CHAPTER FIVE: MATE!

King Aiden's POV ( King of Riverwind pack)

I strode quickly through the woods of Silverclaw pack, the cold air biting into my skin but doing nothing to cool the heat of irritation burning in my chest. 

My car had broken down right at their border, leaving Fendric, my personal guard, and I stranded. But I wasn’t about to waste more time than necessary. I needed to see Lucien, and I needed to see him now.

Fendric stayed behind to handle the repairs, while I continued on foot. Each step I took through the woods brought me closer to their pack house. The scent of pine and damp earth clung to the air, laced faintly with the musk of wolves. 

The forest was quiet except for the crunch of leaves beneath my boots. My senses stayed sharp, ears tuned, my eyes scanning. Even without Fendric beside me, I was hardly defenseless. Still, there was something in the air. A pull. Like the land itself whispered that something, or someone, waited just ahead.

My wolf stirred restlessly inside me, pushing against the edges of my control. What's got you so restless? I asked him silently, but all I received was a deep growl that rumbled through my chest, impatient and hungry.

A sound—light, quick footsteps—pulled me out of my thoughts. My senses sharpened instantly. Someone was coming fast, careless.

I turned just as a figure stumbled out from the path ahead, colliding into me before she could even look up. Her small frame slammed into my chest, and I caught her without thinking, my hand gripping her shoulder

The instant our skin met, fire raced through me.

Her scent slammed into me—wild honeysuckle and lavender. My wolf snapped to attention with a fierce snarl.

“Mate!” he howled in my head, pure joy flooding through me so strong I could barely breathe.

I froze, staring down at the woman blinking up at me with wide, startled eyes. She looked disoriented, as if she’d been running blindly, her breath shallow and uneven. But beneath the panic, there was strength, fire, and something raw in the way she met my gaze.

Lucien’s daughter? My mate? 

The thought twisted through me, both a curse and a blessing. This complicated everything. Or maybe it made everything far too simple. My brothers would lose their minds when they learned I found my mate first.

We had spent years searching, imagining what it would be like to find the ones chosen for us. We had dreamed of their faces, their touch, their scent. But nothing could have prepared me for this. For her. She was… breathtaking.

And in that single heartbeat, the urgency to see Lucien evaporated. My instinct was consumed by one truth. I had found her. My mate.

My wolf howled inside me urging me to pull her closer, to press her against me, to sink my teeth into the soft skin of her neck and seal the bond the fates had written. 

But I couldn't. Not here, not in the middle of the forest path.

I curled my hands into fists to stop myself, nails biting into my palms as a poor substitute for the bite I longed to give her. My body was straining, tense with the need to claim what was mine.

Speak of the devils, my brothers, Caden and Ryker, broke through the mind link at the same time. “Where are you? Fendric called to tell us you are stranded.”

“Yes, but I'm on my way to the Silverclaw’s pack house now,” I answered, forcing my voice to stay steady. But I knew they felt it even if they didn't say anything. 

We always felt each other’s emotions, so there was no hiding this from them.

“Got it. We’ll be with you shortly,” Caden replied. “Keep Lucien on his toes until we get there.”

“Alright.” With that I cut the mind link, turning back to face Aria.

“Would you mind showing me the way?” My tone stayed casual, though my wolf was clawing at me inside. “I’m here to see the Alpha.”

Her eyes widened almost like she recognized me, but her words told me otherwise. Still, I went with the flow.

“You… you’re early.”

I smirked, masking the storm in my chest. “I prefer to arrive before I’m expected. It shows who people really are when they think no one’s watching.”

She trembled, but her chin lifted, defiant. A flicker of pride stirred inside me. She was no weakling.

My wolf growled in approval, urging me closer. I followed her as she turned, my steps silent, knowing this meeting had already changed my purpose of visit here.

******

Aria's POV 

All I was feeling during our walk to the pack house was weight of him behind me, even though we didn’t speak again. My skin prickled as if his presence had branded me somehow.

Two luxurious cars that clearly didn’t belong to our pack were parked in the courtyard, with four guards flanking them.

Was father expecting another guest other than Alpha Damien? 

I bet he was. He was always sniffing out cunning ways to climb higher. Sometimes I wondered how he’d managed to become the Alpha instead of Uncle Gideon.

“Where did you go?” Lyra barked the moment I opened the front door, her lips curling in that sly little smile of hers. “Didn't father ask you to get ready to meet your new husband?” 

Just as sly as her mother. My father's concubine. I wasn't really surprised she did that to me. It was the same thing her mother did to my mother. But Jax? And Father? I never expected them to be part of it.

“New husband, my foot.” I scoffed, even though heat was already rising in my chest as I thought of the man behind me.

Tall, commanding… everything Jax could never be. Gods, why was I even thinking that? Focus, Aria. Focus. 

“Where did you disappear to?” Lyra pressed, her tone sharper now.

“And when did that become any of your business, bed-thief?” I shot back, anger flaring hot in my blood. “Shouldn’t you be in your room under your new man, bleating like the goat you are?”

Her face flushed red with anger immediately. She raised her hand to strike me. My stomach twisted and I closed my eyes, bracing for the sting of it.

But it never came.

“Brother, where were you? we’ve been waiting for you.” a voice cried from the parked cars. Then footsteps thundered across the entryway, heavy and fast.

My eyes snapped open. Lyra’s hand froze mid-air, her eyes darting from me to the newcomers.

Why was she looking like that? I turned, my heart tripping as two men strode forward, their faces mirror images of the stranger I’d met in the woods. 

My gaze flicked to him, still standing behind me, his golden eyes unreadable. 

I blinked once. Twice. No—my mind had to be playing tricks on me. I counted again. One man, then another, and another, all the same face, the same body… impossibly mirrored.

Triplets. Gods above. Since when was Alpha Damien three people? Or… was this something else entirely? Even if I don't know Alpha Damien I'm very sure he is not—

“Mate!” The newcomers growled in unison, their voices overlapping, vibrating through the air.

“Ours!” The man I met in the woods corrected, his voice low and possessive.

The word slammed into me like fire on bare skin. My breath caught, my knees nearly buckling. 

Three identical men. All of them claiming me at once. And Father hadn’t warned me about any of this.

Gods help me—what exactly had I been promised to?