The Four Alphas Who Shouldn’t Be Mine

Lucy POV

I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, my breaths loud and ragged. Tears stung my eyes, blurring the path ahead as emotions crashed over me as I continued in the darkness.

The moon light was bright, aiding me to see my path properly as I race through the woods.

I hadn't known the Alphas had a half-brother. His gentle words still echoed in my mind..and his mesmerizing ocean blue eyes captured my vision.

"I don't like the way you're suffering. Now run to your kingdom. Whether as a maid or a princess, just run."

There was something in his voice, soft, almost sorrowful, that lit a spark in me. My chest ached from a quiet, burning gratitude.

Now I was in the woods, the trees blurring past, my feet pounding the earth.

I heard footsteps behind me, fast and relentless. They were coming after me.

Someone must have found out I had escaped. My heart thundered.

No, no… Goddess, please… I prayed for my legs to move faster.

This should have been the perfect time to shift into my wolf and run, but I didn't have her. The thought slammed into my chest, heavy and cruel. I felt useless.

I couldn't even save myself.

I held up my dress to run faster, trying to push harder than my fear… Until a large wolf leapt from the trees behind me and landed right in front of me, cutting off my path.

I froze.

The wolf's eyes glowed with a fierce golden light.

Xaden.

No…

I stopped, panting hard, just as another wolf landed behind me, trapping me completely.

"Where are you off to, prisoner? Too scared to die?"

That voice belonged to Malek.

His wolf's eyes burned red, and the danger rolling off him made me shiver.

"Please… let me go." My lips trembled as the words slipped out, desperate and broken.

But the guards arrived behind Malek, eyes cold and unreadable. They grabbed me roughly, and this time, clamped cold iron cuffs around my wrists.

I struggled, but it was futile. This was it…I was going to die.

Was this how it would end? Without ever seeing my parents again?

A sob caught in my throat. I wished I could send them a message. I wished they'd come for me, that somehow they knew.

"Goddess, please…" I whispered.

They dragged me back through the woods, down the cold stone corridors… and slammed the dungeon door shut behind me.

"You won't escape this time," Xaden sneered, locking the bars. "By morning, you'll be saying your last prayer."

The tears came hot and heavy, carving silent trails down my cheeks as I sank to the cold dungeon floor, utterly alone.

The darkness consumed me, but sleep refused to come not with the threat of death hanging over me, not with the fear of dying a nobody, my identity stolen and trampled.

Morning crept in too quickly. I watched helplessly as the first rays of sunlight spilled through the tiny window high above the dungeon, marking the end of the night… and the beginning of the day.

The day of my execution had come, the same day my cousin would officially bond with the men who were once supposed to be mine.

Now, I wasn't even sure if they were meant for me. There was no bond between us… not without my wolf.

So what was the point?

My tear-streaked face rested against my knees as I sat in silence, numb until I heard the clinking of keys. A guard was unlocking the dungeon door.

He stepped inside and roughly pushed me forward, out into the light.

I guess this was it. They were going to kill me like some kind of public spectacle, an execution wrapped in the joy of a sacred ritual.

That was what Alpha kings were good at, after all. Celebration and cruelty hand in hand.

I walked into the vast ceremonial hall. Selena stood proudly at the center, draped in gold, her gown shimmering like she'd truly earned it. In front of her stood the four Alphas.

My eyes swept the hall. Everyone was here… except the princess's parents.

Mine.

Had my parents attended my wedding, had they even been allowed to stand by me… Maybe none of this would have happened.

There was no one to represent my family, no siblings except my cousin, who had stolen everything from me.

My weary gaze moved slowly from the Alpha King, an old man who looked more bone than flesh, sickly even then, to the woman beside him who stood with quiet authority, like a queen.

Rumors had it that soon, the four Alphas would be the Alpha kings once their father died.

And then I saw him, the prince. The Alphas' half-brother. The one who had helped me escape… even if only briefly.

His blue eyes met mine, full of quiet sorrow.

For a moment, that sympathy was enough to steady me. Someone had seen me. Someone had felt something.

I offered him a small, broken smile.

Then I turned my gaze to the four Alphas I was once promised to.

My supposed mates.

"As the mate of the Alphas," Selena began, her voice sweet with poison, "I would like to make a request."

She turned to the crowd, then looked directly at me, a cruel smile curling her lips.

"I want our little prisoner to witness the bonding ceremony before she's executed. Let it serve as a warning to any future maid who dares to compete with me for my husbands."

