Bound to the Triplet Alphas-Chapter 38: The Rising Storm

ARIA POV

I gasped for air as the silver light faded. My body felt strange—lighter but also more strong, like I could run for days without getting tired. We weren’t in the cave anymore. Somehow, I had moved us all to the bush behind the pack grounds.

"You did it!" Mira cried, throwing her arms around me. "I thought we were going to die in there!"

The triplets looked at me with wide eyes. I couldn’t tell if they were amazed or scared.

"Do you remember us?" Lucien asked quietly.

I nodded. "Everything. I remember everything." Whatever the forecast had meant by losing my memory, it hadn’t happened—at least not yet.

Elder Malin leaned heavily against a tree, his old face pale with shock. "Impossible. You used the Moon Alpha power without the full change. How?"

I touched the charm at my throat. It felt cool now, like it was sleeping. "I chose both," I said simply. "I refused the choice."

A twig snapped nearby. We all froze.

"Someone’s coming," Kael whispered.

"Hide!" I pulled everyone behind a cluster of thick bushes.

Elira walked into view with two of her friends. They carried bags filled with strange-looking items—bones, flowers, and a small wooden box that made my skin crawl.

"Tonight we end this," Elira said. "When the moon rises, the rite will strip that nobody of her fake power. Then things can go back to normal."

My hands clenched into fists. So that was her plan—a routine to take away my power.

"We can’t let them do this," I whispered to the others. "Whatever they’re planning, it’s dangerous."

"We need help," Mira said. "I know some omegas who are loyal to you. They’ve been waiting for someone to stand up to Elira and Alpha Darius for years."

"Can we trust them?" Jaxon asked.

Mira nodded firmly. "With our lives."

"Go," I told her. "Bring them to the old hunting house at sunset. We’ll make our plan there."

Mira squeezed my hand and slipped away through the trees.

"What about Alpha Darius?" Lucien asked. "He tried to kill us. He won’t just let this go."

"Leave my father to me," Kael said grimly. "I have some things to say to him."

The triplets argued about what to do next, but their words seemed to fade away as a strange buzzing filled my ears. I felt dizzy suddenly. Something inside me was moving, changing.

"Aria?" Lucien’s worried face emerged in front of me. "Are you okay?"

"I need a minute," I managed to say before stumbling away from the group.

I found a small stream and knelt beside it, splashing cold water on my face. The water settled, and I saw my image.

I nearly screamed.

My eyes were changing—flashing between my regular brown and a brilliant gold. My face seemed different too—stronger, fiercer. For a moment, another face appeared next to mine in the water—the stranger from the cabin, my true mate, my predecessor.

"It’s starting," they whispered. "The transformation can’t be stopped now."

"I’m not ready," I whispered back.

"You were born ready, Aria. You’ve always been more than they told you."

The reflection disappeared as Lucien neared. I quickly stood up, hoping he hadn’t seen.

"Mira just texted. She found twelve omegas ready to help us," he said. "They’re waiting at the cabin."

"Let’s go," I said, trying to sound normal.

By the time we reached the old hunting house, the sun was setting. Mira had gathered a small group of omegas—wolves I’d known my whole life but never really seen. They’d always been in the background, just like I used to be.

"These are the ones who believe in you," Mira said proudly.

A tall girl named Tessa stepped forward. "We’ve waited generations for the Moon Alpha to return. My grandmother told me stories about your kind—how you brought order to the packs, protected the weak, made sure power didn’t corrupt."

"I don’t know if I can be that person," I admitted.

"You already are," said a boy named Finn. "You stood up to Alpha Darius. No one does that."

I looked around at their hopeful faces and felt the weight of their trust. "Elira is planning a ceremony tonight to take away my power. We need to stop her."

"How?" someone asked.

"We disrupt the ritual," I explained. "Rituals need perfect attention. If we break that focus, the magic fails."

We spent the next hour planning. The omegas would create distractions around the ritual site while the triplets and I approached Elira directly. Elder Malin would try to reason with the other leaders who might be helping her.

As everyone prepared to leave, I caught another view of myself in a cracked mirror hanging on the cabin wall. My eyes flashed gold again, staying that way longer this time.

"It’s happening faster now," Elder Malin muttered, watching me. "The Moon Alpha is emerging."

"Will I still be me when it’s done?" I asked, scared.

"You will be more than you are now," he said. "But yes, you will still be Aria."

I wasn’t sure if I believed him.

Night fell as we made our way to the ritual site—a small clearing where the pack sometimes held events. Elira was already there with her friends and three pack leaders. They had drawn a big circle with strange symbols around it.

"Everyone know what to do?" I whispered.

Nods all around.

"Then let’s go."

The omegas spread out, hidden in the trees. The triplets flanked me as I stepped boldly into the clearing.

"You’re too late," Elira said with a wicked smile. "The ritual has already begun."

I felt it then—a tugging feeling, like something trying to pull the pendant from my neck. The air around us grew heavy with magic.

"Stop this, Elira," I warned. "You don’t know what you’re messing with."

"I know exactly what I’m doing," she snarled. "Taking back what should have been mine!"

She threw something into the middle of the circle—a lock of hair that looked like mine. How had she gotten it?

The symbols around the circle started to glow red. Pain shot through my body, and I fell to my knees.

"Now!" I shouted.

The omegas burst from the trees, throwing handfuls of mountain ash into the circle, breaking the symbols. Mira ran forward with a torch, setting fire to the ritual things.

Elira screamed in rage, taking a knife from her belt. "If I can’t take your power, I’ll take your life!"

She lunged at me, but something strange happened. As the knife came down toward my heart, time seemed to slow. My body moved without my control, sidestepping the blow easily.

My hand shot out, grabbing Elira’s wrist. Gold light burst from my eyes—I could feel the heat of it on my face.

"Enough," I said, but the voice wasn’t fully mine. It was deeper, older, filled with power.

Elira’s face went white with fear. "What are you?"

"The one you tried to erase," I answered.

The pendant at my throat broke, releasing a blinding light that knocked everyone back. I felt something breaking open inside me—like a door I’d never known was there, suddenly flung wide.

Memories that weren’t mine filled my mind—centuries of Moon Alphas before me, their lives, their knowledge.

I rose into the air, held by silver light. Below me, everyone watched in shock. The triplets called my name, but their voices seemed far away.

"Aria!" Mira screamed. "Something’s wrong!"

She was right. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. The change was too fast, too violent. Something was forcing it—the ritual had sparked something unexpected.

Through the haze of new power and old memories, I saw Alpha Darius emerge from the trees. In his hands, he held an ancient-looking staff carved with the same symbols that had been in the traditional circle.

"The Staff of Binding," Elder Malin gasped. "Where did you get that?"

Alpha Darius smiled coldly. "If I can’t stop her rise, I will control it."

He pointed the staff at me, and chains of red light shot out, wrapping around my body. I screamed as they burned into my skin.

"Aria!" the triplets yelled in unison, running toward me.

But they couldn’t reach me. Nobody could.

As the red chains tightened, I felt the Moon Alpha power fighting back, struggling to finish the transformation. My body was becoming a battlefield between two ancient magics.

"Help me," I whispered, not knowing who I was asking—my friends below or the spirits of Moon Alphas within me.

The last thing I saw before dark took me was Lucien’s desperate face as he tried to reach me. Then everything went dark.

And in the darkness, a voice whispered: "To save them all, you must become what you were meant to be. But to do that, you must first die."