Chapter 6

Aiden

I had learned three absolute truths in my life.

To never give up.

To never underestimate anyone.

To never ignore what my beast of a brother Brayden said.

Bardou was a wise, visionary wolf and an extraordinary element in the triad of beasts that complemented us. My own beast respected Bardou to the point that he saw him as an ultimate reference, so I never ignored what that beast said.

“Bardou can be wrong,” Jayden said immediately.

I knew we were going to have problems with him and his youngest child syndrome.

I adored my brother, but he was a problem of epic proportions. If there was a problem in the herd, the first thing my father and the council did was rule out Jayden as the originator. That's how bad his reputation was.

We knew the disasters were his way of getting the attention he sought, but I was sick of it. Everything Brayden and I did with our hands, Jayden would mess up with his damn feet.

“When has he ever been wrong, Bardou?” I asked Jayden with annoyance. “Point out a single time he has, and I'll grant you the sentence.”

“You don't have to concede anything to me, just because I'm the next Alpha doesn't give you the right to want to assume the role of an almighty god,” Jayden said with golden eyes.

I want to fight; don't fall for their game, said my wolf, Akela.

“Focus on the most important thing,” said Brayden. “We have the same mate.”

“I refuse to share my soulmate with you,” Jayden said angrily and stood up angrily, ready to leave. "It's impossible. I can't believe it."

The birthmark of the three moons on our shoulder began to light up immediately, a sign that we were to remember that we shared in the same destiny. Whether Jayden liked it or not, the three of us had to share the same things.

Whenever any of us said loudly that we didn't want to be close, didn't want to share the same opportunities, or didn't want the same life, the three-moon mark would light up.

It was a clear way for destiny to rebuke us.

“Damn,” Jayden said angrily before lying back down on the puff. “Does the light indicate that it's true?”

“Yes,” Brayden said with surprise. “Like it or not, we share mate.”

“And a very peculiar one,” I said in surprise and then cursed through my teeth.

“What's wrong?” asked Jayden with a frown.

“Theo,” I said and looked at my brothers with annoyance. “Their mother won't accept Elara; they gave her a hard time while Tracy is in the hospital.”

“Shit, I saw that Beta David went to the hospital, but I didn't think it was because of Tracy,” Jayden said. “What the heck happened?”

Brayden had a frown on his face, but he pulled out his phone and started texting. Minutes later, he gave us a brief rundown of Elara's stay from the time she had bequeathed until that night.

“They treated her that badly?” questioned Jayden angrily.

“She's a clear target,” Brayden said with annoyance. “It was what you told our mother, do you forget?”

“No, but—”

“They hate her because she makes Tracy feel bad,” I said as I read my friend's messages. "I told Theo they couldn't do that, that at the end of the day the new girl was his sister, but he didn't answer me anymore. Maybe I should go have a chat with him."

“Come on, the three of us,” Brayden said, and I raised my eyebrows. “Theo's a friend of ours too, so it's not weird.”

“Better invite him over here,” Jayden said. “It's more natural than the three of us showing up at the Beta's house.”

I raised my eyebrows and looked at my younger brother in surprise.

“You really don't want to go crawl into Elara's bed?” I asked calmly.

The question wasn't asked with malice; it was just something so normal, I didn't see the blow he gave me with such speed coming. I fell on the floor so violently that I shook my head. Sometimes I forgot his damn powers.

I wiped my bleeding lip and glared at Jayden angrily.

“Don't talk about her like she's a whore,” Jayden sneered. “She's your mate; she deserves respect.”

That made me feel like shit, and I looked at Brayden, my other brother, who just glared at me, which was unusual. He usually used to be on my side.

You fucked up, Akela growled angrily.

“I said it without thinking,” I said and swallowed spit before standing up. “If you ever weigh me like that again, I swear to the goddess I'm going to give you the worst beating of your fucking life.”

