Lucien's POV

I punched the wall so hard my knuckles cracked.

"What the hell was that?" I snarled, looking at the kitchen door that Kieran had just slammed shut.

My dog was going crazy inside my head. Pacing and screaming and demanding I go back in there. Demanding I find that girl again and never let her go.

But I couldn't. Because what just happened made no sense at all.

That smell. That incredible, perfect smell that made my whole body shake with need. And then seeing her face and feeling something snap into place in my chest like a puzzle piece I'd been missing my whole life.

The mate bond.

But Kieran felt it too. I saw his face. I felt his shock through our twin link.

How could we both be mated to the same girl? That was impossible. It had never happened before in pack history.

"Lucien," Caelan grabbed my arm. "We need to talk about this."

"Talk about what?" I yanked away from him. "Talk about how our lives just got completely screwed up?"

My hands were shaking. My wolf was so angry I could barely think straight. He wanted to go back in there. He wanted to claim what was ours.

But she wasn't ours. She couldn't be ours. We were meant to mate with Elaria or some other Beta's daughter. Not some random pack member who smelled like heaven and looked at us like we were monsters.

"Did you see how scared she was?" Caelan asked softly.

Yes. I saw. And it made my wolf whine like a kicked puppy.

"She should be scared," I said, even though the words tasted like lies. "We're Alpha's sons. We're scary."

"Not to her," Kieran said. His voice was rough. "Never to her."

I looked at my brother. Perfect Kieran who never lost control. Perfect Kieran who always did what was expected. Perfect Kieran who looked just as messed up as I felt.

"This can't be happening," I said.

But it was happening. The truth was burning in my chest like a fire that wouldn't go out.

"We need to find out who she is," Caelan said.

"We need to stay away from her," I snapped back. "Whatever this is, it's going to cause trouble. Big problems."

But even as I said it, my wolf was laughing at me. Stay away? From our mate? Never going to happen.

I could still smell her. Even out here in the hallway, her smell was stuck in my nose. Honey and blooms and something sweet that made my mouth water.

"I'm going back to the party," I said, because I needed to get away from that door before I broke it down and scared her even more.

The pack house was full of people enjoying our return. They were laughing and talking and having a great time. But all I could think about was her.

Who was she? Why hadn't I noticed her before? How long had she been in our pack?

I grabbed a drink and tried to act normal. Tried to smile and joke with pack members like I always did. But my wolf was hunting. Searching the crowd for any sign of that incredible smell.

Then I caught it again.

Faint but definitely there. Coming from the direction of the dining room.

My feet started moving before my brain caught up. I pushed through the crowd, following my nose like a bloodhound. People were calling my name, trying to talk to me, but I couldn't hear them over the noise in my head.

She was close. Very close.

I turned the corner into the dining room and froze.

There she was.

She had her back to me, holding a tray of dirty dishes. Her dark hair was pulled back in a simple knot. She was small and delicate, but something about the way she moved made my wolf sit up and pay attention.

She was graceful. Quiet. Like she was trying not to be noticed.

Why would someone try to be invisible in their own pack?

I took a step forward, and she must have heard me because she turned around.

Our eyes met for the second time.

The world turned sideways.

The mate bond hit me again, stronger this time. Like lightning hitting the same place twice. My knees almost buckled from the force of it.

She was beautiful. Not pretty like Elaria with her perfect makeup and fancy clothes. Beautiful in a quiet way that made my chest tight.

Her eyes were huge and dark, and right now they looked frightened.

Of me.

That hurt more than it should have.

"Hi," I said, because I couldn't think of anything else to say.

She dropped the tray.

Dishes crashed to the floor, breaking into a million pieces. The sound echoed through the dining room like gunshots.

"I'm sorry!" she gasped, dropping to her knees to pick up the broken pieces. "I'm so sorry! I'll clean it up!"

Her hands were shaking so bad she could barely hold the broken dishes. A piece of glass cut her finger, and she winced.

The smell of her blood hit my nose, and my wolf went totally insane.

She was hurt. Our mate was hurt.

I was across the room and kneeling beside her before I even realized I was moving.

