Violet

His mouth closed, though the outrage didn’t leave his face.

"We had a brief gathering before this, and this is the moment you decide to reveal such crucial information?" another Supreme Alpha spoke up, her eyes hardened in Voya’s direction.

"There hadn’t been enough time."

It stunned me how she had just said that with a straight face and from the others irritated looks, they didn’t believe her either.

"Hold on. Who are the Supreme Alphas you say she is mated to?" one of them demanded, rising from her seat.

"Be seated," Calder’s stern words made the others go quiet.

His eyes narrowed into slits at Voya before shifting them to Kael. "Due to that ruse and how you helped her go into hiding, I am guessing you are mated to the Lycan?"

"I did not aid her into hiding. She left under my detection," Kael calmly answered. "But, yes. You are correct."

Calder went stiff, and not Kael was the one taking most of the attention as all heads turned to him too.

Three of the Supreme Alphas did not look at all surprised by this.

"And..." Calder breathed out, seemingly still reeling from the information. "The other one...?"

"That would be me." Rowan raised his hand from where he was seated.

Some gasps erupted from the other seated wolves while the Supreme Alphas remained seated in stunned silence, unable to believe what was happening.

I was unable to believe what was happening either.

Calder slowly sank back into his seat, while the Supreme Alpha that had stood remained standing. However, everyone was shocked.

"Two mates..." she whispered, confused. "That is not possible."

"This is a Lycan. Anything is possible at this point," someone else gritted out, his head lowered as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"This has to be some sick ploy. What is this?" another hissed.

Voya gestured toward the open floor. "Well, that is exactly why I called the priestesses here."

Without waiting for anyone else to continue, she beckoned to the priestesses. They all came to their table.

"How do we know the liquid totem is even—"

"Well, here it is," Voya cut the Supreme Alpha that had already started speaking. "You will personally check yourself to see if I presented something fake—"

"I didn’t imply—"

Voya frowned. "I won’t be keeping or even having her in my territory. I understand your worries, but please enough with the assumptions. I have nothing to gain from even doing this."

He clenched his jaw.

My gaze shifted to find Calder and another older Supreme Alpha staring hard at me.

I looked away, unnerved.

The hall settled into a tense, reluctant quiet. Wolves still exchanged glances, still whispered behind their hands, but no one else spoke up against the process.

The priestess with the jug started pouring its content into the two bowls that had been placed on the Supreme Alphas table.

The substance had a metallic smell and what looked like liquid silver flowed from the jug and into the first bowl, then the second.

I had only ever heard of this substance and never seen it this up close before.

"It’s real..." one of the Supreme Alphas whispered.

Another covered her nose, frowning as she darted a glare between Kael and Rowan. "Are you sure you lots didn’t just mark her? This—"

Rowan’s immediate glare shut her up.

Kael snarled, "Do not insult me."

The air grew tense as one of the priestesses approached me, the others in tow with the bowls.

I noticed the thin ceremonial blade she was holding. My pulse thrummed.

"Please, your hand?" She reached out and I slowly placed my hand in hers.

She turned it palm up and drew the blade across my palm. I winced as she held it over the basin, letting my blood drip into it.

My wound immediately closed up after a few trickles and she had to cut me again to repeat the process, emptying a bit of my blood into the other basin.

The liquid, to my shock became clear and see through like water after my blood had mixed with it.

I held my healed hand as they took the basins back to the Supreme Alphas tables.

They nervously approached Kael and after a nod from him she took his hand, and did the same thing she had done with me, while another priestess was before Rowan, repeating the process and emptying a bit of his blood in the other basin.

The reaction was immediate.

Each bowl blazed with a deep, fierce golden light that rose from the basin like a flame. It pulsed once, twice, three times, each pulse stronger than the last, and the glow cast long shadows across the faces of the Supreme Alphas.

Gasps rippled through the room.

My eyes widened.

I hadn’t expected the sight to be that beautiful.

Everyone studied the bowls for a long, frozen moment. Their expressions ranged from awe to barely concealed fear.

The priestesses nodded and announced the very obvious result.

"The bond between Violet and Lord Kael of Fresna is genuine. Goddess-granted. Sacred."

"The bond between Violet and Lord Rowan of Silverwood is genuine. Goddess-granted. Sacred."

The hall buzzed with frantic whispers as she now turned to address the Supreme Alphas, her low voice carrying the iron weight of divine authority.

"Both bonds are true. This woman has been marked twice by the goddess. There is no fabrication, no corruption, and no coercion. Any wolf who disputes this arrangement disputes the goddess herself."

The glow faded slowly from the basin as the liquid evaporated to reveal the bowls empty.

The spot where the blade had sliced tingled as I watched this phenomenon.

Now, the room was staring at me again.

Not with the hostile curiosity of before. This was different. I could see the understanding settling into their faces as the full implications of what they had just witnessed reorganized their entire understanding of the situation.

I was mated to two Supreme Alphas.

It was strange watching the recalculations happen in real time. Eyes that had been hostile narrowed with new caution. Wolves who had been leaning forward in their seats settled back.

The Supreme Alphas were now very deep in thought, a few of them clearly disgruntled while the others were fascinated.

Calder stared hard at the basins before shifting his attention to Rowan and Kael.

"How long has this been known?"