Fated Mate to the Triplet Alpha

Chapter 110: Chapter 110: The Breaking Point

They felt like they were being hit in the gut by the silence. Elara didn’t have anything in her arms. noveldrama

The babies were gone. The man was gone like smoke, and the twins went with him.

"NO!" Elara screamed and fell to her knees. "Bring them back!" There was nothing, though. There was only the sound of her broken heart and an empty forest.

Everything within fifty feet of Kael’s ice became frozen when it burst. Trees broke. The ground broke up. He had no more power over anything.

They heard him yelling, "Find them!" at his pack fighters. "Search everywhere!" "Where do we even start?" Beta Rivers couldn’t help but ask.

"He just disappeared!" Dark shapes around Darian moved quickly, like scaly snakes. "Magic. More advanced magic. This wasn’t a coincidence." "He knew about the twins," Luna Evelyn said in a low voice.

"He was waiting for them to be born." Ronan stood still. It looked like snow on his face. His hands were shaky. Other people were giving directions, making plans, and trying to figure out what to do next.

Ryan couldn’t move, though. Not able to think. Couldn’t breathe. The kids were gone. His children were gone. Just like everyone else who had ever mattered to him. "Ronan!" Kael grabbed his brother’s shoulders.

"We need your strength. Help us track them!" But Ronan just stared at the spot where the stranger had been. "They’re not coming back," he said softly.

"Don’t say that!" Elara cried. "We’ll find them!" "No." Ronan’s voice was hollow. Empty. "People leave. They always leave." Darian frowned. "Brother, what are you talking about?"

For the first time in years, Ronan’s berserker rage wasn’t there. Instead, there was something much worse. Fear. Pure, bone-deep fear. "My wolf," Ronan breathed. "She left too." Everyone went quiet.

In all the chaos with the twins, they’d forgotten. Ronan’s wolf spirit had been silent for weeks. "That’s different," Kael said desperately.

"The kids didn’t choose to leave. They were taken!" "Were they?" Ronan looked at his brothers with haunted eyes. "Did you see how they reached for him? How they smiled?" "They’re babies!" Elara complained.

"They don’t understand!" "They understood enough." Ronan backed away from the group. "They chose him over us." "That’s not true!" Darian stepped forward, but Ronan shied away from his touch. "Don’t." Ronan’s voice cracked.

"Don’t try to make me feel better. I know how this goes." Alpha Marcus watched his middle son with growing worry. "Boy, you’re not thinking clearly." "I’m thinking clearly for the first time in my life!" Ronan’s voice rose.

"Everyone leaves! Mom left when we were kids. My wolf left. Now the twins left. Even Elara will leave eventually!" "I would never—" Elara started. "You will!" Ronan spun around, his eyes wild. "When you understand what a mess I am.

When you see that Kael is the better Alpha and Darian is the smarter pick. When you figure out that I’m just the broken middle child who wrecks everything he touches!"

The words hung in the air like poison. Kael’s ice flickered and died. "Ronan..." "No!" Ronan was backing toward the tree line. "You want to know why I was always the wild one?

The wild one? Because if I acted like I didn’t care, it would hurt less when people left!" "We’re your brothers," Darian said softly.

"We’ve never left." "Haven’t you?" Ronan’s laugh was bitter. "Kael spent years picking duty over us. You spent years keeping lies.

Everyone thinks we’re this perfect triplet unit, but we’re not! We’re just three broken kids trying to be whole!" Tears were running down Elara’s face.

"The kids didn’t choose to leave. They were stolen from us!" "Were they stolen?" Ronan asked. "Or did they finally find where they really belong?" "With us!" Kael roared.

"They belong with us!" "Do they?" Ronan’s voice was getting quieter. More dangerous. "Look what happened in the cave. They made the whole place fall just by crying. What happens when they get older? Stronger?" "We’ll teach them control," Darian declared.

"Like I was taught control?" Ronan gestured to himself. "Look how well that worked out!" Elder Vera stepped forward carefully.

"Ronan, your berserker nature isn’t a flaw. It’s a gift." "A gift that my own wolf rejected!" Ronan’s calm finally cracked completely. "Do you know what it’s like?

Having your own soul leave you?" "Your wolf didn’t abandon you," Luna Evelyn said gently. "She’s protecting you." "From what?" "From the pain of losing the twins," she revealed.

