Chapter 3 The Shared Bond

Kieran POV 

The heavy doors of the council chamber slammed shut behind the guards as they dragged Elara away, her scent lingering in the air even though she had already left. 

I clenched my jaw, my fist tightening at my sides. 

This should not be possible. 

So after my mate died, the moon goddess decided to offer me another mate. Not only me but my two brothers? How should I even take that? 

The mate bond burned under my skin, relentlessly demanding what I would never accept. Not at all. I could still feel the pulse of it, linking me to her and to them. 

“She is our mate. And you have nothing to do about that. I need a mate again, Kieran. You have decided to keep to yourself, blaming yourself for her death countless times, and now the moon goddess finally answered my prayers. She is ours.” My wolf growled which I ignored.

I turned to face my brother's who looked surprised as I was.

They all were quiet. Too quiet as if they had gotten into something they never requested for and neither of us spoke. 

Because we all knew the truth.  

We had felt it.  

The same moment she stepped into this room, the same instant her fiery gaze met ours…the bond snapped into place.

All three of us.

“She’s our mate.” Victor said, his voice laced with disbelief as he ran his hand through his dark hair, letting out a bitter laugh. “All of us.”  

Silas exhaled, slowly, shaking his head. “It’s impossible. That sounds funny to your ears but it is actually impossible. Something must have gone wrong.”  

I gritted my teeth. “And yet, here we are.”  

A shared mate. An abomination.  

I knew she had felt it but what would she have done? Tell it to our face because she was fierce? 

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. A mate was meant to be sacred…one soul bound to another.But this?  Nah. This was something twisted. A mistake.  

A mistake might have occurred but then, 

The Moon Goddess does not make mistakes.  

Then what the hell was this?  

Victor slammed his fist against the table. “This cannot be spoken of. Do you understand?” His voice was sharp and yet, alarming.  “If our pack finds out….”  

“They won’t,” I interrupted coldly.  

Silas’s gaze darkened. “Even if we don’t say a word, we felt it.And she did, too. We can't say the pack won't find out. What if ... .what if she goes about ranting it out that we are mates?”  

I let out a low groan, hating that he was right. I had seen the recognition in Elara’s eyes, the way she had stiffened as the bond coiled around us. She had felt it, just as we had.  

Victor let out a scoff. “She didn’t react like a she-wolf meeting her fated mates for the first time.” He smirked,  “No tears. No trembling. No submission.”  

Silas leaned back in his chair, with an unreadable gaze.. “Because she’s already been broken once and she knew we would react this way. She doesn't want that anymore.”  

The thought of Alexander discarding her with the saying he cheated made my hatred for him deepened. 

“Fool,” I muttered, my voice dripping with disbelief.

Victor’s smirk widened. “I never thought I’d say this, but for once, we agree on something.”  

Silas exhaled sharply. “That’s the problem, though, isn’t it?” His silver eyes scanned between us. “We hate him. And now, fate has bound us to the very woman he discarded.”  

My hands curled into fists. “You think this is what he's doing?”  

Silas shook his head. “No. But I don’t believe in coincidences either.”  

Silence came in between us as we stared endlessly. 

Victor leaned against the table. “We need to decide what to do with her.”  

I already knew what he meant.  

Kill her.  

Silas shook his head in confirmation. “She’s already worthless to Alexander. Keeping her alive does nothing for him.”  

Victor sneered. “Unless we return her to him in pieces.”  

A sharp groan erupted from my throat before I could stop it. ‘No.’

My wolf's fault.

Victor arched his brow staring up at me with a confused gaze. “What’s this? Are you feeling protective already?”  

I forced my expression into a cold one “No. I just think we shouldn’t act rashly.”  

“Rashly?” Victor scoffed. “She’s a liability, Kieran. We don’t need this kind of… abomination in our pack.”  

I met his gaze. “And yet you felt it, too.”  

His smirk faltered.  

Silas tapped his fingers against the table. “We need time.”  

Victor shot him a surprised look. “For what? Time for what exactly? So she would go about running her mouth? Enough of this scandal thing. We cleared this off two years back and we don't want that anymore.”  

“To find out what she really is.” Silas flatly said with no emotions. 

I folded my arms. “She’s a discarded mate. A slave.”  

“No,” Silas corrected. “She was his mate. And now, she is ours. That’s not normal, Kieran. That’s never happened before.”  

I didn’t respond.  

Because I had already been thinking the same thing.  

Victor let out an irritated growl. “So what? You want to keep her like some kind of experiment?”  

Silas didn’t deny it, neither did I.

Victor exhaled heavily and turned to me. “And what do you suggest, big brother?”  

I looked at them both. We had ruled this pack side by side for years. We had fought together, killed together. But never had we faced this kind.

And there was only one choice to make.  

“We keep her contained,” I said finally. “Until we understand what she is. Alexander claimed that she was cheating.”  

Victor cursed under his breath.   

I turned to the guards patrolled by the door. “Take her to the underground cells. Eyes on her. She isn’t a princess and I do not want stories of how she escaped.”  

The warriors bowed their heads. “Yes, Alpha.”  

“We should kill her.”