The Future Alpha King Rejected Me - Then Three More Alphas Called Me Their Mate

“Hold still.”

Rowan pressed a cloth soaked in cooling solution to my collarbone.

The medical wing smelled like antiseptic and dried herbs. The black blood from the fourth mark had stopped flowing, but the fever beneath my skin kept climbing. A monitor beside the bed flashed 103.7.

I slapped his wrist away.

“I said I’m fine.”

“You are many things,” Rowan said. “Fine is not one of them.”

He caught the cloth before it fell and rinsed it in the steel basin.

Unlike Cassian, he did not crowd me. Unlike Kieran, he did not look at me as if I had personally insulted his bloodline. He worked with the same quiet focus I had seen when he treated injured combat students after training.

“You’re not going to ask me which one I want?” I said.

Rowan wrung out the cloth. “You met three of us as mates less than an hour ago. If you already know which one you want, your fever has reached your brain.”

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.

It hurt my neck.

Rowan’s mouth tilted. “Good. You can still laugh. That rules out total organ failure.”

“Comforting.”

He held out a cup of water. “Drink.”

I took it this time.

“The fourth mark worries me,” he said. “It is not behaving like the others.”

“Because the fourth Alpha wasn’t in the room?”

“Possibly. A mate mark usually stabilizes after both people come within scent range. Yours appeared across distance.” Rowan glanced at the dark crust along the final line. “And black bleeding is not normal.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know yet.”

The answer made me trust him more than a confident lie would have.

He pulled a stool closer but left an arm’s length between us.

“For now, you need rest, fluids, and distance from concentrated Alpha aura. Four bonds are pulling at your nervous system. Until your body adjusts, too much dominance around you could trigger another fever.”

The door slammed open.

So much for distance.

Cassian filled the doorway, still wearing his ceremonial uniform. Kieran stood behind him with his arms crossed, silver eyes hard.

Rowan did not even turn around. “Out.”

Cassian’s jaw tightened. “I need to speak with her.”

“You need to lower your aura before you send her temperature over one hundred and four.”

“I am in control.”

The monitor immediately began beeping faster.

I pointed at it. “Very convincing.”

Cassian looked at the screen, then at me. His expression shifted for half a second. Guilt, maybe. Fear.

Then the royal mask returned.

He took one deliberate step back and forced his aura down.

Kieran stayed in the hall.

“I came to make something clear,” Cassian said.

“Your rejection was pretty clear.”

His mouth flattened.

“My engagement to Vivienne Ashbourne remains in effect. It is tied to a military treaty between our families. Whatever happened at the altar does not erase five years of obligations.”

I stared at him.

“You chased me across the amphitheater to tell me you’re engaged?”

“I chased you because the mark opened.”

“That sounds like your problem.”

Kieran made a sound suspiciously close to a laugh.

Cassian shot him a look, then returned his attention to me.

“Until the council understands what this is, stay away from the royal wing. Stay away from public events where Vivienne will be present. We need to prevent speculation.”

There it was.

Not Are you all right?

Not I should not have threatened you with a knife.

Public image.

I set the water down.

“You don’t need to worry about me embarrassing your engagement,” I said. “I have classes. I have a job. I have no interest in following you around hoping the Moon Goddess upgrades my social status.”

His eyes flashed gold again.

“You think this is about status?”

“I think you decided what I wanted before you bothered to ask.”

Cassian stepped forward before he could stop himself.

The mark nearest my shoulder heated instantly.

His gaze dropped to my throat.

For one dangerous second, hunger erased every trace of royal discipline. He looked like he wanted to cross the room, put his mouth over the mark, and prove the bond was real in the most primitive way possible.

Rowan stood.

“Back up.”

Cassian’s hands curled at his sides.

He obeyed.

That small victory surprised everyone in the room.

Kieran pushed away from the doorframe. “This is exactly why I want nothing to do with it.”

I looked at him. “Then why are you here?”

His face went blank.

Rowan glanced over his shoulder, clearly interested in the answer.

Kieran’s jaw worked.

“I came to make sure he didn’t do something stupid.”

Cassian laughed without humor. “You followed my scent trail halfway across campus.”

“I was going this direction.”

“The combat wing is the other direction,” I said.

Kieran swore under his breath and walked away.

Rowan waited until his footsteps disappeared.

“Your admirers are charming.”

“They are not my admirers.”

“Of course not.”

Cassian looked as though he wanted to argue, but another voice came from the hall.

“Cassian.”

A woman stepped into view.

Vivienne Ashbourne was exactly what a future Luna was supposed to look like: tall, composed, silver-blond hair pinned neatly at her nape, academy dress coat tailored to perfection. The diamond on her left hand was impossible to miss.

She looked at Cassian first.

Then at Rowan.

Then at me.

Her gaze settled on the bandage around my throat.

“May I have a moment with Elara?”

Cassian stiffened. “Vivienne—”

“I asked her.”

That shut him up.

I almost admired her for it.

Rowan looked to me for permission.

I nodded.

Cassian left reluctantly. Rowan followed, leaving the door open.

Vivienne stepped inside but did not approach the bed.

“I am not going to blame you for a ritual neither of us controlled,” she said.

I waited.

Her calm expression never cracked.

“But if you want to survive Blackthorn without becoming the center of a pack war, you need to understand one thing.”

She lifted her left hand, letting the engagement ring catch the fluorescent light.

“Stay away from my fiancé until you understand what these marks are capable of making him do.”