CHAPTER 51: CHAPTER 51: THE QUADRUPLET ALPHAS ARE HER MATE

Author’s POV ~

The forest was quiet—eerily so. Moonlight filtered through the tangled branches above, casting silver streaks across the dirt path, and the only sound was the rhythmic pounding of paws against the earth.

Luca’s wolf form tore through the underbrush like a storm unleashed. His mind had been clouded with fury just moments ago—blinded by betrayal, by humiliation, by the burning rage of Selene running away and challenging his authority. She was supposed to be locked away in there in the alpha quarters, so how dare she step out.

Today he would hunt her down and teach her a lesson that she would never forget. And punish her for what she had stirred inside him.

But everything changed the moment that scent hit his nose.

It was like fire and honey. Soft, silken, and sinful. It curled around his senses, thick and intoxicating, making his breath stutter in his chest. His body skidded to a halt before he even realized it, claws digging into the forest floor, head snapping up to inhale again.

The second breath was worse.

Desire slammed into him so hard he staggered. A deep, guttural growl rumbled from his chest, and the word echoed in his mind like a howl caught on the wind:

Mate.

Luca’s world tilted.

His anger dissolved into nothingness, burned away by the bond’s sudden call. In that second he forgot everything—the hunt, the punishment, or even Selene—her name slipped from his thoughts like water through his claws.

Only one thing mattered now: the scent and his mate.

He turned, sprinting toward it without hesitation. His mind wasn’t his anymore—it belonged to the instinct, to his wolf, to the pull of fate.

A flicker of movement to his left made him snarl, thinking someone was interfering. But when he turned, another massive wolf crashed through the trees, Aeron.

Their eyes locked for only a second, and that was all it took.

Both their expressions shifted from confusion to stunned recognition.

"You smell it too?" Aeron’s voice growled in the mind-link, rough and raw.

Luca didn’t even answer. He just nodded once before his own lips curled in a wild, disbelieving grin. Then, without breaking stride, he fell in beside his brother.

A moment later, another body barreled into view from the opposite side—Kael, breathing hard, grey eyes blown wide.

"I thought I was going mad," Kael snarled, panting. "That scent—"

"Mate," Aeron and Luca said at the same time.

They slowed for a moment, just enough to look at each other.

Three alpha-blooded brothers. All chasing the same scent. All feeling the same pull.

The unspoken truth hung between them; they had the same mate.

It should have shocked them. Should have confused them.

But it didn’t. Somehow, it made sense. She made sense.

The bond was sacred and rare. A blessing from the Moon Goddess herself. Fate did not make mistakes—not with mates. And now, after years of believing they might never find the one meant for them, all three had scented her.

The same woman. The same soul.

Their other half.

Kael let out a bark of laughter. "Well, damn. Guess we share everything now, huh?"

Luca snorted. "If she’s ours, I don’t care."

Aeron didn’t speak. He was already running again.

The other two fell in beside him, a triangle of muscle, power, and want tearing through the trees toward the one thing that now mattered more than anything else.

Even the mission they were on—the reason they entered these woods in the first place—faded from memory. They were supposed to hunt down Selene. That was the command. That was the purpose.

But now?

Now nothing mattered more than their mate.

The pull was too strong. Too rooted in every past life they had lived.

To be mated was the highest honor. To reject a mate was to invite pain, despair, and even madness. Wolves who were abandoned by their destined bond often lost the will to live. Their inner wolves withered, their souls dimmed. Because a mate was not just a lover. A mate was everything.

The scent grew stronger.

Closer.

More dangerous in its sweetness.

Their hearts pounded like war drums in their chests as they crashed through the trees, each step driving them deeper into the call of fate. But just as they reached the edge of the clearing—just when their blood was aflame with need—they heard it.

A voice. Feminine and soft. But sharp as silver.

"I told you," she said. "You don’t get to have me."

The words stopped them cold.

Something in her tone—a chilling finality, sent an instinctive shiver through all three wolves. It didn’t sound like a plea.

It sounded like a sentence. And then...they smelled it.

Blood and Silver.

The scent of her pain sliced through the air like a blade, and all three of them staggered. Luca’s breath hitched. Aeron growled low in his throat. Kael’s wolf snarled, teeth bared.

And then, they saw her.

Selene stood in the middle of the clearing. Her hair clung to her face, damp with sweat and blood. Her bare arms trembled, but her grip was unwavering—because in her hands was a silver dagger, the blade buried deep in the chest of someone they hadn’t expected to see bleeding:

Lucian, their brother.

"Mate," they all growled in unison, the word ripping from their chests like a vow and a curse.

But the moment Selene heard them, she snapped her head toward the sound—and the moment their eyes met hers, everything shattered.

It was her. The scent had never lied. The pull was real.

Selene was their mate.

A beat of silence passed. Then another. And in that heartbeat, everything they had done—all the torment, the cruelty, the rage—they saw it reflected back in her eyes.

Kael flinched. Aeron looked as though the ground had caved beneath him. Luca’s jaw tightened, and for the first time, he didn’t know what to say.

But Selene?

She didn’t even blink.

"Come closer," she hissed, voice trembling with something like wild rage, "and I swear on the graves of every girl you’ve broken, I will twist this blade through his heart."