"They'll try." The mate bond flares with his protective fury. "But they'll have to go through me first. Through all of us."
I look at him across the office. My professor. My mate. The man who knew what I was and claimed me anyway, knowing it would mean sharing me with three others.
"I don't know how to do this," I whisper.
"Neither do I." He finally crosses the distance, cups my face in his hands. "But we'll figure it out together."
The bond hums between us, silver and warm and real. One bond complete. Three more waiting to form.
I'm Silverpelt.
And the Council wants me dead.
"No one can know," I say. "About the multiple bonds. If Chase finds out, if the Council learns I'm not just silver but Silverpelt with four potential mates..."
"They can't know." Julian's thumbs brush my cheekbones, wiping away tears. "We keep it secret. Let Caspian's claim look like normal Alpha protection. Let Knox's watching look like curiosity. Let Nico's broken bond stay broken until you decide what to do with it."
"And us?"
"We stay hidden." He leans his forehead against mine. "Like we have been. Secret. Careful."
"I'm scared."
"I know." He pulls me against his chest, arms around me, and I let myself break down properly. Let myself cry for parents I never knew, for a bloodline that was murdered, for the impossible situation I'm in.
Last Silverpelt. Multiple mates. Council hunting.
The weight is crushing.
But Julian holds me while I cry and the bond between us pulses steady and strong.
I'm not alone anymore.
Even if the path ahead is impossible, I'm not facing it alone.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Imake it through two days pretending everything's normal.
Classes. Training. Meals in the dining hall where I keep my head down and avoid eye contact. Julian's History lectures where I sit in the back row and take notes like I'm any other student, not the girl who knows the truth about multiple bonds and genocide.
The girl who knows she's the last Silverpelt.
Caspian walks me to classes. Knox shadows from a distance. Even Nico hovers at the edges, drawn by whatever broken bond still connects us. The other students notice but they keep their distance. Most of them have since the first shift, since everyone saw proof I'm different.
Only Sera Whitlock refuses to back down.
She's waiting outside Combat Training when I arrive Wednesday afternoon, flanked by her usual group of girls. All of them from high-ranking bloodlines, all of them perfectly aware of pack hierarchy. Sera's blonde hair is pulled back in a high ponytail and she's dressed in expensive training gear thatprobably cost more than everything I own. She's the one who held my arms while the others cut my hair, the one who said "this is a kindness" before threatening worse.
Students flow around us, heading into the building. Some glance our way, sensing drama. Others intentionally avoid looking, not wanting to get involved.
"Nova." Sera's smile doesn't reach her eyes. "Still playing bodyguard with Caspian?"
I adjust my training bag on my shoulder. "I'm not playing anything."
"Of course not." She steps into my path, close enough that I have to stop walking. "It's just interesting how the mysterious new girl has the Alpha heir following her around like a puppy."
Her friends laugh. I keep my face neutral.
