Kieran's POV
I hit the punching bag so hard it flew off its chain.
The gym was meant to help. Exercise was supposed to clear my head. But nothing worked anymore. Nothing made the pain in my chest go away.
It had been three days since Aisla's powers woke. Three days since I'd felt her in my mind, heard her thoughts mixing with mine. Three days since everything I'd planned for my future got destroyed.
I was supposed to mate with Elaria. I was supposed to follow tradition. I was supposed to be the Alpha who did what was right for the pack, not what felt good.
But my wolf didn't care about custom.
My wolf wanted Aisla.
Go to her, he growled in my head. She needs us.
"Shut up," I grumbled, picking up the broken punching bag. "We're not going anywhere."
She's in pain. I can feel it.
He was right. Through the mate bond, I could feel Aisla's confusion and hurt. She didn't understand why I was avoiding her. Why I wouldn't look at her when we were in the same room.
But I couldn't explain it to her. How could I tell her that accepting our bond would mean giving up everything I'd worked for? Everything I was supposed to become?
The gym door slammed open. Lucien stormed in, his eyes blazing with anger.
"Are you kidding me right now?" he growled.
"What are you talking about?" "Aisla is sitting in her room crying because she thinks she did something wrong. Because the future Alpha won't even talk to her."
I dropped the hitting bag and faced my brother. "This isn't about her. This is about duty. About duty."
"This is about you being a coward."
I growled low in my throat. "Watch it, Lucien."
"Or what? You'll ignore me too?" He stepped closer. "She's our mate, Kieran. All three of us. That's not going to change just because you're scared."
"I'm not scared. I'm being realistic."
"Practical?" Lucien laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. "There's nothing practical about fighting a mate tie. Look at yourself. When's the last time you ate? When's the last time you slept?"
I couldn't remember. Every time I tried to eat, my stomach rebelled. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Aisla's face. Heard her voice. Felt her pain.
My wolf was slowly going crazy without her.
Tell him, my wolf begged. Tell him we're dying inside.
But I couldn't. I was the oldest. The winner. I was supposed to be strong.
"Father expects me to mate with Elaria," I said instead.
"Father expects a lot of things. That doesn't make them right."
"The pack needs stability. They need a Luna they can trust. Someone who's been trained for this."
"The pack needs a Luna who's actually mated to their Alpha. Not some political deal."
Before I could answer, Caelan appeared in the doorway. He looked as bad as I felt. Dark rings under his eyes, messy hair, wrinkled clothes.
"We have a problem," he said quietly.
"What now?" Lucien asked.
"Elaria's here. She wants to talk to Kieran."
My stomach dropped. I wasn't ready for this talk. Wasn't ready to tell Elaria that everything we'd planned was over.
Because deep down, I knew Lucien was right. The mate bond wasn't something you could fight forever. Eventually, it would win.
"Where is she?" I asked.
"Father's room. She's been waiting for an hour."
I ran my hands through my hair. "Fine. Let's get this over with."
But as we walked toward the pack house, my wolf started acting strange. More anxious than usual. More worried.
Something's wrong, he warned.
"What do you mean?"
Can't you smell it? The fear?
I stopped walking and took a deep breath. He was right. The air was thick with the smell of fear and anger. But not just from a few people. From the entire pack.
"Do you smell that?" I asked my brothers.
They both nodded, their faces grim.
We ran the rest of the way to the pack house. The front door was wide open, and I could hear raised words coming from inside.
Father's voice. Elaria's voice. And several pack members I didn't recognize.
We burst into the office to find chaos.
Father was standing behind his desk, his Alpha aura burning. Elaria was in front of him, tears running down her face. And surrounding them were five pack elders I'd never seen before.
Elders from other packs.
"What's going on?" I asked.
One of the elders, a woman with gray hair and cold eyes, turned to look at me.
"You must be Kieran," she said. "The future Alpha who's mated to the Moonblood."
My blood turned to ice. "How do you know about that?"
"Every pack within two hundred miles knows about it. The power surge when her skills awakened could be felt across three states. "
Father looked older than I'd ever seen him. "Kieran, these are the Council of Elders. They represent fifteen different packs."
"What do they want?"
The silver-haired woman smiled, but it wasn't friendly. "We want the Moonblood girl dead."
