The Alphas Triplets

The Gift of the Goddess

Rain woke me before the voices did.

It drummed against the roof in slow, deliberate rhythm, the kind that always used to lull me back to sleep when I was a child. This time it only reminded me of how raw the world felt.

The scent of pine and smoke filled the room - clean, sharp, almost too real. My senses still hadn’t settled. Every drop of water against the window sounded like a heartbeat. Every whisper outside carried weight.

I tried to sit up and nearly fell back. My body ached in ways I didn’t have words for. It wasn’t pain exactly, more like every muscle was remembering how to belong to me again.

“Easy,” a familiar voice said. Marcus. He stepped from the doorway, rain still clinging to his jacket. “You’ve been asleep nearly a day.”

“A day?” My throat felt dry, my voice strange to my own ears.

He nodded. “Your parents didn’t want to move you. The healers said the light that came from you was still fading.”

“The battle - “

“Is over, for now.” He pulled up a chair, his expression somewhere between pride and worry. “You saved us, Jennie.”

I tried to answer, but the memory rushed in before the words could. The forest glowing silver. The sound of wolves crying out. Carter’s eyes. Then nothing but light.

“I don’t remember all of it,” I said.

Marcus gave a small smile. “No one does. They said it was like the moon fell from the sky and stood among us.”

I looked deep enough at my hands. The crescent mark had returned, faint but steady. When I traced it with my thumb, warmth pulsed through me.

Later, after Marcus left, Lilly slipped into the room. She looked exhausted but whole, s bandaged wrapped around her shoulder. James followed, a bruise dark on his temple. They both stopped when they saw me.

“You’re awake,” Lilly said softly. “Thank the Goddess.”

James grinned, but his eyes betrayed the same disbelief everyone else seemed to carry. “You turned into a literal star, Jen.”

I tried to laugh. It came out as a breath. “It didn’t feel like that.”

He sat at the foot of the bed. “You glowed. I mean actually glowed. The rogues ran the second you howled. Dad said he’s never seen power like that.”

Lilly touched my arm gently. “You scared me’l she whispered. “One moment you were gone, the next… you weren’t you anymore.”

“I didn’t mean to,”I said. “It just - happened.”

Lilly smiled weakly. “I think that’s how magic works.”

They stayed a while, telling me small things - the pack rebuilding fences, our mother healing the wounded, our father patrolling the borders again. When they finally left, the room felt larger, emptier, filled only with the hum of rain.

Night came again. The clouds parted and the moon returned - pale, forgiving bing. I stepped onto the balcony, wrapping a blanket around my shoulders. The air smelled so f wet earth and pine sap. For the first time since the bat til, the forest seemed calm.

Then the light changed. Silver brightened into violet, and she was there again - the outline of the Goddess, faint but unmistakable, standing at the edge of the balcony.

“You kept your promise,” she said. Her voice wasn’t sound but feeling, a tide that moved through my chest

“I didn’t do it alone,” I whispered.

“No one ever does. But remember, gift and burden are the same coin. You can heal, but every act of light leaves a shadow.”

“I don’t want a shadow.”

She smiled sadly. “No one does. That’s why I chose you.”

The wind stirred, carrying the scent of wildflowers. When I blinked, she was gone. Only the faint shimmer of moonlight remained.

I stayed there until the sky began to lighten. Down below, the pack house still slept, but I could heat the steady rhythm of breathing, of hearts, f life. The world was quiet, fragile, and utterly alive.

I touched the mark on my pale. “Thank you,” I said softly, though I wasn’t sure who I was thanking - her, or part of myself that had finally answered.

Behind me, the first morning wolf howled. I closed my eyes and listened.

For the first time, the sound felt like home.