Chapter 2 The Triple Bond

QUINN'S POV

Midnight came without a sound, but my heart was beating so hard it felt like a drum against my ribs.

I sat on the edge of my thin straw mattress in the dark storage room beneath the stairs. The room smelled like old wool, dust, and dried herbs. It was freezing cold, but my palms were slick with sweat.

I pulled my knees tight against my chest and stared at the tiny slice of pale moonlight coming through the gap in the floorboards above me. My whole life had led to this single night.

Just hold on until midnight, Nell had said.

I closed my eyes and prayed. I prayed for a mate who was kind. I prayed for someone with warm hands who would never kick my food or call me trash.

I didn't care if he was a low-ranking warrior or a poor hunter from a small pack. I just wanted to leave Ashgrove. Then, the clock upstairs struck twelve.

The moment the first heavy chime echoed through the floorboards, a sudden, blinding heat exploded inside my chest.

I gasped, falling forward onto the dirty floor as a sharp pain ripped through my lungs. It felt like a hot iron snapping directly onto my heart. The mate bond had lit up.

"He's real," I choked out, tears stinging my eyes as I pressed a trembling hand to my ribs. "He's real..."

Before I could even take a full breath, a second shockwave hit me. It slammed into my chest right beside the first one, sharp, angry, and so heavy it knocked the wind completely out of my lungs.

I screamed into the dusty floor, my body curling into a tight ball. And then, before the pain of the second pull could even fade, a third bond snapped into place.

This one was cold, vast, and heavy as a mountain, wrapping around my heart like an iron chain.

Three pulls. Three distinct, overpowering bonds burning inside my chest at the exact same time, dragging my soul in three different directions.

"No," I gasped, shaking violently as I forced myself up on my hands and knees. "No, this is wrong... this is impossible."

Every wolf knew the old stories. A single bond was the law of the moon. A triple bond was an ancient prophecy, something that belonged to myth and bedtime tales about three commanders from three hundred years ago.

It didn't happen to servants. It didn't happen to unwanted girls who slept on straw. Across the territory, I could feel the invisible threads pulling tight. Wherever they were, my mates had felt it too.

I didn't sleep for the rest of the night. I sat in the dark, clutching my chest, watching the feverish glow of the triple bond pulse beneath my skin.

At dawn, the sharp, heavy sound of iron-shod hooves and armored boots shattered the quiet morning. I dragged myself up and limped over to the tiny high window of the storage room.

Outside in the gray morning light, a squad of tall, broad soldiers stood in the center of the Ashby courtyard.

They wore dark, heavy armor stamped with a silver crest I had only seen in books: the crest of Ironvale, the most feared militarized territory in the world.

"Hand over the girl," the lead soldier barked, his voice ringing across the yard like a steel blade. "The bond has ignited. Our commanders have sent us to claim her."

My chest thudded. They had come for me. The commanders of Ironvale had sent their soldiers to bring me home.

I pushed open the heavy wooden door of my room and hurried toward the main entrance, my heart leaping into my throat. This is it, I thought, my hands shaking as I smoothed down my dress. I am finally leaving.

I made it to the front hall just as Mara stepped out onto the porch to meet the soldiers. I hid behind a thick stone pillar, watching through the crack in the heavy door.

"Where is she?" the Ironvale commander demanded, stepping up the stone stairs. "We felt the surge clear across the border. Where is Quinn Ashby?"

Mara didn't look surprised. Instead, a cold, ugly smile touched her lips before she forced her face into a look of deep, dramatic pity.

"You poor men," Mara said, her voice dripping with fake concern. "My father was afraid of this. The moon has made a terrible mistake."

The soldier narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"Quinn is unstable," Mara said quickly, leaning closer to the commander so the other guards could hear. "She is a disgrace to our household. She spends her nights sneaking out to the border taverns, offering herself to traveling merchants and rogue soldiers for extra coin or scraps of meat."

My blood ran completely cold. The breath died in my throat.

"She has no shame," Mara continued, her voice rising so it echoed across the yard. "We tried to lock her away to protect our pack's honor, but she is wild. She will lie to your commanders. She will try to trick them into thinking she is sweet and innocent, but she is nothing more than a cheap servant who sells her body to any man who passes through."

"That's a lie," I screamed, slamming the door open and stumbling out onto the porch. "It's a lie. I've never left this estate. Mara, tell them the truth."

Mara didn't even flinch. She just pointed at me, her face full of disgust. "Look at her. See how wild she acts when she's caught?"

The Ironvale commander looked at my thin, pale face, my ragged, oversized dress, and the dirt smudged across my skin. The rumor had already poisoned his mind before I could even take another step.

"Enough," the commander growled, his face hardening into stone. "We were ordered to bring the bonded mate back to Ironvale. We will not return empty-handed."

"Please," I begged, reaching out a hand as two heavily armored soldiers marched up the steps toward me. "Please listen to me, I'm not—"

Before I could finish my sentence, one of the soldiers grabbed my arm with a grip like iron, twisting me around.

The second soldier pulled a thick strip of cloth from his belt and shoved it roughly into my mouth, tying it tight behind my head.

I gasped against the gag, tears burning my eyes as they yanked my arms behind my back and bound my wrists with rough hemp rope.

"Take her to the carriage," the commander ordered coldly. "The commanders will decide what to do with a woman like her."

Mara stood on the porch with her arms folded, watching with a triumphant grin as the guards dragged me down the stone steps.

I kicked and pulled against the iron grip of the soldiers, but I was too small, too weak from hunger. They shoved me roughly into the back of a black iron carriage and slammed the heavy door shut.

The lock clicked into place, plunging me into complete darkness. A second later, the driver whipped the horses, and the carriage jerked forward with a violence that threw me against the wooden floor.

I lay in the dark, choking on my own quiet sobs as the wheels kicked up dirt, carrying me away from Ashgrove. My rescue had turned into a trap before I had even left the front gates.

The journey dragged on for grueling hours, every sudden bump on the icy mountain road jolting my tied wrists.

Just as the cold in my bones became unbearable, the heavy wooden wheels ground to a harsh, screeching halt. Iron chains rattled loudly outside, and heavy boots thundered onto stone.

I held my breath in the pitch-black space, my heart slamming against my ribs as a soldier’s key turned sharply in the carriage lock.