Chapter 28 The Brothers Fight
Malia's POV
I'm halfway up to the dorm when I hear it.
Raised voices.
Coming from the gates I just left. I should keep walking, mind my own business. Let them work it out.
But I don't take another step.
And contrary to every fiber of my being, I walk back the way I came.
—-----
A small crowd has already gathered.
Students attracted by drama like moths to flame, whispering about the Moonfall triplets having a public showdown.
I push through to the front, and my stomach drops.
Tension hums between Aiden and Rowan, who are standing directly opposite one another just beyond the stone archway.
"—none of your business what I do," Rowan is saying, his normally gentle voice taking on the bitter edge of anger.
"It is my business when it compromises pack security. When it puts her in danger." Aiden's voice is cold and controlled, but I can hear the fury buried inside.
"I didn't put her in danger. We went for coffee. In a public place. In the daytime."
"Without telling anyone. Without backup. Without—"
"Without asking your permission?"
Rowan advances. "I don't need your permission, Aiden. Neither does she."
"This isn't about permission. It's about responsibility—"
"No." Rowan's voice booms. "It's about control. You can't stand that she's making connections outside of your control. That perhaps she loves someone who isn't you."
"Isn't it?" Rowan presses. "You've been pushing her away from the beginning. Making her feel unwelcome. Telling her to lie to us. And now that she’s doing what you wanted all along — staying away from you — you can’t handle it."
"I'm trying to protect her!"
"By being cruel? By making her feel like she's an outsider? By treating her like a nuisance?"
Rowan's voice cracks slightly. "That's not protection, Aiden. That's torture."
The words hit like physical blows. We are surrounded by students whispering frantically.
"Are they fighting over the hybrid?"
“I’ve never seen them like that.”
"This is insane."
Aiden takes a dangerous step forward. "You don't know what's at stake—"
"Then explain it!" Rowan throws his hands up. "Stop hiding behind cryptic warnings and half-truths and just tell us what you’re so afraid of!"
"I'm afraid of losing her!" The words explode out of Aiden, raw and desperate. "I'm worried about what happens when the Council learns about. When our father finds out. When everyone knows —"
He cuts himself off abruptly, like he said too much. But it's already out there.
Hanging in the air between them.
"Realizes what?" Rowan asks.
Aiden fists clenches. “That she matters. We—” He stops again, jaw working. “That everything’s about to change and I can’t stop it.”
“Maybe you’re not supposed to stop it,” Rowan says softly. “Maybe you’re supposed to accept it.”
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because to accept it would be to say that I've failed. Failed to protect her. Failed to protect us. Fuck.” He drops his voice. “Failed to keep my distance like I was suppose to.”
Rowan stares at his brother, "you never stood a chance at keeping your distance. Not with a bond like—"
“Don't.” Aiden's voice is taut. “Don’t say it. Not here. Not with witnesses.”
"Why? Because it makes it real? Because you can't deny it anymore?"
“Because when you say it, it’s everybody’s business. Turns her into a target. Turns everything exponentially more dangerous.”
“She's already a target!” Rowan’s voice rises again. “Students are vanishing. She’s receiving threatening texts. Someone watching her. Hiding what we are—what she is to us—is not protecting her. It’s just making it easier for whoever’s hunting her to pick her off.”
“I know that!”
“Then stop pushing her away! Stop pretending like you don’t give a shit when it's clear you’re breaking down!”
“I’m not falling apart— ”
“You turned up drunk three nights ago, Aiden. Drunk. You never lose control like that. Never. Yet here you are punching at shadows, and they're battering you."
The crowd is now completely silent.
The impenetrable Moonfall heirs are revealing chinks in the perfect mask. Watching Aiden Moonfall—ruthless, calculated, authoritative—fight with something that’s breaking him.
"You don't know what you're talking about," says Aiden, but his voice is unconvincing.
“I know exactly what I'm talking about. And," he added, "because I feel it too." Rowan’s voice drops, more personal. “The pull. The need to protect. The way everything in me screams keep her close and safe and—”
“Stop.”
“Why? Because you can’t handle the truth? Because acknowledging it means acknowledging you’re not in control?”
“Because recognizing it means realizing we are tied to someone who deserves more than this mess! More than some future predicated on pack politics and bloodline duties and unattainable decisions..She deserves freedom, Rowan. Not this cage we live in.”
“Then we give her both,” Rowan says simply. “We figure out how to keep her safe and free. Together. As brothers. As—”
“As what?” Another voice interjects
Cold, quiet, commanding.
