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.

The walls shook as the vibrations of the war spread even closer to the halls.


The sound of steel swords clanging from all corners was so loud, it made my ears ache. I stood and scanned the battlefield and felt my hands going numb from gripping my sword for so long. My warriors were struggling to keep them away from the wall. 


"Hold the line!" My voice rose from my throat raw. It was barely more than a rasp now but the warriors heard me and they obeyed. Because they had no choice. Because there was no one else left to shout.


While the Shadowfangs and Ironclaws battered at our gates, he sat in the council chambers and whispered diplomacies, trading favors and threats with other alphas. He called it leadership but it was just reckless abandonment. 


And so the responsibility to hold the warfront fell on me.


Chapter 54 - Fractured