Chapter 36: Mandatory attendance.
June 19 2026, 11:57am.
Kieran couldn’t believe his ears. He could not wrap his head around the reason why his brother had decided to do something this absurd.
He cast one more glance at the girl who was still bent over, furiously dusting off the mud from her jeans. Her eyes were furrowed in concentration and her silver hair fell over her body, framing her like a silken curtain as he hissed "She’s already going to be a bride. She stutters and she will be everywhere and anywhere all at once tomorrow!"
"Then she can definitely be at the meeting as well." Draven cut in, his voice brisk, his eyes watching the same thing his brothers watched.
He couldn’t understand why Coco had somehow become this girl’s personal bodyguard. He couldn’t understand how she was always so careful and gentle with a cat if she was as vile as people say.
He glanced away from her when Kieran stepped forward and stood very close to him. He hissed: "She stutters."
But Draven wasn’t having any of that. He was unfazed. Unshaken. At the moment, he did not care if she was a pig or a baby elephant. All he cared about was putting her in that meeting. Putting her under public gaze and scrutiny. Tearing her apart bit by bit by stretching her thin even if it meant hurting himself in the process.
He shrugged; "Then she will stutter her way through the meeting. She can talk her way through everything, and you of all people should know that by now!"
Kieran gulped. It was true that Nyx’ara was quick-witted. It was true that she had the literal tongue of a devil.
Thinking that Draven probably had his reason for doing this, he nodded, turned away from Nyx’ara, and made his way into the house, that is after nodding in acknowledgement at Seraphina.
Seraphina watched him go, feeling her heart drop to her stomach because he had done nothing but nod at her. Despite all her hard work, despite putting all of her effort and energy into making this wedding a success, all he did was nod. He did not even spare her another glance.
Draven walked off shortly afterwards and all he said to her was: "Thank you."
No one answered the question she had asked in good faith. No one looked at her in the way they had looked at that filthy murderer.
And they had looked at her like they wanted to devour her.
By the time Rhys walked away and Azriel forced a smile at her, she was fuming. Her hands clenched into tight fists until small bloody crescents formed on her palms from squeezing too tight.
Her chest was tight, burning with rage and anger and disappointment.
In a desperate attempt to channel some of this rage burning through her veins, she turned to Nyx’ara, the clueless girl who for some reason had strayed far from her executive cell. The girl who, despite her crimes, still had the Alphas in a chokehold.
Seraphina could not, for the life of her, understand what the girl had that she didn’t. Hell, she could not fathom why they had met her and in less than twenty-four hours, decided that they wanted to be with her.
She rolled her eyes as she walked over to the girl who was now brushing flecks of dirt off the cat’s silky fur. Another thing she could not understand was the strange relationship between the cat and the girl; But pushing this thought off, she snarled;
"And you, what are you doing there, you piece of filth?"
Nyx’ara froze. Her eyes widened slightly and pulling herself to her full height, she pointed at her chest and hissed quietly; "M-me?"
"No, me!" Seraphina snapped sarcastically. "Can’t you see that everyone is busy doing a thing or two? So tell me, what are you doing there? Do you think you are any different from any of them?!"
"N-no."
"Do you think you are special?!"
For a moment, Nyx’ara contemplated saying no, but after meeting the iciness in Seraphina’s eyes. After realizing that this girl was only out to embarrass her, she nodded slowly.
"Y-yes," she answered coldly. Calmly. "We-we are di-different because n-none o-of them, no-not even yo-you, is th-the bride. I-I am."
The words hit Seraphina like a slap to the face. It made her stumble backward even before realizing that she had stumbled. Her eyes thinned into fierce slits and her nostrils flared with both irritation and annoyance.
She stepped closer to Nyx’ara with the intention of intimidating her with her overwhelming presence. However, just as she moved close, the cat growled in warning.
She stilled.
"Don’t think that this is over!" She snarled at Nyx’ara, hating the way she stood so beautifully. Gosh even without makeup, she looked almost as beautiful as her. "Don’t think I will let you win me like this! For what you just said to me, I will haunt you..."
"I-I th-think you sh-should haunt th-the stupid seamstress who made th-that suffo-suffocating corset for-for you." Nyx’ara clapped back, eyeing the corset on Sera’s midriff that looked more like a POP than something fashionable.
Before Seraphina could respond, she gathered Coco into her arms and turned away from a stunned-looking Seraphina to continue her tour around the house.
She was completely oblivious to the four pairs of eyes watching her from the shadows. Completely oblivious to the fact that they had listened to her conversation with Seraphina.
It wasn’t until Nyx’ara stepped out of the house that Kieran released the breath he didn’t even know he was holding. He turned to Draven, shrugged, and said; "I believe you now. She can actually talk her way out of anything."
"Moreover, she’s a sight to behold," Azriel added dreamily, "...she is beautiful if I must say."
Indeed, she is.
The other brothers completely agreed with him but none of them dared to voice their opinions. They would all choose to die a thousand times before admitting that Nyx’ara was an eye candy.
—
A couple of miles away, Flynn Ravenscroft sat on his suddenly cold throne, sipping wine from the wine glass stuck between his fingers.
His eyes— cold and unseeing— watched as a guard scurried into the throne room holding an intricately decorated invitation card between his fingers.
He bowed deeply when he stopped in front of Flynn, squeezed his eyes shut because he was scared of his young Alpha’s sudden growing temper, and muttered under his breath: "Alpha, a messenger from Stormborn pack asked me to give this to you."
As soon as Flynn heard the name of that pack, he sat up quickly. This was the first thing that had gotten his attention in days.
Quickly, he snatched the card from the guard’s hands and tore it open.
It was an invitation card... to a wedding.
His eyes thinned as he scanned through the piece of paper but because the information on the card was too vague, he couldn’t make anything out besides the fact that the quad Alphas were getting married.
He frowned. "I am not interested in this!" He spat, but as soon as he did, the guard lowered his head one more time, pressed his hand over his pounding heart, and said;
"I was told to inform you that your presence is mandatory."
In other words: he must be there.
That finally caught Flynn’s attention and with his eyes thinning into slits, he picked the card up one more time and drawled; "Tell my Luna to get ready. We have a wedding to attend tomorrow."