Knots of the Hybrid Queen: Claimed by Four Alphas

The bonds woke me before my eyes opened.

Four distinct channels thrumming with life and presence and certainty that I wasn’t alone, and God that was going to take some getting used to because privacy was apparently a thing of the past when you could feel three alphas sleeping and one wide awake.

Draven, if the cool precise feeling bleeding through his bond was any indication.

My eyes opened to find him in the chair by the window again, book in hand but gaze on me, and the small smile that crossed his face when he realized I was awake did things to my heart that should have been illegal.

"Morning." My voice came out rough. "Or is it afternoon again?"

"Evening, actually." He closed the book. "You’ve been asleep for fourteen hours."

"Fourteen—" I tried to sit up and immediately regretted it when every muscle in my body screamed protest.

"Easy." He was there before I could blink, hands steadying me. "Your body’s been through a claiming and a heat. It needs time to recover."

"Where—" I looked around the room and registered Kael’s absence immediately through the bond, plus Riven and Thorne.

"Pack business." Draven settled on the edge of the bed. "The demon’s been testing borders while you were asleep. Kael’s coordinating patrols."

The demon.

Right.

The thing I was supposedly meant to stop with bonds I’d barely learned how to use.

"I can feel your panic through the bond." Draven’s hand found mine. "Breathe."

"There’s a demon and I’m supposed to fight it and I don’t even know how to use whatever power I supposedly have and—"

"And none of that is happening today." Firm but gentle. "Today you recover. Tomorrow we start training. The demon can wait."

"Can it though?" I met his eyes. "You said it’s been getting bolder."

"It has." He didn’t lie to me and I appreciated that. "But it hasn’t breached the borders yet. We have time."

"How much time?"

"Enough." He stood, offering me his hand. "Come on. You need food and a shower and probably about twelve more hours of sleep."

I let him pull me up, wrapping the sheet around myself because apparently I was naked and only just now registering that fact.

Draven’s mouth twitched. "Too late for modesty. I’ve seen everything."

Heat flooded my face but I couldn’t even argue because through the bond I felt his satisfaction at my embarrassment and yeah, privacy was definitely dead.

The bathroom was ridiculous — all marble and glass and a shower that could fit six people — and when Draven started the water and tested the temperature I realized he was planning to stay.

"I can shower alone."

"You can barely stand." He didn’t move. "Let me help."

Pride wanted me to argue. Exhaustion won.

The hot water felt like heaven against muscles I’d used in ways they weren’t accustomed to, and Draven’s hands were clinical and careful washing my hair and rinsing away the evidence of last night.

"Does it hurt?" His fingers traced over one of the claiming marks on my neck.

"No." The bite had healed overnight — accelerated hybrid healing, apparently — leaving just a silvery scar that would mark me forever. "Just tender."

"They’ll fade to silver completely within a week." He pressed a kiss to the mark and through the bond I felt his possessive satisfaction. "But they’ll never disappear. Everyone will know you’re claimed."

"Good." The word surprised me. "I want them to know."

His hands stilled. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." I turned to face him. "I spent two years hiding what I was. I’m tired of it."

The smile he gave me was warm and real and absolutely devastating.

"Come on." He shut off the water. "Before you fall asleep standing up."

Kael’s study was exactly how I remembered it except now there were four alphas scattered around the room instead of standing in formation, and the way they all looked at me when Draven and I entered made my face heat.

"You can feel her embarrassment,"."

Kael crossed to me in three long strides and pulled me against his chest, and through the bond I felt his relief at having me upright and moving.

"How do you feel?" His hand cupped the back of my neck, thumb tracing over his claiming mark.

"Sore. Exhausted. Weirdly amazing?" I pulled back to look at him. "The bonds are loud though. Is that normal?"

"For the first few days, yes." Riven appeared with a plate of food I definitely needed. "You’ll learn to filter. For now, try not to broadcast every emotion to all of us at once."

"I’m broadcasting?"

"Constantly." But he smiled when he said it. "It’s cute."

I took the plate because arguing seemed pointless and I needed the calories anyway.

Thorne stayed by the window, amber eyes tracking my every movement, and through his bond I felt watchful contentment.

"We need to talk about what happens next,"."

"Testing for weaknesses," Marcus supplied from where he leaned against the desk. "Looking for a way in."

"Why now?" I set the plate down, appetite gone. "What changed?"

"You." Victoria’s voice was blunt. "The prophecy says the Hybrid Queen will either unite the factions or the demon will consume them all. It knows you’re here. It knows the bonds are complete. It’s preparing."

"Preparing for what?"

"War." Kael’s voice went hard. "The demon’s been dormant for decades. Quiet. Contained. Your bonds woke it up."

My stomach dropped. "So this is my fault."

"No." Four voices, all through the bonds, overwhelming in their certainty.

"This was always coming,"."

"Except I don’t know how to be the solution." My hands started shaking. "I don’t know what I’m supposed to do."

"Then we figure it out together." Kael’s hand found mine. "Starting with training your powers."

"What powers?" I looked between them. "I don’t—I can’t do anything."

"Your hybrid blood is wolf and vampire combined." Draven moved closer. "Wolves have shadow manipulation. Vampires have blood control. You have both. The bonds amplify it."

Shadow manipulation. Blood control.

The words should have meant something but all I felt was overwhelming terror.

"I don’t know how to use any of that."

"We teach you." Riven sat beside me. "Tomorrow. First lesson."

"And if I fail?"

"You won’t." Thorne’s rough voice from the window. "Not possible."

Through the bonds I felt their absolute faith in me and it was terrifying and humbling in equal measure.

"The demon attacks in three days,"."

Three days.

To learn powers I didn’t know I had.

To figure out how to stop a demon that had been dormant for decades.

To become the Hybrid Queen everyone needed me to be.

No pressure.

Kael’s arms came around me from behind, solid and grounding.

"We’ve got you," he murmured. "All of us. You’re not doing this alone."

Through the bonds I felt Riven’s patience, Draven’s certainty, Thorne’s fierce protection, Kael’s unwavering faith.

Four bonds. Four alphas. Four chances to get this right.

The demon was coming.

And ready or not, I was going to face it.