Laughter rippled through the hall, but I barely paid attention as my gaze was locked on hers.

Tears rolled silently down my cheeks.

I couldn't speak.

I just… couldn't believe she would ever do this to me.

Even if someone had shown me a vision of this moment, I would've called them mad. I would've defended her, sworn by the Goddess herself that my cousin could never be capable of such betrayal.

I would've hung the messenger for treason before believing it.

But the truth stood before me now in golden silk and a smile sharper than any blade.

And my silence was the only shield I had left.

"That sounds perfect, sweetheart," Riven said beside her, lips twitching with amusement.

He snapped his fingers, and the herald stepped forward to begin the ritual.

Their blood mixed together in the golden mug. The hall was still, tense with anticipation. Xaden lifted the cup, ready to drink first and seal the bond…

When a voice thundered through the hall.

"Stop!" A sharp female wolf's voice echoed through the room.

Everyone froze.

I wasn't sure if I'd imagined it at first. My heart pounded as all eyes slowly turned to me.

Had that… come from me?

No, it couldn't have. The voice had echoed with power. It rang louder than I thought, louder than anything I'd ever known.

And then it came again, clear and bold.

"She is your mate, Alphas!" The voice boomed, shaking the silence like thunder. "Bond with another, and you defy the Moon Goddess herself!"

A collective gasp swept through the room. What? If she was my wolf, how was everyone able to hear her? My eyes widened in shock.

Selena's face twisted in rage, her cheeks flaming red. She clutched her gown like she might tear it from her body.

"I'm sorry I came late, Lucy." She whispered in my head.

"I am Rhiannon Codex. You can have me hanged for coming too late, Lucy. I deeply apologize. "She introduced herself softly in my head, and a gentle laugh almost bubbled out of my lips.

My heart pounded with a joy I couldn't put into words, tears shimmering in my eyes. " I won't dare do that, Rhiannon. Thank you for the rescue." I whispered back softly, a bright smile breaking from my eyes.

If she hadn't come on time, I would have probably been dead by now. Goodness, the thought of being executed scared the hell out of me.

The crowd shifted uneasily, eyes bouncing between me and the Alphas.

Then the herald stepped forward, voice shaky but firm.

"Alphas," he announced, "It turns out… the princess is not your true mate. The prisoner… His eyes landed on me, wide with disbelief. "The maid is your mate!"

Everyone stilled, not even a sound of gasping was in the air.

The Alphas' gazes burned into me, flames of confusion darkening their eyes.

And immediately the golden mug slipped from Xaden's hand and shattered against the floor, blood splattering across the marble.

"This stinking maid is our mate? This disgusting prisoner?" The Alphas snarled in unison.

My heart shattered.

The sound of disgust in their voices tore through me like a blade. Their furious eyes locked onto mine like they wanted to strangle me.

Wh..a…what…? Did they still see me as a maid?

Gods, no.

Were they truly thinking that their mate, the one chosen by the Moon Goddess, was not the princess anymore, but a mere maid?

And that maid… was me?

Was Selena still Lucy in their eyes? Still the one who belonged?

My stomach twisted.

No… this was so, so messed up.

Even after they had heard my wolf speak…

Even after I felt the bond snap into place, they were mine, and I was theirs.

Even after the link between us burned fiercely and ever alive, they still saw me as nothing?

I swallowed hard, my throat tight as they continued to look at me with great disdain.

How do I make them see?

How do I prove to them that I'm Lucy? That the girl standing in front of them is the imposter?

And now, I knew it for certain this marriage hadn't just been arranged by politics or fate alone. It was destiny. I was their true mate.

The one the Moon Goddess had chosen.

But as I looked into their eyes, I saw nothing but doubt and disgust.

They still see me as a maid, tears burned in my eyes at the confirmation.

"What? What just happened?" Selena sneered, her voice sharp with disbelief. She stood frozen for a heartbeat, then turned toward the Alphas.

Perhaps she hadn't expected this. She hadn't expected me to have my wolf so soon. It caught her off guard… just as much as it caught me. But the ones who seemed the most stunned of all were the Alphas.

"Alphas!" she shrieked, her voice climbing in pitch, panic bleeding through her perfect poise. "This low-life maid can't be your mate!"

Her eyes darted wildly between the four Alphas whose confused gaze still fell on me.

 "You have to marry me! We have to go on with the ritual and ignore her!" Her voice cracked on the last word.