My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 129

Sera

I stood there, my hand still locked in Fenris's crushing grip, the hot blood drying tight and itchy on my chin. I took a shallow breath, waiting for the elder to step back, waiting to be directed off the stone platform.

But Fenris didn't let go of my hand.

I looked up at him. "What does that mean?" I whispered. "What did he say?"

He didn't answer me immediately. He was staring down at me, and his face had completely changed. The pale grey irises were entirely gone, swallowed by the blown-out, pitch-black pupils of his wolf. A low, terrifying, territorial growl started deep in his chest, vibrating right through our connected hands.

"It means we fuck," Fenris rumbled. His voice wasn't his own. It was a thick, guttural rasp, heavy with raw, unchecked lust.

I stared at him. My brain completely stalled. The words hit my ears, but they refused to process into a coherent thought. I blinked, my mouth opening slightly.

"What?" I breathed, my voice barely a whisper. I looked around at the massive, open courtyard, at the thousands of wolves standing in the snow, watching our every move. I looked back at the stone altar beside us. "Right here?"

Fenris didn't hesitate. He gave me a single, sharp nod. "Yes."

Panic hit my chest. I ripped my gaze away from him and frantically scanned the front row of the crowd.

I found Mina. She was standing exactly where she had been when we walked out. But she wasn't looking at me. She was staring intently at the ground, her shoulders tense. She knew. She absolutely knew what this dress was for, she knew what was going to happen, and she hadn't said a damn word. She let me walk out here completely blind.

My eyes darted further down the line. I saw my mother.

Irina looked like she was going to collapse into the snow. Her face was completely drained of color, pale as a sheet. Her eyes were wide, staring at Fenris’s hand gripping my waist. The absolute horror radiating off her was palpable. The Queen of Valdris, the pinnacle of southern civility, was about to watch her daughter get fucked like a wild animal on a blood-stained rock while an entire pack of barbarians watched.

And then, I looked to the side, near the elders' chairs.

I saw Taya.

She was standing tall, her arms crossed tight over her chest. But what I saw in her face stopped the breath in my lungs. It was the purest, most concentrated hatred I had ever seen in my entire life. It burned in her eyes, twisting her features into an ugly, venomous sneer. She wasn't just angry that I had beaten her in the dirt.

She was looking at Fenris. She was looking at his hand on my waist.

She wanted him. She had probably been waiting for years for him to claim her as his Luna. She had always been there, and thought she had earned her place beside the Butcher.

And I had just walked in from the South, wrapped in silk and leverage, and taken her man.

Just like Elara took Kane from me.

A chuckle escaped my throat.

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