"Two Alphas. One heart. And me, caught in the middle."
The infirmary suddenly felt too small, its stone walls pressing inward as if the ancient building itself couldn't contain the supernatural storm that had just walked through its doors. The air grew thick and oppressive, charged with the kind of dangerous energy that preceded violence between apex predators.
Gideon's amber gaze was locked onto Darius with laser precision, sharp and venomous as a blade seeking its target. His usually elegant posture had shifted into something more predatory, fists flexing at his sides as if he were fighting the urge to extend claws. When he spoke, his voice carried the low, rumbling undertone that meant his wolf was dangerously close to the surface.
"Get away from her."
Darius didn't so much as twitch in acknowledgment. He remained seated in that wooden chair beside my bed like a guardian carved from granite, his large hand still braced against his muscled thigh, every line of his powerful frame radiating barely contained violence. His wolf simmered just beneath his human skin, turning the air around him electric with suppressed dominance.
His dark eyes didn't waver from mine, didn't even acknowledge Gideon's presence at first. They stayed fixed on my face with an intensity that made breathing difficult, as if leaving my side wasn't even a consideration he was willing to entertain.
The mate bond pulsed between us, a living thing that seemed to grow stronger with each passing heartbeat.
"I said," Gideon repeated, his cultured voice cutting sharper through the tension, "get. Away."
Finally, with movements that spoke of predatory grace barely held in check, Darius rose from his chair. The wooden legs scraped harshly against the infirmary's stone floor, the grating sound unnaturally loud in the suffocating silence. He turned to face his rival with deliberate slowness, broad shoulders squaring as waves of Alpha dominance rolled off him like heat from a forge.
His eyes burned bright gold at the edges where his wolf pressed forward, transforming his aristocratic features into something wild and dangerous. The scent of his barely leashed power filled the small space-pine forests and winter storms, raw authority that demanded submission from every lesser wolf in its path.
"She doesn't need you." Each word was bitten out with precision, carrying enough menace to make weaker wolves flee in terror.
Gideon's trademark smirk twisted into something edged with genuine fury as he took a deliberate step closer, bringing the two Alphas within striking distance of each other. "She doesn't need you either, Fenrir. You nearly tore half the Academy apart today with your spectacular lack of control. You think that pathetic display of berserker rage makes you her protector?"
His amber eyes glittered with malicious satisfaction as he delivered the verbal strike. "No. She needs someone who won't destroy everything around her just because he can't manage his own temper."
My chest tightened painfully as their words hit me like physical blows. The mate bond thrummed with increasing intensity, pulling at me harder with every aggressive syllable they exchanged. My wolf pressed violently against my ribs, desperate to answer the call of her mate even as my wounded pride screamed at me to shove them both out of the room.
Darius's response was immediate and visceral-a growl that rumbled from somewhere deep in his chest, low and dangerous enough to make the stone walls seem to vibrate in response. The sound bypassed conscious thought entirely and spoke directly to the primitive fear hardwired into every living thing that faced an apex predator.
"I don't need to explain myself to you. She's mine."
The possessive declaration hit my wolf like lightning, and she howled inside my chest with raw, desperate longing. My traitorous heart skipped several beats as heat flared through my veins, the mate bond singing with recognition despite everything my rational mind knew about his public rejection.
But Gideon only laughed, though the sound carried no trace of genuine humor. It was all sharp edges and barely contained violence, the kind of laughter that preceded bloodshed.
"Yours?" He practically spat the word like it tasted foul. "You said it yourself not twenty-four hours ago-you don't want her. She's weak, unworthy, remember? And now you have the audacity to claim her just because your wolf can't control its obsessive impulses?"
His gaze flicked to me for just a heartbeat, and something in his amber eyes softened with what might have been genuine concern. "She deserves so much better than the scraps of attention you're willing to throw her when it's convenient."
The tension in the small infirmary thickened until it felt like the very air might shatter under the pressure. This was exactly what happened when two dominant Alphas were forced to share space-circling each other like wolves preparing to fight to the death, their supernatural nature making peaceful coexistence impossible.
Every nerve in my battered body vibrated with the supernatural pull, my wolf clawing desperately toward Darius while my heart hammered an erratic rhythm in the silence between their cutting words. The mate bond stretched taut as a wire, threatening to snap from the strain of being caught between desire and denial.
"Stop." The word came out barely above a whisper, too quiet to cut through the suffocating weight of their combined dominance pressing against my consciousness.
"Stay away from her," Darius growled again, his wolf surging closer to the surface until his human features began to blur around the edges.
"I'll protect her from you if I have to," Gideon snarled back, his own supernatural nature rising to meet the challenge.
Something inside me snapped like a branch breaking under too much weight.
"Enough!"
My voice cracked through the infirmary like thunder splitting the sky, carrying enough force to make both Alphas freeze mid-advance. Their heads snapped toward me in perfect unison, surprise flickering across their faces as if they'd forgotten I was anything more than a prize to be fought over.
I forced myself upright despite the weakness dragging at my limbs like lead weights, gripping the rough infirmary blanket in trembling fists as I fought to project strength I didn't feel. My wolf howled in protest at the movement, but I ignored her desperate pleas for submission.
Pride rose in my chest like wildfire, sharp and unyielding as forged steel. "Do you hear yourselves? You're not fighting for me-you're fighting for your own wounded egos. For dominance. For the right to claim possession over something you see as a trophy rather than a person."
My voice gained strength as anger burned away the lingering effects of supernatural exhaustion. "As if I'm some prize to be won rather than a woman capable of making her own choices. I am not your battlefield, and I refuse to be reduced to nothing more than ammunition in whatever war you're waging against each other."
The silence that followed my outburst was heavier than any roar, thick with shock and something that might have been shame. Darius's jaw clenched until I could see the muscle jumping beneath his skin, his broad chest heaving as though holding back his wolf by sheer force of will. Gideon's smirk had faded completely, replaced by something colder and far more calculating.
My voice trembled with exhaustion and fury in equal measure, but it didn't break. "Both of you-get out. Now."
Darius took an involuntary step forward, his golden eyes flashing with something that looked like desperation, but I cut him off with a glare sharp enough to draw blood.
"I said go."
For one long, unbearable moment that stretched into eternity, it seemed like neither Alpha would obey. The air crackled with their competing dominance, with the weight of everything unspoken between us, with the dangerous possibility that they might choose violence over submission to my will.
Then, finally, Darius turned on his heel with military precision and stormed from the infirmary. The heavy door slammed behind him hard enough to rattle the ancient hinges, but the air continued to tremble with the lingering force of his supernatural presence.
Gideon remained for several heartbeats longer, his calculating amber eyes searching my face as if trying to decode some hidden message written there. There was something in his expression that made my skin crawl-satisfaction, yes, but also the kind of cold calculation that spoke of chess moves planned several steps in advance.
Finally, he inclined his dark head in a mockery of respectful acknowledgment, his voice returning to its usual smooth silk. "As you wish, Elara."
And then he too melted back into the shadowed corridors, leaving me alone with only the echo of supernatural dominance and my own ragged breathing.
Silence swallowed the infirmary once more, but it felt different now-less peaceful than exhausted, like the aftermath of a storm that had passed without bringing the relief of rain.
I sank back against my pillow with a shuddering breath, my entire body trembling from the effort of standing up to two Alphas in full dominance mode. My chest ached as though the mate bond had been stretched to its absolute breaking point, leaving invisible fractures that might never fully heal.
I pressed my hand over my racing heart and whispered to the empty room, "Why does my heart betray me?"