"Don't," I said, catching her hands to stop her from picking up more glass. "You're bleeding."

Her skin was so soft. So warm. Touching her sent electricity shooting up my arms.

She looked up at me with those big dark eyes, and I forgot how to breathe.

"Who are you?" I asked quietly.

"Aisla," she whispered. Her voice was like music. "I'm... I'm just an omega."

Just an omega.

Like she was apologizing for living.

That made my wolf snarl with rage. Not at her. Never at her. At whoever had made her think she was "just" anything.

"Aisla," I repeated, trying her name on my tongue. It felt perfect.

She tried to pull her hands away, but I couldn't let go. Didn't want to let go.

"You're bleeding," I said again, looking at the small cut on her finger.

Without thinking, I brought her finger to my mouth and licked the blood away.

She gasped.

The taste of her blood on my mouth sent fire through my veins. My wolf howled in victory.

Mine. Mine. Mine.

"Lucien!" Kieran's voice cut through the haze in my head. "What are you doing?"

I looked up to find both my brothers standing in the doorway. Kieran looked angry. Caelan looked worried.

But that wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was Elaria standing right behind them, her face twisted with rage and something that looked like murder.

"What," she said in a voice like ice, "is going on here?"

Caelan's POV

I ran.

Not away from the dining room mess, but toward it. Because while Kieran was yelling at Lucien and Elaria was screaming about treason, all I could think about was her.

Aisla.

The girl whose name tasted like honey when I whispered it in my head.

The girl who was my mate. My bros' mate. Our mate.

How was that even possible?

My wolf was roaring inside my chest, demanding I find her and make sure she was okay. The broken dishes, her bleeding finger, the fear in her eyes - it all made my protective instincts go crazy.

I pushed through the crowd that had gathered to watch the action. Everyone was talking at once, asking what happened, why Elaria looked ready to kill someone. But I ignored them all.

I had to find Aisla.

Her smell trail led back toward the kitchen. That sweet smell of wildflowers and summer rain that made my heart race and my hands shake.

The kitchen door was open, swinging back and forth like someone had rushed through it in a hurry.

I stepped inside and found her.

She was pressed against the far wall, exactly where we'd first seen her. But now she was crying. Silent tears running down her face while she hugged herself like she was trying to hold her pieces together.

My heart broke into a million pieces.

"Hey," I said softly, not wanting to scare her more than she already was.

She looked up at me with those huge dark eyes, and I saw pure fear there.

"Please don't hurt me," she whispered.

Those words hit me like a punch to the gut. Hurt her? I would rather cut off my own arm than hurt her.

"I would never hurt you," I said, taking a small step closer. "Never, Aisla. I promise."

She flinched when I said her name. Like hearing it from my lips was painful.

"You shouldn't know my name," she said. "Alpha's sons don't know omega names."

The way she said it made my wolf snarl. Like she thought she wasn't important enough for us to notice. Like she was used to being unseen.

"Well, I know it now," I said gently. "And I'm not going to forget it."

She shook her head furiously. "This is wrong. All of this is wrong. You're supposed to mate with Elaria. Everyone knows that."

"Maybe what everyone knows is wrong," I said.

She laughed, but it sounded broken. "You don't understand. I'm nobody. I'm the lowest omega in the pack. I clean dishes and scrub floors and try not to get in anyone's way."

"You're not nobody to me."

The words came out before I could stop them. Raw and honest and possibly too much too soon. But they were true.

From the moment I smelled her scent, she became the most important person in my life.

"This can't be happening," she said, more to herself than to me. "The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes like this."

"What if it's not a mistake?"

She stared at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was. Everything I thought I knew about my future had just burst into pieces.

"Your brothers hate me," she said quietly.

"They don't hate you. They're confused. We all are." I took another step closer. "This has never happened before. Three brothers sharing one mate? It's impossible. But it's happening anyway."

"I felt it too," she whispered so softly I almost didn't hear her. "When I looked at all of you. Something just... clicked into place. Like I was finally whole."

My wolf practically purred at her words. She felt it. She felt the bond just like we did.

"Then why are you crying?" I asked.

