he golden thread wasn't meant to glow like this.
Aria's chest burned as three separate ties blazed to life, each one pulling her toward a different Thorn brother. The sacred clearing fell silent except for her ragged breaths and the shocked gasps of the pack.
"No." Alpha Calder's voice cut through the night like a blade. "This cannot be."
But the proof blazed before everyone's eyes. Three golden lines stretched from Aria's heart to each triplet, pulsing with ancient magic that made the air shimmer. Kael stepped forward first, his hand reaching toward the light linking them.
"I feel it too," he whispered, wonder and fear mixing in his voice.
Kieran moved next, his usual calm broken. "The link... it's real. With all of us."
Kade laughed, but it sounded wild and broken. "Well, this changes everything, doesn't it?"
Mara's scream pierced the night. "Lies! Dark magic! She's using banned spells!"
The Beta's daughter lunged forward, but Elder Thalia's staff stopped her path. The old woman's eyes glowed silver in the moonlight.
"The bonds cannot be faked, child," Thalia said softly.
"The Moon Goddess has spoken."
"The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes like this!" Mara snarled, her perfect calm cracking. "I am the chosen Luna! Me!" Alpha Calder's face turned stone-cold.
His huge frame shook with barely controlled rage. "Explain this, Elder. Now." Thalia's aged hands gripped her staff tighter. "There are... old stories. Legends of ties that connect one soul to many. But they haven't occurred for ages." "Why now?"
Kael demanded. "Why her?" Aria felt all eyes on her and wanted to sink into the earth. The links pulled at her heart like invisible chains, each brother calling to something deep inside her soul. The feeling was overwhelming, terrifying, and somehow... right.
"I don't know," she whispered. "I never asked for this." "Of course you didn't ask," Kieran said, watching her with those calculating eyes. "But the question is why the Moon Goddess picked you. What makes you special?"
"Nothing!" Aria's voice cracked. "I'm nobody. I'm just an omega." "Not anymore," Kade said with that reckless look. "Now you're the girl who broke every rule in the book."
Alpha Calder stalked closer, his wolf showing in his glowing eyes. "This changes everything. The pack order, the bloodlines, the customs we've followed for generations." "Maybe those traditions need changing,"
Kael said quietly, getting a sharp look from his father. "Don't you dare," the Alpha growled. "I will not have some omega destroy what we've built." "She's not destroying anything,"
Kieran said, shocking everyone. "She might be saving it." All heads turned to him. Even Mara stopped her angry pacing.
"What do you mean?" Elder Thalia asked.
Kieran's jaw tightened. "The curse. It's been getting stronger, hasn't it? The changes during the full moon are becoming more violent. More dangerous."
Kael and Kade exchanged looks. They all knew he was right. "What if this bond isn't random?" Kieran continued. "What if it's connected to breaking the curse?"
"You're grasping at shadows," Alpha Calder snapped. "Am I?" Kieran challenged. "When was the last time you saw three ties form at once? When was the last time an omega showed power like this?"
Aria's head spun. "I don't have any power." "The bonds themselves are power," Elder Thalia said slowly. "Ancient power. Dangerous power."
Mara's laugh was sharp and bitter. "So we're supposed to bow down to this... this nothing? Just because some impossible bond chose to show up?" "Watch your tone," Kael warned, stepping protectively closer to Aria.
"Or what?" Mara's eyes flashed. "You'll guard your new toy? All three of you sharing one poor omega?" Kade moved so fast Aria barely saw him. One second Mara was standing, the next she was pinned against a tree with Kade's hand at her throat. "Say that again," he whispered dangerously. "Enough!"
Alpha Calder roared. "Release her, Kade. Now." Kade's wild eyes met his father's for a long moment before he stepped back.
Mara gasped and rubbed her throat, her face twisted with hate. "This is madness," the Alpha said. "I won't have my sons fighting over some omega who brings nothing but chaos." "Maybe chaos is what we need," Kael said softly. The clearing exploded in shocked murmurs from the watching pack members. No one challenged the Alpha directly. No one except his own sons, allegedly.
Alpha Calder's face clouded. "You forget yourself, boy."
"Do I?" Kael's voice grew stronger. "When was the last time you looked at what our pack really needs instead of what tradition demands?" "Tradition keeps us strong!" "Tradition is killing us,"
Kieran said simply. "The curse gets stronger every month. We're losing pack members to fear and doubt. And now the Moon Goddess sends us something new, something that might be our rescue, and you want to reject it because it doesn't fit your plans?"
Aria felt the bonds pulse stronger, as if reacting to the conflict. The golden threads began to lighten, casting everything in an otherworldly glow. "Look at that,"
Elder Thalia breathed. "The links respond to their unity. When the brothers stand together, the magic grows stronger." "Magic that shouldn't exist,"
Alpha Calder growled. "But it does exist," a new voice said from the darkness. Everyone turned as Darius stepped into the clearing.
Mara's cousin moved with predatory ease, his dark eyes fixed on Aria. "And magic like that... well, it makes some very powerful enemies very nervous." The temperature seemed to drop ten degrees. Elder Thalia's staff began to glow with warning light.
"What enemies?"
Alpha Calder required. Darius smiled, but it wasn't nice. "The kind that have been waiting centuries for power like this to rise again. The kind that destroyed the last omega who could bond with multiple mates." Aria's blood turned to ice.
"The last one?" "Oh yes," Darius said softly.
"You're not the first, little omega. But the others... they didn't live long enough to fulfill their destiny." The bonds flared brighter, and Aria felt something dark and hungry watching them from the trees beyond. The triplets moved instinctively closer to her, making a protective circle.
"Who's out there?" Kael growled, his wolf rising to the surface. Darius's smile widened. "Old friends. Very old friends who've been waiting a very long time for another tri-bond omega to appear." Elder Thalia's voice shook.
"Impossible. They were destroyed centuries ago."
"Were they?" Darius tilted his head. "Or did they just get very good at hiding?" A howl sounded from the darkness beyond the trees. Then another. And another. The sound made Aria's bones ache with fear. These weren't pack dogs. These were something else entirely. "Run,"
Elder Thalia whispered. "Everyone run. Now." But as the pack scrambled to flee, Aria understood the terrible truth. The golden ties anchoring her to the triplets weren't just a gift from the Moon Goddess. They were a light. And something old and hungry had finally found what it was looking for.