The holy grove felt alive.
Ancient trees twisted toward the darkening sky, their branches making a natural cathedral around the stone circle where Elder Thalia waited.
Moonlight filtered through leaves, sending dancing shadows across her weathered face.
Aria's bare feet crunched on fallen leaves as she approached the old woman. Her heart hammered against her chest, each step feeling heavier than the last. "You came."
Elder Thalia's voice held the weight of centuries, though her eyes sparkled with something that might have been excitement. "Good. We have much to discuss before the moon hits its peak." "I don't understand."
Aria stopped at the edge of the stone circle, suddenly afraid to step inside. "Why did you ask for me? I'm nobody special."
Elder Thalia laughed, the sound like wind chimes in a gentle breeze.
"Nobody special? Child, you have no idea what you truly are."
The old woman gestured for Aria to sit on one of the smooth stones. Her actions were graceful despite her age, as if the grove itself gave her strength. "Tonight is your eighteenth birthday,"
Elder Thalia continued, sitting across from Aria.
"Tonight, the Moon Goddess will reveal your destiny." Destiny. The word tasted strange on Aria's tongue.
"I'm just an omega. I cook and clean and try not to bother anyone."
"Is that what you believe?" Elder Thalia tilted her head, observing Aria with eyes that seemed to see straight through her soul. "Tell me, child, have you ever noticed how plants grow bigger when you tend them? How hurt animals seek you out for comfort?"
Aria's breath caught. She had noticed those things, but she'd always assumed it was chance.
"That doesn't mean anything." "Doesn't it?"
Elder Thalia leaned forward, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Your DNA runs deeper than you know. Your grandmother was my closest friend, and she carried the same gift you possess." "What gift?"
Aria's hands trembled in her lap. "I don't have any special powers." "Not yet." Elder Thalia's eyes moved to the sky, where the moon hung like a silver coin. "But tonight, everything changes."
The full moon seemed to pulse with its own heartbeat, getting brighter with each passing moment.
Aria felt a strange warmth spreading through her chest, like sunlight growing from within. "I feel... different," she whispered. "The awakening begins."
Elder Thalia's voice held notes of reverence and fear.
"Aria, what I'm about to tell you must stay secret. Promise me." "I promise."
Elder Thalia reached into her robes, pulling out an old book bound in midnight-blue leather. Silver symbols covered its surface, seeming to shift and move in the moonlight.
"Your grandmother's journal," she explained, putting it in Aria's hands.
"She documented everything about your family's gift."
The book felt warm against Aria's hands, almost alive. The moment her fingers touched the cover, images flashed through her mind. A woman with Aria's dark hair and violet eyes, standing in this very grove. The same woman facing a terrible beast under a blood-red moon. Power radiating from her hands like stars.
"She was the last guardian," Elder Thalia whispered. "Until now." "Guardian of what?"
"The balance between light and darkness. Between order and chaos."
Elder Thalia's face grew grave. "Your family has protected this pack for generations, but the line was thought broken when your parents died."
Aria's chest felt tight. "They died in a car accident." "No, kid. They died protecting you from those who would use your power for evil." The words hit Aria like a physical blow. Everything she'd believed about her life, about her family, crumbled in an instant.
"That's impossible," she breathed. "Look at your hands." Aria glanced down and gasped. Her skin glowed with soft silver light, the same color as the moon above. The radiance pulsed with her heartbeat, getting stronger with each passing second.
"What's happening to me?" "Your true nature is awakening."
Elder Thalia stood, moving to stand beside one of the old stones. "But with power comes danger. There are those who have waited eighteen years for this moment."
A howl echoed through the trees, long and mournful. Then another. And another.
Aria's blood turned to ice. "What was that?" "They know," Elder Thalia whispered, her face pale in the moonlight. "Somehow, they know you're awakening." The howls grew closer, circling the grove like animals stalking prey.
Aria tried to stand, but her legs felt like water. The silver light around her hands flickered and danced, reacting to her fear. "Who knows? Who's out there?" "The Shadow Pack."
Elder Thalia's voice carried ancient fear. "They've been hunting your family for decades. They want to steal your power and use it to destroy everything we've built." Branches cracked in the darkness beyond the stone circle. Yellow eyes glinted through the trees, watching and waiting. "We have to run," Aria whispered.
"No." Elder Thalia's voice turned hard. "Running will only make them stronger. You must learn to handle your gift, and quickly."
The silver light around Aria's hands blazed brighter, responding to her fear. She could feel something huge and powerful stirring within her, like a sleeping dragon opening its eyes.
"I don't know how!" "Feel the moonlight," Elder Thalia directed, her voice calm despite the approaching danger. "Let it flow through you.
Your grandmother's blood remembers what to do." Aria closed her eyes, tilting her face toward the moon. The silver light washed over her skin, and suddenly she could sense everything. Every blade of grass, every night creature, every beating in the forest.
Including the three rapid heartbeats racing toward the grove. Her eyes snapped open. "Someone's coming. Not the Shadow Pack. Someone else."
"Who?" Before Aria could answer, three figures burst through the treeline. The Thorn triplets, their faces angry with determination and something that looked like... desperation?
Kael reached the stone circle first, his green eyes wild.
"Elder Thalia, we felt it. The rising. It's happening now."
Kieran appeared beside his brother, usually calm attitude cracked with urgency.
"The Shadow Pack has crossed our lines. They're going straight here."
Kade skidded to a stop at the circle's edge, his playful nature replaced by deadly gravity. "We have maybe five minutes before they reach the grove." Elder Thalia nodded sadly.
"Then it's time."
"Time for what?" Aria ordered, struggling to her feet. The silver light around her hands pulsed brighter, and all three brothers stared at her with looks she couldn't read.
"Time for you to meet your mates," Elder Thalia said simply. The world seemed to stop. Aria's heart hammered against her sides as she looked from one brother to another. Kael's protective zeal.
Kieran's calculating mind. Kade's strong loyalty. "Mates?" she whispered.
"All of them?" "The Moon Goddess works in mysterious ways," Elder Thalia answered. "Your power is too great for one bond to control. It will take all three boys to help you control it."
Another howl split the night, much closer now. The yellow eyes in the forest expanded, surrounding the grove completely.
Kael stepped into the stone circle, his eyes locked on Aria.
"We felt your waking like lightning in our blood. We had to come." Kieran followed, his gray eyes focused.
"The bond is already formed. Can't you feel it?" Kade entered last, his usual grin replaced by something raw and fragile. "We've been waiting our whole lives without knowing what we were waiting for."
Aria could feel it now. Three golden threads stretching from her heart to theirs, getting stronger with each heartbeat. The mate bond, but unlike anything she'd ever heard of.
"This is impossible," she breathed. "Nothing is impossible on your birthday," Elder Thalia said, but her voice carried fear.
"The question is, will you accept the bond before the Shadow Pack reaches us?"
The howls grew deafening, and dark shapes started moving between the trees. Red eyes gleamed in the darkness, and the smell of blood filled the air. Aria looked at the three brothers standing before her, their faces filled with hope and fear and something deeper. She thought of her silent life, her years of loneliness, her desperate wish to matter to someone. The Moon Goddess had answered her prayer in the most surprising way possible.
"I accept," she whispered. The moment the words left her lips, the world burst in silver light.