[ZEPH]

The Lycan King led Master Alaric towards a set of heavy oak doors, disappearing into another room. And I was left standing in the awkward silence with Alek, Damian’s hulking Beta.

“You’re certainly the cause of a lot of trouble, aren’t you?”

There was something inviting about his voice but I didn’t dare meet his gaze. I had already disrespected his Alpha in challenging his.

“You may speak, you know,” he said to me. “I’m not my brother. I won’t bite.” I could hear the grin in his voice as he said this.

“And he will, I’m assuming you’re trying to say.”

“Oh, he definitely will,” he reassured me, though I needed no reassuring. It was clear that the Sigma Alpha was a beast.

“I’d say don’t worry,” The Beta continued. “Unfortunately, it’s hard to gauge that stubborn Lycan more often than not. And you most certainly seemed to have rubbed him the wrong way.”

I exhaled nervously. “You think he’s going to ask for my head?” I asked him warily, daring, this time to slightly peer up at him.

He smirked. “No, that I can tell you for sure.”

“Then why do you not think I’ll be okay?” I asked him in turn.

He sighed. “I never said that.”

Judging by his answer, I was almost certain that I wouldn’t get anything clearer than that, so I didn’t pry further.

“I know he’s sort of intense. It can be a lot.”

“Intense…” I exhaled. “Intense is an understatement,” I murmured, trying to ease the knot of anxiety in my chest.

“He has a lot on his mind,” the Beta then replied, his gaze drifting towards the closed doors. “That night…the attack…you…a lot of what happened…it stirred things up.”

Just as a sliver of ease settled between us, the muffled sound of raised voices drifted from the other room.

The language was guttural, unfamiliar, but the raw emotion-the anger, and frustration-it was unmistakable. Alek and I exchanged glances. His concerned and knowing while mine nervous.

Suddenly, the oak doors burst open, and Master Alaric stormed out, his face a mask of fury I had rarely witnessed.

“Zphreya, come! Now.” He didn’t even look at Damian, who stood in the doorway, his eyes blazing with an anger that mirrored Master Alaric’s.

I was too taken aback at this point to even remember my training to face the floor again.

Before I could move, Sigma Gallo’s hand shot out, his grip like a vise on Master Alaric’s arm. “She’s mine, Alaric!” he growled, his voice a low, possessive snarl.

Who?

The Alpha wolf’s fury seemed to intensify when the Sigma said this. He wrenched his arm free. “Remember who you are speaking to, boy.” he growled, his words slow and focused.

The then turned to me, his expression softening but only slightly as he said, “Zphreya, come along. We are leaving.”

I cast a bewildered, retreating look at Sigma Gallo, who stood rigid in the doorway, his glare burning into me.

Beta Alek’s expression was a mixture of concern and resignation.

Once we were back in the car, the silence was thick and heavy. Finally, when I coudn’t bear it any longer, I spoke, “Master Alaric,” I began, my voice trembling slightly, “what…happened in there? What…what was the Sigma talking about?”

He balled his knuckles until they were white. He glanced at me uneasily, his jaw still clenched. “Don’t worry about it, Zphreya,” he said, his voice clipped.

But I did worry. The possessive look in the Sigma King’s eyes, Master Alaric’s furious reaction…I knew, with a certainty that chilled me to the bone, that something was terribly wrong. And whatever it was, it had everything to do with me.

Maybe Beta Alek was wrong. Maybe the Sigma King did want my head. Maybe I was causing too many problems for him.

This uneasy truce felt like had just shattered, and I was caught in the middle of the fallout.

Three days had passed since the strained encounter at the guest packhouse, each hour stretching into an eternity of unease.

Master Alaric had been distant since that day, his usual warm demeanor towards me replaced by preoccupied silence. And that was only during the rare times he was around.

Every glance he cast my way felt heavy with unspoken thoughts, and a knot of apprehension had taken permanent residence in my stomach. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was the cause of his continued displeasure, that my impulsive actions during the feral attack and that horrible excuse for an apology that followed had somehow irrevocably damaged our already sensitive alliance.

Then finally, a summons came. Not a direct request, but a formal message delivered by one of Master Alaric’s guards.

“Vassal Frost,” he greeted by my surname. “You’re needed in the counsel room by Alpha Stone,” he announced to me as I stood there at the door of my room. I had nowhere else to go when Master Alaric didn’t have me by his side.

“Right away,” I answered.

On the way to the counsel room, my heart hammered against my ribs as I made my way through the familiar corridors, each step echoing the uncertainty that filled me.

