I felt my bones grow completely cold at the words I had just heard from Gabriel.

Alpha Gabriel Dreymond.

Everyone knew who he was.

If Logan was brutal, Gabriel was ruthless and heartless.

It was easier to refer to them as brothers. But they were not. Not by blood.

They had been born on the same bloodmoon, and to our former Alphas after the biggest pack merging in history. But they had been set on different paths.

One was to be Alpha, the other to be King.

While Logan had been trained as Alpha of Bellmoon, Gabriel had been taken away and had been trained to become the Alpha King.

A position he had taken over a couple of years ago, and ruthlessly so.

No one dared crossed him.

There were whispers that he had turned his back on Bellmoon, and wanted nothing to do with us.

Two years ago, when they had both turned twenty, he had graced us with his presence, but something had happened in those few days. Something that had stamped his resolve of never coming back again, and also fueled the rumours.

So what now was he doing here?

And I had to be dreaming because he didn't just declare me his breeder.

"No!" Logan's voice was thick and could be heard even by anyone walking past the council hall.

I raised my head, my body shaking, and I instantly connected gazes with Gabriel who was looking straight at me.

There was a pull.

But I couldn't get a hold of what it was, or where it was coming from.

His eyes were a crystal blue, similar to his Logan's, but leaned more towards grey.

Logan's was a more deeper shade of blue.

Heat seared through me instantly and I gasped.

Gabriel blinked and broke our gaze and turned back to Logan.

"She is wolf less. A cheat. An abomination, and has no business bearing pups for anyone, let alone an Alpha king. It's why Logan rejected her!" Gracie, not one to know when exactly to talk, chimed in, breaking the ice in the room in the worst way possible.

"Alpha Gabriel, you can't possibly want her weak pups." She walked past me, going to stand beside Logan and wrapping her long fingers around him.

I forced myself not to look at the gesture and instead focused on the matter at hand.

I mean, it was one thing taking stance as the new Luna, but it was another speaking to the Alpha King, knowing he could tear you apart at any moment.

"And who do you think you are, talking when your Alphas are talking?" Gabriel wasn't even looking at her.

Gracie blushed, then quickly bowed her head. "I'm sorry Alpha. I was just...I'm sorry." She made a point of leaning into Logan more, her tone regretful.

I would have laughed, if it weren't for the intensity of the situation at hand, and the fact that my life was literally hanging on the line.

"Leave." Gabriel said after a moment.

It took me a moment to realise he was ordering everyone out.

Gracie looked up, shocked, then turned to Logan like he was going to save her.

I also thought he was going to come to her aid, but Logan pulled away from her.

"Everyone out." He commanded.

Elder Jonah who had been quiet gave me a long look, then left without a single word. Everyone else quickly dispersed from the hall. Even Olivia, whose hold I hadn't realised I had pulled out of.

Gracie hesitated, obviously feeling insulted, then stormed out, leaving just three of us.

I was weak as hell, but I knew I had to move.

So I took a step forward.

Something weird was definitely wrong with me.

Black dots popped behind my eyelids from just that one step and my knees literally vibrated.

"Everyone except you, Samantha." It was Gabriel who spoke this time.

Huh?

Why me?

I raised my gaze to see him watching me from where he stood.

Was he expecting me to say something?

"Gabriel..." Logan's tone was filled with an underlying warning.

"Why send her out when she is the topic of discussion?"

I mean what I had thought he said earlier was definitely my imagination.

Right?

"She is no topic of discussion for you, brother!" Logan barked, coming once again to stand between us.

The aura from coming from both of them was undeniably strong, even for me.

"You know, for someone who rejected his mate, you seem to be in her business." How was he sounding so calm? Like he was doing it intentionally to rile his brother up.

And it was working.

I could literally see Logan shaking in anger.

"She still belongs to me!"

Who?

"No I don't!"

"No she doesn't."

I blushed when we spoke at the same time.

Logan growled, but kept his attention on his Gabriel.

"Like I said earlier, she will now be my breeder, and you can not do anything about it." He growled lowly. "You have picked another woman as mate, Logan. So stick with it!"

Logan growled, stepping forward so he was pressed into Gabriel.

The latter growled too, baring teeth.

It was hard to believe that they were twins at this moment because they were seconds away from tearing each other part.

It was Logan who reached out and pushed Gabriel backwards. "Why the fuck did you come back?" He growled.

They looked like they had forgotten I was still standing behind them. "You turned your back on this pack, swore to never step foot in here again, so why the fuck are you here? And what is this game you are playing?"

I had seen Logan bark orders at pack members, but I had never seen him this angry.

The aura seeping through him right now made the hairs on the back of my neck stand.

"I'm still King and you do not get to question your king!" Gabriel still maintained his calm tone. But I could swear there was more force under than meets the eye.

"I do not care if you are king or not, brother." Logan bellowed. "You fucking prick, you should have stayed where you are welcome, because no one wants you here!"

There. He fucking did it.

It happened in a blur.

One second Logan was standing, and in the next he was being thrown across the room, landing on the floor with a loud thud.

I whimpered and crouched down in an attempt to be safe. The black dots intensified. I shook uncontrollably, the auras doing nothing to help my situation as it slammed against me, wave after wave.

I was in so much pain.

They didn't shift completely, only extending teeth and nails as they landed blows at each other.

The sound of jawbone crunching from a heavy blow had me retching as the seer violence of it all.

Gabriel was on Logan in an instant, pummeling his fists into him, over and over again. Blood sputtered all over the floor at the side of his face.

Oh Goddess...

My eyes burned as tears filled them up.

"Stop.." my voice was a whisper.

Logan managed to roll over, pinning his brother beneath him and proceeding to give back every blow he had received earlier.

More blood..

"Please stop.."

They didn't hear me.

I ducked as someone smashed a chair on the other, sending pieces of wood flying my way.

"Enough!" I cried. This time my voice was loud enough that they both stilled.

Gabriel pushed away from Logan.

I was literally shuddering from both pain and something else.

The silence stretched for what felt like an hour but was only a few seconds before Gabriel broke it.

"Oh, she speaks." He grinned, like he had not just been giving and equally receiving blows earlier. "I was thinking I would have a dumb breeder."

"I swear to the heavens _"

"One more word and I would duel you for the throne and we both know who will win that fight!" Gabriel snarled.

Just as my mouth fell to the floor, a hand clasped around my wrist and began to lead me out the door.

I could only swallow my shock as I allowed him drag my weak body straight into the pack house.

The muscles on his back stretched, tanned flesh peeking through the tears on his shirt as he moved.

I don't know why or how, but all I could think about was how good they would feel of I ran my hands all over them.

Or if I ran my tongue.

I blinked at that, shaking my head as if to clear it of those treacherous thoughts. "Where are you taking me?" I asked as the guard after overcoming his shock at seeing Gabriel, saluted and pushed open the door to the Alpha's mansion so we could go in.

Gabriel didn't say a word and continued to lead me upstairs.

I could have pulled my hands away, and ran.

I could have called for help.

But my body betrayed me.

Not sure if it was just the weakness from my pain, or something else entirely, all I could do was allow him lead me.

It wasn't until we reached a landing that Gabriel finally spoke.

"Did you think I was joking back there?" His tone was smooth. "I need a breeder and you are the perfect candidate."

I would have answered him. Or at least said something, if my body did not finally give into the darkness that had been threatening to pull me under.

My knees bucked, and every bone in my body turned to jelly.

The world spun as I collapsed, straight into the body of the last person I should be collapsing into.