Chapter 12: Chapter TWELVE — WELCOME TO HELL

Candace

My heart would not slow down. It battered violently against my ribs so hard I was certain everyone nearest to me could hear it over the chaos swallowing the church whole. Star was absolutely no help either.

My wolf danced I nside me, practically howling while one word echoed through my chest over and over again.

Mate, Mate. MATE.

My breathing turned uneven. My vision spun, almost going blurry as my eyes drifted to the triplets who looked like they could, and would, gut me where I stood.

Around me, voices crashed loudly against stone walls while Aunt Elena shrieked furiously at Uncle Nathan, who stood glaring daggers at me over her shoulder like he wished he could throttle me right there in the middle of the church.

Ragnor stood closest to the altar, arms rigid at his sides, every muscle locked so tight he might have been carved from the same stone as the walls behind him.

Then his steel-grey eyes found mine across the church. For one unbearable second, the noise around us faded beneath the weight of that stare.

Once upon a time, those eyes softened whenever they looked at me. Once upon a time, Ragnor Pendragon had looked at me like I hung the stars themselves in the sky. Now a stormy hatred brewed hard in his eyes, just enough to skin me alive.

"The Moon Goddess has made a grave mistake," he said coldly, his voice slicing sharply through the whispers. "I will not be bonded to her."

And yet here we are, Ragnor.

His loathing gaze pricked my skin, digging into wounds and whispered promises I now knew he would never keep.

"It’s fucking sorcery!" Ryker’s whole body trembled. His mismatched eyes blazed with violent fury, if we weren’t in the church he would have thrown a fit.

His hands opened and closed at his sides, the gold signet ring catching the light with every fist.

"She used sorcery." He wheeled on his brothers, then his father. "That’s what this is. There’s no other explanation."

Right. Because between almost being raped by Dylan, being burned with hot coals, and being thrown in a mental hospital, I’d had all the free time in the world to hunt down a sorcerer.

Reign stood slightly apart, his weight cocked on one leg. A small smile tugged the corner of his mouth—and no, it was nothing like the warm one I remembered. This was mocking me.

"Congratulations, Candace. You finally found a way to make yourself impossible to get rid of."

Each word dug deeper into wounds that had never closed. I blinked hard against the sting behind my eyes while Star let out a soft miserable whine inside my chest.

Don’t they want us anymore?

My wolf sounded so heartbreakingly small that my chest tightened painfully around her.

"Candace Sinclair."

The priest’s voice pulled my attention away from the triplets. His old sunken eyes studied me carefully now, something wary and uneasy flickering behind them.

"Do you understand what you are asking for?" he questioned slowly. "Do you understand the full consequences of invoking the Prikaya Law?"

The church fell silent instantly so complete I could hear my own breathing. The silence did not last long. Whispers spread rapidly through the pews like wildfire. Some pack members stared at me like I was evil wearing human skin while others muttered prayers beneath their breath.

One woman grabbed her young son and pulled him protectively behind her skirts the second my gaze brushed past them.

An older wolf near the front pew made the sign against darkness over his chest while glaring at me with open disgust.

They were afraid of me now, not because I was dangerous. Because the Moon Goddess herself had chosen me in front of all of them.

Every amidst the noise, they were waiting for me to speak. For once everyone wanted to hear the pack slave speak.

Aunt Elena clutched Uncle Nathan’s arm tightly enough for her knuckles to whiten while hatred burned inside her expression so fiercely it almost felt physical against my skin.

Alpha Milan rose slowly from the front pew.

His Alpha authority rolled violently through the church like thunder shaking the floorboards beneath us.

"I do not care what law she invoked," he thundered furiously. "I will not allow a murderer to be bonded to my sons. They are the future Alphas of this pack."

"We all know the consequences of breaking ancient law, Alpha," the priest answered quietly.

Dread thickened immediately inside the church. Everyone knew the stories. The Prikaya law was no joke.

If the Prikaya law wasn’t obeyed, a gross darkness would visit the Pack. From stillborn children to famine, to plague, to death and madness in every corner of the pack.

