Bound to the Triplet Alphas

Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Hidden Truths

ARIA POV

I jerked awake with a scream stuck in my throat. Where was I? What happened to the wolves? To my mother?

"Easy," Kael’s voice came from beside me. "You’re safe now."

My eyes darted around. I was lying on a bed in a small shack. The bite on my arm was covered in clean bandages, not the bloody shirt strip from before. Outside, rain beat against the windows.

"My mother—" I started.

"Wasn’t really there," Kael said, his face grim. "You were hallucinating from blood loss and fever."

I sat up too quickly. The room spun. "But I saw her! And my father—the wolves—"

"All in your head." Kael gently pushed me back down. "The wolf bite had poison in it. Forgotten Pack wolves coat their teeth with a plant that causes dreams."

"So none of it was real?" My heart sank. For a moment, I’d believed my mother was alive.

"The attack was real," Kael said. "I really did find you. But once I got you here, you started seeing things that weren’t there."

Thunder boomed outside. The cabin lights flickered.

"Where is ’here’ exactly?" I asked.

"A quiet place between pack lands. My father doesn’t know about it. Neither does yours."

I tried to sit up again, slower this time. "And the Silver Creek Pack? Lyra?"

Something flashed in Kael’s eyes. He turned away, busying himself with a pot boiling on a small stove in the corner.

"Kael?" I pressed.

"Lyra was my mother’s sister," he finally said.

My mouth fell open. "What?"

"My mother had a twin. They were both from powerful families. My father wanted to mate with one of them to boost the pack. He picked my mother because she was obedient. Lyra was...not."

"So Lyra is your aunt?"

Kael nodded. "She fled the pack years ago when my father killed her mate. She’s been hiding with Silver Creek ever since."

He poured something from the pot into a cup and brought it to me. "Drink this. It will help with the poison."

The drink was bitter and hot. I made a face but drank it all.

"Why didn’t anyone ever tell me this?" I asked.

"The same reason no one told you who you really are," Kael said, taking the empty cup. "Too dangerous."

"And who am I, exactly?"

Kael sat on the edge of the bed. "That’s complicated."

"I’m tired of everyone saying that!" I snapped. "My whole life has been one big lie. Just tell me the truth!"

Lightning flashed, highlighting Kael’s face. For the first time, I saw uncertainty there.

"We’ve been dreaming about you," he said quietly.

"What?"

"Me, Jaxon, and Lucien. For years before we ever met you. Since we were thirteen. You were in our dreams."

I looked at him. "That’s impossible."

"Is it?" Kael’s eyes met mine. "After everything that’s happened?"

He was right. Nothing seemed impossible anymore.

"What kind of dreams?" I asked.

"Different for each of us." Kael looked away. "For me, I was running through the forest as a dog. You were running beside me, but you weren’t dog or human. You were...light. Pure silver light. And you were leading me somewhere."

"Where?"

"I never found out. I always woke up before we got there." He paused. "Jaxon dreamed you were fighting alongside him in a battle. Lucien dreamed you were healing him after he’d been badly hurt."

My head spun with this new information. "So you knew who I was when I showed up at the pack house?"

"Not exactly. We knew a girl would come who was connected to our fate. We didn’t know it would be you until that day in the open when you challenged Elira. Something clicked into place."

"The bond."

Kael nodded. "But it wasn’t what any of us expected. It wasn’t just a mate tie. It was something else."

I remembered what my mother—no, my dream of my mother—had said. "She said you’re not my mates. You’re my guards."

Kael’s eyes widened. "You remember that?"

"It wasn’t real though, right?"

He paused too long before answering. "Right."

He was lying. I could feel it.

"What aren’t you telling me?" I asked.

Instead of replying, Kael stood up and went to a wooden chest in the corner. He pulled out an old book with a worn leather cover.

"This belonged to Lyra," he said. "She left it here for safekeeping."

He gave it to me. The cover was decorated with a crescent moon circled by three wolf heads.

"Open it," he pushed.

I did. Inside were handmade pages filled with drawings and strange symbols. And there, on the first page, was a drawing of a girl with my face circled by three wolves—one silver, one black, one brown.

"That’s—"

"You," Kael finished. "And us. Drawn over fifty years ago."

My fingers shook as I turned the pages. More pictures showed the same girl—me—doing impossible things. Controlling dogs with a look. Healing scars with a touch. Standing before an army of wild-looking dogs.

"What am I?" I whispered.

"According to Lyra’s writings, you’re the first true Moon Alpha born in five hundred years."

"But what does that mean?"

"It means you can combine all packs. It means you have skills no one fully understands." Kael took a deep breath. "And it means you’re in danger from everyone who wants to control those powers."

He took the book back and flipped to a page near the end. "Read this."

The handwriting was shaky, like it had been written by someone very old or very afraid: "When the Moon Alpha rises, three will guard her way. Three bound by blood but not by choice. One will cheat. One will die. One will stay to see the new world dawn."

Cold fear gripped my heart. "One of you will betray me? One will die?"

"That’s what the prophecy says," Kael answered, his voice tight. "But we don’t know which is which."

"This is crazy. I can’t be this—this Moon Alpha. I’m just an Omega who—"

"You were never an Omega," Kael cut in. "That was a lie to keep you safe. To hide what you really are."

The cabin suddenly felt too small. I needed air. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, ignoring the pain in my arm.

"Where are you going?" Kael asked.

"Outside. I need to think."

"It’s not safe."

"I don’t care!" I stood up, swaying slightly. "My whole life has been a lie. I need a minute alone."

Kael paused, then nodded. "Five minutes. Then we need to move. We’re not safe here for long."

I made my way to the cabin door and stepped onto the small porch. The rain had stopped, but the bush was still dripping. The smell of wet earth filled my lungs.

A twig snapped in the darkness. I froze.

"Hello?" I called softly.

Silence. Then— "Hello, Moon Alpha," came a voice I knew too well.

Jaxon stepped out of the darkness, but something was wrong. His eyes weren’t their normal color. They were pitch black, like Alpha Darius’s when the shadow took him.

"Jaxon?" I whispered. "What happened to you?"

His smile was all wrong. "I made a choice."

Behind him, more forms emerged from the trees. Wolves with bright red eyes.

"What choice?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"The winning side," he said simply. "And now, I’ve come to collect you."

The door opened behind me. Kael growled when he saw his brother.

"Run, Aria!" he yelled. "He’s not Jaxon anymore!"

But before I could move, Jaxon raised his hand. A force like a huge fist slammed into me, knocking the air from my lungs.

The last thing I heard was Kael roaring my name as darkness took me once again.