Chapter 31
Dahlia’s POV
“This… this is the mountain itself. It’s tired of being mined. It’s tired of being a battery. It wants to be a god again p>
The room went cold. The radiator clanked in the corner, but the chill didn’t come from the air. It came from the boy at the end of the table.
“This is exactly what I was afraid of,” I whispered, burying my face in my hands. “I thought if we got far enough away, the magic would just… fade. Like a radio signal getting weaker p>
“You can’t outrun the earth, Dahlia,” Nate said, his voice surprisingly gentle. He reached across the table, his scarred hand hovering near mine before he pulled it back. “I spent nine years trying to kill the ghosts of the Silver-Crest. I burned the laboratories. I tore down the fortress. I thought if I destroyed the legacy, I’d save the kids. But Axel is right. We didn’t end it. We just moved the battlefield p>
“I don’t want a battlefield!” I stood up, the chair screeching against the floor. “I want a high school graduation! I want soccer games and prom! I want my children to grow up without wondering if the ground is going to swallow them whole p>
“Then let me help,” Nate said. He stood too, his presence filling the kitchen. “I’m not an Alpha anymore, but I know how these things move. I know how to hunt a shadow before it reaches the door p>
“You’re the one who brought the shadow here!” Ariana yelled, her voice breaking. “Axel said it followed you! You’re the reason our normal life is over p>
Nate flinched as if she’d slapped him. The silence that followed was agonizing. He looked at Ariana, his eyes full of a decade of regret, but he didn’t have a defense. She was right.
“I’m going to my room,” Ariana said, pushing past her brother. “I have a math test tomorrow. A normal math test. And I’d really like to pretend that’s the only thing that matters p>
Aidan stood up too, grabbing his jacket. “I’m going for a ride. Don’t worry, Mom. I won’t ’harness any frequencies’ on the way.” He shot Axel a dirty look m before disappearing out the back door.
Axel stayed in his chair, looking at the half-empty bowl of spaghetti. “They hate me,” he whispered.
“They don’t hate you, honey,” I said, going to him and rubbing his shoulders. “They’re just scared. We all are p>
I looked at Nate. He was standing by the window, watching Aidan pedal furiously down the street. He looked like a man who had finally found his home, only to realize he was the match that was going to burn it down.
“You can stay in the guest room tonight,” I said, my voice weary. “But tomorrow, Nathaniel… tomorrow we figure out exactly what this ’storm’ is. And if it turns out you’re the lightning rod, you’re leaving. I won’t let you sink this ship just because you want to be on it p>
Nate nodded, his reflection in the dark window looking like a ghost. “I understand p>
As I cleared the table, Axel caught my hand. His eyes weren’t brown anymore. They were two swirling pools of silver and gold, reflecting a sky I couldn’t see.
“Mom p>
“Yeah, Axel p>
“The math test p>
“What about it p>
“Tell Ariana not to worry. The answer to number twelve is forty-two p>
The house was quiet, save for the muffled sounds of an argument upstairs that I was too exhausted to mediate. I stood at the kitchen sink, drying the same plate for three minutes, staring out at the darkened backyard.
“The guest room hasn’t changed,” I said, not turning around. I knew Nate was standing in the doorway. Even without his Alpha power, he had a way of displacing the air around him.
“You kept the hydrangeas alive,” Nate said. He moved into the kitchen, his footsteps heavy. He stopped at the table, leaning his scarred hands on the wood. “I didn’t think you’d keep anything that reminded you of the Ridge p>
“The flowers aren’t from the Ridge, Nate. I bought them at a nursery in town three years ago. They’re mine. Not ours.” I finally put the plate down and turned to face him. “Why are you really here? And don’t give me the ’redemption’ speech. I’ve lived nine years without your protection. I don’t need a hero p>
Nate looked at me, and for a second, the years seemed to fall away. I saw the man who had once promised to build me a kingdom, and the man who had eventually realized that a kingdom is just a cage with better plumbing.
“I’m here because I’m a lightning rod,” Nate admitted, his voice cracking. “Axel was right. The power didn’t just go away, Dahlia. It’s looking for a host. I spent a decade trying to be human, trying to bury the wolf, but the world won’t let me. There are people… new people… who think they can restart the Heart using my blood as a catalyst p>
“So you brought them to my children?” I felt the old rage flare, hot and bright in my chest.
“I brought them to the only person who can stop them,” Nate stepped closer, his eyes pleading. “Not me. Axel. He’s the only one who actually has a connection to the mountain now. If I had stayed away, they would have found him anyway, and he would have been alone p>
“He’s thirteen, Nate p>
“He’s older than the mountain itself, and you know it!” Nate’s voice rose, a ghost of the Alpha’s roar echoed in the small kitchen.
He caught himself, taking a shaky breath. “Dahlia… I saw him tonight. I saw the way he looked at that ’illusion.’ He wasn’t scared. He was bored. He’s outgrown us both p>
I sank into a kitchen chair, as the weight of his words pressed down on me. “I just wanted them to have a life where they didn’t have to be indispensable. I wanted them to be able to fail a math test without it being an omen p>
“They’re ours,” Nate said, finally sitting across from me. He reached out, his hand stopping inches from mine on the table. “They were never going to be ordinary. We were fools to think we could hide the sun under a bushel p>
Aidan’s POV
I didn’t knock.
I kicked Axel’s door open just as Ariana was already inside, her arms crossed so tightly she looked like she was trying to hold her ribs together.
The room was dark, lit only by the glowing LED strip under his desk and the faint, unsettling shimmer coming from Axel himself. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed, a single silver coin hovering and spinning inches above his upturned palm.
“Make it stop,” I said, my voice was low and vibrating with a heat I didn’t recognize.
Axel didn’t look up. The coin continued to spin, faster and faster, until it was just a blur of metallic light. “Make what stop, Aidan? The world? The storm? Or just the fact that you can’t do it p>
“The lying!” Ariana snapped.
She stepped into his personal space, her shadow falling over the bed. “Nine years, Axel. We shared everything. We shared a womb, for god’s sake. We were supposed to be the same. But while I was crying because I didn’t fit in at dance class, you were… what? Chatting with the tectonic plates p>
Axel finally caught the coin. The light died instantly. “It’s not a choice, Ari. Do you think I wanted to be the one the mountain kept? Do you think I enjoy hearing the ground scream every time a new skyscraper is built five hundred miles away p>
“You had us,” I said, stepping up beside Ariana. “We’re the triplets. We were a pack of our own. But you turned us into your audience. You let us think we were all just normal kids together while you were holding the keys to the universe in your pocket p>
“I did it to keep you normal!” Axel yelled, jumping off the bed.
He was shorter than me, but at that moment, he felt like a giant. The air in the room grew heavy, and the oxygen thinning. “If you knew what I could do, you’d look at me exactly the way you’re looking at me now. Like I’m a freak. Like I’m a weapon. Like I’m him p>
He pointed at the floor, indicating Nate in the room below.
“You’re not him,” Ariana whispered, her voice cracking. “He’s just a man. You… you’re a god in a hoodie, Axel. And it’s terrifying. Because I don’t know if I’m talking to my brother or the ’Keeper’ of some ancient grudge p>
“I’m your brother,” Axel said, as his silver eyes softened, though they didn’t turn back to brown. “But the Keeper is the one who’s going to have to save your lives when the ground opens up. So decide now; do you want the brother who lies, or the Keeper who survives p>