A smell hit me like a truck going full speed. Pine trees and winter storms. Leather and something wild and scary and completely overwhelming. It made my wolf go totally crazy inside my head, scratching and clawing to get out. My knees went weak. The cleaning materials fell from my hands, clattering to the floor like my world was falling apart.

"Do you smell that?" a deep voice asked. The voice sent shivers down my spine.

"Honey and wildflowers," another voice answered, rougher than the first. "Like summer and sunshine. Where is it coming from?"

A third voice, softer but just as strong, said, "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever smelled."

But that was impossible. I was just an omega. Just unseen Aisla who cleaned floors and stayed out of sight and never caused trouble for anyone important.

The footsteps got closer. I could hear them breathe now.

My wolf was going crazy inside me. She wanted out. She wanted to run toward that smell, not away from it. She wanted something I didn't understand.

"There," the third voice said, softer than the others but somehow more dangerous. "In the kitchen. She's in there."

The footsteps stopped right outside the door. I could feel them there, waiting.

Deep down, I knew my life was about to change forever.

I could swear I heard three wolves roaring inside my head.

The kitchen door handle turned slowly.

I was about to meet my fate.

Or my doom.


~

I had spent my entire life in the shadows. As a lowly omega, I was used to being overlooked, ignored, and unseen. 

But everything changed on my 18th birthday.

That was the day the Moon Goddess gave me a cruel kind of blessing. 

I had a mate. 

Not just one. 

Not two. 

But all three of the Alpha’s sons, the legendary triplets were bound to me.

The grove was not meant for so many footsteps. It had been built for whispers and for chanting under moonlight, for the quiet stirring of herbs in bowls. Yet today, it carried the weight of warriors and the echo of Aisla's roar.


I had watched her fight with them, stand among them and shield them instead of shattering them. I had watched her face them without turning them to ash. My lips had not moved, but I had wanted to smile.


Because victory too soon was as dangerous as defeat.


When the warriors left, still murmuring about the Moonblood who had spared them, I stayed. Aisla stayed too, her chest heaving, her cheeks flushed red. She swayed on her feet until I snapped my fingers and shoved a wooden stool at her.


She sank onto it with sweat dripping down her neck, but her eyes gleamed. "Did you see it, Mora? I didn't hurt him. I held it back."


Chapter 81 - The Weight of Fire