Arrows whizzed through the air above our heads.
"Get down!" Dorian shouted, pushing me behind a stone table.
The Syndicate wolves burst through the windows, their eyes shining red in the darkness. Glass scattered everywhere.
"Protect the girl!" Alpha Raphael yelled, finally putting away his knife. "She's no use to us dead!"
I pressed myself against the cold stone, my heart pounding. The necklace under my dress felt like it was going to burn right through my skin.
"How many?" Marcus asked, swinging his axe at a black-clothed attacker.
"Too many," Tobias answered, throwing books at the enemies. "We need to get out of here."
But there was nowhere to go. Syndicate wolves had blocked every door and window. Their leader stepped forward, and I panted.
It was Elias Crow.
"Hello, Aria," he said with that mean smile of his. "Miss me?"
"You're working with the Syndicate?" I couldn't believe it.
"Working with them? I'm leading them." Elias laughed. "Did you really think I'd let some Beta's daughter steal my place as Luna?"
"She's not just a Beta's daughter," Rowan Vale said calmly. "Tell him what she really is."
"Shut up, old man." Elias pointed his sword at the seer. "I know exactly what she is. And that's why she has to die."
"You can't kill her," Dorian stepped in front of me again. "She's under our protection."
"Your protection?" Elias laughed harder. "Look around, prince. You're surrounded."
He was right. At least twenty Syndicate wolves filled the room, all with weapons pointed at us.
"But I'm not unreasonable," Elias continued. "I'll make you a deal. Give me the girl, and I'll let the rest of you live."
"Never," all three princes said at the same time.
Elias sighed. "Then you'll all die together. How romantic."
He raised his hand to signal the attack, but something strange happened. The necklace under my dress suddenly got so hot that I screamed.
"Aria!" Tobias reached for me, but I was already changing.
Power burst out of me like lightning. Red light filled the room, so bright everyone had to cover their eyes. I felt myself rising off the ground, floating in the air.
"Impossible," Elias whispered. "She's too young. Her powers shouldn't be this strong."
But I wasn't in control anymore. The Ruby Wolf inside me was taking over, and she was angry.
Very angry.
"You want to hurt my mates?" My voice didn't sound like me anymore. It was deeper, older, scary. "You want to take what's mine?"
Red energy surrounded the room like a storm. The Syndicate wolves backed away, fear replacing the confidence in their eyes.
"Stop her!" Elias shouted. "Kill her now!"
But when his wolves tried to attack, the red energy threw them back against the walls.
"Aria," Dorian called out. "You need to stop. You're going to hurt yourself."
I wanted to stop, but I couldn't. The power had its own mind, and it wanted revenge.
"She can't control it," Rowan Vale said . "The bond isn't complete. She needs all three connections to balance the power."
"What do you mean?" Tobias asked.
"Touch her. All of you. At the same time. It's the only way."
The three princes looked at each other, then at me floating in the middle of the red storm.
"It's dangerous," Marcus said.
"Everything about her is dangerous," Dorian responded. "But she's worth it."
They stepped forward together, reaching for me through the energy.
The moment their hands touched mine, everything changed.
The red light exploded outward, brighter than the sun. When it faded, I was back on the ground, gasping for air. But something incredible had happened.
I could feel the princes inside my head. Not just their thoughts, but their hearts. Their souls.
Dorian's fierce protectiveness. Tobias's quiet strength. Marcus's wild commitment.
And they could feel me too. My fear, my confusion, my growing love for all three of them.
"The Triarch Bond," Rowan Vale whispered. "It's complete."
But Elias wasn't done. While we were distracted by the bond, he had crept closer with a silver dagger.
"If I can't have you," he growled, "then nobody can."
He lunged at me with the blade, but Marcus was faster. He threw himself between us, and the dagger went into his chest instead of mine.
"Marcus!" I screamed.
He fell to his knees, blood spreading across his shirt. "I'm okay," he gasped, but he wasn't okay. The dagger was silver, and silver was poison to werewolves.
