**Arin's POV**
"JAXON!" I screamed as I watched him hit the ground.
Blood spread across his chest like spilled paint. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't moving. My whole world stopped. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. All I could see was Jaxon lying there, maybe dying, maybe already dead.
"No, no, no," I mumbled, trying to crawl toward him. But Kael's strong arms wrapped around me, holding me back.
"Stay down," he hissed in my ear. "Cassian still has the gun."
Rowan was already beside his brother, pushing his hands against the wound.
"He's alive," he said quickly. "But barely. The bullet missed his heart by inches."
I felt like someone had ripped my chest open. The mate bond with Jaxon was flickering like a light in the wind. I could feel him slipping away from me, and it hurt worse than anything I'd ever felt before.
"How touching," Cassian said, walking closer with his gun still pointed at us. "But one down, two to go."
"You monster!" I shouted at him. Tears were running down my face, but I didn't care. "How could you do this? Alpha Vaughn loved you like a brother!"
"Love doesn't win wars," Cassian answered coldly. "Power does. And soon, Queen Althara will have all the power she needs."
That's when I heard Alpha Vaughn's voice, low and scary.
"Cassian."
The criminal turned toward his old friend. Alpha Vaughn was standing behind a broken wall with Elder Mava. But something was different about him. His eyes were sparkling with an anger I'd never seen before.
"You want to know about power?" Alpha Vaughn asked.
In his hand, he held a silver knife that seemed to shine with its own light.
"Let me show you real power."
"Vaughn, don't be stupid," Cassian warned. "Put the knife down."
But Alpha Vaughn wasn't listening. He pressed the blade against his hand and drew it across his skin. Blood welled up, dark red in the strange light.
"By the blood of the Alpha," he began, and his voice carried a power that made the air itself tremble. "By the bond of pack and family..."
"What are you doing?" Cassian ordered, but I could hear fear in his voice now.
Elder Mava stepped forward, her old hands glowing with silver power.
"He's doing what should have been done years ago," she said. "He's making his sons into what they were always meant to be."
Alpha Vaughn let three drops of his blood fall onto the dirty ground. The moment they hit, the ground began to glow with the same silver light that lived under my skin.
"I bind my sons together," Alpha Vaughn continued, speaking words in a language I didn't understand but somehow felt in my bones. "Three minds, one goal. Three hearts, one love. Three souls, one fate."
The silver light exploded outward from where his blood had dropped. I gasped as the light hit me like a warm wave. But it wasn't just touching me – it was running through the mate bonds, racing toward the triplets like lightning through wire.
Kael jerked beside me, his whole body going stiff.
"What's happening?" he asked, but his voice sounded strange. Like it was coming from far away.
Rowan raised his head from where he was trying to stop Jaxon's bleeding. His eyes were wide with shock.
"I can... I can feel you both," he whispered. "In my head. I can feel what you're thinking."
"This is impossible," Kael breathed. But even as he said it, I could see understanding dawning in his eyes. "Jaxon. I can feel his pain. His heartbeat."
The injured triplet's eyes fluttered open.
"Did someone... turn on the radio... in my brain?" he mumbled weakly. "Because I can hear... both of you... talking..."
"The guardian bond," Elder Mava said, her voice full of awe. "It's working."
I looked at the three brothers, hardly believing what I was seeing. Kael's earth power was flowing into Jaxon, helping heal his wound. Rowan's power to see the future was sharing itself with his brothers. And Jaxon's wind skills were making all three of them stronger, faster.
"We're connected," Rowan said in wonder. "Really connected. I can see through Kael's eyes. I can feel Jaxon's beating like it's my own."
"And I can use both your powers," Kael added, raising his hand. Wind and earth magic swirled together around his fingers. "This is incredible."
But I could feel something else happening too. The mate ties that connected me to each of them were changing. Before, I'd had three different connections – one to each brother. Now, those three ties were weaving together into something new. Something stronger. It was like having one bond that was three times as strong.
"Arin?" Jaxon sat up slowly, his wound already starting to close thanks to his brothers' shared power. "Are you okay? I can feel your fear."
"I'm fine," I said, but my voice was shaking. "I thought I'd lost you."
"You can't lose us," Rowan said softly. "Not anymore. We're all linked now. If one of us dies, we all die."
"How beautiful," Cassian sneered. "Too bad it won't matter in about thirty seconds."
That's when I heard the planes. The sound was getting louder and louder, coming from all directions. Through the broken walls, I could see lights in the sky. Lots of lights.
"Queen Althara's reinforcements," Cassian smiled. "She brought her entire army. Every soldier, every weapon, every piece of equipment she has."
My heart sank. Even with their new link, even with their combined powers, how could the triplets fight an entire army?
"Why?" I asked desperately. "Why does she want me so badly? What's so special about being the Blood Moon Child?"
Cassian's smile got bigger and more terrible.
"Because, sweet little Arin, you're not just any Blood Moon Child. You're the last one."
"What do you mean?"
"Every other Blood Moon Child in history has been found and killed by the queens who came before Althara," he stated. "She's spent ages hunting them down, making sure no one could challenge her power. But your mother hid you too well. You're the only one left."
I felt sick. "So I'm..."
"The key to everything," Cassian finished. "With your power, Althara becomes invincible. Without it, she's just another queen waiting to die."
The helicopters were almost overhead now. I could hear soldiers shouting directions, boots hitting the ground.
"But here's the best part," Cassian continued, raising his gun again. "She doesn't need you willing. She just needs you alive."
That's when Kael, Jaxon, and Rowan all moved at the same time. Their shared mind meant they didn't need to talk or plan. They just acted as one person in three bodies.
Kael threw up a wall of stone and wind. Jaxon sent a blast of air that knocked Cassian backward. Rowan grabbed my hand and pulled me toward a hole in the wall.
"Run!" all three of them said at the exact same time.
But as we reached the opening, a new voice cut through the noise of helicopters and gunshots.
"There's nowhere to run, child."
Standing in the hole, blocking our exit, was a woman in a white cloak. She was beautiful in a cold, terrible way, with golden hair and eyes like ice.
Queen Althara had found us. And she was happy.