Knots of the Hybrid Queen: Claimed by Four Alphas

Chapter 25: Before The Fall

Four hours until moonrise and I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t do anything except pace the length of Kael’s room while my brain ran through every possible way this could go catastrophically wrong.

Spoiler: there were a lot of ways.

The bonds were chaos — Kael’s steady determination bleeding into Riven’s quiet confidence bleeding into Draven’s controlled precision bleeding into Thorne’s feral readiness — and I couldn’t filter any of it, just absorbed all four like emotional feedback that made my chest tight.

"You’re going to wear a hole in the floor." Draven’s voice cut through my spiral and I looked up to find all four of them in the room, which I absolutely hadn’t noticed happening because apparently anxiety made me oblivious.

"When did you—" I couldn’t finish.

"Five minutes ago." Riven closed the door behind them. "You were too busy panicking to notice."

Fair.

"I’m not panicking, I’m preparing." My hands were shaking and I shoved them behind my back.

"You’re terrified." Kael crossed to me and his hands settled on my shoulders, warm and grounding. "And that’s okay."

"It’s not okay, it’s pathetic." The words came out harsh. "Everyone else is out there getting ready to fight and I’m in here falling apart like I’m not the one who’s supposed to save them."

"No one expects you to save everyone." His thumbs traced my collarbones. "We’re a pack. We fight together."

"The prophecy says—"

"I don’t care what the prophecy says." Rough and fierce. "I care that you’re about to walk into a fight that could kill you and I can’t—" He had to stop, breathe, try again. "I can’t lose you. Not now. Not when I just found you."

Through the bond his terror was sharp enough to make my chest ache.

"I’m scared too." The admission cost me but it was true. "I’m scared I’m going to fail. I’m scared the demon is stronger than we think. I’m scared I’m going to watch people die because I wasn’t good enough fast enough strong enough—"

"Stop." Riven’s hands found my face, tilting it up. "You’re spiraling again."

"I’m being realistic."

"You’re catastrophizing." His eyes were serious. "There’s a difference."

"Is there though?" My voice cracked. "Because in three hours I have to face something that’s been alive longer than any of us and my only weapons are powers I learned two days ago and bonds I barely understand."

"Then use us." Thorne’s rough voice from behind me. "The bonds amplify your power. Pull from all four of us."

"I don’t know how—"

"We’ll show you." Draven moved closer, completing the circle they’d formed around me. "Right now. Before the fight. So you know how it feels."

"How what feels?"

"Drawing power through the bonds." Kael’s hands tightened on my shoulders. "You’ve been trying to do this alone. You don’t have to. We’re yours. Our strength is yours. Use it."

The offer settled into my chest heavy and precious and absolutely terrifying.

"What if I take too much?" My voice came out small. "What if I hurt you?"

"You won’t." Certainty through all four bonds. "The bonds regulate. You can’t take what we’re not willing to give."

"And we’re willing to give everything." Riven’s forehead pressed to mine. "So stop trying to carry this alone."

I closed my eyes and reached for the bonds, really reached for them instead of just feeling their presence, and pushed through until I could sense their power on the other side.

Kael’s strength, solid and unwavering. Riven’s patience, deep as ocean. Draven’s control, precise as surgical steel. Thorne’s wildness, barely leashed and absolutely feral. ƒreewebɳovel.com

All mine. All willing. All waiting for me to take what I needed.

I pulled.

Power flooded through the bonds in a rush that made my knees buckle, and suddenly I was awash in sensation that wasn’t mine — Kael’s absolute certainty I could do this, Riven’s unshakable faith, Draven’s clinical confidence, Thorne’s primal conviction that I was pack and pack protected their own.

The shadows responded, pooling around my feet thick enough to touch, and when I opened my eyes they’d spread to cover the entire room in darkness that didn’t feel scary, just powerful.

"There you go." Kael’s voice was rough with satisfaction. "That’s what you’re capable of when you stop trying to do it alone."

I let the shadows dissipate and the power recede, and my hands were still shaking but not from fear this time.

From potential.

"I can do this." The words came out steadier than I felt. "I can actually do this."

"We know." Riven pulled me against his chest. "We’ve always known."

The knock on the door made us all turn.

Marcus stood in the entrance, expression grim. "It’s time. Scouts report the demon’s moving toward the eastern border."

My stomach dropped.

"How long?" Kael’s voice went hard.

"Thirty minutes. Maybe less."

Thirty minutes until the fight that would determine whether we survived this or whether the demon consumed us all.

God, when did thirty minutes become not enough time?

"Then we move." Kael turned to me, his hands cupping my face. "Remember what you just felt. Remember you’re not alone. And if it gets bad—"

"Run." I finished for him. "I know."

"I was going to say burn it to the ground with everything you have." A ghost of a smile. "But running works too."

Through the bonds I felt Riven’s amusement mixing with Draven’s dry humor mixing with Thorne’s feral approval, and God I loved them, all of them, even though I’d only known them a handful of days.

Maybe especially because I’d only known them a handful of days and they’d still chosen me anyway.

"I love you." The words came easy now. "All of you. In case I don’t get to say it later."

"You’ll say it later." Kael pressed a kiss to my forehead. "After we win."

"And if we don’t—"

"We will." Absolute certainty through the bond. "Because losing isn’t an option."

I wanted to believe him.

I was choosing to believe him.

Even if my hands wouldn’t stop shaking and my heart was trying to break free and my brain kept running through every horrible possibility.

The pack assembled in the training yard, forty wolves armed and ready and looking to me like I had answers I absolutely didn’t have.

Kael stood at the front with me at his side and the other three flanking us, and when he spoke his voice carried to every corner of the yard.

"Tonight we face a demon that’s threatened our borders for decades. Tonight the Hybrid Queen proves the prophecy true. Tonight we fight." He paused, his hand finding mine. "And tonight we win."

The pack erupted in howls that shook the trees.

And somewhere in the forest, the demon heard them and smiled.