Cian.
He appears out of the crowd—I didn’t even see him coming—and suddenly the energy shifts.
Both Aiden and Rowan are silent.
Because Cian doesn’t often say anything, but when he does, everyone listens. He raises those stormy grey eyes to his brothers and his face is an unreadable mask.
Then simply: “Enough.”
One word.
But it is heavy. Aiden backs off first, running a hand through his hair, frustration clear in every muscle of his body.
Rowan exhales slowly, the fight is partially draining from him. Some of the fight leaves him.
Cian turns to the crowd assembled, and his eyes rake through them with such ferocity that students are startled.
“Leave,” he said quietly.
It is not a request.
Within moments, the crowd breaks apart—students darting away catching a glare from Cian Moonfall is a rare thing, and not one they want to receive.
Soon it's only the three brothers. And me, I’m still at the edge, frozen.
Cian’s eyes meet mine. Hold for a long moment.
There is something in his gaze -- recognition, empathy, perhaps sadness.
Like he knows what this fight was about.
Like he understands how I feel, how I feel standing here, looking at three brothers coming so close to tearing each other apart over something connected to me.
Then he looks away, turning his attention back to Aiden and Rowan.
"Not here," that he says in a low voice. "Not like this. We talk. In private. Now."
I've never heard Cian say this many words before, at least not outside of our secret conversations.
And both brothers nod in unison, comprehending the wisdom of it.
Aiden looks at me once—there’s something raw and apologetic in his eyes—then he looks away.
Rowan mouths “I’m sorry” before he’s gone.
And Cian pauses. Walks over to me.
“Are you okay?” he inquired softly.
I nod because I don’t trust my own voice.
“It’s not your fault,” he says, continuing to read my expression. “Things have been building between us -- they’re been building for a very long time. You're just the catalyst.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“Yeah, why should it?” His voice was soft. “Because that means we were already broken. You're just making us look at it.”
“Cian—”
“Go back to your room. Lock the door. We'll figure this out.” He reaches out and squeezes my shoulder—brief, grounding. "And Malia? Stop blaming yourself for making us feel things we've been denying our whole lives."
He’s gone, his brothers leading him toward the Alpha wing.
I stand there alone, shaking.The fight replaying in my head.
I’m scared of losing her.
Everything is changing. They already have.
The bond, they almost said it.
Almost confessed what I’ve suspected since I came across that research on hybrid bonds.
That we’re creating something impossible.
Between me and three brothers who shouldn’t—couldn’t—be tied to a hybrid.
But every day it seems more clear:
The protective instincts. The inability to stay away.
How they all responded to threats against me, as if they were threats to them.
A number of bonds have been reported in unusual incidents, including...
My wolf stirs uneasily, sensing something I’m still refusing to accept.
Because if it’s true — if a hybrid bond is forming between me and the Moonfall triplets — everything changes.
For them, for me, for the whole pack hierarchy that would view it as a threat.
No wonder Aiden is terrified. No wonder he’s been fighting it so hard. Because bonding to me as a mate doesn’t only make his life difficult.
It could destroy it.
I’m walking back to the dorm half in a daze, not really seeing where I’m going. Lock the door behind me, as I’m to do.
I sink onto my bed.
And then, I let myself dwell on the unthinkable:
What if I'm attached to all three of them?
What if that’s why I’m so drawn to Aiden’s intensity, Rowan’s kindness, Cian’s empathy?
What if they have it, too?
And what if everyone else—whoever’s threatening me, whoever’s making students disappear—already knows? What if they’ve known all along? Are they already one step ahead of me?
My phone buzzes.
Rowan: I’m sorry you had to see that. Are you okay?
Me: I don't know. Are you?
Rowan: To be honest? No, but I will be. We will all be. I assure you that we will. I swear.
Another buzz.
Cian: Don’t think about what happened. We're working it out. You’re safe. That’s what matters.
And then, many minutes later:
Aiden: I’m sorry. For everything. For the fight. For pulling you into this. For not being strong enough to stay away like I should. Just...I'm sorry.
Three brothers. Three apologies.
Three wolves who can’t quite turn me loose even when they should.
I stare at the messages, heart aching.
Because I don’t want them to let me go.
Even though it’s dangerous. Even though it’s impossible. Even if it could undo every-thin g they’ve created.
I want this. This is what I want, this is what I want.
Or whatever this is.
And that terrifies me more than any threat.