It had been established that my life was already in some form of danger.
If the pain from Cole sleeping with someone else didn't drive me insane, it was going to kill me.
If I couldn't get the Lycan Queen to sever the bond between Cole and I, I was going to die.
Adding one more thing to that list seemed inconsequential, until it was yet another thing you had no hand in.
I was back in the living room area. Quinlan was positively subdued, lazily swirling a glass of wine like he hadn't been trying to eat me alive minutes ago.
Mercer was perched on a stool, his fiery red hair standing out starkly in the room. He might have been handsome, were it not for that perpetual sneer on his face that told me his stance on me being a wretched charity case hadn't changed.
Prince Soren was shirtless, thick arms of corded muscles leaning back against the kitchen island leisurely, that hint of mischief never leaving his violet eyes.
And Jericho might have been a fly on the wall. Of all the four of them, he had no presence. He could've been in your face and you wouldn't have noticed him until he was stabbing you to death.
Somehow, he scared me even more than the other three.
They were four completely different people, with four completely different personalities too big to share a room together. The aura was so staggering, I had chosen to sit.
Because I didn't think my legs could hold me.
"Y-you said I was going to die," I said, breaking the silence.
My voice was back to its usual squeak. Perhaps, it was because I was losing my marbles and panicking again.
Prince Soren nodded. "Not every bite transmits the curse, but in the event that it does, not many survive it. Humans die instantly. In wolves, it takes a longer stretch of time for the body to acclimate to it, or reject it completely. It is why we are, after all, a dying race. Replicating is an arduous task."
My fingers tightened in the slacks. "That night at the mixer, one of you bit me."
They shared a look I couldn't decipher. One that came from years of being so closely knit together, anyone else was practically an outsider.
"We all did," Jericho said.
My breath hitched. "And doomed me to death–"
"Those were our woods you ran into, Ms. Adams," Mercer cut in, each word clipped with irritation. Mercer seemed like a man who was always angry about something. "We were on a hunt and you practically ran into our maws. Of course, you were bitten. There is a reason why those woods are restricted in the first place."
"Forgive me if I didn't see the sign that said, 'Predatory Lycans Ahead. Stay The Fuck Away Or You're Gonna Die,'" I gritted out, voice bordering on hysterical.
Prince Soren snorted, like my breaking down was some form of personal joke to him. "There hasn't been a successful change in centuries. The last was an Alpha Female and she nearly died from it."
Fear clamped tight around my heart. "I don't want to die. You are going to find a way to fix this."
Mercer's fair brows rose in dark amusement. "Fix you? Why should we be bothered with what happens to someone as inconsequential as you–"
I was across the room in an instant, clutching the collar of his shirt. He was considerably larger than me, but I was angry.
I pulled on his collar until our faces were inches apart. "Maybe I mean nothing to you. Maybe I am inconsequential and my life doesn't matter in your grand world. But my parents loved me. I was their world. I am my own world, and I am not going to die because of an error you four made. You will fix this or I swear to the goddess and her consort that this wretched, inconsequential little girl will become a pain in your stuck up ass."
It was an empty threat. They were practically untouchable. They were over two feet taller than me, several pounds heavier, and could crush me like biscuits without even trying.
But I was tired. Tired of people making decisions at my detriment. Like Cole rejecting me and choosing to hurt me everyday, knowing fully well it would kill me. Like Lana deciding my future wasn't worth her ego and place in Cole's life. Like the Lycans biting me and acting like I didn't exist, knowing fully well I could've died from it.
For all their nobility, they were no different from the people who hurt me everyday.
"We couldn't have fixed you, even if we wanted to." It was Quinlan this time. He still didn't look at me. "The only thing we can offer is helping you through the transition. There is no reversal, Maisie."
My fingers loosened on Mercer's shirt.
Anyone else would have jumped at the offer. Anyone else would have given themselves up at the thought of becoming one of them.
Maybe I would've, if I didn't know what it meant to be a female in a dying out race.
My nostrils flared. "I want no part of this. Anything is better than being a female Lycan."
They all flinched at that. Their nostrils flared. "Do not dare speak of our females in such a derogatory manner," Soren said, voice low and dangerous. It was the most serious I had ever seen him. "You could never come close even if you tried."
I'd always known they were protective of their females, but I didn't expect the sudden air of violence shuddering in the house.
I leveled him with an equally angry stare. "It is my future on the line, Your Graciousness. I get to decide what I want and what I don't want. And I sure as hell will not become one of your breeding mares."
Soren moved.
It was too fast to follow. One moment he was against the counter across the hall, and the next, he was leaning over me, face an inch apart from mine. His eyes searched mine with a terrifying calm and I could feel the tension rolling off him like a barbed fence.
"Do not presume to understand our ways. We are nothing like your kind. Our females are as important to us as the goddess herself is, and we treat them as such. We lay down our lives to protect them and their interests. We worship the very ground they walk on. What they choose to do with their lives is their choice. It has always been. But I understand that is inconceivable to an inferior race like yours that treats their own like trash."
I flinched, feeling the edge of the insult directed at me.
He pulled back, lips curling with distaste. "You are a mistake we regret worse than you could imagine, and for that reason, we will help you get through the transition by training your body to acclimate through the change. But expect nothing else from us after that."
He left without another word.