Knots of the Hybrid Queen: Claimed by Four Alphas

Chapter 38: Eve

They found me in the armory at midnight when I should have been sleeping but couldn’t because every time I closed my eyes I saw tomorrow’s battle playing out in a hundred different ways and none of them ended well.

All four of them. Kael and Riven and Draven and Thorne. Standing in the doorway watching me pretend I knew what I was doing with the weapons I’d never be good enough to use.

"You should be resting." Kael’s voice was quiet. Careful.

"Can’t sleep." I set down the knife I’d been holding—testing the weight, the balance, trying to figure out if I could actually stab something with it if my magic failed. "My brain won’t shut up."

"Mine either." Riven closed the door behind them and the four of them moved into the space like they’d choreographed it, surrounding me without crowding me. "I keep running scenarios. Most of them end badly."

At least I wasn’t the only one catastrophizing.

"We could die tomorrow." The words came out before I could stop them, raw and honest and terrifying to say out loud. "Any of us. All of us. The demon could win and Draven could end up enslaved and I could watch all of you die through the bonds and I—" I had to stop because my throat had closed up and breathing had become optional again.

"We could." Kael’s hands found my shoulders. "Or we could win. Both outcomes exist until tomorrow actually happens."

"That’s not helpful." But I leaned into his touch anyway because grounding was grounding even when it came with unhelpful philosophical observations about quantum outcomes.

"Come here." He pulled me toward the door and I went because arguing seemed exhausting and I was too tired to fight them on this.

They led me back to Kael’s room—our room, I guess, since I’d been sleeping there more often than my own space—and when we got there the bed had been remade with fresh sheets and someone had left food I probably wouldn’t eat and water I definitely needed.

"Sit." Riven’s voice was gentle. Patient.

I sat on the edge of the bed and all four of them arranged themselves around me—Kael at my back, Riven on my left, Draven on my right, Thorne at my feet—and the weight of their combined presence should have felt suffocating but just felt safe.

"Talk to us." Draven’s voice was quiet. Clinical but warm underneath. "What are you actually afraid of?"

Everything. All of it. The whole disaster tomorrow was going to be.

But that wasn’t useful so I tried to pick out the specific fears that were loudest.

"I’m afraid I’m going to freeze when the demon comes for me." My voice came out small. "I’m afraid my magic won’t work when it matters. I’m afraid I’ll watch you—" I had to gesture vaguely at all four of them because I couldn’t say it out loud. "Through the bonds. And I’ll feel it. And I won’t be able to stop it."

"You won’t freeze." Kael’s hands stroked through my hair. "You’ve never frozen. Not when the demon attacked before. Not when Lysander’s vampires came at you. You run toward danger when you should run away."

"That’s not bravery, that’s stupidity." The correction felt important.

"It’s both." Riven’s hand found mine. "But it’s also who you are. You don’t know how to quit."

"I want to quit." Honest and ashamed. "I want to run. Get in a car and drive somewhere the demon can’t find me and just—not do this."

"But you won’t." Thorne’s grip on my ankle tightened. "Because running means we die. So you’ll stay."

He was right and I hated it.

"I don’t know how to lead." The confession tore out of me. "I don’t know how to be the Hybrid Queen everyone needs. I’m just—I’m just me. Selene. Twenty-one and barely surviving and absolutely not qualified for any of this."

"None of us were qualified." Draven’s voice was quiet. "Kael became Alpha King at nineteen when his father died. Riven developed his mind-link ability at sixteen and had to learn to filter a thousand voices at once. Thorne survived being feral for three years before he learned to be human again. I was used as a weapon for fourteen years before I found the spine to leave."

The casual way he said it sent ice through my veins because I kept forgetting they’d all survived their own disasters before meeting me.

"We figured it out." Kael’s forehead pressed against the back of my head. "You will too." ƒгeewebnovёl.com

"What if I don’t have time to figure it out?" My voice cracked. "What if tomorrow is it and I fail and—"

"Then we fail together." Riven pulled me against his chest. "And at least we fail knowing we tried."

The matter-of-fact way he said it broke me.

I turned into him and pressed my face against his neck while tears I’d been holding back for days finally spilled over, and his arms came around me while I shook apart.

Through the bonds I felt all four of them—Kael’s fierce protectiveness, Riven’s steady patience, Draven’s controlled care, Thorne’s feral certainty—and the combined weight of their faith in me was too much and also exactly what I needed.

"I love you." The words came out muffled against Riven’s shirt. "All of you. I need you to know that before tomorrow happens."

"We know." Kael’s voice was rough. "We can feel it through the bonds."

"I know, but I—" I pulled back to look at all four of them. "I need to say it. Out loud. Before tomorrow. Just in case."

"We’re not dying tomorrow." Draven’s voice was firm. Certain. "None of us."

"You don’t know that."

"I’m choosing to believe it anyway." He cupped my face and his thumb traced my cheekbone. "And so are you."

I wanted to argue. Wanted to point out that belief didn’t change facts and hope wasn’t a strategy.

Instead I kissed him.

Hard and desperate and honest in ways I couldn’t articulate, and when I pulled back his eyes had gone dark and through the bond his desire mixed with mine so sharp it hurt.

"I need—" I couldn’t finish the sentence because what I needed was complicated and probably selfish but I needed it anyway.

"We know." Kael’s hands found my hips. "We’ve got you."

And they did.

All four of them. Surrounding me. Touching me. Claiming me in ways that went beyond physical and straight into whatever part of me needed to know I wasn’t alone.

Riven’s mouth found mine while Kael’s hands traced my spine and Draven’s fingers tangled in my hair and Thorne’s grip on my thighs grounded me when everything else felt like it was spinning out.

The bonds opened all the way—no walls, no filters, just five of us connected and sharing everything—and the sensation of feeling all four of them wanting me at once was enough to wipe every coherent thought from my brain.

"Please." I didn’t know what I was asking for. Just knew I needed more. Needed to feel alive before tomorrow tried to kill us.

They gave me everything.

Slow and careful and reverent in ways that made me cry again because how was I supposed to lead anyone when I couldn’t even handle being loved this completely?

But they didn’t seem to care about my doubts or my fears or my conviction that I wasn’t worth this.

They just held me through it. All four of them. Taking turns and sometimes together until I lost track of who was who and just knew I was safe and claimed and absolutely not alone.

When it was over I lay sprawled across all four of them—head on Kael’s chest, legs tangled with Riven’s, Draven’s arm around my waist, Thorne’s hand wrapped around my ankle—and tried to remember how to breathe.

"Tomorrow." My voice came out hoarse. Wrecked. "We fight."

"Tomorrow we win." Kael’s voice was certain. Final. "Because losing isn’t an option."

Through the bonds I felt all four of them echo that certainty, and for the first time since this whole nightmare started I let myself believe it might actually be true.

We could win.

We would win.

Because the alternative was unthinkable and I’d spent two years surviving unthinkable things.

One more day.

One more fight.

And then maybe—maybe—we’d get to figure out what came after.