Chapter 26 Protective Instincts
Malia's POV
With three Moonfalls storming in like commandos, the study room suddenly feels tiny. Aiden was the first to arrive — knowninghe was seething barely reigned in as he broken through hhe door.
After a moment, Rowan appeared, concern writtenall over his face. Cian appeared at last, as silent as ever, but his stormy gray eyes held something furiously dark.
Now I’ve got all three of them standing around me like a shield, and I’m all kinds of thankful and overwhelmed.
"Show me the text," Aiden demands, holding out his hand.
I hand him my phone.
Each view, he reads it, tightening his jaw. Then he passes it to Rowan, who reads it and then to Cian. Silence is heavy. Menacing.
Finally, Aiden talks. "This is your last warning. Meaning there were others."
“Two before this,” I admit. "The night of the Lunar Gathering, and just a few days ago."
"And you didn’t think to tell us?" Aiden’s voice is dangerously calm.
"I told you about the first one—"
"Not all them." He runs his hand through his hair. “Malia, if someone’s threatening you—”
“I didn’t want to worry you.”
"Too late for that. ”
Rowan gently places a hand on Aiden's shoulder. "Getting angry won't help. We have to concentrate on protecting her."
“Like I said, I know how to keep her safe.” Aiden snaps. “She’s moving into our suite. I'll talk to the authorities after the break.”
I blink. “What?”
“The three of us stay in a suite in the Alpha wing. Private, secure, multiple bedrooms. You will take the spare bedroom.” Rowan explains.
“I can’t just—”
“Sure you can,” says the soft-voiced Cian. “It is the least risky option.”
“They never will, for one thing…”
“The school will permit whatever we want the school to permit,” Aiden cuts in. "My family bought the whole Alpha wing. They won't offer any resistance."
“You can’t just throw your lives into chaos because someone sent me threatening texts—”
“They’re not just texts,” Rowan says quietly. “They’re escalating threats. First a warning. Then another warning. Now a final warning. What comes after final?”
That’s not what he says..He doesn’t have to.
There is action after final.
“I will be careful,” I say. “Stay in groups, don’t be alone—”
“There aren’t enough,” Aiden cuts in. “Not with kids vanishing. Not when you’re exactly the profile.”
The door to the study room opens before I can protest further. July and Freddy burst in, a bit out of breath.
“We got your text—” July stops, takes in the three Moonfall brothers surrounding me. “Oh. Reinforcements arrived?”
“Good,” Cian saya. “You need to hear this too,”
Aiden quickly explains to them the plan to transport me to their suite.
July’s eyes go wide. “That’s... actually not a bad idea.”
“Thank you,” Aiden says dryly”.
“But how does that work?” Freddy asks. "Malia living with the Moonfall triplets? The rumors will be insane."
"Let them talk," says Rowan. "Her safety is more important than gossip."
“Easy for you to say,” I mutter. “You’re not the one who’s going to be called—”
“Don’t,” Aiden cuts me off so abruptly. “You don’t need to finish that sentence. Anyone can bring it up with me that doesn’t like it.”
His wolf stirs with the protectiveness in his voice.
“We also have to find out who is sending these threats,” says July, ever practical. “And why now. What changed?”
“Freddy began looking into the disappearances,” I say. “That’s when the threats started escalating.”
Everybody’s attention turns to Freddy.
He’s shifting uneasily. “I was just running data analysis for a class project. Noticed some patterns—”
“Patterns of what?” Cian asks.
Freddy tells briefly — the transfers, the full moon timing, the demographic targeting.
The two brothers exchange a look.
“You found all that in public records?” Rowan asks.
“Yeah. Which means it wasn’t very well concealed. Almost like...” Freddy trails off.
“Like someone wanted it found,” Cian finishes. “Eventually.”
Something cold runs down my back.“Why would they want that?”
“To scare people,” Aiden says grimly. “Make them hybrids and low ranking wolves that feel unsafe. Keep them compliant. Scared to make trouble.”
“That’s sick,” July says.
“That’s pack politics,” Aiden replies.
We spend the next twenty minutes strategizing — who is safe to trust, what information we can share, and how to keep ourselves secure until we find out what is real.
After some time, July looks at her phone and swears. "I have to go back. To help her roommate Lua with her homework on Lunar Cycles."
"I ought to get going too," Freddy says. "Got an early class."