"That's not happening," Lucien growled, stepping forward.
"Is it not?" another adult asked. "Do you have any idea what she's capable of? What her bloodline has done in the past?"
"I don't care what her family did. Aisla isn't responsible for that."
"Isn't she?" The woman pulled out an old book and opened it to a page covered in drawings. "This is what happened the last time a Moonblood was allowed to live. Entire packs killed. Alphas managed like puppets. The natural order destroyed."
I looked at the pictures. They showed wolves lying dead in fields. Alphas bowing to a woman with bright eyes. Cities burning.
"That was three hundred years ago," Caelan said. "This is different."
"Is it? Your mate just threw a grown man across a hospital hallway without hitting him. She can hear thoughts from miles away. How long before she decides to use that power for something else?"
"She would never hurt anyone," I said, but even as I said it, doubt came in.
I thought about the power I'd felt from her in the hospital. The way she'd looked when she'd sent that Hunter flying. There had been something wild in her eyes. Something dangerous.
Don't listen to them, my wolf growled. They're trying to turn us against our mate.
But what if they were right? What if Aisla was too dangerous to live?
"We're giving you a choice," the silver-haired woman said. "Kill the girl, and your pack will be welcomed into our group. Refuse, and we'll consider you enemies."
"You're threatening us?" Father asked, his voice deadly quiet.
"We're offering you life. Fifteen packs against one. How long do you think you'll last?"
The room fell silent. I could feel my brothers' anger and fear. Could feel Father's desperate calculation.
Could feel Elaria's hope.
She wanted Aisla dead. Wanted her out of the way so she could have what she'd always planned.
"How long do we have to decide?" Father asked.
"Twenty-four hours. After that, we assume you've decided to protect her. And we act accordingly."
The elders filed out, leaving us alone with our fear and impossible decisions.
"What are we going to do?" Caelan asked softly.
Before anyone could answer, every window in the office burst inward.
But this time, it wasn't Hunters coming through.
It was Aisla.
She landed in the middle of the room, her eyes glowing silver with power. Her hair was floating around her face like she was underwater.
"I heard everything," she said, her voice echoing oddly. "I know what they want."
"Aisla," I started, but she held up her hand.
"Don't. I can feel what you're thinking, Kieran. All of you."
She could read our minds. All of them.
"You're wondering if they're right. If I'm too dangerous to live." Tears were streaming down her face, but her power was getting stronger. "You're wondering if it would be easier to just let them kill me."
"That's not true," Lucien said, but I could feel his confusion through our bond.
We were all unsure.
"I thought I could trust you," Aisla whispered. "I thought you would protect me no matter what."
"We will," Caelan said desperately. "We won't let them hurt you."
She looked at each of us in turn. When her eyes met mine, I felt like she was looking straight into my soul.
"I can't control it anymore," she said. "The power. It's getting stronger every day. And I'm starting to understand what I could do with it."
The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees.
"What do you mean?" Father asked.
Aisla smiled, and for the first time since I'd known her, it was scary.
"I mean I could make all of you love me. Really love me. Not just pretend because of the mate bond." She looked straight at me. "I could make you choose me over Elaria. Over job. Over everything."
"You wouldn't," I breathed.
"Wouldn't I? I'm tired of being the one who doesn't matter. Tired of being the one everyone wants to get rid of."
The power coming from her was making it hard to think clearly. Making it hard to remember why I'd been fighting the tie in the first place.
She's in our head, my wolf warned. She's changing how we feel.
But I wasn't sure I cared anymore. The idea of picking Elaria over Aisla suddenly seemed impossible. Ridiculous.
How had I ever thought I could live without her?
"Stop," Elaria gasped. "You're controlling them."
Aisla's eyes snapped to her. "Am I? Or am I just showing them what they really want?"
"This isn't you," Caelan said, fighting against the pull of her power. "This isn't who you are."
For a moment, Aisla looked confused. Like she was waking up from a dream.
The power flickered and died.
"Oh god," she whispered, looking at her hands. "What did I almost do?"
Before any of us could answer, she turned and ran.
Straight out the broken window.
And as I watched her disappear into the night, I realized the Council of Elders might be right about one thing.
Aisla was dangerous.
The question was: dangerous to who?