The Alphas Triplets

The Training and the Bond - Part 2

By the third morning, I could feel the circle calling before I even reached it.

The stones thrummed softly in the distance, like a heartbeat waiting for mine. The forest itself seemed to breathe with us now-branches swaying without wind, the air trembling just enough to raise the fine hairs on my arms.

Lilly and James were already there, waiting, both looking as restless as I felt. Dominic stood beside Father, quiet as always, his gaze fixed on the mist curling through the trees.

“We’ll start earlier this time,” Father said.

“The Moon wanes soon. You’ll need to stabilize before it does.”

We took our places in the circle. Silver light rose under our feet; the sigils burned brighter than before. I closed my eyes and felt Lilly’s heartbeat align with mine, then James’s, until the three of us were breathing as one.

Light, heart, and mind, Emma whispered.

Together, or not at all.

The energy climbed higher, warmer. It filled the space between us, wrapping us in a shimmering haze. For a heartbeat, it was perfect-balance, harmony, strength.

Then something else slid through it. A pulse colder than winter. The light trembled. I saw flashes-Carter’s eyes, the smoke twisting into claws, the Goddess turning away. Pain bloomed behind my eyes, sharp and sudden.

“Jennie!” Lilly’s voice cracked. “You’re slipping-“

I couldn’t answer. The darkness inside the vision reached for me. I felt myself falling, sinking into a place where even the Moon’s light couldn’t reach. The sound of the clearing vanished. Only the bloodbeat in my ears remained.

You can’t fight what you are, a voice hissed-Carter’s, or maybe mine. Royal blood carries both light and ruin.

“Jennie!”

The voice tore me back. Hands caught me before I hit the ground. Dominic’s.

Power flooded between us like fire meeting water-violent, unstoppable. The bond ignited, silver light pouring from my mark into his. The circle flared white-hot. Every stone around us shone with moonfire.

When the light dimmed, we were on our knees in the center, the air humming, smoke curling gently around us. My breath shook. His didn’t.

“Dominic-“

He opened his eyes. They glowed faintly silver, the same shade as mine had during the battle. “You shouldn’t have gone that deep,” he said softly. “You reached for something that isn’t ready to answer.”

“ I didn’t mean to.”

“I know.” His hand brushed mine-just enough to steady the trembling. “ But now it knows you. It’ll come again.”

Father and the others rushed in moments later, but the energy had already faded. He stopped short when he saw the circle’s new glow-the sigils rearranged into a pattern none of us had seen before.

Lilly pointed. “That wasn’t there before.”

“No,” Father murmured. “It wasn’t.”

Three crescents intertwined in a spiral, forming a single star. The he mark pulsed once, slow and deep, before vanishing into the earth.

“The prophecy’s seal,” Mother whispered.

“The bond has been awakened.”

That night, I couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the light in Dominic’s gaze, the echo of our bond burp behind it. The connection between us wasn’t calm anymore-it pulsed, wild and alive, like a second heartbeat that refused to fade.

I went outside just before dawn. The moon hung low, thin and cold. Mist wound between the trees, whispering against the grass.

“The Goddess isn’t finished with you,” Dominic said from behind me.

I didn’t turn. “You feel it too?”

“Yes.” A pause. “It scares me.”

“Good,” I said. “Maybe that means we still have a choice.”

He stepped beside me, his hand brushing mine for only a second-but it was enough. The mark on my palm flared faintly. The Moon brightened above, casting both our shadows into one.

In the silence that followed, I heard her voice again, quiet as breath:

Love is the strongest bond. And the most dangerous chain.