A Mate To Three Alpha Heirs novel Chapter 14

{Elira}

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I knew what to say, and more importantly, what not to say.

I was no longer a child. I had grown up too fast beneath the weight of things I wasn’t meant to carry. So I chose my words carefully.

“I get to go to school, Uncle,” I said, looking into his eyes. “Alpha Cyprus has promised to send me.”

A silence followed.

Then I watched something shift in my uncle’s expression. The furrow between his brows softened into guilt… and then slipped into disappointment.

Guilt—for the promise he once made to me and never fulfilled.

And disappointment—because now, I was choosing someone else who was going to give me what he hadn’t.

Lady Maren stormed toward me, her face twisted in rage like the bitterness that had roots deep in her bones.

Of course, she was coming for me. I braced for it.

In her eyes, I was supposed to be undoing the “mate bond mess” like she had told me to—not settling into it.

“You mean to tell me,” she barked, “you’re moving into the house your cousin was meant to marry into?!”

She was wondering where my audacity had come from.

Her hand shot into the air, and I flinched instinctively, lifting my elbow to shield my face.

But nothing landed.

“Maren!” My uncle’s voice cracked through the room like a whip. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on her.”

I peeked through my lowered lashes.

Uncle Marc stood with Lady Maren’s wrist in a firm grip, his eyes dark. But she yanked her arm free with a sneer and pointed at me.

“You’re raising your voice at me? For this little ingrate who shamed your daughter before the entire pack and is now snatching her rightful place?!”

I shook my head, heart thudding.

That wasn’t true. I didn’t steal anything. Not Regina’s position or her future.

All I wanted… was to go to school, to live and to breathe for once, now that I had the opportunity.

“My niece is not an ingrate,” Uncle Marc said sharply, pulling me back to the moment. “And you deserve to be corrected when you’re wrong.”

I lowered my head. The guilt that followed tugged at my spine.

This scene… it was too familiar.

Uncle Marc defending me. Lady Maren enraged. The tension ripping through the room.

It used to happen often—back when I still had the courage to report the slaps, the hair-pulling, the punishments.

Uncle Marc never turned away from me. Never.

Still, I felt awful.

If I had just gone quietly, maybe he wouldn’t be caught between loyalty to his daughter and duty to his orphaned niece.

Lady Maren’s voice broke the air again.

“Seems you’re so deep into your ’Uncle’ role that you’ve forgotten how to be a father.” She sneered at me. “All for this lowlife orphan your brother left behind. He should’ve taken her with him!”

I froze.

Those words were her weapon. And she knew exactly where to aim, like right now.

Tears swelled behind my eyes as I clenched my fists tightly by my sides. I wanted to scream so badly. But I couldn’t.

And yet…

“You can’t go against fate, Elira,” he said gently. “Even I am starting to understand that.”

His hands found my shoulders again, grounding me.

“I’m not mad at you. None of this is your fault,” he said. “This bond—this path—was chosen for a reason. So don’t you ever think otherwise.”

My throat tightened.

I nodded slowly, blinking back the tears.

Then I let myself fall into his embrace—this time, fully. Lady Maren wasn’t here.

He held me. And I let him.

In this moment, he silenced every voice that had whispered I was undeserving of anything good.

The bond was permanent. It was fate. And even if Regina had trained for years, the Moon Goddess had chosen me.

I bet Regina regretted taking me to the clearing instead of leaving me behind like her mother had wanted.

Still…

The only reason I would’ve ever wanted to stay in this house was standing right in front of me.

My uncle. The one who defended me when no one else would.

But today, at this very moment, I chose me.

The Alpha’s house was kinder and safer than here, even if it was only for now.

All that remained of my visit today was to collect my belongings, apologise to Regina, merely to fulfil all righteousness.

And lastly, return to the Alpha’s residence with Rennon, who was waiting outside the gates for me.