"Because this is going to destroy everything," she said. "Your father will never allow it. The pack will never accept it. And Elaria..." She shuddered. "She looked like she wanted to kill me."

She was right. This was going to cause trouble. Big problems. But looking at her tear-streaked face, I realized I didn't care.

"Let me worry about my father," I said. "And Elaria. And the pack."

"You can't protect me from all of them."

"Watch me."

For a second, something like hope flickered in her eyes. But then it died.

"I have to go," she said, pushing away from the wall. "I have work to finish."

"Aisla, wait-"

But she was already moving, running past me toward the door. I reached out to stop her, and my fingers brushed her arm.

Lightning shot through me at the touch. The mate bond flared so bright I saw stars.

She gasped and stumbled.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly. "I didn't mean to-" "I have to go," she said again, but her voice was shaky now. "Please. Just... let me go."

Everything in me screamed to follow her. To not let her out of my sight. But she looked so scared, so overwhelmed, that I pushed myself to stay put.

"Okay," I said. "But this isn't over, Aisla. We need to talk about this."

She nodded but didn't look back as she ran out of the kitchen.

I stood there for a long moment, breathing in the lingering traces of her smell and trying to figure out what to do next.

My phone buzzed. A text from Kieran: "Emergency pack meeting. Dad's office. Now."

Great. Time to face the music.

But as I headed toward Dad's office, I caught something that made my blood freeze.

Aisla's smell. But not from the kitchen.

From outside.

She wasn't going back to work. She was running. Actually running away from the pack house, going toward the woods.

My wolf went wild. Our mate was running, possibly in danger, definitely upset because of us.

I changed direction and ran for the back door.

The woods were dark and full of shadows. Perfect for hiding. Perfect for getting lost.

Perfect for getting hurt.

I followed her smell deeper into the trees, my heart pounding with every step. She was going fast, but I was faster.

Then I heard it.

A scream.

Not just any scream. Aisla's scream. Full of fear and pain.

I ran harder than I'd ever run in my life, crashing through trees and jumping over fallen logs.

I burst into a small area and found her.

She was on the ground, backing away from something I couldn't see in the dark.

"Aisla!" I shouted.

She looked at me with wild, frightened eyes.

"Caelan, run!" she screamed. "It's not what you think! I'm not-"

A growl cut off her words.

But it didn't come from the darkness.

It came from her.

Her eyes flashed gold. Her fingers grew claws. Her teeth became fangs.

And I realized with shocking, impossible clarity that Aisla wasn't just an omega.

Aisla was something more dangerous.

Aisla's POV

I tripped over a tree root and went flying.

My hands scraped against bark as I caught myself, but I didn't stop running. I couldn't stop running.

Behind me, I could hear them crashing through the woods. All three of them. The Alpha's kids were chasing me like I was some kind of criminal.

Maybe I was. Maybe wanting something I could never have made me a thief.

My lungs burned, but I pushed deeper into the forest. These trees had been my hiding place since I was little. When the other pack kids made fun of me for being weak. When Elaria and her friends called me names. When I needed to cry where no one could see.

The trees knew my secrets. They wouldn't give me away.

But my dog was going crazy inside my head. She wanted to stop running. She wanted to go back to them.

To our mates.

"No," I gasped out loud. "They're not our mates. They can't be."

But even as I said it, I could still feel the electric shock from when Caelan's fingers brushed my arm. Could still taste the memory of Lucien sucking the blood from my cut. Could still see the way Kieran's eyes went wide when he first saw me.

The mate bond.

It was real. It was happening. And it was going to ruin everything.

I fell into a small clearing and finally stopped running. My legs gave out, and I fell against a fallen log, gasping for air.

What was I going to do?

I was nobody. Less than nobody. The lowest omega in the pack. I cleaned up after people, stayed quiet, tried not to cause issues.

And now I was mated to the three most important wolves in our area.

It was like some kind of terrible joke.

"This is impossible," I whispered to the empty space. "The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes like this."

But what if she did? What if this was all some cosmic mistake that would get me banished or killed?