When I finally approached the door, I reluctantly knocked and almost suddenly, the door opened. As soon as I walked in, I glanced at Master Alaric…stood by the large window, his back to me, the familiar silhouette somehow radiating a tension that I could not ignore.

As I stepped into the room, the words of apology began to spew from my lips. I needed to get ahead of this.

“Master Alaric, if I may, I am truly sorry for any trouble that I have caused, and I-”

He turned abruptly, his expression surprisingly gentle. “Zphreya,” he interrupted me, his voice softer than it had been in days. “You have done nothing wrong. Please, come in. We need to talk.”

Relief washed over me, so potent it almost buckled my knees. That relief was short lived, however, quickly replaced by a fresh wave of confusion the moment that I saw the Sigma sanding across the room. His imposing figure was a stark opposition to the familiar warmth of Master Alaric’s presence. And he wasn’t alone.

Flanking him were two other Lycans, their bearing radiating authority that marked them as his lieutenants. Beta Alek was one of them.

And seated in a high-backed chair near the center was an older man. I couldn’t get a good look because my gaze was to the floor, careful not to make another mistake as I did so recklessly a few days prior. But something told me that this Inhuman was no normal Inhuman. He was an elder, his presence unmistakable.

Even to a human like me, the air shifted with the weight of an Elder’s age and the respect that they commanded within the inhuman world. An Elder’s presence signified a matter of profound importance, something far beyond a simple disagreement or alliance negotiation.

I tried so hard not to look between Master Alaric and the Sigma, as a silent question hung in the air. Then suddenly Master Alaric finally began to address everyone.

“We are gathered here today to address a matter of…significant importance,” he began, his voice carrying a formal weight I didn’t hear often. From my peripheral, I saw him gesture towards the Lycan King and then to me. “Something that has come to light in the wake of the recent attack on Emberwood.”

I couldn’t help myself. My gaze jumped up for barely a second, long enough to see that the Sigma’s gaze was fixed on me, an intensity in his dark eyes that made my breath catch. It didn’t seem like the possessive anger I had seen at the packhouse that day, but something deeper, more…resonant.

The Elder, his ancient aura sharp and knowing, spoke, his voice a low rumble that filled the room.

“The events of the attack stirred far more than just fear and chaos. They have unveiled a truth…woven into the very fabric of our being, a truth so…unheard of…so rare… and one that cannot be denied.”

I heard a deep exhale, and knew that it was Master Alaric as he said, “It was brought to my attention…a few days prior that my…vassal…has somehow been fated…to Damian Gallo.”

“Huh?” I didn’t mean to say it. It slipped out before I could even think better of it.

Fate?

The air in the room seemed to thicken, the silence heavy with unspoken implications. My mind reeled, the word echoing in the sudden void of my understanding. Fated? I couldn’t even begin to understand what that meant.

“It is as Alaric states. The pull was…undeniable. The primal recognition…there was no mistaking it.”

“This is new to all of us, so I have to ask, Human,” said the elder, addressing me as if ‘human’ was my given name. “Do you feel it? This…connection?”

My heart pounded in my chest, a frantic drum against the sudden understanding that began to bloom within me.

The unsettling pull I had felt in the Sigma’s presence, the strange awareness…and the acute sensitivity of my emotions whenever he was around. Could this be what it was? A…bond?

“The bond is irrelevant,” Master Alaric cut in. “All due respect, Elder, even if this mating is true…even if Zphreya can feel the connection. Going with Damian…it…I cannot risk it.”

“All due respect, Alpha,” hissed the Lycan King. “You do not have a choice in the matter.”

Master Alaric growled. “Damian, I am trying to spare you because of our relationship, but will put you down boy, if you force me to.”

“I’m not a boy anymore, Alaric. Please don’t forget who called who here-”

“Enough!” The elder sliced through the conversation. “Alaric. She is a human. You can easily find another.”

“No, not like her. Zphreya is special. And her safety is of the utmost importance.”

“Yet you cannot seem to tell me why that is.”

He was right. There was nothing important about me. Maybe to Master Alaric I was important, but…I was only a human.

“She’s a rare breed of human,” he said. Probably a lie to keep me at his side. I wouldn’t dispute it.

“Rare?” said the Elder.

“Rare,” repeated Master Alaric. “Zphreya…is a Rare.”

A Rare? What is a Rare?

“Prove it,” said the Elder.

Silence followed before Master Alaric finally spoke. “To prove it would mean either her death or yours.”