"You idiot," Elias laughed. "Now you'll die for nothing. Because I have more daggers."
He pulled out another silver blade, but this time something different happened. The bond kicked in.
I felt Marcus's pain like it was my own. Dorian's rage. Tobias's fear. And underneath it all, a power I had never felt before.
The power of three hearts beating as one.
"You hurt my mate," I said, standing up. But I wasn't floating this time. The power was controlled now, flowing through me like water instead of exploding like fire.
"So what?" Elias raised the second dagger. "What are you going to do about it?"
I smiled, and for the first time in my life, I felt truly dangerous.
"I'm going to show you why they call us Ruby Wolves."
Red light wrapped around me like armor. But this time, it didn't hurt.
I reached out my hand, and Elias's dagger turned to dust. All the weapons in the room crumbled to nothing.
"Impossible," he whispered.
"That's what everyone keeps saying," I replied. "But I'm still here."
The Syndicate wolves tried to run, but the doors slammed shut by themselves. They were trapped with an angry Ruby Wolf and three bonded princes.
"Please," Elias begged. "I was only following orders."
"Whose orders?"
"I can't tell you. They'll kill me."
"I'll kill you if you don't."
Elias looked around the room, seeing no way to escape. Finally, he spoke.
"Your father."
The words hit me like a punch to the stomach. "What?"
"Sebastian Arden hired us. He's the one who wants you dead."
"You're lying."
"Am I? Ask him yourself. Ask him about the blood pact he made eighteen years ago. Ask him who he promised to give you to when you turned eighteen."
My world turned sideways. Dad wouldn't hurt me. He loved me. He protected me.
Didn't he?
"She doesn't believe you," Dorian said. But I could feel his doubt through the bond.
"Of course she doesn't. Sebastian's been playing the loving father for eighteen years. But the truth is, he sold her before she was even born."
"To who?" Tobias demanded.
Elias smiled that terrible smile again. "To the highest bidder. And guess who won?"
He pointed at himself.
"You're supposed to be my mate," he said to me. "By contract. By law. By blood magic that can't be broken."
"That's impossible," I whispered.
"Is it? Haven't you wondered why your father never talked about your mother? Why he keeps her things locked away? Why he's never tried to find you a mate?"
Each question was like another dagger to my heart.
"Because he was waiting," Elias continued. "Waiting for you to turn eighteen so he could deliver you to me. Just like he promised."
"I don't believe you."
"Then ask him." Elias pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. Even from across the room, I could see my father's signature at the bottom. "The contract is real, Aria. You belong to me."
The paper glowed with dark magic. Blood magic. The kind that couldn't be broken.
"No," I said, but my voice was weak.
"Oh yes. And if you don't come with me willingly, your dear father will pay the price. His life for yours. That was the deal."
Through the bond, I felt the princes' anger and helplessness. They wanted to protect me, but they couldn't fight a blood pact.
"So what's it going to be, my dear Luna?" Elias asked. "Will you come with me and save your father? Or will you let him die for your rebellion?"
I looked at the contract in his hands. At the princes who had risked everything for me. At Marcus, still bleeding from the silver wound.
And I realized that no matter what I chose, someone I loved was going to get hurt.
"I need time to think," I said.
"You have until sunrise," Elias replied. "After that, the contract activates automatically. And trust me, you don't want to see what happens to people who break blood magic."
He snapped his fingers, and all the Syndicate wolves disappeared like smoke.
"Until sunrise, my Luna," he called out as he faded away. "Choose wisely."
The room fell silent except for Marcus's heavy breathing.
"We'll find a way out of this," Dorian said, but I could feel his desperation through the bond.
"There is no way out," I replied. "Blood magic can't be broken."
"There has to be something," Tobias insisted. "Some flaws. Some way to fight it."
But deep down, we all knew the truth.
I had six hours to choose between the three princes I loved and the father who had apparently betrayed me.
And if I make a wrong choice, everyone would die.