I saw my reflection in his large yellow eyes. I didn’t recognize myself because there was no man there—there was another wolf.
Neither of us moved.
The crowd began to scream, trying to escape, but the King called out, “Do not run! Those who dare to avert their eyes will be punished!”
Everyone stopped, but they were visibly trembling, their faces drawn with horror.
“Now,” the King cried, “witness the truth of mating down! This is what happens when omegas take an alpha of a lower caste! They turn into the beasts they truly are!”
I stood there on all fours, shocked into silence. I was a wolf. Bjorn was a wolf, too. We had transformed right there in front of everybody. There was no denying it. No amount of drugs or hallucinations could explain what had happened here in this courtyard.
“Thatis the crime these omegas have committed!” the King blared on. “By unleashing the true nature of alphas, they have put all of Lacehaven in danger!”
No.No,this wasn’t right. I wasn’t a danger. I was still Rourke. I had all the same thoughts, feelings and memories I did as a man. Nothing had changed except my appearance.
The King strode forward with a stern expression. Only a line of knights separated us. “Do you understand me, beast?”
I didn’t know if I could speak, so I nodded slowly.
“You see?” the King declared. “He is the same man. The alpha known as Rourke, now in the form of a beast. This is no trick. Let this be a lesson to you allneverto engage with an alpha lower than your own class.”
“Enough.”
The voice was clear and sharp as a diamond. It belonged to Sebastian, who sat forced into a kneeling position on the statue’s pedestal, but his head was raised in proud defiance. I realized as I looked at him that I was shaking. He met my eyes for a moment, and I saw the sweet affection in them before he snapped his gaze back to the King.
“I do not want to hear any more of your ridiculous claims, Father,” Sebastian called out. “Their transformations didn’t take place because we committed some taboo, ormated down, to use your crude term. They occurred because Rourke is my fated mate.”
Encouraged by Sebastian’s bravery, Eugene said, “And Bjorn is mine!”
“You put our lives in danger and forced them to fight for us,” Sebastian continued, his voice steady and confident. “Thatis why they transformed.”
“How dare you speak to me that way? I am not your father anymore!” the King snarled.
The crowd’s shocked response mirrored my own. What was he talking about? Did something happen between them after the knights separated me from Sebastian in the guest house?
Around the courtyard, only Melchom and a handful of knights seemed to know what was going on. The majority of people were stunned by the King’s outburst. The prince they knew—many of them personally, even—was shackled to a statue for misconduct I didn’t even know was illegal.
“Answer me this,” Sebastian said, staring the King in the face. “If mating down is such a great taboo, then why do you allow the alpha market to exist in the first place? You are the King. You could have had it dismantled at any time, yet you chose to let it be.” He narrowed his storm-colored eyes. “It seems that if it’s anyone’s fault for letting this happen, it’s yours.”
The King went still but his face flushed with anger. He whirled towards the beta next to him. “Melchom, see to the beasts. We’re not finished here yet.”
Melchom raised his whip and gleefully cracked it against the ground by my paws, making me flinch.
“Fight!” the King ordered. “Fight if you want your so-called fated mates to live!”
A growl rumbled in my throat, but I didn’t move. Across from me, Bjorn’s ears flitted back and forth, indicating his uneasiness.
What was the truth? Were we cursed to become vicious beasts due to hubris, like the King had claimed? Or had we transformed into these powerful bodies because of our bond with our fated mates?
As I looked at Sebastian, his gaze unwavering, I knew the truth.
The fight stalled. Bjorn and I stood still, eyeing each other without moving. This displeased the King, who angrily whispered another order to Melchom. The beta picked his way into the circle, grinning, cradling his whip in eager anticipation and glancing back and forth between me and Bjorn. But he didn’t raise it. He walked right past us, towards the fountain.
What is he doing?
It wasn’t until he threw his arm back and made the whip crack loudly in the air that I realized he was aiming for Sebastian.
The King had given Melchom orders to hurt—and possibly kill—his own son.
