Three days flew by in a blur. Isla spent each sunset walking the castle grounds with the triplets, learning the hidden paths and secret gardens of her new world. Each brother took turns showing her different parts of their home. Thorne showed her the training grounds, his gray eyes watching her every move as she stumbled through basic fighting stances. "You'll need to be stronger," he said, his voice gruff but not cruel. "The full moon ceremony tonight will test you." Caspian showed her the castle's hidden passages, laughing as she gasped at each new find. "The best secrets are always hidden in plain sight," he whispered, blue eyes dancing with mischief as his fingers brushed against hers. Dorian took her to the old library, showing her dusty books about pack history. "There are stories about wolves like you," he said softly, green eyes searching hers. "Omegas with special gifts." None of them explained why she was there or what would happen at the full moon rite. The silver stone stayed in her pocket, getting warmer each day. Now, as night fell on the third day, Isla stood in a stone room in the castle, wearing a white dress that Alpha Roderick had sent to her house. "It was your mother's," her father had said, his voice breaking. "She wore it on her last full moon with the pack." The dress flowed like water, the fabric catching the light in strange, beautiful ways. Around her neck hung her mother's silver necklace, the small wolf charm resting against her chest.
A knock heard at the door. "Enter," Isla called, her voice shaking. Lyra Windvale stepped in, her red hair flowing easily down her back. Isla had met the mystery woman yesterday when she visited the castle. Lyra claimed to be an old friend of the pack but something about her made Isla uncomfortable. "It's time," Lyra said, her green eyes sparkling. "The moon is rising and the pack is waiting." Isla's heart hammered against her ribs. "What happens tonight? Please, can't anyone tell me?" Lyra smiled, showing perfect white teeth. "Tonight, you discover your destiny." She led Isla through twisting hallways to a pair of huge wooden doors carved with wolves and moons. Two guards pushed them open, showing a sight that took Isla's breath away. The entire pack stood in a huge clearing behind the castle. Hundreds of wolves made a circle around a stone platform where Alpha Roderick stood with his three sons. Torches blazed around the edges of the clearing, making dancing shadows. The full moon hung overhead, huge and bright, soaking everything in silver light. As Isla walked toward the stage, the crowd parted. Whispers followed her. "An omega?" "The Beta's daughter?" "What's happening?" She spotted her father standing near the front, his face tight with worry. Nearby, Alina Darksbane glared at her, hate burning in her icy blue eyes. Isla climbed the stone steps to the platform.
Alpha Roderick's face was solemn as he raised his hands for quiet. "Tonight is special," he announced, his voice carrying across the area. "Tonight, the moon will reveal what many of us have suspected." He turned to Isla. "Stand in the center." Heart racing, Isla moved to the middle of the platform. The stone in her pocket burned hot against her leg. "Now," Alpha Roderick ordered, "remove your mother's necklace." Confused, Isla lifted the silver wolf charm from around her neck. The moment it left her skin, something strange happened. A silver light began to shimmer across her skin, getting brighter with each passing second. It wasn't just the normal faint omega shimmer—this was something else, something powerful that made the whole crowd gasp. "The silver mark," someone whispered. "It's true!" Thorne stepped forward, his gray eyes wide with shock. "Father, is this what you expected?" Before Alpha Roderick could answer, Caspian moved closer to Isla, reaching out as if drawn by an unseen force. "I can feel it," he mumbled. "Like a pull I can't resist." The silver light pulsed, getting even brighter. Isla felt something awaken inside her, like a sleeping beast finally stretching its limbs. Dorian approached from her other side, his green eyes filled with surprise. "The books were right," he said. "After all these years..." The three brothers now formed a triangle around her, each one looking at her with a mix of awe and hunger that made Isla's skin tingle. Alpha Roderick's voice broke through her daze. "The silver mark grows strongest in the presence of a true mate," he revealed to the crowd. "As our ancestors foretold, the omega with the silver blood would bind our pack's future." "I claim her," Thorne said suddenly, his words ringing out across the clearing. "I claim Isla Blackthorn as my mate." Gasps spread through the crowd. Isla's father stepped forward, shock written across his face. But before anyone could speak, Caspian's voice cut through the night. "No, brother. I claim her as my mate. The bond pulls me to her." The crowd exploded in whispers. Two Alpha sons wanting the same mate? It was unheard of. Then Dorian spoke, his quiet voice somehow stopping everyone. "I too feel the bond. I claim Isla as my mate." A hush fell over the clearing. Three claims. Three brothers. One omega girl whose skin shimmered like the moon itself. Alpha Roderick's face showed real surprise for the first time. "This is... unexpected." "Impossible!" Alina yelled, pushing her way to the front of the crowd. "An omega can't be mated to all three children! It's against pack law!" "Silence!" Alpha Roderick roared, his eyes flashing golden in the moonlight. Then, more calmly, he said, "The old texts speak of rare bonds, of wolves with silver blood who could change the fate of a pack. But never has one been claimed by three alphas." The stone in Isla's pocket suddenly burned so hot she had to pull it out.
The moment it touched her hand in the moonlight, it flashed with blinding light. The triplets stumbled back, covering their eyes. When the light faded, the stone had transformed into a small silver wolf figurine similar to the one on her necklace. "The twin wolves," Lyra gasped, stepping onto the platform. "The legend is true!" Alpha Roderick stared at the silver wolf in Isla's hand. "The choice must be made," he said eventually. "Isla Blackthorn, you have been claimed by all three of my boys. By our rules, you must choose one as your mate before the moon sets." "Choose one?" Isla whispered, looking between the three boys. Thorne with his stern power, Caspian with his playful charm, Dorian with his quiet wisdom. Each one made something inside her stir. "If you do not choose," Alpha Roderick continued, "the results could be dire. A pack cannot have three Alphas, and a wolf cannot have three mates." "But I don't understand any of this," Isla argued. "Three days ago I was just an omega. How am I supposed to choose?"
"Follow the bond," Alpha Roderick urged. "Feel which pull is strongest." Isla closed her eyes, trying to feel the mysterious mate bond everyone spoke of. She felt something—three distinct pulls pulling her heart in different directions. When she opened her eyes, the brothers were watching her closely. The entire pack waited in silence. "I can't just pick one," she said. "I feel connected to all of them." A low growl rumbled through the crowd. Wolves were getting restless under the full moon's light. "You must choose," Alpha Roderick urged. "Or someone else will choose for you." As if on cue, a howl pierced the night—not from within the opening, but from the dark forest beyond. Another answered it, then another, until the night filled with howls from unknown dogs. "Intruders!" Thorne shouted, his body already tensing to shift. Alpha Roderick looked toward the forest edge where shadows moved between the trees. "The rivals have come," he said grimly. "They've sensed the silver bond." The silver figure in Isla's hand suddenly grew hot again. Without thinking, she pressed it against her chain charm. The two silver wolves melted together in a flash of light. Pain shot through Isla's body. She screamed, falling to her knees as silver light burst from her skin, shooting upward into the night sky like a beacon. The last thing she saw before darkness took her was the three brothers shifting into huge wolves—one gray, one russet, one black—positioning themselves around her protectively as strange wolves emerged from the forest. Then everything went black as a voice whispered in her mind: You don't have to choose just one.