Bound To Her

CASSIDY

The next hour passed in a suffocating blur of motion and silence.

The royal guards wasted no time enforcing their orders. They threw heavy, velvet cloaks over the bare shoulders of the three alpha princes, covering their nakedness for the first time since this nightmare began. I was ushered into the back of a massive luxury vehicle, the leather seats cold against my damp, mud-stained uniform. The drive away from the forest was devoid of any conversation. I sat crammed into the corner of the seat, shivering uncontrollably while the three massive predators sat across from me, their glares burning holes into my fragile frame.

Before my mind could even process the reality of the situation, the vehicle rolled to a stop inside the imposing gates of The Royal Keep. The guards marched us through a labyrinth of towering stone walls and polished marble floors. My muddy sneakers squeaked against the pristine surface, a glaring reminder of how little I belonged in this world of wealth and power.

The heavy oak doors of the throne room swung open, revealing a space that seemed designed to crush the spirit of anyone who entered.

It had been several minutes since the guards deposited me in the center of the vast room, and I still had not taken a full breath. The Alpha King and Luna Queen sat elevated on massive, ornate throne chairs. They looked larger than life, radiating a crushing, dominant aura that slammed into my chest and stole the oxygen from my lungs. I felt like a speck of dust standing before ancient gods.

There was a third figure in the room. A woman sat barefoot on the polished floor, far away from the elevated thrones. Strands of bone-white cowry shells wrapped around her wrists and ankles. An eerie, heavy mist seemed to hover right above her skin. Her presence sent icy warning signals down my spine.

I kept my gaze glued to my dirty shoes, trying to shrink into myself, praying the royal couple would forget I was standing there. But a prickling sensation on the back of my neck forced my head up.

Luna Valerie was staring at me.

She observed me the way a scientist would inspect a strange insect pinned to a corkboard. Her sharp eyes dragged up and down my shivering form, assessing every flaw, trying to calculate what the fuss was about. She was trying to figure out why a common, weak human was mated to her three elite sons.

The scrutiny was unnerving. My stomach twisted into tight knots.

Then, her expression shifted. She smiled in a way that cracked her stern features open, bringing a sudden, artificial warmth to the room. The oppressive weight in the air lessened by a fraction.

"Relax, child. We are not going to bite you. As it appears, you are part of us now."

A silent scream tore through my mind. I wanted to yell that this was a massive mistake. I wanted to scream about broken magic and miscalculations. There was no logical way I was bound to any of those monsters. My mind desperately craved the harsh, familiar safety of my dorm room. I used to hate that cramped space because of Sienna and her endless torment. Now, I would gladly take Sienna’s overbearing bullying over this surreal nightmare. I would trade my soul to walk through that dorm door and find Sienna trashing my belongings.

Heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor, shattering my frantic thoughts. The three brothers strode into the throne room, now fully dressed in dark, tailored clothes. They bypassed me without a glance and dropped onto a plush sofa near the thrones.

"So, have you figured that she is a fraud?" Kaidan demanded, his voice slicing through the quiet room.

The woman sitting on the floor lifted her head. She locked her unsettling gaze on my face, making the fine hairs on my arms stand straight up.

"She is not a fraud."

I clamped my mouth shut, fighting the urge to turn and run back to the forest.

Kaidan let out a harsh scoff, the disdain rolling off him in waves. "Well, she has to be. There is no way we are mated to her."

"I am afraid she is not, my prince. She is your mate, just like she is your brothers’ mate. She carries a powerful and unprecedented aura, one that even royal she-wolves do not possess. That is why she was able to walk in the Astral-Wilds. That is why the sacred full moon that has not been seen in centuries came out to lead her to you. She is your mate, the royal Luna Princess."

The witch’s words felt like physical blows landing on my shoulders. She was handing down a death sentence, binding me in chains I could not see. The longer I stood in this opulent cage, the further I drifted from reality. Nothing she said made sense. I possessed no powerful aura. I carried nothing but years of hunger, pain, and isolation. I was just a human orphan trying to survive high school.

"Well, that is some bullshit and you have to fix..." Kaidan started, surging forward on the sofa.

The Alpha King spoke up in a quiet tone that carried an unbelievable amount of weight, drowning out every other sound in the vast hall. "Language, Kaidan. You will speak to Sybil with respect."

Kaidan bowed his head in a stiff apology, but his features were twisted with pure rage. His massive hands balled into tight fists, his knuckles turning white. He looked like he wanted to rip Sybil’s throat out and then turn his claws on me, just to sever the forbidden connection.

Cyprian leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "What if we do not want the bond? Can we reject her?"

"No. Alpha Princes do not have the liberty to reject their mates, and definitely not this special one. The moon goddess makes no mistakes. If she has mated this human girl to you and made you find her on a random night, then she is the one for the three of you. Failure to mark and claim her would resort to severe consequences, not for you alone, but for the whole pack. That is going against a direct command from the Moon Goddess. There would be severe repercussions."

