Bound to the Triplet Alphas-Chapter 61: The Blood Moon

ARIA POV

The knife sliced across my hand, blood dripping onto the ancient stone altar. Around me, the surviving members of seven packs watched in silence as I finished the Blood Moon ritual that no female Alpha had ever performed.

"With my blood, I call to the Moon Goddess," I said, my voice stronger than I felt. "Show us the path through darkness."

The blood on the stone started to glow with an eerie red light. We had dodged the human-wolf hybrids by fleeing into the sacred caves beneath the mountain, but we couldn’t hide forever. Our only hope was the old magic of the Blood Moon ritual.

The crimson full moon hung straight overhead through the cave’s opening, bathing us all in its strange light. My heart pounded as the air grew thick with magic.

"The Blood Moon comes once every fifty years," Alpha Marcus had explained. "It’s the only time when the veil between our world and the spirit realm thins enough for visions to pass through."

Suddenly, the cave disappeared around me. I stood in a misty forest that felt both real and unreal at the same time. Before me stood a beautiful woman with silver hair and sparkling eyes.

"Moon Goddess," I whispered, dropping to my knees.

"Rise, daughter of my chosen," she said, her voice like music. "Your path is not one of submission."

I stood shakily. "We need your help. The humans—they’ve found a way to become dogs. They’re hunting us, using my father—"

"I know," she interrupted. "The balance has been broken. What was never meant to be has come to pass."

"Can you stop them?" I asked desperately.

Sadness filled her sparkling eyes. "Even I cannot undo what has been done. But I can give you sight beyond sight. You and your three bound males must each receive a truth that will guide you."

Before I could ask more, the forest disappeared. I was back in the cave, breathing. The packs stared at me in wonder.

"Bring the triplets forward," I ordered, my voice not entirely my own.

Lucien, Kael, and Jaxon stepped forward. Though Lucien was my true mate, all three stayed connected to me through bonds that had never properly separated.

"Your hand," I said to Lucien, who stood closest.

He extended his hand without hesitation. I cut it with the same knife that had cut mine, joining our bleeding hands over the altar. The moment our blood mixed, his eyes rolled back.

"What do you see?" I asked, feeling magic rise between us.

"Water," he gasped. "Rising water everywhere. A flood coming that will wash away the obstacles between worlds." His voice changed, becoming deeper. "The doctor must become the bridge. Where blood fails, spirit must win."

When he came back to himself, his eyes were wide with shock. I squeezed his hand once before releasing it.

Next came Kael. As our blood mixed, he went rigid.

"Fire," he whispered. "Fire in the blood. The hunters become the hunted when the first blood burns." His breathing became ragged. "The fighter must become the shield. Seven will fall before the eighth rises."

When I freed him, he staggered backwards, his normal composure shattered.

Finally, Jaxon took my hand, his eyes meeting mine with uncharacteristic sincerity.

The moment our blood touched, he cried out in pain.

"Earth," he choked. "The earth splits open. What was lost rises again." His voice grew strained. "The rogue must become the key. Behind the seventh door lies the first wolf’s heart."

As our link broke, all three triplets looked at each other in confusion and fear. The visions made little sense, but the power behind them was obvious.

I turned back to the altar, putting both hands on the bloodstained stone. "Show me what I must see," I ordered.

The cave disappeared again, but this time I found myself in a sterile white laboratory. My father was strapped to a table, tubes running from his arms. Next to him, Dr. Reid smiled coldly.

"The integration is nearly complete," he was saying to someone I couldn’t see. "Soon we’ll have an army of human minds in wolf bodies. Unstoppable. Undetectable."

The scene changed. I saw my mother, her eyes glowing with strange red light.

"You don’t understand what you’ve done," she was saying to Dr. Reid. "The Blood Moon doesn’t just show visions. It awakens what sleeps in the blood."

Another shift. Hundreds of dogs with human eyes marched through a forest. At their head walked something that was neither wolf nor human, but something in between. It turned, somehow feeling my presence, and smiled with too many teeth.

"Hello, daughter," it said in my father’s voice. "I’ve been waiting for you."

With a gasp, I returned to the cave. The boys caught me as I stumbled.

"What did you see?" Lucien asked quickly.

Before I could answer, the ground beneath us shook. Dust fell from the cave roof.

"They found us," growled Alpha Thorne. "Those abominations are attacking the mountain."

"No," I said, the vision’s message becoming clear. "It’s worse than that. They’re not fighting. They’re waking something up."

As if confirming my words, a thunderous roar shook the entire mountain. It wasn’t a wolf’s howl or a human scream. It was something old and terrible.

Alpha Marcus’s face went white. "The First Wolf," he whispered. "The legends say it sleeps beneath the sacred mountain, waiting for the blood of its children to call it back."

"My father’s blood," I realized with fear. "They’re using my father’s blood to wake it."

Another roar, closer this time. The cave floor cracked beneath our feet.

"We need to get everyone out," I ordered. "Now!"

The packs rushed toward the exit tunnels. I turned to the triplets, each still shaken by their visions.

"Whatever happens," I told them, "stay together. The Moon Goddess showed us these dreams for a reason."

As we reached the tunnel opening, a massive claw burst through the stone floor. It was a wolf’s paw, but incredibly large, each claw longer than my arm.

"Run!" I shouted, pushing pack members ahead of me.

The mountain shook furiously as something enormous moved beneath us. Through the growing cracks in the floor, I caught glimpses of silver fur and eyes that glowed like molten gold.

We barely made it outside before the entire mountain started to collapse. As we watched in fear, the peak split open like an egg cracking. From within emerged a wolf the size of a building, its fur shimmering with moonlight.

The First Wolf had woken.

Standing on its head, tiny against the monster’s massive size, was a figure I recognized instantly.

"Dad?" I whispered.

But when he looked down at us, his eyes weren’t his own. They were Dr. Reid’s eyes, cold and confident.

"Thank you for completing the ritual, daughter," he called down, his voice echoing with inhuman power. "Your blood was the final key."

The big wolf turned its massive head toward us, its ancient eyes fixing directly on me.

"Now," my father’s body said with Dr. Reid’s voice, "we hunt."