Chapter 2: The Fatal Reunion

​My lungs burned with every heavy breath. The freezing night air scraped my throat like broken glass. Behind me, the roar of engines broke the quiet woods. Bright headlights caught me like a deer trapped on a highway. ​Tires screeched against dirt and rock as three massive black SUVs slammed to a stop a few feet away. Thick dust choked me, mixing with the nasty, metallic smell of my own blood. ​The car doors flew open. ​The moment the first heavy boot hit the dirt, the air grew thick. A strange, electric energy made the hairs on my arms stand straight up. It pressed down on my bruised chest, making it hard to breathe. It was the crushing, powerful feeling of an Alpha—no, three. ​Three tall men stepped out into the moonlight. They wore dark tactical clothes that hugged their wide shoulders and thick chests. They moved smoothly and dangerously, like wolves hunting in the dark. ​I couldn't breathe. My heart beat against my ribs so hard it hurt. ​Even in the dark, even through my fear and bleeding eyes, my heart knew exactly who they were. ​Caspian. Killian. Lucian. ​They were much bigger now. Wider. Way more dangerous than the boys I remembered. The mean, cruel boys from my past were gone. In their place were hard, lethal men. ​Caspian, standing in the middle, brushed dust off his jacket. He looked very annoyed. "What was that? Did we hit a deer?" ​"I think it's a person," came Lucian's smooth, quiet voice from the left. He took a slow step closer, his sharp eyes piercing the dark. ​"Move," growled Killian from the right. He stepped forward quickly, his massive body full of angry, restless energy. ​I stepped back in terror. My heels wobbled right on the edge of the steep hill behind me. I was a terrible mess—bleeding from many cuts, covered in mud, and shaking from the pain. I looked like a monster. I looked exactly like the ugly ‘Ghost’ they used to mock. ​And then, they looked at me. ​It happened in a single second. When they saw my shaking, broken body, the annoyed looks completely vanished. They froze, standing straight up as if they had all been shocked by electricity. ​I watched, completely paralyzed, as the color of their eyes started to change. ​Caspian’s eyes filled with bright, glowing gold. ​Killian’s eyes burned a deep, dark red like blood. ​Lucian’s eyes swirled into a storm of bright silver. ​Then, their scent hit me. It was a massive wave of wet earth, fresh wood, and rich dark chocolate. It covered up the smell of dirt and blood. It wrapped around my throat, pulled at my stomach, and screamed at every part of my body. ​MATE. The word echoed in the quiet clearing. No one said it out loud, but I felt it. It was a loud roar deep inside my soul. It was an ancient magic locking us together. ​"Mate..." Caspian whispered, like he couldn't believe it. He took a clumsy step toward me, his long fingers shaking. "Mine." ​"She's ours," Killian growled, his voice a monstrous rumble. His big hands closed into tight fists. He looked like he wanted to fight the whole world just to get to me. His red eyes burned with a crazy hunger. ​My mind broke. ​No. The Moon Goddess couldn't be this mean to me. ​These were the men who used to bully me every single day. These were the cruel Alphas who hated anyone weak. And now they were looking at me like I was a prize. It scared me more than Selina’s painful punches. They didn't see Aria, the girl they hurt. They only saw their mate. ​When they found out who I really was—when the mate bond settled and they saw their mate was the weak, white-haired girl they used to hate—they would be so disappointed. They would reject me. And the terrible pain of a mate's rejection would kill me right here. ​I couldn't handle it. Not tonight. I would rather die right now than see the hunger in their beautiful eyes turn into hate and disgust. ​"Stay back!" I screamed, my voice broken and full of fear. I took a fast step backward. Rocks slipped under my shoes, falling down the dark hill. ​The Triplets froze again. My scream woke them up. Caspian looked confused. "Mate? Why are you... Goddess, you're bleeding." ​His golden eyes turned dark and scary. A terrifying growl ripped from his chest. It was so loud it shook the ground under my feet. "WHO DID THIS TO YOU?" ​His anger was the roar of an Alpha King. But my traumatized mind thought he was yelling at me. I thought he was disgusted by how ugly and bloody I looked. ​"Don't touch me!" I cried, shaking my head fast. Hot tears mixed with the blood on my chin. "Please, just leave me alone!" ​"We aren't going to hurt you," Lucian said, stepping forward very slowly. He kept his hands up to show he was safe, but his silver eyes were moving fast, checking my cuts. "Little one, please. Come here. You’re hurt really badly. We need to heal you." ​"Liar!" I screamed, holding my painful ribs. "You hate me! You all hate me!" ​I looked at Killian. He was shaking hard, fighting his wolf side to stay in control. Thick veins popped out on his neck. ​"I can smell her blood," Killian snarled to his brothers, ignoring my words. His voice was full of crazy need and anger. "There's too much blood. I need to hold her now." ​He jumped forward. ​He didn't think; he just acted. He tried to grab me and pull me into his arms to save my life. But I was so scared, I thought he was attacking me. I thought the bully from two years ago was coming to finish the job. ​I didn't think. I just reacted. I turned around and threw myself backward off the cliff. ​"NO!" ​All three Alphas screamed at the same time. Their voices tore through the night, filled with so much pain it sounded like someone had stabbed them. ​I fell hard down the steep, rocky hill. Sharp stones cut my skin, and thorny bushes ripped my clothes, but I didn't try to stop. I rolled and crashed until my tired body finally hit the freezing cold mud at the bottom. I quickly crawled on my hands and knees toward the dark water. ​"Aria! Stop!" ​I heard them running down the hill behind me. They were breaking branches and causing rocks to fall. They were impossibly fast. I could hear their loud breathing and the heavy sound of their boots hitting the dirt. ​I threw myself into the black waters of Frost Lake. ​The water was freezing cold. It hit my chest so hard I couldn't breathe. My tired, beaten arms and legs instantly stopped working. The cold bit into my open cuts like a thousand needles. ​"Please," I whispered to the Moon Goddess, my tears freezing on my face. "Make it stop. Just make it stop." ​My foot slipped on the slimy bottom of the lake. ​I went under. ​The dark, freezing water rushed into my nose and mouth. The cold hurt so much for one second, stealing all the warmth from my body, and then... nothing. ​It was very peaceful. ​The sharp pain in my broken ribs slowly faded away. The burning of my cuts stopped. The loud, scary noise of the Alphas screaming my name was replaced by a quiet, heavy silence. ​As I sank deeper into the dark water, my long white hair floated up around my face like a glowing circle of moonlight. I forced my heavy eyes open to look up at the top of the water one last time. ​Through the dark water, I saw three huge hands punch through the top of the lake, reaching for me blindly. I saw the watery faces of the Triplets, screaming bubbles into the water. Their eyes were wide with panic. They looked so sad and broken, like they were dying too. ​Caspian’s fingers barely brushed the tip of my shoe. ​But I was too far down. I was slipping away. ​My eyes finally closed. The cold darkness hugged me softly, like a gentle mother putting her tired child to sleep. ​And then, in the absolute quiet of the deep water, a voice spoke. It wasn't the scared Triplets. It wasn't my bully, Selina. The voice echoed directly inside my mind—very old, very powerful, and undeniably female. ​"Finally. You have returned to me."