CHAPTER 234: I WILL STAY

In the guest room, the soft evening light did little to soften the stiffness in the air as Soren stood facing Riven.

I don’t agree with the deal. I’ll be spending the next week right here. Riven, you’re your own person, so you do whatever you want, but I’m not leaving." He paused trying to collect himself, he was still annoyed at how the time was divided. He tried it again, with more edge: "I don’t care about the schedule. I’m staying. Try and stop me." He crossed his arms like it was a declaration.

Riven’s brain short-circuited.

Wait. What?

"I—Soren, I was going to come back next week like we planned," Riven began nervously, glancing between his two possessive partners like a forest animal stuck between two apex predators. "You don’t need to stay—really. It’s okay—"

"No," Soren cut in sharply. "I am staying."

Then he turned on his heel and walked out of the room like the conversation was over.

"Wha—Soren!" Riven hurried after him.

He caught up just in time to hear Soren calling for Xavier. Riven wanted to appreciate his beauty more, but he was in a crisis! He couldn’t let Soren stay here! It was going to cockblock him!

"Xavier!" Soren ordered with a stern voice, "I’m staying here this week. I need clothes and other essential items delivered here immediately."

Xavier, already standing in the hall like a man who expected this, gave a silent bow before walking off to complete the latest impossible task Soren dropped on him.

Riven groaned and followed Soren outside the room, only to be abruptly yanked into Soren’s arms at the entrance. He caught a glimpse of Ronan standing at the bottom of the staircase, eyes widened as he saw Soren pull his mate into his arms.

Soren’s hands settled firmly on his waist. "Don’t you want me to stay?" he asked, voice dropping into that dangerous, low purr of his.

Riven opened his mouth—but before he could say anything, a sharp growl echoed through the hall.

Ronan was moving.

The moment Soren touched Riven—his Riven—he stepped forward with slow, sharp intensity.

Soren didn’t back down, but his smirk turned smug the moment Ronan approached.

"Really?" Ronan said through gritted teeth. "Touching him without asking?"

"Why? Jealous? Besides, touch him without permission, Riven, do I need your permission? " Soren replied innocently, eyes gleaming. He then leaned and nibbled on Riven’s ears, let go to see Ronan’s expression.

Before Riven could blink, Ronan had grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him away from Soren, wrapping him tightly in his arms like a protective barrier.

"Oh my god, not this again," Riven muttered into Ronan’s chest.

Soren took a single step forward.

Riven immediately shoved himself between the two before they could start growling or, worse, throwing furniture again.

"Don’t fight!" Riven blurted, raising both hands like a referee at a very stupid, very attractive sporting event. "See?! This is exactly why we made the arrangement in the first place!"

Neither of them said anything. They just stared at each other over Riven’s head, like two predators in a stand-off over who gets the prey.

Riven let out a deep sigh and dramatically ran a hand down his face. "You just have to get used to each other," he muttered.

Then, under his breath, he added, "Being a harem protagonist is exhausting."

Soren and Ronan both turned to look at him.

"What?" Riven asked innocently. "I’m just saying—this is my life now, right? Trying to keep two predators from turning each other into fur coats while I get zero personal space?"

Ronan’s arms tightened slightly around him. "I gave you personal space yesterday."

"That was because I left a note." Riven pointed out. "I swear if I leave the room without scribbling a post-it on the fridge, one of you thinks I’ve been kidnapped again!"

"Considering it happened twice..." Soren added with a scoff.

"One of them is because of you." Ronan sneered.

Soren, instead of arguing, reached over and tugged on a lock of Riven’s hair gently.

"I just don’t like when you’re out of sight too long," he said, surprisingly honest.

Riven blinked. "Wow. Are you..."

This man is just provoking! Ah, Riven could not have a moment of peace.

Riven replied, throwing his hands in the air. "You’re both going to give me grey hairs. I’m not even 25."

"You’d look good with silver hair," Ronan offered thoughtfully. They would be matching!

