Chapter 47: Feral Bonds
The chaos the triplets felt was akin to the one in the great hall of the royal palace that evening.
Their wolves did not ask for permission.
.
Terror. Pure, ice-cold terror flooded the link. Seren’s fear tasted metallic on their tongues, her heartbeat a frantic drum they could hear in their own ears. She was alive...thank the Moon, but she was hurting, alone and scared.
Kael’s roar split the air first. "Seren!" he rasped, the name tearing from his throat.
It was not the controlled growl of a crown prince; it was the bellow of a beast unchained. Tables overturned as he vaulted forward, claws already shredding through the sleeves of his fine tunic.
Servants scattered. Nobles pressed themselves against the walls, eyes wide with shock. The most powerful wolves in the realm, the three alphas who had ruled their instincts with iron discipline for years, were losing control in plain sight.
"Where is she?" Kael snarled, voice layered with the feral timbre of his wolf. He grabbed the nearest guard by the throat, lifting the man clear off the ground as if he weighed nothing. "Speak, or I tear this palace apart stone by stone!"
The guard’s face purpled. "M-my prince... I don’t..."
Aeron was already moving, his mind slicing through the haze of rage like a blade through fog. Where would they take her? The bond pulled westward, toward the older sections of the palace...the abandoned solar towers or the underground passages that led to the forgotten catacombs. His wolf howled for blood, but Aeron forced strategy into the chaos. Kidnappers who could breach the royal wing without raising alarms knew the palace layout too well. Insiders. Or someone with powerful allies inside these walls.
"Release him, brother," Aeron said, voice deceptively calm even as his own claws extended. "We need information, not corpses yet."
But his eyes betrayed him. They glowed molten gold, the pupils vertical slits. The careful mask of the calculating prince had cracked.
Theron, ever the shadow weaver of their trio, had already slipped toward the side doors. His network of informants, spies embedded in every servant quarter, every tavern, every rival house, hummed to life in his mind. He sent the mental call through the subtle threads of pack loyalty and coin. Find the trail. Every scent, every whisper, every shadow that moved wrong tonight. His wolf paced restlessly, feeding him images of Seren’s wide, frightened eyes, the way her small hands had clutched their shirts only hours ago.
The bond pulsed again, sharper this time. Pain. Not physical, not yet...but the echo of her panic scraped against their souls like talons on raw flesh. She was fighting. Their brave, fragile human mate was fighting whatever had seized her, and the knowledge drove all three wolves deeper into frenzy.
Kael slammed the guard against a pillar, cracking the marble. "You were supposed to be watching the corridors! If one hair on her head is harmed... you’ll be dead."
The kingdom watched.
Courtiers who had whispered that the triplet princes would never truly bond with a mere human servant now stared in stunned silence. Lords who had plotted against the unusual mating froze at their feral behaviour.
Kael’s partial shift rippled across his shoulders, fur sprouting along his arms in dark streaks.
Aeron’s jaw lengthened slightly, fangs glinting as he issued rapid orders to the royal guard. Theron’s usual charming smile had vanished, replaced by a predator’s focused hunger as he murmured commands into the ears of shadowed figures who materialized at his side.
"She’s alive," Aeron said tightly, closing his eyes to focus on the bond. "Terrified but fighting. The pull is strongest toward the western wing’s old passages."
Kael’s laugh was bitter and broken. "Fighting. Our Seren. Against wolves or blades or gods know what. And we’re..."
He didn’t finish. The bond twisted again, sending a wave of her fear so potent that all three brothers staggered. Kael dropped to one knee, claws digging grooves into the floor. Aeron gripped the edge of a table until the wood splintered. Theron pressed a hand to his chest as if he could physically reach through the distance and pull her back.
The kingdom saw the truth in that moment: the princes did not merely desire their human mate. They were bound to her in a way that defied every law of wolf and crown. Their power, their legendary restraint, their very sanity; all of it hinged on her safety. And someone had dared to take her.
Theron’s informants began reporting back within minutes, their voices low and urgent as they slipped through the chaos.
"Two cloaked figures near the servants’ stair at midnight," one whispered. "Carried something small, wrapped in dark fabric. Scent masked with wolfsbane oil."
"Trail leads to the lower levels," another added.
Kael’s wolf howled inside him, the sound leaking out as a guttural growl that made the chandeliers tremble. "Wolfsbane. They’re trying to dull the bond. It won’t work. I’ll rip their spines out and feed them to the ravens."
Aeron was already mapping routes in his head. "The catacombs connect to the old aqueducts. If they reach the river, they could escape by boat under cover of night. We split: Kael, take the surface patrols. Theron, your spies cover the undercity. I’ll lead the main force through the passages."
