POV - Kieran
The reading room door hadn't broken yet, and that was the only thing keeping me alive.
If I opened that door and saw her—really saw her—I would forget about Elder Thorne's warning. I would forget about the warning. I would forget that there was anything in this world besides Elara and the three-year need that had been eating me alive since she left.
My wolf was screaming under my skin, desperate to touch her, desperate to take her, desperate to make sure she could never leave again.
Three years. Three years of searching. Three years of not sleeping. Three years of my hand reaching for her in the dark and finding only cold sheets.
I pulled away from the door before I did something that would get us all killed.
"Tell me what that warning meant," I growled at the Elder, not looking away from the door. "Tell me everything, or I'm breaking through."
Elder Thorne stepped forward slowly, his ancient face marked with tiredness. "Not here. Your cousin needs to understand too. This concerns the blood rite you both survived as children."
"The ritual failed," I said coldly. "Cassian ran. I never looked back."
"It didn't fail," the Elder said. "It just waited."
My entire body went hard.
The memories crashed back—I was seven years old, and my father was pushing me into a stone circle with Cassian. Candles everywhere. Blood. Ancient words. A binding magic that was meant to strengthen our Alpha bloodline forever. But something had gone wrong. The magic had burned through us both, and we'd both screamed until our voices were gone.
Cassian had fled the pack that same night. I'd told myself it was over. I'd told myself that what I'd felt—that phantom connection to my cousin—was just a scar from trauma.
"What does that have to do with Elara?" I asked.
"Everything," Thorne said. "But first, you need to understand why you found her in the first place."
He motioned for me to sit. I refused. He continued anyway.
"Three years ago, when you scented Elara's matured omega scent for the first time, it wasn't an accident," the Elder explained. "Your blood rite with Cassian was a three-person binding. It needed three souls to complete. For years, it lay dormant. But the moment Elara's scent developed, the magic recognized her. It pulled you to her."
I shook my head. "That's impossible. I don't believe in—"
"You went to her that night," Thorne interrupted. "Against your own rules. Against everything you've ever been. A woman you'd never touched before, and suddenly you needed her like you needed air. That wasn't love, Alpha. That was old magic recognizing its missing piece."
My chest was tight. I couldn't breathe right.
Because he was right. I remembered that night so clearly. The gathering was barely over when I'd left. I'd told myself I would just see where she lived. Just check on her. Just make sure she was safe.
What a lie that had been.
I'd gone to her rooms that night driven by something I couldn't control. She'd answered the door in night clothes, frightened and confused. And when I'd smelled her—really scented her—something in my soul had recognized her.
I'd held her like she was the only real thing in a world of ghosts.
"Then why did the magic let her leave?" I asked. "Why didn't it force her to stay?"
"Because she was pregnant," Elder Thorne said quietly. "The child—she holds both your bloodline and something more. A power that initiates the full binding. But she was too young. You were both too young. The magic couldn't work until she matured enough to give birth."
My hands were shaking. "The child is mine?"
"The child is all three of yours," Thorne said. "And she is the prophecy that my people have been waiting for five hundred years to see."
The reading room door creaked. I could hear Elara breathing on the other side. I could smell her fear mixed with something else—something that smelled like recognition. She was hearing this too. She knew.
"You need to understand," the Elder continued, "that if you force this bond open before everyone accepts what it means, the magic will think you're trying to break it. And three souls bound by old power cannot be separated. Trying will destroy all three of you."
"What do you want me to do?" I asked, my voice raw. "Leave her? Pretend she doesn't exist?"
"You need to find your cousin," Thorne said. "You need to make him understand that this is bigger than his fear. The three of you must choose to accept the bond freely. If even one of you rejects it—"
"It kills us," I finished. "You already said that."
"No," Elder Thorne said. "Rejecting it kills you. But accepting it? That changes everything. Your cousin has been hiding from this truth for three years, loving her while denying why. You've been looking for three years, unable to stay away. And she's been running for three years, afraid of exactly what's happening right now."
I looked at the reading room door.
Elara was silent. But I could feel her through the magic now—a link so strong it made my knees weak. I could feel her fear. Her confusion. Her sadness at seeing me. And underneath all of it, I could feel something impossible.
She was still mine. Even after three years. Even after believing I'd abandoned her. Some part of her had been waiting.
"The child?" I asked. "Maya?"
"She is the key," the Elder said. "She has awakened power in all three adults. She can feel the bond. And if she is forced to choose between her parents before they choose each other, the magic will break."
The door to the reading room opened.
Elara stood in the doorway, tears running down her face. Behind her, Maya peeked out, her silver eyes—my silver eyes—wide and scared.
"I heard everything," Elara said, her voice breaking. "Is any of it true? Is any of what happened between us real, or was it just magic?"
Before I could answer, the floor beneath us cracked.
A huge, invisible force exploded through the library, knocking everyone backward. Books flew everywhere. The walls shook. And I felt it—a power so old and so angry that even my Alpha strength felt like nothing.
"BREAK THE BOND AND I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL," a voice that wasn't a voice screamed through the magic itself.
The ancient power Thorne had been warned about. It was waking up. And it was hungry.
Cassian burst through the library doors downstairs, covered in blood, his eyes wild. "They're coming back! The Council sent more soldiers! They know what's happening!"
And then, before anyone could move, the front window burst.
A warrior crashed through, followed by five more. But these weren't sent by Victoria. These carried marks I'd never seen before—older marks. Council marks. Real Council power.
The lead fighter stepped forward, and my blood turned to ice.
Because I recognized his face. He was my father's best friend. And he was looking at me like I was an enemy.
"Alpha Kieran Blackthorn," he announced, "by order of the High Council, you are under arrest for breaking the Prophecy Accord. Surrender the omega and the child, or we will be forced to kill all three of you."
Behind me, I heard Elara gasp. Cassian roared. And Maya started crying.
The prophecy tie wasn't just awakening.
It was about to tear our entire world apart.