**The Monster You Made**
**Chapter 8: Revelations in Blood**
**Stiles**
The compound doors exploded inward before we even reached them. Klaus stood at the head of the stairs like a painting of ancient rage, Elijah at his side, both hybrids radiating lethal promise. My humanity was still raw—every heartbeat felt like knives after centuries of silence. The guilt over my slaughtered family sat heavy in my gut, but the triple mate bond wrapped around it like armor made of gold, crimson, and midnight blue.
You see, I came here bored and empty. I monologued about how I woke up one day a monster with no remorse. Now the remorse was a living thing and these three women were the only reason I hadn't begged the Hollow to hollow me out again.
Klaus's eyes locked on how Hope, Freya, and Hayley moved with me—flanking me, touching me, their scents braided so tightly with mine that even a human could have smelled the claim. "What the hell have you done to my daughter?" he snarled. "To my family?"
I smiled, but it wasn't the empty one from before. This one carried weight. "I swallowed your Hollow before it could end the world. You're welcome. As for the rest…" I pulled Hope closer, my hand splayed possessively across her waist. The bond flared white-hot at the contact. "They're mine. All three of them. Mates."
The word detonated across the courtyard.
**Hope**
My father's face twisted with hybrid fury the moment Stiles spoke. The gold thread between me and my mates pulsed protectively. I could feel Stiles' guilt spiking through the bond—fresh waves of horror at his past crimes bleeding into the present—but our connection held him steady. We had loved him even when his humanity was off. Now that it was on, that love burned brighter than my father's rage.
I stepped forward, hybrid eyes flashing. "It happened the second he walked in, Dad. All three of us felt the mate bond snap at once. Freya, Hayley, and me. A triple bond. The kind the old witches called a gift. One soul fractured into three pieces. Stiles needed all of us to come back from what he was."
Elijah's calm mask cracked. "This creature confessed to butchering his own pack without remorse. And you expect us to simply accept—"
"He's not that creature anymore," I cut in, voice fierce. My hand found Stiles' and squeezed. Through the bond I sent him calm, love, hunger—reminding him the switch was locked on now. "We kept it secret until we could flip his humanity back on. We did it together. Blood. Magic. The bond. He feels everything now. Including what he did. Don't make him prove how far he's come."
**Freya**
Midnight blue magic crackled at my fingertips as Klaus advanced. The bond fed me Stiles' turmoil—the repetitive echoes of his old monologue now laced with genuine pain. *I slaughtered them. No remorse. Just weakness.* I pushed my own centuries of control through the thread, steadying him while Hayley's feral energy vibrated beside me.
I met my brother's eyes without flinching. "The bond chose him for all three of us the instant we saw him. I felt it like lightning in my veins. Hayley and Hope the same. We met in secret that first night and swore we would drag him back. He is an upgraded Original, a siphoner, a werewolf with his own magic. He consumed the Hollow like it was air. No one else could have survived that power and still be capable of love. The triple bond is rare because it takes someone immense to hold it. He is ours. We are his. Accept it, or we will leave this compound together."
Klaus's growl shook the stones. "He is a monster who admits he felt nothing while murdering innocents. Hayley—my son's mother—bound to the same creature?"
**Hayley**
My wolf ripped to the surface at Klaus's tone. Crimson thread burned so hot I felt my eyes bleed gold. I moved in front of Stiles, claws out, body still humming from the warehouse hours where we had sealed the mate bond in every possible way. His guilt was loud through the connection, but so was the love rushing in behind it. The gift had given us that love instantly. Now it anchored him.
"Back off, Klaus," I snarled. "I knew the second I saw him. We all did. The bond isn't a curse—it's a gift. Three mates because he carries too much. The Hollow lives in him and it's quieter when we're close. He slaughtered his family while the switch was off. He feels it now. Every death. Every scream. We're helping him carry it. You try to rip him from us and you'll lose all three of us. Permanently."
Stiles' hand settled on my shoulder. The touch sent fresh lust and comfort spiraling through the four of us. Even in the middle of this standoff, the bond wanted us tangled again. I could feel his renewed hunger—monster and man finally in sync.
**Stiles**
Their voices blurred as the guilt crested again. Flashes of my family's blood on my hands. The flat stare I had given their corpses. *You see, I don't understand what's wrong with me.* The old cadence tried to rise, but the mate bond crushed it. Hope's fire. Freya's calm. Hayley's wildness. They poured love into me until the Hollow retreated further into its corner.
I stepped between my mates and the Mikaelson brothers, power rolling off me in dark waves. The upgraded Original in me could have ended this in seconds. Instead I spoke with the full weight of returned humanity.
"I woke up one day empty. I became the monster I warned you about that first night. I slaughtered everyone who ever loved me and felt no remorse. Time shattered. I came here because I was bored out of my mind." My voice cracked. "But they… they flipped the switch back on. The triple mate bond forced me to feel again. It hurts like hell. I see every face I ended. But I also see them." I looked at each of my mates in turn. "My gift. My anchors. Nothing can kill me, but they can save me. Try to take them from me and the Hollow will be the least of your problems."
Klaus lunged.
I caught him mid-air, siphoning just enough hybrid power to slam him down without killing him. Elijah moved, but Freya's magic and Hayley's wolf met him first. Hope stood at my side, hand in mine, the bond glowing visibly now—three colored threads braiding into one unbreakable rope.
The fight was brief, vicious, and stopped by Elijah's raised hand. "Enough. If what they say is true… the bond is sealed. We all feel it on the air."
Klaus rose slowly, eyes burning, but he didn't attack again. Not yet.
I pulled all three of my mates against me, breathing in their combined scent as the guilt ebbed and flowed. The Hollow stirred once—testing—but the mate bond pushed it back down.
For the first time since my humanity returned, I felt something stronger than remorse.
Possession.
They were mine. I was theirs. The Mikaelsons would learn to live with it…
…or they wouldn't live at all.