They each hug me tightly before they leave and make me promise to text them when I'm safely back at the dorm.
And then it's just me and the three brothers.
And the tension that’s been building erupt.
“I'm walking her back," Aiden announces.
“We're all walking her back," Rowan tells them more accurately.
"That will just bring more attention to it," Aiden argues. “One of us is enough.”
"You're not making this decision on your own." Rowan says.
Cian, who has said nothing up to now, at last speaks. “I’ll walk her back. Two of you have Council Prep In fifteen minutes remember?”
"We can skip it," Aiden says.
"No, you can't," I say interrupting. "Your father will be furious if you don’t come to another meeting."
"I don't care—"
“But I do." I stand up and grab my bag. “The three of you can’t stop your lives for me.”
“Watch us,” Aiden says flatly.
“Aiden—”
“Malia.” He takes a step closer, and I feel the intensity of his crystal blue eyes pin me in place. “You don’t get to decide what we give up for your protection. That’s not your call.”
"It is my life—"
“And you’re one of us now.” His voice dims. “Like it or not. “
The words hang heavy in the air.
Rowan steps over to my other side. "He's right. You matter to us. All of us. We're not letting anything happen to you."
“But I don’t understand why—"
“You don’t have to understand,” Cian says quietly. “Just trust us.”
I look between the three of them – so different yet soiled by the same single purpose.
Keeping me safe.
"Fine," I say, too tired to argue. "But you’re not all walking me back. That’s absurd."
“Two of us,” Rowan suggests. “Compromise.”
“I’ll go,” Aiden says straight away.
“So will I,” Rowan says.
Cian looks at them both before nodding. “Fine. I’ll get the council prep excuse. Tell father you have a security concern.”
“Not technically a lie,” Aiden mutters.
We collect our things and head out. The campus is quieter — most of the students long back to their dorms, the occasional straggler heading out to a late study session.
Aiden walks on my left, Rowan on my right.
Both glancing at the shadows incessantly.
Both on edge just in case.
It should be oppressive. Instead, it is... safe.
“This is too much,” I say, hoping to defuse the situation. “It’s just a five-minute walk.”
“Five minutes in which anything could happen,” Aiden says.
“Paranoid.” I mutter.
“I’m ready.” He looks at me. “There’s a difference.”
Rowan brushes my hand–i don’t know if it’s accidentally or on purpose.
“We are not trying to smother you,” he says softly. “We just… we can’t lose you.”
There’s that phrase again.
That phrase Aiden and Cian have both used.
Can’t lose you.
“Why?” I ask softly, “why is it so important that I do? I’m below your—”
“Stop,” say the two brothers in unison.
Then Aiden goes on by himself: "You're not. You're—"
He stops, jaw clenching. "You're important. To the school. To our investigation.To—"
Rowan finishes for Aiden when he can’t. “To us,”
We get to my dorm building. I thought they will go out. Instead, the two of them both escort me inside, up the stairs, to the door.
“What now?" I ask. "You're accompanying me to my room?"
"Yes," Aiden says casually.
I unlock the door and turn to face them. “Thank you. For caring. For protecting me,” I say. Even though I don’t fully understand why."
Rowan smiles softly. “You will. Eventually.”
“When?”
“When you’re ready to see it,” Aiden says cryptically.
Before I can demand a real answer, he does something unexpected. He tucks a loose lock of hair behind my ear as he reaches out.
The move is so tender, so very Aiden-unlike, that I am caught still.
“Lock the door behind us,” he says quietly. “Don't open it for anyone but us. Got it?”
I nod, too choked up to speak.
Rowan squeezes my hand once. “Send us a text when you’re settled. Let us know you’re safe, at least.”
“I'll do that."
The two of them both linger for another moment – as if the thought of leaving me alone physically pains them.
I close the door behind me and lock it.
Then I lover against it. Three brothers. Three different ways of protecting.
Three wolves that want me and claim that I belong to them and not even tell me what that means.
My phone buzzes.
Aiden: We're at your window. Not leaving until we see your light go off.
I walk over to the window and look down.
Sure enough, Aiden and Rowan are standing in the courtyard below.
Watching, waiting. Protecting.
I wave once. They nod.
And for whatever reason, having them there makes the threatening texts a little less terrifying.
I have them. Like whatever that means.
Whatever they're keeping from me, whatever this impossible, confusing, terrifying thing that we have between us is evolving into.
I have them.
And that should be enough.