle aching, every intimate place throbbing with the memory of Veylan’s desperation. But I didn’t dare say a word, didn’t dare whimper or wince, not with four males in this house ready to rip the silver wolf to shreds for what he had done.
Veylan stood there, silent, his silver hair hanging over his face, his shoulders curved inward like a man carrying the weight of the world. He looked so defeated, so broken, and I knew he was beating himself up inside, punishing himself far more brutally than any of my mates could.
"Leave. you can take my bed tonight. I’ll be with Krys. Well figure out what to do tomorrow." Ravin told Veylan. I could tell it took every ounce of restraint for Ravin not to hurt Veylan right now.
Veylan looked at me once more before walking out of the room leaving me with Ravin.
"Are you okay, Krys?" Ravin asked, his voice low, careful. "Like really?"
I managed a smile, small and trembling. "I’ll be fine. I promise." I looked at my sleeping cubs, their small bodies rising and falling with peaceful breaths, and guilt twisted in my stomach. "Especially with you sleeping here," I said, my voice barely above a whisper, "and help me with the cubs. I don’t think I have any energy to give them any attention..."
I felt sheepish, useless, broken. I was their mother, and I couldn’t even lift my arms to hold them.
Ravin’s expression softened, something tender and understanding replacing the lingering rage. He nodded, settling onto the bed beside me, his large body creating a wall of warmth and safety.
I lay back, staring at the ceiling, my mind wandering despite my exhaustion. I had been thoroughly, completely, devastatingly fucked by a beast in the truest sense. The thought made me shudder, not from desire but from the visceral memory of the pain, the invasion, the sheer animal power that had driven Veylan beyond reason.
And it made me think.
If I hadn’t taught my mates about foreplay, about preparation, about the art of building pleasure before taking it... who was to say they wouldn’t be doing the same thing Veylan had done? Ravin with his lion strength, Leon with his lion ferocity, Soryn with his serpent instincts, even gentle Caelion with his merman hunger. Beast instinct wasn’t to do foreplay, to tease and prepare and coax. Beast instinct was to take, to claim, to mount and thrust and fill.
I shuddered again, the thought chilling me despite the warm furs. Well, at least I had taught them the art of pleasing. I had shown them human ways, gentle ways, the build and the tease and the preparation that made the taking pleasurable rather than painful. Because I didn’t think I could handle any more of that hard, careless mating. Not tonight. Not ever again.
Ravin settled beside me, his arm sliding under my shoulders, pulling me against his chest. He held me as I drifted toward sleep, his heartbeat steady against my ear, his presence a promise that I was safe, that the violence was over, that I could rest. And if the cubs made any fuss that night, if they woke up hungry or frightened or needing their mother... I didn’t hear a damn thing.