Bound to the Triplet Alphas

Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Broken Memories

ARIA POV

I hit the floor hard as Jaxon lunged at Kael, knocking us all back into the cabin. My head smacked against the wooden planks, and for a second, I couldn’t breathe.

"You traitor!" Jaxon roared, his hands around Kael’s neck. "You took her without telling us!"

Kael kicked Jaxon off, sending him crashing into the small table. "I was protecting her! Where’s Lucien?"

The red-eyed dogs I’d seen outside didn’t follow us in. They were just... gone. Had I imagined them?

"What?" I choked out. "But your eyes—they were black—"

Jaxon looked at me, confused. His eyes were normal now—amber and angry, but definitely his. "What are you talking about?"

"You don’t remember?" I asked. "You said you’d picked ’the winning side.’ There were wolves with red eyes behind you."

The brothers shared a worried look.

"I never said that," Jaxon maintained. "I’ve been tracking you two since you left. Lucien is safe—he got away during the fight and told me you’d headed east."

My brain felt confused. "But I saw you—"

"The poison," Kael said, helping me to my feet. "You’re still having visions."

"I’m not!" I pushed his hands away. "It felt real. Just like seeing my mother felt real."

Jaxon’s anger seemed to fade, replaced by worry. "What happened to her arm?"

"Forgotten Pack wolves," Kael explained. "Their bite was poisoned."

Jaxon cursed under his breath. "Let me see."

I paused, then held out my bandaged arm. Jaxon carefully unwrapped it, showing the deep puncture wounds. They were red and swollen, with thin black lines spreading from them like spider webs under my skin.

"Moon poison," Jaxon confirmed. "Nasty stuff. Makes you see your worst fears."

"So my worst fear is you turning against us?" I asked.

Something flashed across Jaxon’s face—guilt? Fear? I couldn’t tell.

"We need to clean this again," he said, ignoring my question. He went to his pack and pulled out a small bottle with blue liquid. "This will burn."

That was an underestimation. When he poured the liquid on my cut, it felt like my arm was on fire. I bit my lip to keep from yelling.

"Hold her still," Jaxon told Kael.

Kael gripped my shoulders as Jaxon pressed his hands over the cut. He closed his eyes, and I felt a strange warmth spreading from his touch. The burning feeling faded.

"You’ve been practicing," Kael said, sounding shocked.

Jaxon nodded. "Lucien’s been teaching me. Said I needed to be useful for something besides fighting."

The black lines began to fade from my skin. The relief was instant.

"Thank you," I whispered.

Jaxon smiled—a real smile, not the twisted one I’d seen in my vision. "Can’t have our Moon Alpha dying on us, can we?"

"You know?" I asked.

"Lucien told me everything after you left," Jaxon said. He glared at Kael. "Unlike some people who run off without a word."

"I had to get her away fast," Kael defended himself. "Darius knows what she is now. He’ll stop at nothing to control her."

"Or kill her," Jaxon added grimly.

"Great," I grumbled. "My choices are be controlled or be dead."

"There’s a third option," Jaxon said. "You accept what you are. Take control."

"I don’t even know what I am!" I cried, irritation boiling over. "Everyone keeps talking about this Moon Alpha thing like I’m supposed to know what it means!"

"Show her the book," Jaxon told Kael.

Kael grabbed the leather-bound book he’d shown me earlier. "I already did."

"Did you show her the prophecy?"

"Yes."

"All of it?"

Kael paused. "Not the last page."

Jaxon grabbed the book and flipped to the very back. He thrust it into my hands. "Read."

The last page was different from the others. The handwriting was shaky, desperate, the ink blotched as if tears had fallen on it: "The triplets were never meant to be. Three alpha sparks in one womb—an abomination of nature. To save them, I had to bind them to the Moon Alpha child. Her power split between them, keeping them alive but forever tied to her fate. Forgive me, sister. Forgive me, my children. Forgive me, Moon Alpha child. Your destinies were stolen before you were born."

