Chapter 198: That Glow? That’s Semen, Dear.

Two territory-claiming, towel-grabbing, temper-detonating brothers screamed mine at each other like toddlers fighting over a toy except the toy was a woman and the toddlers controlled lightning.

Tavian thought it couldn’t get any worse. But then the term ding dong was dropped by the High Luna and he could never un-hear it.

The High Luna stepped out of the bathing chamber.

Tavian pulled a second towel off the rack and pressed it into Derek’s free hand.

A moment later she returned, crossing from the credenza in the bedroom with a full glass of something amber in hand. She came to a stop in the ruined doorway, leaned one shoulder against the splintered frame, and took an unhurried sip while both grandsons stared at her.

"Continue." She gestured loosely with the glass. "I’ll wait."

Tavian looked at the ceiling. It offered nothing in return.

Neither grandson told her to leave. That was probably because they understood that she was the only thing preventing a bloodbath and the loss of Tavian’s eyebrows.

"Did she ask for it?" Landon’s voice broke at the question. His face crumbled for a split second before he caught it. It was the first quiet thing Landon had produced all evening. The quiet was worse than the roaring because the roaring was anger and the quiet was something underneath anger.

Derek didn’t answer.

"Answer me, Derek. Did she tell you she wanted it?"

"Did she tell YOU she wanted it?" Derek fired back, wolf scraping through every syllable.

The question was a missile aimed at the one place Landon couldn’t defend. She hadn’t told him. She had been unconscious. His wolf had taken over. And Derek had just thrown that fact across a flooded bathroom with the accuracy of a man who knew exactly where the wound was and pressed on it anyway.

"She wanted mine. I can feel her. She’s my fated mate, Landon."

Derek said it with the certainty of a man who had known the moment he first touched her and traveled back in time on a loop to save her life. Who had walked into a burning building for her. Who had gone into a coma for her and had dreamed of her every day he was under and had felt her hand on his and had fought his way back because she was on the other side of consciousness and he needed to get to her. My fated mate.

He said it the way a man says something he has known in his bones since before he had words for it, and the saying was not a claim. It was a confession. And the confession was landing on a brother who had his own confession and the two confessions were the same and neither of them could coexist with the other.

"For fuck’s sake. Here we go again," the High Luna snapped, dropping an f-bomb casually, which was a sign hell had frozen over.

Landon recovered first. "SHE IS MY FATED MATE, DEREK!"

"Yes, yes, she is everyone’s fated mate." The High Luna took another sip, unmoved, dismissing the dual fated mate claims with the energy of a woman hearing her grandchildren argue about who saw the bird first. Both of you saw the bird. The bird doesn’t care. Sit down.

"She is my fated mate," Landon repeated.

"Yes, dear."

"She’s MY fated mate."

"Yes, dear."

"You can’t just yes dear both of us. One of us is right," Landon said, his voice exasperated. "That person is me. You know it, Gran. I said I could feel her shoulder at dinner."

"You did."

"I have been in a COMA," Derek cut in, exasperated. "And you wanted nothing to do with Nova, Gran. Or I would have told you."

"Well of course you would have," the High Luna replied. "Her neck is bleeding onto that towel. It smells like semen in here. And I would frankly like to walk out of this bathing chamber without worrying that one of you is going to drop the Alpha-blooded princess worth five hundred million onto wet stone." She gestured at the pair of them with the glass. "This is the impression the two of you are giving her of Thunderfang. It’s embarrassing, and I raised you better."

Tavian squinted. Rubbed both eyes with the heels of his hands, doing a visual reset to confirm that reality was still reality. Looked again.

It was, in fact, still the High Luna.

The High Luna tilted her head, studying Derek over the rim of her glass. "Your skin does look remarkably smooth, dear. There are clearly some skincare benefits to be had from your eja—"

"It’s the gold water, Gran," Derek cut in flatly.

"The coma water. Which is currently enriched with semen, dear." She took a serene sip.

Derek looked at his grandmother with absolute, unfiltered horror. He had survived looping back in time fifty-two times, a coma, and a fire. His grandmother saying semen while he was standing in the semen was his limit.

Tavian looked up at the ceiling again. He had been a Beta long enough to know when a situation was beyond saving. This situation had been beyond saving since the doorframe. The ding dong had been the funeral. The semen water was the burial.

"Now." She set her tone back to brisk command, unbothered. "Derek, dear, you are going to carry Nova to the bed, and you are going to let Astra look at her, because she has now been surprise-marked by two separate Alphas and I would like a professional opinion on what that does to a person. And you, young man, are going to put an oxygen clip on and keep it on until Astra clears you. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Gran." Derek stepped out of the tub, carried Nova to the bed, and laid her down, keeping the towel tucked around her.

Landon moved towards the bed.

Derek shifted his body to block him. Landon stepped left. Derek slid left. Landon stepped right. Derek slid right, planting himself squarely between his brother and the unconscious woman on the mattress, a wall that adjusted in real time.

"Derek." The High Luna watched the two of them shuffle back and forth. "Put some clothes on. You are dripping across the floor."

"I’m not moving unless Landon moves."

"He’s not going to move, dear." She took another sip. "He’s going to grab her the second you turn to put trousers on. That’s the entire reason he’s standing there so patiently. He’s waiting you out."