"Wolf spirits sometimes go quiet when their human is experiencing trauma they can’t handle." Ronan stared at her. "So even my wolf thinks I’m too weak to deal with this."

"That’s not what I said!" But Ronan wasn’t listening anymore. The fear that had been building inside him for weeks was finally breaking free.

"I can’t do this," he whispered. "I can’t lose anyone else." "Then don’t!" Elara reached for him. "Stay and fight! Help us get them back!" "What if we can’t get them back?" Ronan’s question was barely heard.

"What if this is it? What if they’re really gone forever?" "Then we keep trying," Kael said strongly. "We never give up."

"You never give up," Ronan amended. "You’re the strong one. The leader. You don’t fall apart when things get hard." "I fell apart plenty," Kael reminded him. "You were the one who held us together." "Not anymore."

Ronan took another step back. "I’m done being the one who gets everyone’s hopes up just to watch them crash down." "So what?" Darian’s voice was sharp now. "You’re just giving up? Running away?"

"I’m protecting what’s left of my sanity!" "Your sanity?" Alpha Marcus snorted. "Boy, you lost that years ago." "Marcus!" Luna Evelyn snapped. But the damage was done. Ronan’s face went totally blank.

"You’re right," he said softly. "I am crazy. Crazy to think I could be a good father. Crazy to think I deserved a mate like Elara. Crazy to think I could protect anyone."

"Ronan, please," Elara begged. "Don’t do this." "Do what? Tell the truth?" Ronan’s smile was painful to look at. "I’m the disposable brother.

The one nobody really needs. Kael’s the Alpha. Darian’s the planner. What am I? Just the strength who breaks things." "You’re the heart," Elara said desperately. "You’re the one who loves the hardest!" "And gets hurt the worst."

Ronan reached the edge of the clearing. "Maybe it’s better this way. Maybe the twins are better without me."

"That’s not true!" "Isn’t it?" Ronan looked at his family one last time. "The man said he was like them. That he understood them. Maybe he can give them what we can’t." "Which is what?" Kael demanded. "Stability.

A family that won’t fall apart at the first sign of trouble." "We didn’t fall apart!" Darian protested. "Didn’t we?" Ronan pointed to the chaos around them. "Look at us. We’re all broken.

How can we raise children when we can’t even fix ourselves?" "Because that’s what family does," Luna Evelyn said strongly. "We break together. We heal together." "Some things can’t be healed, Mom."

Ronan’s use of the word ’Mom’ hit everyone like a physical blow. He never called her that anymore. "Some things are just broken forever." And with that, he turned and ran into the trees.

"Ronan!" Elara screamed after him. "Come back!" But he was already gone, disappearing into the darkness between the trees. Kael started to follow, but Darian grabbed his arm. "Let him go."

"Are you insane? He’s having a breakdown!" "Exactly. And if we chase him now, we might push him over the edge totally."

Elara fell against a tree, sobbing. "I can’t lose him too. I can’t lose all of them." "You won’t," Kael promised, though his voice shook. "We’ll get the kids back. And we’ll bring Ronan home." "How?" she whispered.

"How do we fix this?" Before anyone could answer, a new voice spoke from the dark. "You don’t." Everyone spun around. The silver-haired man was back, standing exactly where he’d been before. But this time, he wasn’t alone.

The twins were in his arms, but they looked different. Older somehow. Their eyes held knowledge that no baby should hold. "You came back," Elara breathed. "I never left," the stranger said quietly.

"I’ve been watching. Listening." "Where’s Ronan?" Kael demanded. "What did you do to him?" The man smiled. "I didn’t do anything to him. He did it to himself." "What do you mean?"

"He’s exactly where I expected him to be," the stranger stated. "Making the choice I knew he would make." "What choice?" Darian’s shadows were already forming around him.

The stranger’s smile got wider. "The choice to join me willingly." Through the trees, they heard a sound that made everyone’s blood run cold. Ronan’s voice, but different. Darker. Calling out words in a language none of them recognized.

"No," Elara whispered. "Oh yes," the man said. "Your broken wolf has just become my most valuable asset." The twins looked at their parents with those too-old eyes and smiled.

And somewhere in the darkness, Ronan’s laughter rang through the trees. But it wasn’t his laughing anymore. It was something else entirely.