Talons

Chapter 90: The Fated

Colton’s POV

I can’t even think straight as we head to the hearing location that has been chosen for us. My mate's name is Rhea. It’s been playing in my mind over and over as I try to figure out how I didn’t know that.

“Colt bro. Are you sure it’s her?” Carter asks, and I grab at my head, feeling the onset of a headache.

“It’s her. It’s her and she’s going to reject me. I don’t even know what to do.” Carter is quiet because he remembers the things we used to do to B.

"Her name is Rhea," Orlin corrects, and I feel him push forward, wanting to take over in my distressed state.

We get to the location, and guards tell us where to go. My mate is already there, and she is flanked by several family members, including her parents; I only have Carter with me.

My eyes land on Rhea, and I’m relieved to see that she has changed her top, but she hasn’t made eye contact with me, and that is a bad sign.

“All rise for High Alpha Newt.” We all stand, but my eyes stay fixed on my mate, who is whimpering as she clings to her mother’s arm. They are whispering to one another, and my mate's face shows that she is concerned, but I don’t know why.

“It's late, and I was in bed, this better be good,” the high alpha says, then gestures for me to start speaking.

“High alpha, I called this hearing to accuse a pack within the Four Corners Alliance of withholding a fated partner.”

“Oh, come on Colt. That's ridiculous, how would we even have known?” High alpha Newt raises his hand, and Lark stops speaking. He studies the Talons family, and a creepy smile crosses his face.

“Miss Talons,” he says in a mocking tone. “You are a very popular girl.”

Rhea’s POV

We entered the council house where any one of three High alphas are expected to stay for emergency situations, like the one we are in now, but when I heard the guard announce High Alpha Newt as the one who would be presiding over our hearing, I knew I was in trouble.

Even if I made my case, he would likely tell his son that I’m back and I don’t see myself getting away from him a second time. He will kill me, and he will make sure that everyone I love suffers.

“Mommy, is there a way we can get another Alpha to hear us?” I ask in Spanish, but my mother tells me to stop speaking. I nod, but I cling to her for support. She too knows that this hearing has already started against my favor.

Colton tells the alpha his belief and Lark interrupts with a rebuttal, but he is stopped from speaking, and alpha Newt fixes a cold gaze on me before flashing a sinister smile.

“Miss Talons,” he says in a mocking tone. “You are a very popular girl.” I stay silent because there is no point in defending myself. “My son will be very happy to hear that you haven’t been claimed by a rogue.”

I look down and can feel Colton’s eyes burning holes into me. He wants to know what the high alpha is talking about.

“Ah, trainee Alpha Colt, you must be wondering what I’m talking about. My son believes that Miss Talons is his mate. Sadly, she disappeared before he could confirm.” Colton lets out a low growl, and the high alpha’s eyes turn to slits. “Control your wolf,” he orders, and Colton nods respectfully.

The high alpha gestures for him to continue speaking, and when he tells his rendition of the story, I look like the bad guy, who was apparently trying to anger Colton by dancing.

“Miss Talons, do you have anything to say?”

“He is confused,” I whisper. “I’m not his mate.”

“Stop lying!” Colton shouts, and I fold in on myself. My mother shields me in a hug, and I allow myself to silently sob.

“Maybe we should test the bond.” My eyes snap to the high alpha because I didn’t know that could be done. “Miss Talons,” he says, extending a hand to me.

I stand and take small steps toward where the man is sitting. He has been handed a giant chalice and I can see that his claws are extended.

“W-what w-will you do?” I stutter out, and Alpha Newt tells me that he needs my blood. I look back at my family, and my mother gestures for me to go forward, so I do.

“It's interesting to me that you are here right now. There was once a time when I was preparing a place for you in my family’s home.” Once again, I say nothing. I can tell what the lizard is doing, and he wants me to dig my own grave, but I won’t give him the satisfaction.

Without warning the man reaches out for my hand and runs his nail across it deeper than it needed to be. I barely register the pain because truthfully, I have felt much worse.