“I don't care; you say anything that dirty about her again and I'll kill you,” Jayden said.

“Don't argue anymore; you're missing the most important thing in all of this,” Brayden said calmly. Jayden and I looked at him with a frown. "She's ours, no matter how or why something like this happened. She's ours, and she doesn't recognize us. Don't you think it's more interesting to find out why she doesn't recognize us?“

”Her beast," I whispered in surprise.

“Exactly, she is the daughter of a powerful Beta, and even if her mother was a half-breed, she should have an awakened beast,” Brayden said. "When I touched her, I felt part of her core; that's what really scared me, not the mating bond as such. It was the fact that her power vibrated with mine."

“It's not normal,” Jayden said in disbelief. “When I touched her, I felt a lot of things, but I didn't realize what it was; I just wanted to have her.”

They both looked at me, and I lifted my shoulders.

“What I felt when I touched it I can't even describe; the bond itself terrified me,” I said truthfully. “It was powerful.”

Brayden raised his eyebrows, understanding what had happened to me, but Jayden just frowned, though he didn't say anything.

“Text Theo; don't talk to him because of the pack's shared mental link, so no one notices anything strange,” Brayden said, and I pulled out my phone.

Aiden: Is everything okay?

Theo: This is bullshit. The damn half-breed made my parents fight for the first time since I can remember, Tracy almost died, and I just want her to get the hell out of here. I'm not going to let her have her way to replace my sister. Tracy is my only sister.

I showed the message to my brothers; Jayden cursed, and Brayden sighed.

“This is going to end badly,” Brayden said. “We need to figure out a way to get her out of that house, to get her here so we can protect her and study her.”

“Do you want us to tell everyone that she's ours?” asked Jayden eagerly.

“No,” Brayden said carefully. "The kind of bond we have is somewhat unusual, so we shouldn't take anything for granted; the best we can do is study the interactions we have and investigate. It may be somewhat unwise to openly claim her as a mate."

“Why?” I asked.

“Because they can't believe us,” Jayden said. "How do you explain to a purist council that the three heirs to the most powerful Alpha of all share the same woman as mate and that she's a half-breed? It would be a fucking pain in the ass."

I raised my eyebrows at Jayden's perception.

“Exactly,” Brayden said before sitting down next to him. “Tomorrow she's going to be submitted for blood testing; we need to check that we feel the bond, and following that, we need to make the decision to involve our parents.”

“Do you think that's a good idea?” asked Jayden seriously.

“The fact that we have the same young woman as our mate is going to shake our parents up, but I know Mom will be okay with it, and if she is, Dad won't hesitate to help us,” Brayden said confidently. "The informant I have at the Beta's house said the situation doesn't look good for Elara. So depending on what we see tomorrow, let's be cautious."

“This is all so strange,” Jayden said with some disappointment. “I always had the belief that each of us was going to have a woman who suited only us.”

“Fate is giving us a woman who is designed for all three of us,” I said in disbelief. “That's not common; don't belittle that.”

“What if she's not one of the three?” asked Jayden. “What if she just has to choose between the three of us?”

Brayden and I frowned.

“We need to look into that, but in the meantime, we need to stay out of it, look out for her, and keep things from going wrong,” Brayden said. “We have to find answers before we even take a big step.”

“What step are you talking about?” my mother asked with a frown.

We had been so deep in conversation that she slipped into my room and made it to the terrace without our noticing. Mom folded her arms and raised her eyebrows.

“I want to know what's going on with my children right now,” my mother said.

“Tracy is in the hospital,” Brayden said. “She tried to kill herself because the Beta's daughter came in and things got out of control.”

My mother was surprised.

“By the goddess!” she said in surprise. “I'll call Lauren; this is serious.”

My mother left, and Jayden and I looked at Brayden in amazement.

“You're good,” Jayden said and laughed.

“I had to distract her,” my middle brother said.

I hoped that ability to get us out of trouble didn't end up backfiring.