Knots of the Hybrid Queen: Claimed by Four Alphas

Chapter 68: Fractures

The living target Eirlys selected was Kael which was either deliberately cruel or strategically calculated, and knowing the Fae it was probably both.

"No." The word came out before I could stop it. "Anyone else. Please. Not him."

"The Alpha King is the strongest wolf present." Eirlys’s voice was matter-of-fact. "He will survive what we ask you to do. Others might not. This is mercy."

Mercy. Right. Forcing me to age my mate repeatedly was mercy.

"I refuse." I tried to make the words stick but the oath flared and they died in my throat.

"You cannot refuse." They gestured to Kael who stood in the center of the training yard looking absolutely murderous. "Begin. Age him twenty years. Then reverse it. You have practiced on plants and animals. Now you practice on what matters."

On what matters. On my mate. On the person I’d die to protect.

"Selene." Kael’s voice was steady. Certain. "It’s okay. Do it."

It’s okay. Nothing about this was okay.

"I can’t—" My voice broke. "If I lose control—"

"You won’t." His eyes locked on mine. "Because you’re stronger than they know. Do it. Show them what the Hybrid Queen can do."

Show them. Right. Except showing them meant hurting him and my brain was screaming that this was wrong.

"Now." Eirlys’s command carried oath weight.

My body moved before I could protest. Reached for the temporal magic. Focused on Kael.

Age. Twenty years. Forward through time.

The magic hit him and I watched in horror as twenty years passed in seconds. Lines appeared around his eyes. His hair went grey at the temples. His stance shifted with the weight of years he hadn’t lived.

Through the bond I felt him aging, felt his body processing two decades in moments, felt his confusion and pain and—

"Reverse it." Eirlys’s voice was clinical. "Now."

I reached for the reversal. Pushed time backward. Tried to undo what I’d just done.

Kael flickered. The grey faded. The lines smoothed. He was back to normal except—

Except through the bond I felt the damage. Felt where the rapid aging had stressed his cells. Felt the micro-fractures in the connection between us.

"Again." The command flared. "Faster this time. Twenty years forward. Twenty years back. Ten seconds total."

Ten seconds. They wanted me to age and reverse him in ten seconds.

"That will hurt him." The words came out desperate.

"Yes." Eirlys didn’t even blink. "It will also teach you control. Again."

The oath compelled and I had to do it. Had to age Kael again. Watch him grey. Feel him suffer through the bond.

Had to reverse it. Pull him back. Feel the damage multiply.

"Again."

Again.

"Again."

Again.

Six times. I aged and reversed Kael six times in four minutes and by the end of it he was on his knees and the mate bond between us was fraying at the edges like thread pulled too tight.

"Adequate." Eirlys made notes. "Tomorrow we increase to fifty years. You will learn to reverse aging beyond the target’s lifetime. Bring them back from death itself."

From death itself. They wanted me to age Kael to death and resurrect him.

"No." The word tore out of me. "I won’t. I can’t. This is—"

"This is necessary." Eirlys cut me off. "The Root will force worse. You must be ready. Tomorrow. Fifty years. Do not be late."

They left and I just stood there staring at Kael who was trying to stand and couldn’t because his body was confused about how old it was supposed to be.

Through the bond I felt his pain. Felt the fractures in our connection. Felt him trying to reach for me and failing because the damage was too severe.

"I’m sorry." The words were useless. Inadequate. "I’m so sorry."

"Not your fault." His voice was hoarse. Rough. "The oath—you can’t refuse." freewebnøvel.coɱ

Can’t refuse. Right. I was a puppet and the Fae held the strings.

Riven and Draven helped Kael to medical while Thorne just stood there staring at me with an expression I couldn’t read, and through his bond I felt—

Rage. Pure feral rage that I’d hurt Kael. That the oath had made me hurt Kael. That we were trapped in this with no escape.

"I didn’t want to." The words came out broken. "The oath made me. I tried to refuse but—"

"I know." His voice was rough. "Doesn’t make it hurt less."

Doesn’t make it hurt less. Right. Because watching me age Kael repeatedly was traumatic for all of them and knowing I couldn’t refuse didn’t erase the damage.

That night the four of them didn’t come to bed. Just stayed in medical with Kael while healers tried to figure out what rapid aging and reversal had done to his body, and I lay there alone feeling the mate bonds fracture further.

Kael’s bond had cracks now. Actual cracks where the connection used to be solid.

Riven’s was strained from watching me hurt someone he loved.

Thorne’s was pulled tight with barely-leashed violence.

Draven’s was fraying from the clinical assessment that this would only get worse.

The fealty oath was destroying the mate bonds one command at a time.

And tomorrow I’d have to age Kael fifty years. To death. And bring him back.

I must have fallen asleep eventually because I woke to Draven sitting on the edge of the bed watching me with that clinical expression that meant he was processing something terrible.

"Kael’s stable." His voice was quiet. "The healers managed to reset his cellular age. He’ll recover. Physically." fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Physically. Not emotionally. Not the bond between us.

"I’m sorry." The words were inadequate. "I tried to refuse but—"

"I know." He cut me off. "The oath is absolute. We all know that. Knowing doesn’t make watching you hurt him any easier."

Doesn’t make it easier. Right. Because trauma didn’t care about logical understanding.

"Morgana found something." He pulled out his tablet. "In Cassia’s notes. About fealty oaths and mate bonds. They’re incompatible at a fundamental level. One demands submission. One demands equality. The longer you’re bound to the Fae, the more the mate bonds will deteriorate. Eventually—" He stopped.

"Eventually they’ll break completely." I finished for him. "And I’ll belong only to the Fae."

Only to the Fae. Forever. Alone except for the beings who owned me.

"We won’t let that happen." But his voice was hollow. "We’ll find a way."

We’ll find a way. Except we both knew there wasn’t a way. The oath was absolute.

I was going to lose them. One fracture at a time. One command at a time. Until the bonds shattered and I was just—

Property. Weapon. Tool.

Not a person anymore.

Just before dawn the alarm bells started ringing and Marcus’s voice cut across the pack link urgent and sharp: "Breach at the eastern perimeter. Something’s coming through. Not demon. Something else."

Something else. The Root sending a probe. Testing our defenses.

And I was going to have to fight it with bonds fractured and body exhausted and the Fae watching to see if their weapon worked.

No pressure.