But even as he spoke with tactical precision, his claws flexed involuntarily. The bond was a living fire now, pulling, burning, demanding action. Seren’s terror spiked again, images flickering through the link: rough hands, a sack over her head, the sway of being carried, the distant sound of water dripping on stone. She was trying to send them clues, brave girl. Their clever, defiant mate.
Theron nodded, but his eyes were distant, already coordinating a web of whispers across the capital. "I’ve got eyes on every exit. If they surface, we’ll know. But the bond... it’s getting fainter in places. They’re using something to interfere."
The hall had emptied somewhat, guards forming ranks, servants fleeing to safety. But those who remained watched with a mix of awe and fear. The triplet alphas, who had always presented a united, controlled front to the world, now moved like one fractured beast.
Outside, word spread like wildfire through the palace grounds and into the city beyond. The human mate of the princes had been taken. The wolves were going feral.
Kael stopped pacing long enough to slam his fist into a stone column. "If they touch her...if they so much as breathe on her skin wrong...there will be no mercy. No trials. No throne. Just blood."
Aeron’s voice cut through the din, sharp as a commander’s order. "Move. Now."
They burst from the hall as one, the three princes flanked by elite guards who struggled to keep pace. Kael led the charge toward the western towers, claws fully extended, fur rippling across his back in waves. Aeron directed split forces with barked commands, his mind racing through every possible ambush point. Theron vanished briefly into side corridors, emerging with fresh reports that painted a trail of unconscious sentries and faint traces of Seren’s lavender-and-honey scent.
The palace corridors blurred past. Servants pressed themselves flat against walls as the feral alphas stormed through. Whispers followed in their wake: "The bond... they’ve never shown it like this." "A human did this to them?" "The kingdom has never seen the princes break."
Deeper into the western wing, the air grew musty. Ancient tapestries hung in tatters. The bond pulled harder here, a painful tether yanking them forward. Kael’s wolf was so close to the surface that his vision had shifted to the heightened senses of the hunt, every shadow a potential threat, every echo a clue.
They reached the entrance to the old passages; a heavy oak door splintered at the hinges. Signs of struggle: a torn scrap of fabric that carried the faintest trace of Seren’s scent, a dropped dart glistening with sedative.
Theron crouched, sniffing. "Fresh. Less than an hour. They’re heading down."
Aeron’s eyes narrowed. "Catacombs. Traps likely. We go carefully, but fast."
Kael didn’t wait. He wrenched the door fully open, the wood groaning in protest, and plunged into the darkness. His brothers followed without hesitation; their wolves singing the same song of rage and need.
The bond thrummed with Seren’s terror once more, closer now, but edged with something new. Exhaustion. A hint of pain along her side, as if she’d been struck or bound too tightly. Her heartbeat fluttered against theirs like a trapped bird.
Kael’s claws scraped sparks from the stone walls. "Hold on, little mate. We’re coming."
Aeron’s strategic mind catalogued every turn, every possible branch. "Two paths converge ahead. Theron..."
But Theron was already ahead, melting into shadows to scout. His voice floated back: "Scent stronger this way. And... blood. Not hers. One of the kidnappers is injured. She fought back."
Pride and fury warred in the link. Their Seren: human, delicate, yet fierce enough to wound a wolf.
They went deeper, the air thickening with damp earth and ancient decay. Torches flickered in wall sconces, casting long shadows that danced like threats. The howls of their guard echoed distantly behind, the kingdom’s wolves rallying to the call of their princes.
Then the bond twisted violently.
Seren’s fear spiked into pure panic, a scream that wasn’t sound but pure emotion slamming into their chests. Images flashed: cold stone against her cheek, rough voices arguing, the glint of a silver blade meant for wolves, not humans. She was cornered.
Kael broke into a run, roaring her name. Aeron’s control fractured further, his partial shift tearing his shirt as muscles bulged. Theron’s informants’ last reports burned in his mind, a possible exit near the river gate, but time was slipping.
The passage narrowed. Ahead, a faint light and the sound of rushing water.
The triplets burst into a larger chamber, hearts pounding in savage unison. The bond screamed that she was near, so near, yet the chamber was empty except for signs of recent passage: overturned crates, a smear of blood on the wall, and a discarded cloak that reeked of wolfsbane and foreign incense.
Kael smashed a barrel to splinters. "Where?!"
Aeron scanned the walls, spotting a hidden grate leading to the aqueducts. "There. They’re trying for the river."
Theron was already prying it open, his claws screeching against metal. "The bond, it’s pulling that way, but faint. They’re masking it again."
As they dropped into the damp tunnel below, the kingdom’s eyes, through spies and loyal wolves, watched from afar. The princes had abandoned all pretense of royal decorum. Their mate’s abduction had stripped them bare, revealing the feral hearts beneath the crowns.
Seren’s presence in the bond flickered once more, alive, terrified, but sending one last pulse of determination through the link. *Hurry.*
The triplets charged into the darkness, now fully wolves, the air thick with the promise of violence.
