BOUND TO THREE ALPHAS Chapter 73: MOTHER’S LEGACY

Chapter 73: Mother’s Legacy

The laughter stopped as quickly as it started, leaving only cold silence and the taste of fear in everyone’s mouths. Liana helped bring Alpha Thorne inside while the triplets stood frozen on the front steps. Their faces looked like they’d seen ghosts—which, in a way, they had.

"She’s really alive," Jace whispered, his normal cocky attitude nowhere to be found. "All these years..." Kael’s hands shook as he ran them through his hair. "We grieved for her. We blad ourselves for not being good enough boys to keep her safe." Rowan said nothing, but tears rolled down his face. The empath brother was feeling everyone’s pain at once—his father’s physical agony, his brothers’ emotional torture, and Liana’s growing fear. Inside the house, they settled Thorne on the couch. His silver burns were healing slowly, too slowly. Elder Mira knelt beside him, her hands glowing with healing magic. "The poison runs deep," she muttered. "But he’ll live." "How long have you known?" Liana asked Thorne directly. "About Evelyn being alive?" Thorne’s eyes closed. "I suspected for months. Strange things kept happening. Attacks that felt too personal. Information only she would know being used against us." He coughed, blood speckling his mouth. "But I hoped I was wrong." "Why didn’t you tell us?" Kael demanded.

"Because I knew what it would do to you boys. And because I had no proof." Celeste stood in the corner, looking pale and shaken. "I need to tell you sothing," she said softly. "About my magic training." Everyone turned to her. "My ntor—the witch who taught dark spells—she never told her real na. Just called herself ’The Shadow Mother.’ But now..." Celeste’s voice broke. "The voice outside. It was her. Evelyn was my teacher." Jace spun around so fast he nearly knocked over a lamp. "What?" "She’s been planning this for years," Celeste continued. "She told the triplet bond was wrong, that you three were ant for bigger things. She said Liana would weaken your genes, make you ordinary." Tears started flowing. "I believed her. She made think that destroying the mate bond was saving you." Rowan moved to the old bookshelf in the corner and pulled out a dusty leather notebook. "Speaking of things we should have noticed earlier..." He opened it carefully. "I found this in Dad’s study while you were gone. It’s Mom’s handwriting." Kael snatched the book and read aloud: "Day 100 since the boys’ birth. The promise is clearer now. Three sons, bound by blood and moon, shall join all packs under one rule. My kids will be kings, not servants to outdated traditions." "She knew," Liana breathed. "She knew about the prophecy from the beginning." Rowan took the journal back and switched pages. "There’s more. Listen to this: ’If another bloodline threatens their fate, it must be eliminated. The Moon Goddess may choose, but I will ensure my sons choose right.’"

"She’s been controlling our lives since birth," Jace said, anger replacing his previous shock. "Every choice, every mont—" "Every girl you dated probably reminded her too much of soone with royal blood," Liana finished sadly. Kael started moving like a caged wolf. "Those dreams we had as kids. The ones where she taught us to hide our strength, to never show our full power—" "Weren’t dreams," Rowan realized. "She was actually there, using magic to visit us in our sleep." "Training us to be her perfect weapons," Jace added bitterly. Elder Mira looked up from treating Thorne. "There’s sothing else you should know. I’ve been studying the original prophecy. The part about the triplet bond—it never ntioned controlling all packs. That was added later, in a different script." "Evelyn’s handwriting," Thorne confird weakly. A howl rang from the forest—long, mournful, and definitely not from any normal wolf. "Silverbloods," Jake reported, bursting through the front door. "Dozens of them, attacking our border patrol." Kael instantly started giving orders. "Get everyone inside the main house. Lock down all exits. Jace, take the north wall. Rowan—" "Wait," Liana interrupted, her wolf suddenly alert inside her mind. "Sothing’s wrong. This feels too easy." "Easy?" Jace stared at her.

"There are monsters attacking our ho!" "Exactly. Why announce themselves with howls? Why hit the borders where we have the most guards?" Liana’s eyes started glowing silver. "It’s a distraction." Elder Mira’s face went white. "If the main attack is elsewhere—" "Then where’s the real target?" Kael finished. His question was answered by the sound of breaking glass from upstairs. Liana spun toward the stairs just as a figure dropped through the skylight above—a woman in all black, moving faster than humanly possible. In her hand was a knife that seed to absorb light itself. "Special silver," the assassin hissed, her voice twisted by magic. "Blessed by the Shadow Coven. Even Moon Goddess protection won’t save you from this, little Luna." The woman lunged at Liana with inhuman speed. Jace threw himself between them, taking the blade ant for his mate across his shoulder. He scread as the special silver burned through his skin like acid. "Jace!" Liana grabbed him as he fell, his blood soaking her shirt. The assassin raised the knife again, but this ti Kael was ready. He shifted partly, his claws extending, and slashed at the woman’s arm. She dodged, laughing. "You can’t protect her forever, boys. Mother has plans, and this little oga won’t ruin them." Rowan tried to grab the attacker from behind, but she moved like smoke, slipping through his hands. The knife flashed toward Liana again. This ti, it was Celeste who interfered. "Umbra vinculum!" she scread, dark magic erupting from her hands. Shadow tendrils curled around the assassin, holding her in place for just a mont. But it was enough. Liana’s wolf surged forward, silver light bursting from her eyes.

She grabbed the assassin’s wrist and twisted. The special dagger clattered to the floor. "Who sent you?" Liana ordered, her voice carrying otherworldly power. The assassin smiled, showing teeth filed to points. "Soone who loves her sons more than you ever could." Then she bit down on sothing in her mouth. Poison foam bubbled from her lips, and she fell, dead before she hit the ground. In the sudden quiet, they could hear the Silverblood howls growing distant. The border attack was ended. "The diversion worked," Elder Mira said grimly. "She got her assassin inside." Liana knelt beside Jace, pressing her hands against his wound. The special silver had left burns that weren’t healing. "We need to get this treated imdiately." "I’ll be fine," Jace gasped, but his face was gray with pain. Kael picked up the black knife, careful not to touch the blade. "What kind of silver can kill soone under the Moon Goddess’s protection?" "The kind that’s been soaked in the blood of the first werewolf," Elder Mira whispered. "Ancient magic. Forbidden magic." Thorne struggled to sit up.

"If Evelyn has access to that level of dark power..." "Then she’s not just planning to control the packs," Liana realized. "She’s planning to rewrite the laws of nature itself." Outside, a new sound began—not howling, but singing. A woman’s voice, hauntingly beautiful, flowing through the night air. "Three little wolves, safe in their den, Mother’s co ho to see them again. But wolves grow up and wolves must choose— Which little Luna they’re willing to lose." The song finished with laughter that made everyone’s blood run cold. Rowan looked out the window and saw lights moving through the forest—not flashlights or lanterns, but balls of silver fire flying between the trees. "She’s not done," he whispered.

And from sowhere in the darkness beyond their sight, Evelyn’s voice called out one last ti: "Twenty-four hours, my darling boys. Bring the oga girl, or watch everything you love burn. The choice is yours." The silver fires winked out, leaving only darkness and the terrible weight of an impossible choice.