THE CHASE

Aisla’s POV

I tripped over a tree root and went flying.

My hands scraped against the 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 sons 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 wolf was going crazy inside my head. She wanted to stop running. She wanted to go back to them.

To our mates.

“No,” I gasped. “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. Still taste the memory of Lucien sucking the blood from my cut. Still see the way Kieran’s eyes widened when he first saw me.

The mate bond.

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

I stumbled into a small clearing and finally stopped. My legs gave out, and I collapsed 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, and tried not to cause trouble.

And now I was mated to the three most powerful wolves in the territory.

It was like some kind of cruel joke.

“This is impossible,” I whispered to the empty air. “The Moon Goddess doesn’t make mistakes like this.”

But what if she did? What if this was all some cosmic error 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 leaping 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—bright gold and intense—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, scratches running along his arms. But he looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered.

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

I was trapped.

My wolf purred with happiness, but my stomach churned.

“Why did you run?” Caelan asked. His voice was gentle, but I could hear the hurt beneath it.

“Because this is insane,” I said, backing up until I hit the fallen log. “Because you’re the 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 himself. “Believe me, I wish it wasn’t. But it is.”

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 a predator, but not in a frightening way—more like he was afraid I might vanish.

“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. “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’s going to hurt you,” Kieran said, his tone suddenly commanding—Alpha-like. “I won’t let them.”

“You can’t protect me from everyone.”

“Watch us,” Lucien growled.

The way they said it—like they truly meant it—made my chest tighten. Maybe I wasn’t as alone as I thought.

But reality crashed back down.

“This is going to destroy the pack,” I whispered.

“Let it,” Caelan said fiercely. “If the pack can’t handle change, maybe it needs to be destroyed.”

I looked at him—sweet, gentle Caelan—talking about tearing down his own world for me. It was too much.

“I can’t,” I said, forcing myself up. “I can’t be the reason everything falls apart.”

I tried to run again, but Kieran was faster. His hand caught my wrist, stopping me cold.

The moment his skin touched mine, the world exploded.

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

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

And beneath it all, their wolves calling to mine.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

“Oh,” I gasped, my knees buckling.

Caelan caught me before I fell, his touch sending another shock through the bond. Then Lucien’s hand landed on my shoulder, and I thought I might die from the force of it.

All three links pulsed at once—binding me, consuming me.

“Aisla,” Kieran said, his voice tight. “Look at me.”

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

“How?” I whispered.

“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 growing stronger by the second. I could feel their emotions mixing with mine until I couldn’t tell where I ended and they began.

It was beautiful—and terrifying.

“I can’t handle this,” I said, my vision blurring.

“Yes, you can,” Lucien said fiercely. “You’re stronger than you think.”

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

The clearing spun. The bonds pulled me in three directions at once, too intense to bear.

“Aisla?” Kieran’s voice sounded far away.

I tried to answer, but no words came.

The last thing I saw before the darkness claimed me was three pairs of glowing eyes staring down at me with fear—and something that looked like... love.

Then the world went black.

But just before I lost consciousness completely, I heard something that made my blood run cold.

Howls in the distance.

Not from my mates.

From other wolves.

Hunte