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 knew she came back from the moment I heard the whispers.


The warrior's voices penetrated through the stone corridors and the smoke of dying torches. The news spread round the pack like a raging fire.


 "The Moonblood. She came back. She saved us."


I clenched my jaw until my teeth ached. She was not supposed to appear yet. Not like this.


But I was still safe. Every wolf in the courtyard thought I had hidden and nurtured her. They though I unleashed her when the time was right.


"Alpha," Elder Darius said with his voice dripping with mockery. "Your timing was… exquisite. To hold her back until the Ironclaws nearly tore us apart, only to reveal her as our savior? That is a master-stroke."


The other elders murmured in agreement and their eyes gleamed with a spark of respect I had not seen in weeks. I was not sure if the respect was for me or her. 


"She is not hidden here," I growled, but the words were ignored.


Chapter 63 - The Wolf in Chains