Accidentally Mated To Four Alphas-Chapter 234: _ War is Impending

~Darien’s Point Of View~

Darien stands there for a moment, long after the last words between his brothers and their mothers echo off the estate’s stone façade. The afternoon heat clings to his skin, thick and bright, but there’s something cold coiling in his chest. He’s relieved they got Heidi out, relieved in a way that feels embarrassingly visceral, like someone finally cracked open his ribs and let the air in again.

But that relief is intertwined with something more palpable and overwhelming. He loves her. He finally admits it to himself without flinching. It’s embarrassing to realize that even to himself because it’s ridiculous, and sudden, and enormous. It’s also a problem the size of a collapsing star, because his brothers love her too, and the issue of who she chooses is waiting for them like a loaded gun on a table.

However, one thing he knows is that he’d die for her. He’d fight his brothers for her. He’d fight the whole damn pack for her.

Later. All of that is later. Right now, he’s got a mess big enough to drown in, a mother who will not let up, and the fresh sting of being slapped by the woman whose approval he’s never dared defy. He hates that it hurts him. Hates that he hurt her. But Heidi is innocent. Yes, he doesn’t want to defy his mother, but he’s pretty sure loving Heidi means he’s about to start doing a whole lot of things he’s never done before.

And he’d pick Heidi again and again, even with the chaos blooming around them like wildfire. He looks at her, right beside Grayson, her hands still bound, her eyes wide with everything she hasn’t said yet, and he feels that same vow settle into his bones.

Protect her. No matter what storm follows.

Rayne’s delighted shriek, filled with maternal pride flies to Darien’s ears.

"Morgan!" she cries, rushing past Clarissa like she’s breaking a finish line. She practically tackles her son, squeezing him like she thinks he might evaporate. "You hit the jackpot! I saw the blog. My boy found his mate! You were winking at people and telling them she’s your mate? I knew it. I knew one of my boys would catch the high aura Moon Blessed girl!"

Morgan beams. "Yes, actually she’s my..."

Grayson doesn’t even let him finish. "She’s my mate too."

The entire driveway inhales sharply.

Isolde goes, "Wait—what?"

Daphne’s eyes grow huge, then narrow like a cat hissing at a ghost. Clarissa covers her mouth. Lira’s hand freezes mid–hair fluff. Daphne is the first to recover, though "recover" is generous.

"Are you kidding me? Two of you? Two?" She points at Heidi like Heidi is a cursed relic someone dug up in the backyard. "I knew something was wrong with this girl! I said it! I said she was cursed! But this? This?! She’s targeting both of my brothers now?"

And Darien feels that pain inside him — the one that happens whenever someone talks about Heidi like she’s a disease instead of a person. His voice leaves him before he can think. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"She’s my mate too." He declares.

Pure, stunned, mortifying silence settles right after. Daphne freezes. Every muscle in her body shuts down, except her eyes, those get wider, somehow, like she’s witnessing a natural disaster in real time.

Clarissa gasps. "This girl is cursed!"

Darien opens his mouth to try and fix the situation. He isn’t sure how, but he should try. Too late.

Clarissa spins, glaring between all four brothers. "So she isn’t just Amias’s mate? She’s all four of yours? I thought my boy was unlucky to be fated to a Moon Blessed, but you all share the same fate?"

What? Amias told his mother already?! Darien can’t believe the words drifting to his ears. How come he never thought to inform them of that tiny detail that could have ruined all of their plans?!

Isolde’s jaw goes slack. "All four? That’s... that’s an anomaly. That’s forbidden. How do you even... how would you... share her?"

Daphne chokes at that. "Share her? Share her?!" The way she says it sounds like the most obscene word in the universe. She rounds on her sister. "Did you hit your head? No one is sharing anything!" She gestures wildly at Heidi. "She should be put down by the pack! She doesn’t deserve to live at all! This is insane!"

Isolde stiffens. "Daphne..."

"No! No! Do not Daphne me." Daphne’s voice keeps climbing octaves. "I cannot believe this. I cannot believe any of you. Our family will be the laughingstock of the pack! And Darien? DARlEN?!" Her voice cracks into a shriek. "Not you too! She’s going to ruin the name you built. She’s going to drag you down. All of you. I hate this. I hate her!"

Amias steps in. "Daph—"

Wrong move.

Daphne snaps her head to him like he stepped on a landmine. "Shut up! I’m telling Mother! Right now!"

She storms inside, slamming the door like a rejected Greek goddess.

Heidi looks stunned, but also tired. Too tired to even react. Darien can’t be more sorry for how spoiled his last sister grew up to be. She’s absolutely nothing like Isolde. How could she talk of putting Heidi down over a decision made by the Moon Goddess whom they all serve?

He understands Daphne but knows just how wrong she is about this.

Rayne, unfazed as always, adjusts her braids and asks casually, "Do any of you plan on telling your father about this? Or do I get the pleasure?"

Morgan shrugs. "He doesn’t yet... but I guess he does now that Daphne knows."

The mention of their father makes all the hair behind Darien’s neck stand because he knows... He knows the man is the MAN. He’s the real challenge. Not to mention Heidi doesn’t have to worry about the Alpha alone, but the entire bodies that hold the position of power in the pack.

This is going to be one bloody war.