Chapter 32 Breakthrough In Research.
Malia's POV
The threats, Lydia’s growing hate and everything else—our project deadline is still just around the corner.
Personal drama and campus conspiracies Professor Davies doesn’t give a shit about.
She wants well-research papers, on time.
So here I am, back in the restricted archives with Aiden, surrounded by ancient texts and the crushing knowledge that we’re burning daylight.
Both for the project.
And for what is coming in the blood moon.
Two days to go.
“Focus,” Aiden mutters, more to himself than me. “We need three more primary sources to prove the thesis.”
He's been distant all morning even more so than usual.
Ever since Rowan’s public defense of me yesterday, Aiden’s been wound so tight he looked as if he could snap any second.
I pull another book from the shelf, this one a dark leather binding with silver script that I can’t quite make out.
A rough translation of the title: Bonds Beyond the Law: An Examination of Forbidden Ties
My heart is racing.
"Aiden," I say quietly. "I think I found something."
He raises his head from his notebook, his face impassive. “What? ”
I bring the book over and I open it slowly, the pages are ancient and they crunch.
"It's about forbidden bonds. Connections that defied pack law." I speed read the text.
"Listen to this: 'In the third century and before the establishment of the Council, bonds were formed outside the traditional metanormal constraints. These relationships, which the rising leadership considered dangerous, were purged from the official narrative.'"
Aiden clenches his jaw, but does not speak.
I keep going: “‘Most notable were the Triad Bonds— uncommon unions in which one wolf was bonded at once with multiple mates. Even more unusual were Hybrid Triads, a mixed-blood formed ties with multiple purebloods, operating within a hierarchy that destabilized established orders.'”
The subsequent silence is deafening.
"This is it," I breathe. "This is what we need for the paper Evidence of non-pack non-traditional bonding—”
"No."
The word sounds sharp and final in this context.
I look up. "What?"
“We’re not using that.” Aiden snaps the book shut, sliding it away. "Get a different one."
“But it’s ideal for our thesis—”
“I said no, Malia.”
“Why not? That is exactly what we have been searching for. “Historical evidence of—”
"That’s what should remain buried,” he interrupts, suddenly standing. “Let’s just—stick to the standard mate bond structures. Traditional pair bonding. Something that won’t—" He stops himself.
"Won't what?"
"Wont confuse the situation more is what I wanted to say.”
I rise as well, growing impatient. "We're writing an academic paper, Aiden. On pack dynamics.” This is pertinent research —"
"It's all too relevant." His voice is strained. "Can’t you see that? "
“See what?”
He runs a hand through his hair, nerves evident in every motion. “This isn’t just theoretical anymore. That you reading about hybrid triads while living with three wolves who—” He cuts himself off again, jaw clenched.
"Who what?" I pressed, heart pounding.
"Nothing. It’s nothing."
"No." I leaned in, not letting him distance himself. "Every time this comes up, you go out of your way to not talk about this subject. The hybrid bonds. The forbidden connections. The—" I take a breath. “The possibility that what’s happening between us is more than just protection, or friendship, or—”
"Stop."
"What? Why are you running from this now?"
"Because there are such things as rules and prohibitions and they’re prohibited with good reason!" His voice rises, bouncing through the aisles of shelves. “Because recognizing it makes it real. Because real means facing consequences neither of us want!”
The confession hovers between us.
My breath catches. "What fallout?"
Aiden looks at me, torn between the contrast on his face.
Then softer: “Do you know what happens when a hybrid triad bonds with purebloods? Especially alphas?”
I shake my head.
"The Council intervenes. Forcibly separates them. Says the bond is 'unnatural' and 'destabilising.' Sometimes they banish the hybrid. Sometimes worse.” His voice quiets. "Because a hybrid who is bonded to several alphas has too much potential power. Upends too many established rules.”
“That's medieval—”
“That's reality.” He takes a step closer, and suddenly there is electric energy emanating from the distance between us. “And if what I'm suspecting is actually happening, then you're in more danger than just the blood moon ritual. You're a threat to the whole pack system."