A thick, suffocating silence dropped over the room. I swallowed hard, the sound loud in my own ears. I felt like a background extra trapped on a movie set, just waiting for an invisible director to yell cut so I could catch the bus home.

Every head in the room suddenly snapped toward me. I realized a split second later that the frantic voice echoing in the hall belonged to me.

"I do not want this. I do not want to be mated to them. I just want to return back to school."

Sybil tilted her head, offering a chilling, pitying smile. "Sorry, Cassidy Renn, daughter of Anna and Ben, first human to be mated to the alpha princes. This is not up to you."

"You are telling me that I have no say in my own life?"

"The moon goddess made it so."

"I do not serve the moon goddess! I am human. I do not have to dance to her tunes."

Sybil offered no response, keeping that same eerie smile plastered on her face.

Cyprian darted a quick look at Kaidan. Instead of looking murderous, Kaidan looked utterly defeated, staring at the marble floor as if his world had just caved in.

"So you are saying that there is no way out of this bond? There must be a way out." Cyprian pressed, desperation leaking into his tone.

The cowry beads adorning Sybil's wrists and ankles began to rattle against the floor, shaking rapidly even though her body remained perfectly still. Her dark eyes rolled back, turning blindingly white.

"The only way out is death! Unless she dies, then you are bound to her for life."

Luna Valerie stood up smoothly, smoothing down the front of her dark robes. "That is enough. Sybil is dismissed."

The witch rose to her feet in one fluid motion. She offered a deep bow and glided out of the room, her heavy bone beads somehow making no sound at all as she departed.

The Alpha King stood up, prompting the three princes to rise to their feet as well. He turned and marched out of the room through a side door. I stood frozen in the center of the hall, my legs trembling so much I thought I might collapse.

I looked around the emptying room, feeling a desperate need to establish some boundary. "I need to return back to school."

Only Luna Valerie reacted to my demand. She walked down the short steps from the throne, her black robe flowing like a dark river behind her. She stopped a few feet away from me.

"You are part of us now, child, and The Royal Keep is now your home. You will be shown to your room by your assigned maid, who will help you adapt well in the coming days."

I opened my mouth to argue, to scream that I would never belong here, but she already turned her back and vanished through the same door her husband had used. I was left alone with the three quiet princes.

A maid scurried into the room from the main entrance. She dropped into a deep curtsy toward the princes, who ignored her entirely, before rushing to my side and ushering me toward the massive double doors.

We barely made it ten steps into the grand, dimly lit hallway outside the throne room when a harsh voice echoed off the stone walls from behind us.

"Leave us."

It was Kaidan.

The maid gasped, instantly letting go of my arm. She bowed her head and scurried away down the corridor, disappearing around a corner and leaving me alone in the shadows. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.

He closed the distance between us in two massive strides, his broad chest blocking out the ambient light. I backed up until my shoulder blades hit the cold stone wall, bracing myself for the violence.

"I am sorry."

The somber, quiet tone knocked the breath straight out of me. I blinked in sheer confusion.

He leaned in closer, crowding my personal space, trapping me against the wall with his overwhelming frame. I could see the raw agony carved into his sharp features.

"I am really sorry for how I treated you in school, for giving the kids the greenlight to bully you. I know this is you getting back at me, but please, you have to undo this. Please, this is worse than a death sentence to me. It is killing me. I cannot be mated to a human. I cannot look at a human and see her as my mate. That is a horrible sentence for me. Please, undo this, whatever black magic you have cast to bind us to you. Please."

His voice cracked. His massive shoulders shook, and his chest heaved with uneven, rattling breaths. His eyes were swimming in unshed tears. The physical pain radiating from him was palpable. It was not just pride or anger, the magical bond was tearing his mind apart.

Despite the terror clawing at my throat, a strange wave of empathy washed over me. I felt the pure misery leaking from his soul, and my own eyes began to burn.

"I did not do anything."

"If I have to apologize to you in front of the whole school, I will do it. Just please, undo this thing. Get me out of this shackle!"

"I do not know how to. I did not do anything!"

He exhaled a loud, ragged breath and buried his face in his large hands. For a few fleeting seconds, he was just a broken boy desperate for an escape. But when he finally lowered his hands and raised his head, the vulnerability was gone. The chilling madness had returned, reshaping his features into a mask of pure, predatory hatred. I recoiled instantly, flattening myself as hard as I could against the stone block.

"So you are not going to do anything?"

"There is nothing to do. I know..."

He stepped back, his posture rigid and towering. His sudden calm was a thousand times more terrifying than his tears.

"Good. Have it your way then, and get ready for the repercussions."

Without another glance, he turned on his heel and stalked away down the empty corridor, leaving me alone in the dark, my body shaking violently against the cold wall.