A smell hit me like a truck going full speed. Pine trees and winter storms. Leather and something wild and scary and completely overwhelming. It made my wolf go totally crazy inside my head, scratching and clawing to get out. My knees went weak. The cleaning materials fell from my hands, clattering to the floor like my world was falling apart.

"Do you smell that?" a deep voice asked. The voice sent shivers down my spine.

"Honey and wildflowers," another voice answered, rougher than the first. "Like summer and sunshine. Where is it coming from?"

A third voice, softer but just as strong, said, "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever smelled."

But that was impossible. I was just an omega. Just unseen Aisla who cleaned floors and stayed out of sight and never caused trouble for anyone important.

The footsteps got closer. I could hear them breathe now.

My wolf was going crazy inside me. She wanted out. She wanted to run toward that smell, not away from it. She wanted something I didn't understand.

"There," the third voice said, softer than the others but somehow more dangerous. "In the kitchen. She's in there."

The footsteps stopped right outside the door. I could feel them there, waiting.

Deep down, I knew my life was about to change forever.

I could swear I heard three wolves roaring inside my head.

The kitchen door handle turned slowly.

I was about to meet my fate.

Or my doom.


~

I had spent my entire life in the shadows. As a lowly omega, I was used to being overlooked, ignored, and unseen. 

But everything changed on my 18th birthday.

That was the day the Moon Goddess gave me a cruel kind of blessing. 

I had a mate. 

Not just one. 

Not two. 

But all three of the Alpha’s sons, the legendary triplets were bound to me.

I had taken it when I was younger than my sons are now, standing on the bodies of rivals, clawing my way to the throne until there was no one left to challenge me. Power was not love. Power was not bonds or prophecy. It was blood and fear. That was the way of wolves.


And yet, the Council muttered of "change." Of "omens." Of that omega girl.


I would crush the whispers before they spread.


Elder Mora thought I did not see her meddling, but I knew. She whispered in corners, cloaked her riddles in talk of the Moon. The Council hung on her words because they were too cowardly to trust their own.


I had three sons. One heir. And no space for an omega to unravel what I built.


Elaria was waiting when I entered the council chamber. She bowed her head, but her eyes gleamed, hungry, desperate. She reminded me of her father at that age, all ambition and no temperance. 


Chapter 24 - The Alpha's Will