Elder Mava's POV
My bones screamed as I pushed through the confusion toward Alpha Vaughn. Seventy years of magic had taught me many things. But the most important lesson was this: some lies kill you faster than bullets. And I was about to break the biggest secret of all. "Alpha!" I shouted over the helicopter noise. "The ritual worked, but we have minutes before—" A silver chain whipped past my head, missing by inches.
Althara's troops had found another way into the facility. Vaughn spun toward me, his face covered in blood and mud. "Mava? What are you doing out here?" "Saving your sons." I grabbed his arm with surprising strength. "But first, you need to understand what Arin really is." Behind us, the building exploded with power. Kael's earth magic and Jaxon's wind formed a barrier of stone and storm, but it wouldn't last long. "She's Luna Seraphina's daughter," Vaughn panted. "Rowan told them everything." "Not everything." I pulled him behind a huge oak tree as gunfire erupted nearby. "He doesn't know the full forecast. None of them do." Vaughn's eyes narrowed. "What are you hiding?" I pressed my weathered hand against the tree's bark, feeling its old memory. This oak had watched the birth of our pack, the rise and fall of countless Alphas, the weaving of fate itself. "Arin isn't just royal blood," I whispered. "She's the Blood Moon Child." The Alpha's face went white. "That's impossible. The Blood Moon Child is a myth." "Born when three stars align. Marked by silver eyes that see through time. Destined to either join all werewolves or destroy them completely." I met his stare. "Does that sound like a myth to you?" Through the building windows, silver light pulsed brighter than ever. My bones felt each wave of power like electric shocks. "The mate bond," Vaughn breathed.
"It's not normal, is it?" "Nothing about this is normal." I pulled out a small leather bag filled with bone fragments—pieces of the first Luna who ever walked these lands. "The Moon Goddess didn't make one mate bond for Arin. She created three different ones." "Why?" "Because the Blood Moon Child needs protection, not a husband. Each bond serves a different reason." I scattered the bone pieces on the ground, watching as they arranged themselves into an ancient pattern. " Kael stops her power. Jaxon gives her air. Rowan shows her the way." The bones glowed faintly, showing the truth I'd hidden for eighteen years. "But here's what terrifies me," I continued. "The prophecy has two ends. In one, Arin becomes the High Luna and brings peace to our world. In the other..." "What?" "She becomes something else entirely. Something that makes Althara look like an innocent puppy." Vaughn stared at the sparkling bones. "What could be worse than a power-hungry queen?" "A goddess with a broken heart." The words hung between us like a death sentence. Nearby, Althara's voice rose over the fight sounds. "Bring me the girl! Kill anyone who stands in your way!" "We're running out of time," Vaughn mumbled. "No." I gathered the bones, feeling their ancient knowledge flow through my fingers. "Time is exactly what we have too much of." "What do you mean?" "Rowan's images aren't random. They're messages sent by the first Blood Moon Child—Arin's ancestor from a thousand years ago." I stood slowly, my joints complaining. "She tried to join the werewolf world and failed. The sadness drove her insane, and she nearly destroyed everything." Vaughn's radio crackled. "Alpha, we've got losses at the south gate. They're breaking through!" He keyed the radio. "Hold the line. Whatever it takes."
But I could see the future as clearly as Rowan could. The south gate would fall in minutes. The main house would be overrun within the hour. Unless we stopped pretending this was a normal attack. "Vaughn," I said quietly. "What if I told you there was a way to save everyone?" "I'd ask what it costs." "Your sons' humanity." The Alpha went very still. "Explain." I pointed at the building, where three young men fought desperately to protect the girl they all loved. "The guardian bond isn't just about power. It's about sacrifice. To truly protect Arin, they have to give up their individual selves." "You mean—" "Merge. Become one spirit in three bodies. Share thoughts, feelings, skills." I watched his face pale. "They would still be your kids, but they'd also be something more.
Something strong enough to stand against queens and councils and anyone else who threatens their mate." Vaughn was quiet for a long moment. "And Arin?" "She becomes what she was always meant to be. Not just a Luna, but the Luna. The one all other packs bow to." I paused. "Or she becomes the thing that ends us all." "How do we ensure the first option?" "We don't. That choice belongs to her alone." Another explosion rocked the building. Through the smoke and debris, I saw Rowan fall, blood streaming from his nose and ears. Too many images, too fast. "He's dying," Vaughn whispered. "They all are. The guardian forces are burning them out from the inside." I pulled a small silver knife from my robes. "But there is another way." The Alpha's eyes fixed on the blade. "Blood magic." "The oldest kind. A willing sacrifice to bind their fates together permanently." I offered him the knife. "But it has to be offered by their Alpha. Their father." Vaughn took the weapon with shaking hands. "What exactly are you asking me to do?" "Cut your palm. Let three drops of blood fall on pack dirt. Speak the binding words." I met his desperate look.
"And watch your sons become something beyond human understanding." "The binding words?" I leaned close and whispered the ancient phrase in the old tongue. Words that hadn't been spoken for ages, that carried the weight of forgotten gods. "And if something goes wrong?" "Then we all die anyway." I smiled grimly. "But at least we die fighting." The facility's front wall suddenly crumbled as Althara's troops brought up heavy weapons. Through the gap, I could see the triplets making a protective circle around Arin. But they were weakening. Kael's earth barriers cracked under attack. Jaxon's wind powers flickered. And Rowan... Rowan was seeing too much, too fast. The visions were tearing his mind apart. "Decide now," I pushed Vaughn.
"Before it's too late." The Alpha looked at his boys, then at the approaching soldiers, finally at the silver dagger in his hand. "Will they still be themselves?" "In all the ways that matter." I placed my hand over his. "But they'll also be linked in ways you can't imagine. Stronger together than apart." "And Arin?" "She'll have the guardians she needs to face whatever comes next." Vaughn raised the dagger, then paused. "Mava, there's something you're not telling me. What aren't you saying about Arin's future?" I closed my eyes, feeling the weight of destiny like a stone in my chest. "In every vision where she becomes the High Luna, she rules alone.
The guardians protect her, but they never truly control her heart." "And in the other visions?" "She loves them so completely that when one of them dies, she burns the world down in grief." The truth hit him like a physical blow. "One of them dies?" "In every possible future I've seen. The question isn't whether you'll lose a son—it's whether losing him kills everything else." Vaughn's hand clenched on the dagger. "Which son?" "That depends on the choices we make in the next few minutes." Through the facility's broken walls, Althara's words rang out clear and cold: "Last warning! Surrender the Blood Moon Child, or watch your entire pack die!" "She knows," I breathed. "Somehow, she knows what Arin really is." "How is that possible?" "Because," said a new voice behind us, "I told her. " We spun around to find a figure stepping out of the darkness.
Someone I hadn't seen in twenty years, but whose presence made my blood run cold. Cassian. Vaughn's old war counselor. The man who'd apparently died defending our borders. The man who knew every secret, every weakness, every hidden passage in our area. "Hello, old friends," Cassian smiled, but his eyes held no love. "Miss me?"