At the bottom was signed: "Lyra, Last of the Moon Seers."

"I don’t understand," I said.

"We were dying in the womb," Jaxon explained, his voice tight. "Three alphas in one pregnancy—it’s not normal. It was killing our mother."

"So Lyra performed a ritual," Kael continued. "She bound our life force to yours."

"But I wasn’t even born yet," I argued.

"Your mother was pregnant with you," Jaxon said. "Lyra knew what you would be. She used your power—your Moon Alpha essence—to save us."

My head spun with this new information. "That’s why we’re connected? Not because you’re my mates or my guards, but because she used me to save you?"

"The ritual created a bond that was never supposed to exist," Kael said quietly.

"So what happens if the bond breaks?" I asked.

The brothers looked at each other.

"We die," Jaxon said simply.

The weight of his words crashed down on me. Three lives dependent on mine. Three men I barely knew, bound to me before any of us were even born.

"This is crazy," I whispered. "I can’t—this is too much."

"There’s more," Kael said warily.

"How could there possibly be more?" I asked.

"The ritual did something else," Jaxon explained. "It made us remember."

"Remember what?"

"Things that haven’t happened yet," Kael said.

Before I could ask what that meant, Jaxon reached out and grabbed my hand. "It’s easier to show you."

He pulled me toward Kael, putting my other hand in his brother’s.

The moment we all linked, the cabin disappeared.

We stood in a dark room lit by candles. A woman lay on a stone platform, her pregnant belly huge under her white dress. Another woman stood over her, singing, a silver knife in her hand.

Three tiny babies were in wooden cradles beside the altar. They were so small, too small to live on their own. Triplets born too early.

"Please," the woman on the altar begged. "Save them. Save my sister’s kids."

The standing woman—Lyra, I somehow knew—nodded grimly. "The price is high, sister."

"I’ll pay anything."

"Not you," Lyra said sadly. "Your daughter."

The woman on the altar started to cry. "My baby girl..."

"She will live," Lyra assured her. "But her power will be split, her fate fragmented. And one day, the balance will need to be restored."

"How?"

"When she turns eighteen, the ties will awaken. The three will be drawn to her. And then..."

"Then what?" the pregnant woman asked.

"Then she must choose which bonds to keep and which to break."

The vision vanished as suddenly as it had come. We all fell apart, gasping.

"That was my mother," I said, tears running down my face. "The woman on the altar was my mother."

Kael nodded. "And the babies were us." "But Lyra said my mother was her sister," I realized. "That means..."

"We’re cousins," Jaxon finished.

I felt like I might be sick. "So we can’t be mates. We’re family."

"Blood relations," Kael confirmed. "That’s why the link feels wrong somehow. It’s not a mate bond at all."

"Then what is it?" I asked.

"It’s life," Jaxon said simply. "Your power keeping our hearts beating."

A crash from outside made us all jump. The door burst open.

Lucien stumbled in, covered in blood. "They’re coming," he gasped. "All of them."

"Who?" Kael ordered, catching his brother before he collapsed.

Lucien’s eyes met mine, filled with fear. "Everyone. The Shadow Pack. The Forgotten Packs. They’ve united."

"That’s impossible," Jaxon said. "They’ve been enemies for centuries."

"They’ve found something stronger than their hatred," Lucien said. His hand gripped my wrist. "Someone to hunt together."

The moment his fingers touched my skin, another image slammed into us—all four of us this time.

A battlefield. Bodies everywhere. At the middle, a figure made of silver light—me—holding something that glowed red with power.

"Choose," a voice echoed. "Choose which will live and which will die."

Three dogs circled me—silver, black, and brown. One by one, they fell, until only one remained standing.

The picture ended. We all stared at each other in horror.

"What was that?" I whispered.

Before anyone could answer, howls filled the night—hundreds of them, coming from every direction. The cabin walls shook.

Lucien’s eyes met mine. "It’s time to choose, Moon Alpha."