Knots of the Hybrid Queen: Claimed by Four Alphas

Chapter 27: Aftermath

Six dead.

The number kept circling in my brain on repeat while I sat in the medical building watching Draven and the pack healers work on the fifteen injured, and I couldn’t stop thinking that six was a small number until it meant six people who’d been alive an hour ago and weren’t anymore.

Six families getting news that would break them.

Six wolves who’d trusted me to keep them safe.

My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I’d washed the blood off twice and they still felt sticky, still looked stained even though the water had run clear, and I knew that was psychosomatic or whatever but knowing didn’t make it stop.

"Drink this." Isabelle appeared with tea I didn’t want and sat beside me without asking permission.

I took the mug because refusing seemed harder than accepting, and the warmth of it helped even though my stomach was in no shape to handle actual liquid.

"It’s not your fault." Her voice was quiet. Matter-of-fact.

"Six people died."

"Six people died fighting a demon that’s been threatening this pack for decades." She sipped her own tea. "They knew the risks."

"That doesn’t make it better." The words came out sharp and I didn’t apologize because I was tired of apologizing for feeling things. "Knowing the risks doesn’t un-kill them."

"No." She didn’t flinch from my tone. "But dying protecting their pack is the best death a wolf can ask for. They didn’t die for nothing."

Except they did, didn’t they? Because the demon was still out there. Still alive. Still planning whatever next move would kill more of us.

I’d driven it back. Hurt it. Made it retreat.

But I hadn’t stopped it.

And that failure sat in my chest heavy as lead.

Through the bonds I felt Kael’s exhaustion mixing with Riven’s quiet grief mixing with Thorne’s feral rage mixing with Draven’s clinical focus, and I wanted to close the connections because feeling all of that on top of my own guilt was too much.

But closing the bonds felt like abandoning them, so I just sat there drowning in five different versions of pain and tried to remember how to breathe.

"The Alpha King wants to see you." Marcus appeared in the doorway looking like he’d aged ten years in the last hour. "When you’re ready."

I wasn’t ready. Might never be ready.

But sitting here wasn’t helping anyone, so I stood and followed him through hallways that smelled like antiseptic and blood to Kael’s study where all four of them were waiting.

They looked like hell.

Kael had a gash across his ribs that hadn’t healed yet. Riven’s shoulder was bandaged where claws had caught him. Draven’s face was bruised purple along his jaw. Thorne had a limp he was trying to hide.

And I’d let this happen to them. freёwebnovel.com

"Stop." Kael’s voice cut through my spiral. "I can feel you blaming yourself through the bond and you need to stop."

"Six people died." My voice came out flat. "How is that not my fault?"

"Six people died because a demon attacked." Riven moved closer. "Not because you failed to protect them."

"I didn’t stop it." The confession cracked my voice. "It was right there and I had it on its knees and I let it escape."

"You drove it back." Draven’s clinical tone was probably meant to be helpful. "You combined power through all four bonds for the first time and forced a demon that’s been dormant for decades to retreat. That’s not failure."

"It feels like failure." I wrapped my arms around myself. "It feels like I wasn’t strong enough fast enough good enough—"

"Enough." Kael crossed to me and his hands found my face. "You’re spiraling again."

"I’m being realistic."

"You’re catastrophizing." His thumbs traced my cheekbones. "There’s a difference."

We’d had this conversation before. Right before the claiming. And I still didn’t believe him but arguing seemed exhausting so I just let him pull me against his chest while my hands fisted in his shirt.

"What do we do now?" My voice came out muffled.

"We bury our dead." His arms tightened. "We heal our wounded. We prepare for the next attack."

"When?"

"I don’t know." Honest and terrible. "But it’s coming. The demon won’t stop until it gets what it wants."

"What does it want?"

Silence.

Then Draven’s voice, careful and measured. "You."

My blood turned to ice. "What?"

"The prophecy says the Hybrid Queen will either unite the factions or the demon will consume them all." He moved into my line of sight. "It’s been testing you. Seeing what you can do. And now it knows you’re powerful enough to hurt it."

"So it’s going to what, kill me before I can stop it?" My laugh came out brittle. "Great. Fantastic. Love that for me."

"It’s not going to get the chance." Kael’s voice went hard. "We keep you protected. Guarded. The demon doesn’t get close enough to—"

"The demon was already close enough." I pulled back to look at him. "It threw me fifteen feet. It could have killed me right then and chose not to."

Through the bond I felt his terror spike sharp enough to make my chest ache.

"Why didn’t it?" Riven’s question hung in the air.

"Because killing me fast isn’t the goal." The realization settled into my bones cold and certain. "It wants me afraid. Doubting. Breaking under the pressure."

"Psychological warfare." Draven’s mouth thinned. "Classic demon strategy."

"Well it’s working." I laughed again, sharp and humorless. "Because I am afraid and I am doubting and I’m—" My voice cracked. "I watched six people die tonight and I can’t—I can’t do this. I can’t be responsible for more deaths when it comes back."

"Then we make sure you’re stronger when it does." Kael’s voice left no room for argument. "We train harder. We practice combining the bond power until it’s instinct. We—"

"How many more have to die while I learn?" The question tore out of me. "How many more bodies before I’m ’ready enough’?"

No one had an answer for that.

Because the truth was we didn’t know. Couldn’t know. The demon could attack again tomorrow or in a week or never, and we’d just have to live in this constant state of waiting for the next disaster.

I was so tired of waiting for disasters.

"I need air." I pulled away from Kael. "I just—I need a minute."

"I’ll come with—" Riven started.

"Alone." It came out harsher than I meant. "Please. I need five minutes alone."

The bonds all spiked with hurt and I hated that I’d caused it but I couldn’t be in that room with four alphas trying to fix me when I was pretty sure I was past fixing.

I walked out before any of them could argue and made it three hallways before the tears started.

Six people.

Six lives I couldn’t save.

And a demon that was coming back for more.