CHAPTER THREE : THE MATE BOND

LEILA'S POV 

 Alpha voice. Ronan.

"I can't." Maddox didn't move. "She's…"

"I know what she is." Ronan appeared in the doorway, and my breath caught.

He looked... wrong. His ice-blue eyes were too bright. His jaw too tight. Every muscle in his body was tensed like he was holding himself back from something.

His gaze found me behind Maddox, and something cracked in his expression.

"Get away from her," Ronan commanded his brother.

"No."

"That's an order."

"I don't care." Maddox's claws extended further. "My wolf has already chosen. You can't make me leave her."

"Neither can mine." The admission seemed to cost Ronan something. His control wavered. "Which is why you need to get away from her right now before we both do something that gets us all killed."

I didn't understand. "What are you talking about?"

Ronan's eyes met mine. For one second, I saw past his cold exterior to the chaos beneath.

"You're in heat, Leila. And every unmated male wolf in this pack house can smell it. But we..." His voice dropped. "We're smelling something more. Something that's making our wolves demand we claim you. Bond with you. Now."

"But that's illegal," I whispered. "Step-siblings can't…"

"We know." His jaw clenched harder. "Which is why this is a problem."

A crash came from downstairs. Someone roared, wordless, furious.

"That's Alec," Maddox said quietly. "He's fighting it too."

"We need to contain this." Ronan pulled out his phone. "I'm calling Dad. He'll know what to..."

A wolf crashed through my already-broken window.

I screamed.

The wolf was lean, sandy-brown, with Alec's intelligent hazel eyes. He landed in a shower of glass, shook himself, and shifted before I could even process what was happening.

Alec stood in my room, naked, breathing hard. His glasses were somehow still on his face.

"I couldn't..." He gasped. "I tried to stay away. Tried to logic through it. But my wolf wouldn't listen. He just kept saying mate, mate, MATE until I…" He noticed Maddox and Ronan. "Oh god. It's not just me."

"No." Ronan's control was fracturing. I could see it in the way his hands shook. "It's all three of us."

Silence fell.

Three brothers. One girl. An impossible bond trying to form.

"This is a triad bond," Alec said quietly, his analytical mind still working even in crisis. "The odds of that occurring are less than 0.001%. And between step-siblings? It's unheard of. Forbidden by pack law."

"I don't care about the odds," Maddox growled. "She's ours."

"She can't be ours!" Ronan's voice cracked. "Do you understand what happens if this bond forms? The Council will execute all four of us. No trial. No appeal. Just death."

"What's going on?"

My mother's voice came from the hallway. She pushed past Ronan, took one look at the scene—me partially shifted, three shirtless brothers surrounding me, the destroyed room, and went pale.

"No," she breathed. "Not a triad bond. Please, not that."

"You knew this could happen." Ronan's accusation was ice-cold. "Didn't you?"

"I knew she was special. I knew her father suppressed her wolf. But I never thought..." Mom's eyes found mine. "Baby, I'm so sorry. I should have told you. Should have prepared you. But your father made me promise. Made me swear I'd keep you hidden."

"Hidden from what?" I demanded.

"From people who would use you. Hunt you. Kill you for what you are."

"And what am I?"

Before she could answer, Alpha Marcus appeared in the doorway.

He took in the scene with one sweep of his eyes. When he saw all three of his sons in my room, when he saw the way they were positioned around me, protective, possessive, territorial, his expression went from concern to horror.

"No," he said quietly. "Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me the bond hasn't started forming."

No one answered.

Marcus's face hardened into an Alpha mask. "Everyone out. Now. Before you make this worse."

"Dad…" Maddox started.

"OUT!" The Alpha command hit like a physical force.

All three brothers staggered back, fighting the compulsion but unable to resist. They moved toward the door, every step clearly agonizing.

Maddox looked back at me. Our eyes met.

And I felt it. For the first time.

A thread. Thin, fragile, but there. Connecting us.

The bond had already begun.

Then Marcus slammed up barriers, literal walls of alpha power that cut the connection.

I gasped at the sudden emptiness.

"Mom, what's happening to me?"

She moved to hold me, but Marcus stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't. If the bond strengthens before we can contain this, it'll be too late." He pulled out his phone. "I'm calling an emergency pack meeting. And then..." His jaw clenched. "Then we figure out how to break a triad bond before the Council finds out it exists."

"You can't break a true mate bond," Mom whispered.

"Then we'll suppress it. Hide it. Do whatever it takes." Marcus's eyes were hard. "Because I'm not losing my sons. Not even for her."

The words cut deeper than any physical wound.

Not even for her.

I wasn't worth saving. Not if it meant risking his real children.

"Get her to the containment room," Marcus ordered. "Full magical suppression. No one goes in or out without my permission."

"Marcus, she's my daughter…"

"She's a hybrid," he cut her off. "And until we know what broke the suppression, until we understand what she's capable of, she's a threat."

Guards appeared. They moved toward me carefully, like approaching a wild animal.

"Don't touch her!" Maddox's voice came from the hallway. He was fighting the alpha command, bleeding from the effort. "If you hurt her…"

"Stand down, son." Marcus's voice was tired. "Please. Before you make me do something we'll both regret."

I watched the fight drain out of Maddox. Watched him slump against the wall, defeated.

The guards reached me.

"I'm sorry," one of them murmured as they placed silver-laced cuffs on my wrists. "Alpha's orders."

The silver burned. Suppressed what was left of my partial shift. Forced me fully human again.

But I could still feel them. Three threads. Thin. Fragile. Pulling at my heart.

Three mates I couldn't have.

Three brothers who would die if they claimed me.

As the guards led me away, I heard my mother's broken voice:

"This is exactly what he feared. What her father warned me about."

"Then he should have done a better job hiding her," Marcus said coldly.

"He did his best. The suppression should have lasted a lifetime."

"But it didn't. Which means someone broke it. Deliberately." Marcus's voice dropped. "And I think I know who."

"Marcus, no. He couldn't have found her. We were so careful…"

"He's been searching for eighteen years. And now he knows exactly where she is."

Silence.

Then Mom's terrified whisper: "Dane."

The name sent chills down my spine.

Who was Dane?

And why was everyone so afraid of him?