A bucket of cold water hit my face like a slap.
I gasped and sat up in bed, water dripping from my hair onto my old blanket. My heart pounded as I looked around, trying to figure out what happened. Then I saw her – Maya, the Alpha's cook, standing by my bed with an empty bucket in her hands.
"Get up, lazy girl," Maya said with a mean smile. "You're wanted in the kitchen. Now."
I wiped water from my eyes. "But it's my birthday.."
"Nobody cares about your birthday." Maya turned and walked away. "Five minutes, or you get no food today."
My stomach growled. I hadn't eaten since yesterday morning. Being the Beta's daughter didn't mean much when you were also an Omega. Most days, I felt more like a servant than family.
I put on my old brown dress and ran to the kitchen. The castle was already busy with wolves getting ready for the day. None of them looked at me. They never did.
In the kitchen, Maya pointed at a huge pile of dirty dishes. "Wash these. All of them. Before the morning meal."
"That's not fair," I said. "It's my eighteenth birthday. I should be getting ready for my ceremony today."
Maya laughed. It was not a nice laugh. "Ceremony? You think anyone cares about your little Omega ceremony? The only reason you're having one is because the law says you have to."
My cheeks burned. She was right, and we both knew it. Today I was supposed to meet my mate. another Omega who would take me away from this place. But no one was excited about it. Not even me.
"Besides," Maya added, "your ceremony isn't until tonight. You have all day to work first."
I started washing dishes, trying not to cry. The water was so cold it made my hands freeze. As I washed the dishes, I thought about my life. Eighteen years of being nobody special. Eighteen years of being ignored, forgotten, and treated like I didn't matter.
My father Sebastian was the Beta, second in command to Alpha Raphael. But that didn't help me. Dad was always busy with important pack business. He barely had time to say good morning to me, let alone protect me from people like Maya.
I was almost done with the dishes when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and saw Mrs. Green, the head housekeeper. She looked worried.
"Aria, dear," she said quietly. "You need to go to your room and get cleaned up. Right now."
"But I'm not done with.."
"Leave the dishes." Mrs. Green looked around nervously. "Something's happened. You've been summoned to the Great Hall."
My heart stopped. The Great Hall was where the Alpha held court. Where important decisions were made. Where punishments were given out. I had never been summoned there before.
"What did I do wrong?" I asked, my voice shaking.
"Nothing, child. But you need to hurry. The Alpha doesn't like to wait."
I ran to my small room in the basement. It was tiny, with just a bed, a chair, and a cracked mirror. I washed my face and tried to fix my wet hair. My hands were shaking so badly I could barely braid it.
What could Alpha Raphael want with me? Had I broken some rule I didn't know about? Was I in trouble for something Maya said I did?
I put on my only good dress . It was too big for me, but it was clean. I looked at myself in the cracked mirror. My amber eyes looked scared. My honey-colored hair was still damp and messy.
I took a deep breath and walked upstairs. The Great Hall was at the top of the castle. I had never been there before, only heard stories about it. My legs felt like leaving me as I climbed the stairs.
Outside the big wooden doors, I stopped. I could hear voices inside. lots of them. Important voices. Alpha Raphael's deep voice. Other voices I didn't recognize.
A guard opened the door. "Aria Blackwood," he announced.
I walked into the Great Hall, and my breath caught in my throat. It was huge, with tall stone walls and windows that let in streams of sunlight. But that wasn't what made me freeze.
It was the people staring at me.
Alpha Raphael sat on his throne at the far end of the hall. His storm-gray eyes were fixed on me, cold and calculating. Beside him stood an old man with white hair and milky eyes, Rowan Vale, the pack's seer.
But it was the three young men standing in front of the throne that made my heart race.
The triplet princes.
Dorian, Tobias, and Marcus Blackwood. Alpha Raphael's sons. The three most powerful wolves in our pack after their father. I had seen them from far away before, but never this close.
Dorian was tall and muscular, with dark brown hair and the greenest eyes I had ever seen. A scar ran across his left eyebrow, making him look dangerous.
Tobias was thinner, with sandy hair and blue eyes behind glasses. He held a book in his hands and kept looking at it nervously.
Marcus was the biggest of the three, with broad shoulders and black hair cut very short. His dark eyes seemed to burn with some inner fire, and tattoos covered his arms.
All three of them were staring at me.
I felt like a mouse surrounded by wolves. Which, I guess, I was.
"Aria Blackwood," Alpha Raphael's voice boomed through the hall. "Step forward."
My legs felt like they might give out, but I forced myself to walk closer. Every step echoed in the huge room. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, judging me, wondering what I had done wrong.
When I was close enough, I dropped into a curtsy like I had been taught. "Alpha Raphael."
"Do you know why you're here?" he asked.
I shook my head, not trusting my voice.
Rowan Vale stepped forward. His milky eyes seemed to look right through me. "Today is your eighteenth birthday, child. The day you choose your mate."
"Yes, sir. My ceremony is tonight."
"No." The old seer's voice was soft but it cut through the air like a knife. "Your ceremony is now. Here. In this hall."
I looked around in confusion. This wasn't how Omega ceremonies worked. We were supposed to meet our mates in private, in a small room with just a few witnesses. Not in the Great Hall in front of the Alpha and his sons.
"I don't understand," I whispered.
Rowan Vale smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. "The moon has spoken, child. Your destiny is not what anyone expected."
He raised his hands, and suddenly the room filled with golden light. It came from nowhere and everywhere at once. I felt warmth spread through my chest, like someone had lit a fire inside my heart.
The light grew brighter and brighter until I had to close my eyes. When I opened them again, three golden threads of light stretched from my chest to each of the triplet princes.
The entire hall gasped.
"Impossible," Alpha Raphael breathed.
I stared at the golden threads linking me to Dorian, Tobias, and Marcus. They were staring back at me with shock and something else. something that made my stomach flutter.
"What's happening to me?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
Rowan Vale's milky eyes were wide with surprise. "You're not bonding with an Omega, child. You're bonding with all three Alpha heirs. At the same time."
The golden threads sparked with light, and suddenly I could feel everything the three princes were feeling. Dorian's protective instincts. Tobias's curiosity and fear. Marcus's wild, burning passion.
"But that's impossible," I said. "Pack law says..."
"Pack law," Alpha Raphael interrupted, his voice dangerous, "says an Omega can only bond with one mate. Not three."
The golden threads grew brighter, and I felt a pull toward each of the princes. My heart was beating so fast I thought it might explode.
"What does this mean?" I asked.
Rowan Vale looked at me with those strange, all-seeing eyes. "It means, child, that everything we thought we knew about you was wrong. You're not just the Beta's daughter."
He paused, and the silence in the hall was so thick I could barely breathe.
"You're something much more dangerous."