"Don’t encourage it!" Riven scolded, then turned to glare at Soren. "And you. Fine, stay. But if either of you causes property damage this week, I’m putting you both in a time-out."

Ronan smirked. "What would that even look like?"

"I will ghost both of you for a month! I won’t visit either of you, I won’t talk to you, I won’t send letters to you. You guys are driving me crazy!"

The smirk disappeared.

"You wouldn’t do that," Soren said in a low voice.

"Try me."

There was a long silence, then Soren grudgingly said, "Fine. I’ll behave."

"I’ll believe that when I see it," Ronan muttered.

"What makes you think that does not apply to you?! I included both of you!"

And with that, he stormed off toward the kitchen, probably to make tea or just avoid them altogether.

Soren turned to Ronan after Riven left.

"Be a good host, mutt." Soren scoffed. He acted nice in front of Riven, but he hated everything about this place, this arrangement... Everything. Riven was right about one thing.

If Soren had the chance, he would drag Riven back, lock him up in the cage that he had already commissioned. He could not wait to chain those arms that hold him, those legs that locked around his waist. That neck... Hah, that choker was not enough to bind that wolf to him.

Soren leaned against the hallway wall, arms folded as Ronan disappeared into the other direction. The air still held the faint scent of Riven—warmth, sweetness, a bit of spice—and it did nothing to soothe the storm brewing beneath his calm exterior.

He hated it here.

Everything about it grated on him.

Too many smiling servants. Too many happy pack members. Too many wandering eyes.

They all looked at Riven like he was something sacred. Precious.

And he was. But not to them.

He was his. Soren clenched his jaw.

Riven’s smile when he laughed at Ronan’s words. The way his eyes softened when he spoke to the pack. How easily he slipped into this place—as if it had always been home.

Soren hated it.

Because deep down, he wanted Riven to rely on him like that. Not the wolves. Not Ronan. Not anyone else.

Just him.

He closed his eyes and tried to breathe slowly, evenly, like Riven always asked him to when he got too intense. But the more he tried to calm down, the more twisted his thoughts became.

He should’ve taken Riven back with him. Should’ve ignored the arrangement. Should’ve thrown him over his shoulder and locked him in their snowy manor, where no one else could get to him.

Riven would be angry. He’d kick, yell, maybe even bite.

But eventually... he’d calm down.

And then, maybe, he’d stop looking at other people with that gentle expression. Maybe he’d finally look at him the way Soren had always looked at Riven.

Like he was air. Water. The only thing keeping him alive.

Soren ran a hand through his dirty blond hair, eyes distant. The guest room was already too small for his growing possessiveness. The walls felt like they were closing in, reminding him of what he couldn’t have to himself.

Riven said that he loved him. And yet, he was sleeping in another man’s house. Laughing with the alpha. Sharing memories and building bonds that didn’t include him.

It drove him mad.

He didn’t want to share.

He was not built to share.

Soren had never cared about anyone enough to lose sleep over them before. But with Riven, it was different. Riven was light and warmth in his cold, brutal world. A fire in the middle of endless snow. And Soren was selfish.

He wanted that fire for himself.

Forever.

"I should’ve just taken him," Soren muttered under his breath.

His eyes drifted toward the hallway where Riven had vanished. Just the thought of him, bustling around in that oversized shirt, yawning, half-asleep and still glowing—it made Soren’s heart twist in the most violent way.

If only he could keep him tucked away. Just for himself. No wolves. No Ronan. No idiotic schedules or split time.

Just Riven. Always smiling, always nearby. Always his.

The smile that curled on Soren’s lips was not soft—it was possessive.

He would play nice. For now.

But the week would pass.

And once it was his turn again... Riven was never leaving the snow leopard territory.

Not without a fight.Not without him.

Soren would make sure of it.

Even if he had to drag him back with chains made of silk and sweet words.

Even if Riven hated him for it.

Because love, Soren had learned, didn’t always bloom in sunlight. And maybe this was the only way he knew how to love.