I thought about my mother. The stories the older omegas whispered when they thought I couldn't hear. How she vanished when I was a baby. How no one would tell me what really happened to her.

What if the same thing happened to me?

A branch snapped behind me.

I spun around, my heart jumping into my throat.

Kieran stepped into the clearing. His clothes were torn from running through the trees, and his hair was messy. But his eyes were still that bright gold color that made my stomach flip.

"Found you," he said quietly.

"Please," I whispered. "Just leave me alone."

"Can't do that."

More branches snapped. Lucien appeared on my left, breathing hard. His shirt was ripped, and he had scratches on his arms. But he looked at me like I was the most important thing in the world.

Then Caelan appeared from my right, completing the circle around me.

I was stuck.

My wolf purred with happiness, but I felt like throwing up.

"Why did you run?" Caelan asked. His voice was gentle, but I could hear the hurt underneath.

"Because this is crazy," I said, backing up until I hit the fallen log. "Because you're Alpha's sons and I'm nobody and this can't be real."

"It's real," Kieran said. His voice was rough, like he was fighting with himself. "Believe me, I wish it wasn't. But it's real."

That hurt more than it should have. Of course he wished it wasn't real. Of course he didn't want to be stuck with me.

"The mate bond doesn't lie," Lucien said. He was watching me like an animal, but not in a scary way. More like he was afraid I might disappear.

"But it's not supposed to work like this," I said. "One girl, three mates? That's not how it works."

"Maybe the rules are changing," Caelan said softly.

I shook my head furiously. "Your father will never allow it. The pack will never accept it. And Elaria..." I shuddered, remembering the murder in her eyes. "She's going to kill me."

"No one is going to hurt you," Kieran said, and suddenly he sounded very much like the future Alpha he was born to be. "I won't let them."

"You can't protect me from everyone."

"Watch us," Lucien growled.

The way they said it, like they really meant it, made my chest tight. Like maybe I wasn't totally alone after all.

But then reality crashed back down.

"This is going to destroy the pack," I whispered.

"Let it," Caelan said furiously. "If the pack can't handle change, maybe it needs to be destroyed."

I looked at him. Sweet, gentle Caelan talking about ruining the pack for me. It was too much.

"I can't," I said, getting to my feet. "I can't be the reason everything falls apart."

I tried to run again, but Kieran moved faster than lightning. His hand caught my wrist, stopping me.

The moment his skin touched mine, the world burst.

The mate bond hit me like a wave. Not just with Kieran, but with all three of them at once. It was like being hit by lightning while drowning in fire while flying through space.

I could feel everything they felt. Kieran's uncertainty and duty warring with desperate need. Lucien's anger and protectiveness burning like acid. Caelan's gentle love wrapping around me like a warm blanket.

And underneath it all, their dogs calling to mine.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

"Oh," I gasped, my knees buckling.

Caelan caught me before I could fall, and his touch sent another shock wave through the bond. Then Lucien's hand touched my shoulder, and I thought I might die from the pressure.

All three links pulsing at once. All three of them connected to me and to each other through me.

"Aisla," Kieran said, his voice forced. "Look at me."

I looked up into his bright eyes and saw my whole future there. Not just with him, but with all of them.

"How?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said honestly. "But it's happening."

"What do we do?" Caelan asked.

None of us had an answer.

The mate ties were getting stronger by the second. I could feel their emotions mixing with mine until I couldn't tell where I ended and they started.

It was beautiful and frightening and completely overwhelming.

"I can't handle this," I said, my vision starting to blur.

"Yes, you can," Lucien said furiously. "You're stronger than you think."

But I wasn't strong. I was just a scared omega who was in way over her head.

The clearing started spinning. The mate bonds were too much, too intense, pulling me in three different ways at once.

"Aisla?" Kieran's voice sounded far away.

I tried to answer, but the words wouldn't come.

The last thing I saw before everything went black was three pairs of glowing eyes staring down at me with fear and something that looked like... Love?

Then darkness took me whole.

But just before I fainted totally, I heard something that made my blood run cold.

Howls in the distance. Not from my mates.

From other dogs.

Wolves that were hunting us.