The man then beckons for Colton, and I try to go back to my place, but I’m commanded not to move, and right now is not the time to reveal to everyone that I can defy alpha commands.

Unlike what he did with me, Alpha Newt instructs Colton to drip his own blood into the chalice and as we are watching, a white stone attached to it begins to glow. I look at my mother, who was the only one to react, and I know it's bad.

“Congratulations Miss Talons, you are fated.”

Colton’s POV

Seeing the high alpha slice my mate's palm open without warning was almost enough to push Orlin over the edge, but if I react now, I’ll lose. There is clear hostility between my mate and alpha Newt, and I plan to use it to my full advantage. Whatever she goes through now, I will make up for tenfold later.

I duplicate the action to my own palm, and as my blood mixes with Rhea’s, the white stone on the front of the chalice begins to glow. My mate looks back at her mother, who seems to know what that means, and when Alpha Newt declares us fated, I step forward intending to claim my mate, but she backs away from me with such speed that Lark has to catch her.

“Well, it looks like there is trouble in paradise,” Alpha Newt says, but there was never a paradise for Rhea where I’m concerned. I have only caused her hell.

“I’d like to petition for a rejection,” my mate says, and Lark starts to question her, wanting to make sure she understands what she is asking for.

“Rhea, please think about this,” I say. I don’t want to lose her, but I understand why she hates me and doesn’t want anything to do with me.

“A rejection hearing is lengthy and emotional. We will reconvene in the morning.” High alpha Newt stands to leave, but I stop him.

“High Alpha, I've reason to believe that my mate and her family may arrange for her disappearance. I have no assurance that she will return to this place.” The man stops and looks back at my mate with a gaze that almost makes me regret my words.

“Very well then, she will stay in the dungeons tonight.” I freeze.

“High alpha, I didn’t mean for-”

“I know what you meant, but that is what I’m offering you.”

Rhea’s POV

Colton may not have meant to have me thrown into the dungeons, but his comment about me disappearing was all the Newt needed to further punish me. He put me in the dirtiest cell he could find, but since I have no sense of smell, my worry was what he was going to do to me once we were alone.

Just as I thought, I heard the alpha’s footsteps approaching my holding area, and when I looked up, he was holding his phone out to me. I shiver as I take it in my hands, and when I look at the screen, it's on a video call with General.

“Why did you run away from me?” he says. “I told you that I was sorry and now, you expect me to share you with someone else?”

“I’m not your mate,” I whisper, and General growls, making the girl who had been asleep behind him sit up and cower.

“Within twelve hours, I will be there to prove to you that I am. Then you will make a choice because you can’t have both of us.”

“And the woman behind you?” I ask. “What will you do with her?”

“I will reject her,” I look back at the woman, who is still visible in the frame, and her face looks relieved, but I have no words of rebuttal for General, so I hand his father the phone. The man ends the call, and stares at me in a way that makes me uncomfortable.

“I think I’m going to have fun tomorrow,” he says. He starts whistling before making a gesture to one of the guards, who throws a bucket of cold liquid on me.

It was already cold in the dungeons, and now my body is going to be forced to heat up to regulate itself. He is trying to push me into hypothermia. That way, if I get my rejection, I will be weak enough for it to kill me.

"I’m sorry Rhea," Sylvia sobs, and it's the first time I have heard from her since Colton left.

My wolf is terrified of the man in a way that surpasses my fear of him, and according to her, she has no control over herself when he’s around. She retreats because she says that memories of the man's torment have permanently scarred her.

“No, I’m sorry for not being able to protect you,” I respond.

"You’ve always been a good human to me. It’s me who is failing you right now." I smirk, I don’t want to argue with my wolf about who's the bigger failure, so I change the subject.

“Even if we get our rejection, General is coming back.”

"But he can’t kill us for not being his mate and he cannot force his mark on us. I’m not afraid of him."

“What should we do?” I ask. This is Sylvia's life as much as it is mine, and she deserves a say in it.

"We tell the whole truth about Colton and reject him. Then we challenge General for his title."

“We might lose.”

"We’ve already lost. We might as well go down with a fight."