My Four Beast King Fathers Chose Her Over Me Chapter 10

My Four Beast King Fathers Chose Her Over Me Chapter 10

The Bear Emperor’s dominance alone was enough to buckle Isolde’s legs.

A single question and she crumpled to the floor. It took her a long while to gather herself.

“Father, let me explain. I was only playing with Sister. She’s frightened of males, so I was trying to help her get past it.”

Not even a feral mutt would swallow that.

First Dad’s face darkened further. “That’s playing. Then explain the scent of strangers soaked into this den.”

Before Isolde could answer, Second Dad stepped up and flung something down at her feet.

It rolled across the floor and came to rest.

A severed head.

Every last drop of blood drained from Isolde’s face.

Only then did I understand. Third Dad had believed me the whole time.

After I’d grabbed his hand and begged, he’d noticed the attendants around me. Their scent was wrong. Sharp, male, edged with aggression.

Third Dad’s strength lay in healing and venom, not in combat. So he’d gone straight to the others.

While the fathers came to free me, Second Dad’s scouts dug up who had truly given the order at the Feral Dens.

It hadn’t been Second Dad at all.

It had been Isolde.

And Isolde’s mother Ravenna wasn’t merely some wandering female.

She was the last surviving bloodline of the old rulers the four fathers had overthrown.

For years she’d plotted her revenge.

She’d seen that Mother was the bond holding the four fathers together.

So she framed Mother, and turned the fathers against her.

And when Mother moved to expose her, Ravenna killed her first.

I lurched forward. “Mother didn’t take her own life? Ravenna murdered her?”

Third Dad held me steady, tending my wounds. His voice had gone gentle again.

“Nyssa, we only just learned this ourselves. After Ravenna killed your mother, she knew she’d been exposed. That’s why she fled.”

The rest we already knew.

Second Dad had found Isolde by chance.

Heard she was Ravenna’s daughter and brought her home.

What he didn’t realize was that Ravenna had spent years pouring hatred into Isolde.

When Isolde came back, she used every trick her mother had used on mine.

And turned them all on me.

And it worked.

But I didn’t laugh. I just felt hollow.

Mother and I had met the same fate.

And these four males had stood by and let it happen. Twice.

“No, that’s not true!” Isolde was still scrambling.

“Fathers, listen to me. None of this is real. I did none of it. Neither did my mother. Nyssa is framing me!”

She crawled toward First Dad, clutching at the fur of his cloak.

“Father! I’m your real daughter!”

Everyone had assumed Ravenna was First Dad’s mate.

That Isolde was his blood.

First Dad kicked her away.

“You are not my daughter. I never claimed your mother. You are nothing but a stray.”

That word raked through Isolde like a claw.

She shook her head wildly. Then began to laugh.

“I’m the stray? Nyssa’s the stray! To this day, not one of you even knows whose cub she is.”

Isolde had lost it entirely.

“My mother was right. Every last one of you is rotten. You think those males were all I had? I have fighters in this very den!”

She loosed a burst of spirit energy. A signal that split the air.

Feral shifters poured out of every shadow.

The two sides crashed together.

I watched the chaos a moment. Then I stood.

I walked straight through the fighting.

Past the sealed chamber where Mother once lived.

Past the halls where I’d grown up.

Past the grounds where the four fathers used to play with me.

I reached the outer walls and climbed, step by step, to the highest ridge.

Then I stood at the top.

The moon was full tonight.

Vast and bright, drowning everything in silver light.

At last, I was going home.