"I'm noone—"
“Stop saying that!” His hands came up and grasped at my shoulders. Not hard but firm. Grounding. "You're not nobody. You're someone three alpha heirs can't get enough of. Some crimp in a setup of centuries' careful hierarchy. Someone who—"
He stops, and his eyes lock with mine so intensely it takes my breath away.
"What is she?"I whisper.
"Someone who I can’t stop thinking about. Can’t stop wanting to protect. Can’t—” His voice slightly breaks. “Can’t stop feeling connected to, even though I’ve tried. God, I’ve tried so hard to fight this.”
My heart hammers.
"Fight what?" Dorian asks.
"This." His hands are still on my shoulders, and his thumbs are grazing my collarbone almost unconsciously. “Whatever this is between us. This pull that won’t go away. This need to keep you close even though I know I should push you away.”
“Aiden—”
“You can feel it, too, can’t you?” His voice was rough. “With me. With Rowan. With Cian. This feeling is weird but it refuses to die.”
I can’t lie.
Not when he's looking at me like this.
Not like when the truth is flaming in my chest.
“Yeah,” I confess. "I feel it. See all of you, and I don't understand it."
"It's a bond," he says flatly. “A forbidden hybrid triad bond. Whether we want it to or not, it's forming.”
"How do you know?"
“‘Cause I’ve been reading up on it for weeks. Since the first time I felt the pull. Since I realized I couldn’t stomach the thought of you getting hurt. Since—" He grits his teeth and stops. “Because I knew what you were turning into to me. To us.”
"What am I becoming?"
The sentence was uttered in a barely above a whisper. "Ours."
The possessive tone in his voice makes my wolf surge forward, answering something primal.
“That’s not possible,” I say but my voice has no certainty. “Hybrid bonds were illegal—”
“Laws don’t stop biology. Don’t stop fate.” He lets go of my shoulders, backing away from the contact burns. “But just because I don’t have to like it. We’re allowed to contest it. It’s going to happen—”
“That’s what you want?”
He is mute for quite a spell. Then. “What I want doesn’t matter. What’s safe matters. What Keeps you alive.”
"And if pretending the bond doesn’t exist keeps me safe?"
“It keeps you from becoming a bigger target than you already are.” His voice is strained. “If the wrong people discover this bond, you know they won’t just target you during the blood moon. They’ll hunt you forever. Use you. Exploit What you represent.”
“What if I bond? Then what if I bond?”
"Then we're all marked. All targeted. The Council will intervene. Our family will face consequences. And you—" His voice cracks. "You'll be at the center of a storm you didn't ask for."
I stare at him, understanding dawning.
“You’ve been so cruel. So unreachable. You were keeping this from happening.”
“To try and fail.” He laughs bitterly. “You can’t fight fate. Or biology. Or whatever cosmic force decided to roll three alphas into one impossible girl who shouldn’t even be here.”
“I have a scholarship—”
“You have something far more precious than a scholarship.” He looks at me so fiercely it hurts. “You have us, whether you want us or not. It’s safe or it’s not safe. Makes sense or it doesn’t."
“Do you want me?” I ask quietly. “Honestly?”
The question lingers in the air.
Aiden’s expression flickers through half a dozen feelings—struggle, lust, fear, resignation.
Finally: “More than I ever wanted anything. And that terrifies me.”
My breath catches.
Before I can answer, there are footsteps in the archive. We both step back quickly as the librarian comes.
“Closing in ten minutes,” she says.
We gather our things in silent, taut readiness.
As we're leaving, Aiden speaks quietly:
“This research, we can’t use it for the paper. It’s too dangerous. Too illuminating.”
“Then what do we use?”
“Something safe. Something that won’t bring attention to what we are.” He looks at me. “Please. Just trust me on this.”
I want to argue.
But the vulnerability in his voice stops me.
“Okay,” I say. “We’ll find something else.”
Relief flickers over his face.
As we stroll back to the dorm together, our hands accidentally touch, neither of us pulls away.
And in that brief, illicit touch, I feel it – the thing he’s been fighting.
The bond. Buzzing between us like a live wire.
Tying us together in ways neither of us truly understands.
In a way that could blow everything up…or not.