The Alpha's Obsession: When Souls Collide

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Chapter 5 The Truth Unveiled

"No!" I screamed as the pain hit me again, like lightning shooting through every part of my body. "Make it stop!"

Elder Sage Moonwhisper stood in my doorway like she owned the place, watching me writhe on the floor like this was just another Tuesday for her. Damon and Marcus were both on their knees beside me, their faces twisted in the same pain I felt.

"The question isn't between you two," the Elder had said. "Luna's real mate is someone else entirely."

Those words made everything worse. The burning in my chest got stronger, and I could feel both men's uncertainty and pain mixing with my own. It was like having three people's feelings crammed into my brain at once.

"What do you mean someone else?" Damon growled, his Alpha voice making the windows shake. "I can smell our mate bond!"

"So can I," Marcus gasped, his healing hands shining as he tried to make the pain stop. Nothing was working.

Elder Moonwhisper stepped into my tiny living room, and suddenly the air felt thick with old magic. "You're all asking the wrong questions," she said quietly. "Luna, tell me - what do you feel when you look at them?"

"Pain!" I shouted. "I feel pain!"

"Beyond the pain," she pressed. "What else?"

I wanted to tell her to shut up and fix this, but something made me really look at Damon and Marcus. Through the pain, I could feel... everything they felt. Damon's desperate love for me, his fear of losing control, his guilt about the engagement. Marcus's gentle protectiveness, his worry about my safety, his confusion about why he felt so linked to someone he'd just met.

But there was something else. Something that felt like...

"Connection," I whispered. "Not just to one of you. To both of you. Like we're supposed to be together."

"Exactly." The Elder nodded. "Because you are. All three of you."

"That's impossible," Damon growled. "Werewolves mate in pairs. Always."

"Most werewolves do," Elder Moonwhisper agreed. "But you three aren't most werewolves. You're the Tri-Soul."

The pain suddenly stopped. Just like that, like someone had flipped a switch. We all lay there panting, looking at the old woman who'd just changed our entire world with two words.

"The what now?" I asked, trying to sit up.

"The Tri-Soul. A magical bond that happens once every thousand years, always during times of great supernatural danger." The Elder's eyes got that faraway look that meant she was about to tell us something that would ruin our lives. "Three souls, bound together not by romantic love, but by destiny itself."

I felt my stomach drop. "What kind of destiny?"

"The kind that saves the world," she said plainly. "Luna, you're not just a rare omega. You're a Harmony Keeper - the last of an ancient bloodline that can calm supernatural battles and bring peace between warring species."

My brain felt like it was melting. "I work in filing! I can barely keep my own life together!"

"Damon," the Elder continued, ignoring my fear, "your family doesn't just carry Alpha genes. You're descended from the original Guardians, werewolves who were created especially to protect Harmony Keepers."

Damon's face went pale. "My grandmother used to tell stories about ancient guardians, but I thought they were just fairy tales."

"And Marcus," she turned to him, "your healing skills aren't natural werewolf magic. You carry the blood of the Life Weavers - beings who could manipulate the very essence of life."

Marcus looked like he was going to throw up. "That's why I can heal things other werewolves can't?"

"That's why you can do much more than heal," Elder Moonwhisper said ominously. "When the three bloodlines join their power, they become something unprecedented. Something strong enough to stop what's coming."

"What's coming?" I asked, though I was pretty sure I didn't want to know.

The Elder's face turned grave. "The Shadowlands are rising. Ancient beings that were locked away millennia ago are starting to break free. They feed on spiritual energy, and they're hungry."

The room got so quiet I could hear my own heartbeat. Outside, Aria was still playing in the backyard, totally unaware that her mom had just found out she was part of some cosmic destiny thing.

"But here's what you need to understand," Elder Moonwhisper continued. "This isn't about romance. The mate ties you're feeling? They're real, but they're not typical. They're magical connections meant to help you work together. Luna, you don't have to choose between them because you're not meant to choose. You're meant to finish the triangle."

"What does that mean?" I whispered.

"It means all three of you are linked now. What one feels, you all feel. What hurts one of you, hurts you all. What makes one of you stronger, helps you all."

I looked at Damon and Marcus, seeing my own fear reflected in their faces. This wasn't what any of us had signed up for.

"There's more," the Elder said, and somehow I knew this was the part that would really destroy us. "The Shadowlands beings aren't the only threat. There's something else rising. Something that's been sleeping for three thousand years, waiting for enough magical energy to feed on."

"What is it?" Damon asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Elder Moonwhisper looked directly at me, and I saw something in her old eyes that made my blood freeze.

"The Devourer. A being that doesn't just kill supernatural things - it unmakes them. Erases them from existence totally. And according to the forecast, it's already started hunting."

The air in the room got heavy again, but this time it felt different. Dangerous.

"It's hunting what?" Marcus asked.

The Elder's next words hit me like a physical blow.

"It's hunting Harmony Keepers. And their children." She looked toward the window where Aria's laughter could still be heard. "Especially children with unprecedented power."

My heart stopped. "Aria?"

"Luna," Elder Moonwhisper said anxiously, "where exactly is your daughter right now?"

I ran to the back door, my whole body shaking. The garden was empty. Aria's toys were spread on the grass, but she was nowhere in sight.

"ARIA!" I screamed.

That's when I heard it. A sound that made every sense I had scream danger. A low, eerie howl coming from the woods behind our house.

And underneath it, barely audible, was a small voice calling for help.

"Mommy!"

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