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 used to believe my place in the pack was secured. 


I thought power was written in bloodlines, in the way I had been groomed since childhood to stand at the Alpha's side. I was the Beta's daughter. I was beautiful, I was clever, and I was destined.


Omega-born, plain-faced, quiet little shadow. A girl who used to fetch water and clean after me. A girl who should still be doing that and nothing more. Yet the Moon goddess in all her cruelty, bound her to not one, but three of them. The triplets. My triplets.


Venom rose in my throat every time I saw them look at her.


And tonight, it tasted bitter than ever.


I did not mean to spy, but I could not stop myself. I had followed the sound of steel on steel to the training yard, curious and irritated, half-hoping to watch Aisla stumble. Instead, I saw Kieran.


Chapter 29 - The Serpent's Smile