Arlena Voice

Sometimes survival is louder than breath.

The walls of the sanctuary shook again, and this time dust rained from the beams above. A low growl rumbled from Ronin’s chest like it had lived there for years, waiting for a reason to come out. Dagan didn’t move, but his fingers twitched toward the dagger strapped at his side. Lucien cracked his neck like he was about to dance, not fight.

The Shadow Guard had found me.

And I didn’t even have boots on.

“Window, now,” Ronin ordered.

I turned to argue, but he was already hauling me up like I weighed nothing more than a memory. My feet barely touched the floor before I was shoved against cold stone, the carved edge of a hidden ledge biting into my ribs.

“They’ll breach the front in seconds. Go,” he snapped.

“Where the hell am I supposed to go?” I hissed.

Lucien was at my back instantly, his breath hot at my ear. “We’ll follow. But you need a head start, little moon. Kael won’t kill you. He’ll leash you.”

“No.”

“Yes,” Dagan said, voice like thunder cracking dry earth. “Unless you want to be mounted in a golden cage and called salvation while your soul rots.”

Something hard twisted in my chest.

I remembered Kael’s fingers burning that mark into my skin in front of thousands. Then the way his voice turned to ice when he told me to run. How he looked at me like I was a problem too heavy to carry, but too sacred to drop.

I pushed off the ledge and squared my shoulders. “Then I won’t run. I’ll fight.”

Ronin grabbed my wrist. His hand swallowed mine. “You don’t even know what you are yet.”

“I know what I’m not,” I said. “I’m not his.”

For the briefest second, something flickered in his eyes. Approval, maybe. Then another blast shook the air, followed by the sound of splintering wood and boots on stone.

Lucien muttered, “Too late for clever speeches.”

“Go with her,” Ronin barked.

“I’m not a babysitter.”

“I said go.”

Lucien gave a wicked grin and turned to me. “Congratulations. You’ve officially become the most wanted omega in the realm. Try not to die before we kiss.”

He vaulted through the window first, landing like a cat on the lower ledge. I climbed out after him. Cold air slapped my face. The forest below shimmered silver and black. No path, no light, just the hum of danger everywhere.

Lucien offered his hand. “You’ll need both ankles to run, sweetheart.”

I ignored the comment and jumped.

He caught me, cursed softly, and pulled me into a sprint through the underbrush.

Behind us, the sanctuary erupted in chaos. I could hear Dagan's roar now—raw, old, war-born—and Ronin’s growl folding over it like steel.

We didn’t stop running until my lungs burned and the trees thinned.

Lucien finally halted, catching my elbow before I collapsed. He didn’t let go. “You run like someone who never wanted to be caught.”

“That’s because I didn’t.”

He looked at me with something bordering on admiration. “Most omegas beg for protection. You bite.”

“Protection’s just another kind of collar.”

He smiled like he wanted to argue but didn’t have the heart to. Instead, he gently pushed me against a tree. His body boxed me in, his eyes softer than I expected.

“You scare me a little,” he said.

I frowned. “Why?”

“Because I think you already know how this ends, and you’re still standing.”

I wanted to say I didn’t know anything. That I was cold and shaking and stupidly aching for something warm. But I didn’t lie. Not here.

“You should be scared,” I whispered.

His fingers skimmed my jaw, featherlight. “Then let’s be afraid together.”

I leaned forward before I knew what I was doing. Our lips met—not soft, not slow. A collision. Desperate. Testing. The kiss snapped something open in my chest, like old chains tearing loose from rust.

His breath caught. “Gods.”

“I know.”

Heat pulsed from my skin like wildfire. The mark on my neck throbbed.

Lucien stared at it. “It shouldn’t still be glowing.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

He touched it gently, and something electric surged between us. My back arched involuntarily. Lucien’s eyes darkened with alarm and hunger.

“You’re reacting to me,” he whispered. “That mark…”

A rustle behind us made us break apart.

Ronin stepped from the shadows, eyes locked on the curve of my neck, where his bondmark would go—if the world were different. Or perhaps, if it was finally becoming what it should’ve been.

“She’s glowing,” he said, voice rough.

“She kissed me,” Lucien replied, not even trying to hide the pride.

“She reacted.”

Dagan came next, silent and fierce, eyes cold and calculating. “The mark responded.”

“She’s imprinting,” Ronin said.

“No.” I backed up. “I’m not. I can’t be.”

“You are,” Lucien said softly. “That’s why Kael wants you back. Not for politics. Not for power. For this.”

“This doesn’t make sense. I shouldn’t react to anyone but—”

“You’re not normal,” Dagan interrupted. “You’re prophecy. Broken. Rewritten.”

I trembled. “That doesn’t make it real.”

“You think this isn’t real?” Ronin asked, stepping close enough that our breath mingled. “Then why do you smell like fire every time we’re near?”

Lucien stepped to my other side. “Why does your body choose all three of us?”

“Because I’m cursed,” I snapped. “Because the Queen made me into something she could control.”

Dagan's eyes narrowed. “Then let us teach you how to break her hold.”

“How?”

“By claiming us.”

My heart stopped.

“I’m not ready.”

Ronin’s voice dropped. “You don’t have to be ready. You have to be willing.”

Lucien leaned in. “Wanting helps, too.”

I exhaled hard. “You all want to bond?”

Dagan shrugged. “We don’t need a mate. We’ve survived without one.”

“But we’re already tied to you,” Ronin said. “And now Kael’s knights have spilled blood on sacred land. He’s declared war.”

Lucien smirked. “So yes. We want you. And we want to win.”

I looked at all three of them.

Ronin, the storm-scarred soldier. Lucien, the silver-mouthed seducer. Dagan, the lethal strategist who looked like he’d rather kill me than worship me—but probably would do both if it kept me breathing.

And somewhere deep in my marrow, I felt it. The pull. Not just to one. To all.

Maybe I’d been built for them.

Maybe that was the real curse.

“I’m not ready,” I whispered.

Ronin reached out and touched the side of my throat, just below the brand. “Then let us show you what strength tastes like.”

Lucien’s fingers found mine. “We’ll take it slow.”

Dagan didn’t speak. But his gaze said he’d wait until I came to him—and when I did, he’d never let me go.

I nodded once.

Then the wind shifted.

Lucien’s head snapped up. “They’re moving again.”

“Not towards us,” Dagan said. “They’re flanking.”

“They’re driving us.”

“To what?” I asked.

Ronin’s face hardened. “The mating grounds.”

Panic surged. “Why?”

“Because,” Dagan said, drawing his blade, “Kael doesn’t want you dead.”

Lucien’s smile vanished. “He wants to finish the bond.”

A silence slammed between us.

And I realized… Kael had never let me go.