Aisla's POV
The ringing sound wouldn't stop.
I tried to open my eyes, but everything hurt. My head felt like someone had hit it with a rock. My whole body ached like I'd been fighting for hours.
Wait. Had I been fighting?
I forced my eyes open and quickly regretted it. The lights were too bright. Everything was white. White walls, white sheets, white ceiling.
The pack hospital.
"She's awake!" someone called out.
Dr. Hayes emerged next to my bed, shining a flashlight in my eyes. I wanted to push him away, but my arms felt too heavy.
"How are you feeling, Aisla?" he asked, checking something on a machine next to me.
"Like I got hit by a truck," I croaked. My throat felt like sandpaper.
"That's normal. You've been asleep for six hours."
Six hours? What had happened to me?
Then I remembered. The Hunters. The silver bullets. The triplets trying to protect me.
"Are they okay?" I asked, trying to sit up. "Kieran, Lucien, and Caelan? Are they hurt?"
"They're fine. They're right outside, actually. They haven't left since we brought you in."
Dr. Hayes wrote something on his clipboard. "All your tests came back normal. Heart rate, blood pressure, everything looks good. You should be able to go home tomorrow."
But I didn't feel normal. Something was different. Something was wrong.
Or maybe something was finally right.
"Doctor, why can I hear them talking?" I asked.
"Who talking?"
"The trio. Outside. They're fighting about whether to tell me something."
Dr. Hayes looked confused. "Aisla, they're all the way down the hall. There's no way you could hear them from here."
But I could. I could hear every word.
"She's not ready for this," Kieran was saying. His voice sounded worried. "We should wait until she's stronger."
"Wait for what?" Lucien snapped. "She almost died tonight because we didn't tell her the truth. How much more proof do you need?"
"Lucien's right," Caelan said softly. "She has a right to know what she is."
What I am? What did that mean?
Dr. Hayes was still looking at me like I was crazy. "Aisla, I think you might be imagining things. Head damage can cause-" " Kieran just said I'm not ready. Lucien said I almost died. Caelan thinks I have a right to know what I am." I looked at him. "Am I imagining that too?"
His face went pale. He dropped his clipboard and it clattered on the floor.
"That's impossible," he whispered.
But it wasn't impossible. I could hear them as clearly as if they were standing right next to me. I could hear other things too. Nurses talking three rooms away. Someone crying on the second floor. A patient asking for water at the front desk.
I could hear everything.
"Something's happening to me," I said, starting to worry. "This isn't normal."
"I need to get Alpha Thorne," Dr. Hayes said, backing toward the door. "Don't try to get up. Just stay calm."
But I couldn't stay cool. The sounds were getting louder. I could hear talks from all over the hospital. From the car lot. From the houses nearby.
It was too much. My head started hurting again.
And then I heard something that made my blood freeze.
"The target is in room 237," a cold voice said. "Silver shots didn't work. We'll have to try something else."
"What about the triplets?"
"Kill them if they get in the way. Our orders are clear. The Moonblood dies tonight."
Moonblood. They were talking about me.
I tried to call out to Dr. Hayes, but he was already gone. I had to warn the triplets. Had to tell them the Hunters were still here.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed. My whole body protested, but I forced myself to stand. The room spun for a second, then steadied.
I had to get out of here.
I opened the door and stepped into the hallway. The triplets were at the far end, still fighting. They hadn't seen me yet.
But someone else had.
A man in scrubs was walking toward me. He looked like a nurse, but something was wrong. His eyes were too cold. Too focused.
And he was reaching for something under his shirt.
"Aisla, get back!" Kieran yelled from down the hall. He'd finally noticed me.
The fake nurse pulled out a silver knife and lunged at me.
I should have been scared. I should have screamed.
Instead, something inside me snapped.
Power burst out of me like lightning. Not just any power. Something old and wild and incredibly strong.
The fake nurse flew backward and hit the wall so hard it cracked. His dagger clattered to the floor.
But that wasn't the scary part.
The scary part was that I could feel the babies' minds.
Not just their feelings through our mate bond. Their real thoughts.
Kieran was thinking: How is she that strong?
Lucien was thinking: She's finally waking.
Caelan was thinking: This changes everything.
And underneath all their thoughts, I could feel something else. Something that made me want to throw up.
Fear.
They were afraid of me.
"What's happening to me?" I whispered.
More men in fake nurse outfits appeared at both ends of the hallway. Real Hunters this time, not people enhanced with wolf blood. I could smell the difference now.
The triplets moved to protect me, but I held up my hand to stop them.
Because I could feel something else now. Something that made my skin crawl.
I wasn't just hearing thoughts from the kids.
I was hearing thoughts from every person in the building.
Every patient. Every real nurse. Every doctor.
And most frightening of all, I was hearing thoughts from someone who shouldn't be able to think at all.
Someone who was thought to be dead.
My mother.
Aisla, her voice whispered in my mind. You're not safe there. They found you too soon. You have to run. Now.
I spun around, looking for her, but she wasn't there.
"Mom?" I called out loud.
The triplets looked at me like I'd lost my mind.
"Aisla, your mother is dead," Kieran said softly. "She died when you were born."
But her voice came again, stronger this time.
I never died, baby. I've been hiding, waiting for this day. The day your power woke. But they found you before you were ready. Before I could teach you to control it.
The Hunters were moving closer, silver guns gleaming under the hospital lights.
Listen to me carefully, my mother's voice continued. You are the last of the Moonblood line. The most powerful werewolf bloodline that ever lived. But with that power comes a bad choice.
"What choice?" I whispered.
You can save the ones you love, or you can save yourself. But you cannot save both.
The Hunters charged.
And as silver bullets flew toward the triplets I loved more than my own life, I realized my mother was right.
I had to choose.
Save them and die.
Or let them die and live with the guilt forever.
The power inside me was getting stronger, begging to be released.
But I still didn't know how to stop it.
And I was running out of time to figure it out.