*Writer's POV*
"You want Ash?" Maeve's voice cracked with disbelief. "Have you lost your mind?"
Calla's laugh was cold and bitter. "Lost my mind? No, Maeve. I finally found it." She stepped closer, the stolen ceremonial book still glowing in her hands. "Do you want to know the truth? I've been planning this since your 17th birthday."
The magical chains around Maeve tightened as her anger flared. "What are you talking about?"
"The night you started having those weird dreams," Calla said with a cruel smile. "The night your mate bond began to awaken. I felt it too. Do you know why?"
Maeve's blood turned to ice. "Because you have royal blood."
"Because I was supposed to be their mate first," Calla snarled. "Before you ruined everything by existing!"
The triplets struggled against their own magical bonds, but the ancient magic held them tight.
"That's impossible," Ash said through gritted teeth. "The mate bond doesn't work that way."
"Doesn't it?" Calla's eyes blazed with fury. "I've been in love with you since we were children, Ash. All three of you. But when Maeve's powers awakened, mine got pushed aside. Buried. Like I didn't matter."
"Calla, please," Maeve whispered. "We were best friends."
"Were we?" Calla spun around to face her. "Or was I just the convenient sidekick who made you feel better about yourself?" Her voice rose to a shout. "Do you know what it's like to watch the boy you love fall for someone else? To feel your own mate bond dying because hers is stronger?"
Maeve felt tears stinging her eyes. "I never meant for any of this to happen."
"But it did happen," Calla said bitterly. "So I made a choice. If I couldn't have them, I'd make sure you couldn't either."
Kieran watched the exchange with interest. "Tell her the rest, child."
Calla's smile turned vicious. "I've been feeding information to the Shadow Pack for months. Every pack meeting, every patrol schedule, every weakness in our defenses. I told them exactly when and how to take your mother."
"You could have gotten her killed!" Maeve screamed.
"But I didn't," Calla said calmly. "Because I'm not a monster, Maeve. I just want what's mine."
Before Maeve could respond, the chamber doors burst open. Liam ran in, blood on his clothes and panic in his eyes.
"The Valoran Pack is under attack!" he shouted. "The council's agents are moving against Alpha Braden!"
"What council?" Maeve demanded.
Kieran's face went pale. "No. They promised to stay out of this."
"What council?" Maeve repeated, her Luna authority making everyone freeze.
Liam looked around the chamber, his green eyes filled with old pain. "The Council of Shadows. The group that's been controlling both packs for generations."
"That's impossible," Damon said. "My father controls the Shadow Pack."
"Does he?" Liam asked grimly. "Then why is your pack dying from a curse that started exactly when the council wanted it to?"
Understanding hit Maeve like lightning. "The curse isn't natural. Someone cast it on purpose."
"To control both packs," Liam confirmed. "Keep them weak, keep them fighting each other, so the council can maintain power over the supernatural world."
"And you know this how?" Kieran demanded.
Liam's hands clenched into fists. "Because they destroyed my pack to test the curse twenty years ago. I'm the only survivor of the Moonstone Pack."
The chamber erupted in shocked voices, but Maeve barely heard them. Her mind was racing, connecting pieces of a puzzle she hadn't even known existed.
"The council wanted me to mate with Shadow Pack royalty," she said slowly. "Not to break the curse, but to create more powerful children they could control."
"And they wanted the Shadow Pack desperate enough to agree to anything," Liam added. "Including giving up their independence."
"But Calla ruined their plan," Maeve continued, looking at her former best friend with new understanding. "By trapping us here with binding magic."
Calla's confident expression faltered. "What do you mean?"
"Don't you see?" Maeve felt her Luna powers surging, breaking through the magical chains one by one. "The council didn't expect you to have your own agenda. They're not getting the obedient royal children they wanted."
The binding spell around Maeve shattered like glass.
"How—" Calla started.
"Because you made one mistake," Maeve said, her power blazing brighter than ever. "You assumed I was still the scared little girl you used to know."
She reached out through the mate bond and shattered the chains holding the triplets. They immediately moved to her side, their own Alpha power combining with hers.
"Now," Maeve said, facing Kieran and his sons, "let's talk about breaking this curse the right way."
But before anyone could respond, shadows began pouring into the chamber. Not Shadow Pack wolves—something else entirely. Figures in dark cloaks with glowing red eyes.
"Council agents," Liam whispered, pulling out a silver dagger.
The lead figure threw back his hood, revealing an ancient face marked with ritual scars. "Enough games," he said in a voice like grinding stone. "The girl comes with us. Now."
"Like hell," Ash snarled, stepping protectively in front of Maeve.
"You have no choice," the agent replied. "The council has decided. The girl's power is too dangerous to remain uncontrolled."
"What power?" Maeve demanded.
"The power to break more than just curses," the agent said with a cold smile. "The power to break the council itself."
Magic exploded through the chamber as the battle began. Council agents fought Shadow Pack warriors while the triplets protected Maeve. In the chaos, she saw her mother helping injured Shadow Pack members, Liam fighting with deadly skill, and Kieran barking orders to his sons.
But where was Calla?
Maeve spun around, searching for her former friend. She found her backed against the far wall, the ceremonial book clutched to her chest, tears streaming down her face.
"I'm sorry," Calla whispered as Maeve approached. "I never meant for it to go this far."
"I know," Maeve said gently. "But it's not too late to make this right."
Calla looked at the book in her hands, then at the battle raging around them. "The binding spell I cast—it's connected to something bigger. The council's been using me, feeding me power I didn't understand."
"What do you mean?"
"The spell doesn't just trap people here," Calla said, her voice shaking. "It's designed to drain their power and send it somewhere else."
"Where?"
Calla's eyes met hers, filled with horror. "To the council's stronghold. They've been using both our packs as a power source for decades."
The battle around them suddenly stopped. Every warrior, Shadow Pack and council agent alike, turned to stare at Maeve.
Because she was glowing. Not with the gentle blue light from before, but with raw, white energy that made the air itself buzz with electricity.
"Oh no," Calla breathed. "The power drain is reversing. All that stolen power is coming back to you."
Maeve felt it then—decades of stolen strength flowing into her like a river. Power from both packs, from her grandmother, from countless supernatural beings the council had manipulated over the years.
"I can't control it," she gasped, the energy threatening to tear her apart.
"You have to," Liam shouted over the building magical storm. "If that power explodes here, it'll kill everyone in the mountain!"
But as Maeve struggled to contain the overwhelming force building inside her, she realized something terrible.
The council agent was smiling.
"Perfect," he said, his scarred face twisting with satisfaction. "The power transfer is complete."
"What transfer?" Maeve screamed.
"Did you really think we'd let you keep all that power?" the agent asked mockingly. "Every supernatural being has a breaking point. When you reach yours, all that energy will flow directly to our master."
The energy inside Maeve reached critical mass. She could feel herself starting to break apart.
"And our master," the agent continued, "has been waiting a very long time to meet you, Princess."
The world went white as the power exploded outward—and when the light faded, Maeve found herself standing in a place that shouldn't exist.
A throne room made of shadows and starlight, where something ancient and terrible sat waiting for her.