Chase POV
The council members were staring at him like he'd just told them the sky was falling.
Chase stood at the head of the table and kept his face completely blank even though something inside him was breaking apart. He'd called the emergency meeting three hours ago. He'd gathered the oldest, most powerful wolves in the pack. He'd presented the situation clearly and calmly like it was just another pack problem that needed solving.
But it wasn't calm. Nothing about this was calm.
"A tri-bond," Elder Marcus said slowly, shaking his head. "You're saying the Beta is also claiming her?"
"I'm saying her scent is rare enough that both of them are responding to it. Pack law needs to address this before it becomes unstable." Chase's voice was steady but his hands were clenched under the table.
"Pack law is very clear," Elder Sarah said coldly. "An omega belongs to the Alpha. If the Beta is also claiming her, he's breaking protocol. He's undermining your authority."
There it was. The thing no one was saying out loud but everyone was thinking. Kade was challenging him. Kade was stepping out of line. Kade needed to be put down.
"The Beta brought her to me because that's what pack law required," Chase said. "He did nothing wrong."
"Then what do you want us to do?" Elder Marcus leaned back in his chair. "You brought this to us, which means you need our decision."
Chase had never needed their decision before. For seven years he'd made every call. He'd eliminated challengers. He'd expanded territory. He'd kept the pack strong through his own power and his own will. No council vote. No discussion. Just the Alpha's word and everyone followed it.
Now there was a girl who smelled impossible and suddenly his authority meant nothing.
"I want to keep her," Chase said, and the moment the words came out, he knew it was a mistake. He sounded desperate. He sounded like someone who didn't have control anymore.
"You want to keep her," Elder Sarah repeated. "Despite the fact that it's destabilizing the pack? Despite the fact that your Beta is clearly challenging your claim?"
"He's not challenging anything. He's confused by her scent. Once we understand it better, once we know what she is, everything will stabilize."
But he was lying and they all knew it. Kade wasn't confused. Kade was done accepting second place. Chase could feel it in the way his Beta had looked at him in that doorway. Could feel it in the anger radiating off him since that moment.
The council spent the next hour asking questions. What was her bloodline? Where did she come from? Who was her family? How strong was her scent? Was she a threat to pack stability? Could she be controlled?
Chase answered what he could and avoided what he couldn't. He didn't tell them about the way his entire body had frozen when he smelled her. He didn't tell them about the Alpha instinct that wanted to claim her immediately and brutally. He didn't tell them that every second she was in his compound, he was becoming less rational and more animal.
"Our decision," Elder Marcus said finally, "is to observe. We'll study her. We'll test her. We'll determine if she's a threat or an asset. But Chase, if this situation becomes unstable, if the pack starts to fracture because of this girl, we will execute her to restore balance. That's our requirement."
Execute her.
They'd said it so calmly, like it was just another pack law. Like they could kill Rose and everything would go back to normal.
Chase nodded like he accepted this. Like he wasn't already thinking about what he would do if they tried to touch her.
He left the meeting and every eye was on him. The pack could feel that something had changed. Could feel that their Alpha's authority had been questioned and he'd let it happen. Could feel the shift in the hierarchy that came with that.
Chase needed air.
He found himself at the training grounds without meaning to go there. It was late. The compound was mostly dark. But he could hear the sound before he got there. Thud. Thud. Thud. Rhythmic and brutal.
Kade was attacking a punching bag with everything he had.
His Beta was shirtless, covered in sweat, his knuckles raw and probably bleeding. But he kept punching. Kept hitting with more force than necessary. Kept putting all his rage and pain into that bag like it was the only way he could keep from doing something worse.
Chase could feel the anger coming off him. It was wild and raw and it was all because of Rose. All because Chase had brought her here. All because his instinct to claim her was destroying the one relationship that actually mattered.
"You should stop," Chase said quietly.
Kade didn't stop. He hit the bag harder.
"We're supposed to be brothers," Chase said, and he hated how much that word hurt right now. "We're supposed to have each other's backs."
Kade finally stopped. He was breathing hard, his whole body shaking. He turned to face Chase and his eyes were dark and dangerous.
"I am having your back," Kade said roughly. "I brought her to you. I did what pack law required. I submitted to your claim."
"But you're not submitting. I can feel it. You're fighting it."
"Yeah, I'm fighting it." Kade's voice cracked. "Because she's my mate too, Chase. My body knows it. My instincts know it. My entire being knows it. And pack law says I have to watch you claim her while I sit in the shadows like I don't matter."
Chase felt something in his chest crack at those words.
"You matter. You've always mattered."
"Not more than her." Kade shook his head. "Not anymore. And you're not going to choose me. You're the Alpha. You're going to choose what's best for the pack, which means you're going to choose her. You're going to claim her completely and I'm going to have to watch it happen."
"There might be another way," Chase said, but he didn't know what it was.
Kade laughed but it was jagged and broken. "There's no other way. There's never another way. This is how pack law works. The strong get what they want and the rest of us suffer."
He started walking toward the compound.
"Kade, wait," Chase called out.
His Beta stopped but didn't turn around. He was standing there in the darkness, his shoulders tense, his whole body vibrating with emotion.
"The council wants to observe her. They're going to test her. They're going to determine if she's a threat."
Kade turned then and his eyes were filled with something that looked like desperation.
"And if they decide she is a threat? If they decide she's destabilizing the pack?"
Chase couldn't answer because he already knew. The council had already told him. They'd execute her to restore balance. They'd kill Rose because she was inconvenient. Because she didn't fit into their neat pack laws. Because she loved two men instead of one.
"They're planning to execute her if she becomes too much of a problem," Kade said, and he sounded like he already knew the answer. Like he'd been expecting this. "That's what they said, isn't it?"
Chase didn't answer. He didn't need to.
Kade's face went completely cold. "Then you have a choice to make, Alpha. You can keep her and fight the council, which means starting a war inside your own pack. Or you can let them execute her and lose both of us anyway because I will never forgive you for letting her die."
He stepped closer and his voice dropped low.
"Because I'm leaving with her if they come. I'm taking her and I'm walking away from everything. From you. From my position. From the pack. I'm choosing her over all of it. And you need to decide right now if you're going to let me walk out of here with your mate, or if you're going to try to stop me."
The two men stood in the darkness and the air between them was electric.
"You can't leave," Chase said finally. "You're the Beta. The pack needs you."
"The pack has you. That's enough." Kade's voice was steady now. Resolved. Like he'd already made his choice and there was nothing Chase could do to change it. "I'm giving you tonight to think about it. Tomorrow, I'm going to her room. And if you want to stop me, if you want to keep her chained to you alone, then you're going to have to kill me to do it."
He walked away before Chase could respond.
And Chase stood alone in the training grounds, understanding something that made his blood run cold.
He was about to lose everything.
And there was nothing he could do to stop it.