Fated Mate to the Triplet Alpha

Chapter 105: Chapter 105: Brothers Divided

Back in the cave, Ronan felt the familiar burn of his berserker rage. But something was different this time.

Colder. More focused. The trial had changed him. He watched Kael hide something in his jacket pocket. Watched Darian’s shadows move restlessly around his feet.

Watched Elara touch her growing belly with hands that glowed too bright. Everyone had secrets now. "We need to talk," Elder Vera declared.

"The trials have revealed disturbing truths." "What truths?" Elara asked, but her voice sounded strained. "Each of you failed," another Council member said frankly.

"Your bonds are poisoned by jealousy, fear, and ambition." Ronan felt his anger spike. "We didn’t fail anything." "Didn’t you?" Elder Vera pointed her stick at him. "Show them what you learned, young berserker."

Suddenly, images filled the air above them. Not images this time, but memories. Ronan’s memories from his trial. The burning wasteland. The army of people he’d hurt. And his final moment of acceptance. "I am a monster," his voice echoed from the memory. "Maybe that’s what the child needs to learn."

"Ronan!" Elara gasped. "You don’t mean that." But Ronan wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at Darian, whose face showed no surprise at all. "You knew," Ronan said quietly.

"You knew what I’d face in there." Darian’s face didn’t change. "I suspected." "Suspected?" Ronan’s voice got louder. "Or planned?" "What are you talking about?" Kael stepped between them. "Ask him," Ronan growled.

"Ask your precious strategic brother what he’s really been doing." Elder Vera waved her staff again. New images emerged. These showed Darian in his trial, but from a different angle than what he’d experienced.

In the memory, shadow-Darian was speaking to the real Darian. But their talk wasn’t what Darian had told himself it was. "She doesn’t need three mates," shadow-Darian was saying.

"One strong mate is better than three conflicted ones." "Which one?" real Darian had asked. "The smartest one. The one who can guide her properly." The shadow smiled. "The one who’s been planning this all along." Ronan’s berserker power burst outward.

"You’ve been playing us!" "It’s not what it looks like," Darian said, but his shadows were already forming defensive barriers. "Isn’t it?" Ronan’s eyes blazed red. "How long have you been planning to get rid of us?" "I’ve been trying to protect everyone!"

"By eliminating your competition?" Kael pulled the silver collar from his pocket without thought. "Both of you stop it!" Everyone froze. The collar gleamed with artificial light.

"What is that?" Elara whispered. Kael noticed his mistake too late. "It’s... it’s nothing." "That’s a power suppression collar," Tobias said grimly. "Where did you get it?" "The trial," Kael admitted. "I was told to use it on Elara."

The cave went completely dead. "You were going to collar me?" Elara’s voice was deadly quiet. "The visions showed you betraying us," Kael said desperately.

"They showed you choosing power over love." "And you believed them?" "I didn’t know what to believe!" Kael’s ice powers flared. "Everything feels wrong now!" Ronan laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound.

"Perfect. Just beautiful. Kael wants to chain our mate. Darian wants to steal her. And I’m supposed to be the monster." "You are a monster," Darian said coldly. "We all are. That’s what the trials proved." "Speak for yourself," Elara snapped. "I’m not anyone’s possession to be chained or stolen."

"Aren’t you?" Elder Vera’s voice cut through their argument. "Look at yourselves. Already turning against each other. Already proving the forecast right." "What prophecy?" Ronan demanded.

"The one that says the child will be born into chaos," another Council member explained. "That its parents will destroy each other before it draws its first breath." Elara clutched her belly protectively. "That’s not going to happen." "Isn’t it?" Elder Vera gestured at the three boys.

"Your mates are ready to fight to the death over you. How is that not chaos?" Ronan felt the truth of those words. His rage was building toward something explosive.

Something that might not stop until one of his brothers was dead. "The trials were supposed to make us stronger," he said. "No," Darian amended. "The trials were supposed to reveal who we really are."

"And who are we?" Kael asked. Darian’s smile was sharp as a blade. "Exactly what everyone always said. You’re too weak to lead. Ronan’s too dangerous to trust. And I’m too smart to share."

"Darian!" Elara’s voice cracked like a whip. "It’s the truth," he said quietly. "I love you, but I won’t pretend the three-way link works. It’s tearing us apart."

"So your solution is to eliminate us?" Ronan’s berserker power was building to dangerous levels. "My solution is to be practical." "Practical?" Kael’s ice began spreading across the cave floor. "You call betrayal practical?" "I call survival practical."

The original Alpha’s laughter echoed from his chains. "Beautiful! They’re doing my work for me." "Shut up!" all three brothers yelled at once. But the old wolf kept laughing.

"The child will be born into hate instead of love. Perfect for my needs." Elara stepped forward, her golden light blazing.

"None of you get to decide my future!" "Don’t we?" Darian’s shadows reached toward her. "We’re your mates. Your destiny is tied to ours." "Not anymore." Everyone turned to stare at her.

"What do you mean?" Kael asked. Elara’s hand moved to her belly. "The baby showed me something during my trial. A way to break the ties." "That’s impossible," Tobias said. "Mate bonds can’t be broken."

"Normal ones can’t," Elara agreed. "But this bond was made by the prophecy. And prophecies can be... rewritten." The Council members began whispering urgently among themselves.

"You can’t seriously be considering this," Ronan said. "Can’t I?" Elara’s eyes blazed with golden fire.

"You want to collar me. Kael wants to control me. Darian wants to manipulate me. Maybe I’m better off alone." "The child needs its fathers," Kael protested. "Does it?" Elara tilted her head. "Or does it just need a mother who’s strong enough to protect it?" Darian stepped forward. "Elara, be reasonable. You can’t raise a prophecy child alone." "Watch me."

She placed both hands on her belly and began to glow brighter.

The baby inside her reacted, kicking so hard that everyone could see the movement. "Stop!" Elder Vera raised her staff. "Breaking a prophetic bond could kill you both!" "Maybe," Elara said. "But at least we’ll die free."

The light around her grew blinding. The mate bonds connecting her to the three brothers began to stretch and strain.

"Please don’t do this," Ronan begged. His rage was gone, replaced by pure fear. "I can change. We all can change." "Can you?" Elara’s voice echoed strangely.

"Prove it." "How?" "Choose. Right now. One of you can stay connected to me and the baby. The other two have to let go." The cave went dead silent except for the sound of the original Alpha’s delighted laughing.

"Choose," Elara repeated. "Or I break all the bonds and raise the child alone." Ronan looked at his brothers. Kael’s face was pale with shock. Darian’s expression was calculating, already planning his case. "How long do we have to decide?" Kael asked. Elara’s smile was sharp as broken glass.

"You have until the baby is born." "When will that be?" She looked down at her quickly expanding belly. "Based on how fast it’s growing? Maybe two hours." The brothers stared at each other.

Ronan felt his berserker rage rising again, but this time it was mixed with desperate love and crushing fear. Two hours to decide which of them got to keep their family. Two hours before they became enemies instead of brothers.

"There has to be another way," he said. "There is," a new voice said from the cave opening. Everyone spun around to see a figure appearing from the shadows.

Someone Ronan recognized but hadn’t seen in years. "Hello, boys," their thought-dead mother Luna Evelyn said, stepping into the light.

"I think it’s time you learned the real truth about your bond." But as she moved closer, Ronan noticed something that made his blood freeze.

Luna Evelyn cast no shadow on the cave wall. And her eyes mirrored light like a predator’s in the dark.noveldrama