The fiery rage of the moon goddess would sweep through Gracespring until it was finally obeyed. And for that exact reason, they all stood waiting to confirm if I was sure particularly since no one had dared invoked it in a long time.

I wouldn’t have had to if they didn’t keep on beating me and treating me worse than an infidel. Luna Ashley pressed trembling hands over her mouth while her shoulders shook softly.

Once upon a time, she used to brush my hair back from my face and call me sweetheart whenever Mom visited the Alpha house.

She and my mother had been inseparable once. But just like everyone else, she turned away from me after River died.

She blamed me too. Icould see it every single time she looked at me. And Goddess, part of me still wanted to cross the aisle and beg her to believe me.

I didn’t kill him. I never did but nobody here would ever listen.

"Reject her!" Deidre cried, her knees buckled beneath her.

Reign lunged immediately, catching her before she hit the marble floor while wrapping an arm tightly around her waist.

Every eye swung back toward me again.

"Do you understand the consequences?" the priest repeated more gently this time.

Did I understand them?

I understood I was standing inside a church filled with people who would gladly watch me bleed out on the altar stones without blinking.

I understood the three men now bound to me hated the sight of me.

I understood that I had no allies, no protection, no proof. If I backed down now, I was finished. I would be blacklisted. If I backed down now, I would be worse than a fool.

The mental institute, the pig sty, the starvation, the hell I had faced at their hands, the burning coals—all of it had only been a preview. My hellfire would no longer be in 3d version and no one would know the truth because Deidre would finish off whatever was left of me.

Everything I had suffered so far would look merciful compared to what Deidre and her family would do to me afterward.

"Yes," I answered, nodding slightly.

My voice rang out far steadier than I felt.

"I understand."

The church remained silent.

"And I accept the consequences," I continued while lifting my chin despite the trembling crawling through my body. "Whatever they may be."

Loud furious gasps erupted instantly throughout the church. Deidre collapsed fully this time, sobbing dramatically into both hands.

"No," she cried brokenly. "No, it can’t be. How could you do this, Candy? How could you? After everything I have done for you?"

My brows furrowed in confusion. Everything? What had she done for me except rope me in a scheme that involved killing one of my bestfriends?

Reign crouched beside her immediately with one hand spread protectively across her back while murmuring soft reassurances against her hair.

Her tears did absolutely nothing to move me anymore. How could I choose myself for once?

For the first time in three years, I was finally allowed to think about my own survival.

"What can be done?" Ragnor demanded sharply while stalking toward the priest.

"There must be something."

"You know the law, Alpha Ragnor," the priest replied calmly while meeting his furious glare head-on. "There is nothing that can undo Prikaya once accepted by the one who invoked it."

Ragnor’s nostrils flared violently. Ryker suddenly kicked one of the large flower pots beside the altar hard enough to shatter it across the marble floor before stomping furiously across the broken pieces like he could somehow crush the bond apart beneath his boots.

Warmth bloomed at the center of my forehead and it felt like a soft fingertip pressed lightly against my skin.

My eyes lifted immediately toward Ragnor.

A crimson crescent moon glowed faintly against his forehead. My breath caught.

Reign had one too and so did Ryker.

My trembling fingers rose slowly toward my own forehead, tracing the exact same mark now burned into my skin. The bond had sealed completely under Prikaya law.

"Get it off!" Ryker snarled furiously while scrubbing at the mark on his forehead hard enough to redden his skin. "Get it the fuck off!"

"Tomorrow," the priest announced loudly over the chaos, "the mating ceremony must proceed immediately. We must comply with the will of the Moon Goddess with haste, or her wrath will fall upon this pack."

A lump climbed painfully into my throat and lodged there. I was to be mated to the Triplet Alphas in Deidre’s place.

My childhood fantasy had finally come true. Too bad my mates, the same boys I once dreamed about forever with loooked at me like I was a curse they were itching to remove. I genuinely did not know whether to laugh, cry, or run.

Time would tell.