POV: Ethan
CRASH!
The ritual cup slipped from my hands and shattered on the stone floor. Everyone in the great hall turned to stare at me, but I couldn't move. I couldn't move. I couldn't think about anything except the burning pain in my chest.
It felt like someone had grabbed my heart and squeezed it tight. The pain was so strong I bent over, gasping for air. Ryan and Logan were beside me in seconds, both looking just as confused and scared as I felt.
"What's happening?" Logan whispered, his face pale.
"I don't know," I managed to say between painful breaths. "Something's wrong."
But it wasn't wrong. Deep down, I knew exactly what was happening. The mate bond was starting. Someone in this room was meant for me. For us.
My eyes swept across the crowd, looking for the source of this amazing pull. Past the worried pack members, past Sophia's shocked face, past my father's concerned look. And then I saw her.
Maya Chen.
She stood frozen by the kitchen door, one hand pressed against her wrist like she was in pain too. Her dark eyes were wide with fear and confusion, but there was something else there. Recognition. She felt it too.
"Maya," I breathed, and suddenly everything made sense.
The quiet girl who worked in the kitchen. The one I'd seen a thousand times but never really noticed. She was always there, cleaning up after us, serving our food, slipping into the background like she was invisible.
But she wasn't invisible now. She was glowing.
Actually glowing. Silver light poured from her wrist where she held her hand, and I could see the undeniable shape of a mate mark underneath her fingers.
"Show us," Alpha Dad ordered, his voice cutting through the shocked silence.
Maya looked scared. She glanced around the room like a caught animal, her whole body shaking. For a moment, I thought she might run. But then she lifted her chin with a bravery I'd never seen from her before.
Slowly, she pulled her hand away from her wrist.
The Triple Mark blazed like a small sun. Three wolves running in an endless loop, their forms perfect and bright. The mark of fate. The sign that she was meant for one of us.
But which one?
I stared at Maya's face, really looking at her for the first time in my life. How had I never seen how pretty she was? Her dark hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders, and her eyes held depths I'd never noticed. There was knowledge there, and strength, and something else that made my heart race.
"Impossible," Sophia's words cut through my thoughts like a knife. "She's just an omega! She can't have what's meant for me!"
Anger flared in my chest. How dare Sophia talk about Maya like that? How dare anyone reject her just because she was born an omega?
I stepped forward, putting myself between Sophia and Maya without even thinking about it. "Mate marks don't lie," I said, using the Alpha voice I'd been training my whole life. "If Maya bears the Triple Mark, then she's meant for one of us."
Maya's eyes met mine across the room, and I felt another jolt of energy. The mate bond was getting stronger, pulling me toward her like gravity. But I could see the same confusion in her face that I felt in my heart.
Was she my mate? Or did she belong to Ryan? Or Logan?
"The courting period begins immediately," Dad announced. "All three of my sons will spend time with Maya to determine which bond is strongest."
The words should have made me happy. I'd get a chance to know Maya, to see if she was really meant for me. But instead, I felt something I'd never experienced before.
Jealousy.
The thought of Ryan or Logan being with Maya made my stomach twist. What if she liked one of them better? What if her mark reacted more strongly to them than to me?
I'd always been the cocky one. The natural leader. The brother who knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it. But now, looking at Maya's beautiful, scared face, I felt totally lost.
"This is wrong," Sophia said, her voice getting louder. "She's nobody! She's nothing! I'm the Beta's kid! I should be the one wearing a mate mark!"
"Enough!" Dad's Alpha voice boomed through the hall. "Maya Chen now holds the position of potential Luna. She will be treated with the respect that role deserves."
Potential Luna. The words hit me like a physical blow. If Maya was my mate, she would be the Luna of our pack someday. She would stand beside me as I led our people. She would be my partner in everything.
But was I ready for that? Was she?
I looked at Maya again, and this time I saw past the fear to something that made my breath catch. When she'd shown her mark to the crowd, when she'd faced down all those watching faces and suspicious whispers, she hadn't backed down. She'd been scared, but she'd been brave too.
Maybe there was more to the quiet cooking girl than any of us realized.
"Maya," I said, moving closer to her. "Are you okay?"
She looked up at me with those deep, dark eyes, and I felt the partner bond pulse between us like a living thing. "I don't know," she whispered honestly. "I don't understand what's happening to me."
"We'll figure it out together," I promised, and I meant it. Whatever came next, I would help her through it.
But even as I spoke, I noticed something that made my blood run cold. Sophia's face had gone from angry to calculating. She was looking at Maya with a look I'd never seen before. A look that promised trouble.
"Ethan," she said kindly, her voice suddenly calm. "I hope you know what you're doing. Some secrets are too dangerous to keep."
"What do you mean?" I ordered, but Sophia just smiled and walked away.
Maya grabbed my arm, her fingers surprisingly strong. "Ethan, there's something you need to know. Something about my family. About why I might have this mark."
But before she could explain, the lights in the great hall suddenly went out. In the darkness, I heard Maya scream.
When the lights came back on, she was gone.