The Triplet Alphas' Regret

The room fell silent as everyone turned to stare at Soren. Once again, Cassian was the first to speak up.

"Hell no! You can’t be trusted to be alone around her!" Cassian spat out. "The last time you were alone, you nearly ended up marking her. If you leave with her again, we won’t get Samuel here until Willow really wakes up on her own!"

Rowan was similarly displeased. "I agree with Cassian," he said with a glower. "You should not be alone with Briar."

Soren frowned. "You’re just being biased―"

"I’m being realistic," Rowan interrupted. "What if Violet finds the two of you together and decides to slap Briar for a change?"

Clearly, Rowan didn’t think much about Soren’s ability to defend me when push came to shove. Frankly, I wasn’t super confident either.

Soren didn’t exactly have the best track record, and all things considered, Violet was a lot crazier and bolder than she was a month or two ago. She even dared to slap Soren, her Alpha. What else could she possibly be afraid of? Slapping poor little me was child’s play to her.

Maybe Violet would make me the next poison victim, by hook or by crook. I didn’t fancy being unconscious for another few days.

"Cassian," Rowan said, turning to his other brother. "You―"

"I am not going with her," Cassian immediately objected, raising his voice and both hands in surrender. He shot me a disparaging glance before addressing Rowan. "If there’s anywhere I need to be, it’s here, nice and snug in my armchair."

I scoffed. Surely he meant protecting Willow, but I wasn’t going to pick a fight with him on the semantics. At least I knew Willow would be safe, because no one in their right mind would pick a fight with Cassian.

"No one is asking for you to go," Rowan said through gritted teeth, his patience wearing thin. "I was going to say you should stay here with Willow and Soren. I’ll go with Briar."

"Oh," Cassian said, blankly blinking, caught off guard. "T-That’s good. I mean..." He awkwardly cleared his throat and made a show of slumping even further into the armchair, as though he was trying to blend into it. "Perfect. I’m not going anywhere. This is exactly what I wanted."

This time, even Rowan couldn’t resist the urge to roll his eyes. He walked straight to the door, his hand on the doorknob before turning back to glance at me. The look in his eyes was soft.

Rowan said, "Are you coming?"

"Right away," I said, scuttering over.

This was a little more annoying than I initially hoped. I had wanted to use this opportunity to speak with Samuel, but Rowan was once again in the way. It wouldn’t even have been as bad if it had been Cassian who had tagged along instead, ironically, considering he already knew I was in possession of wolfsbane.

That only meant that I had to find a way to distract Rowan later on. With the poisoning cases increasing in Shadowclaw, I didn’t have much time left.

We journeyed down the corridor and towards the infirmary where Samuel’s office was in silence. Rowan walked a couple of steps ahead, while I trailed a short distance behind, deep in thought. I had thought of a hundred and one excuses to get Rowan off my tail, but none of them seemed plausible.

Ever since he had marked me, Rowan had gotten ridiculously protective. It came with perks, of course, especially when it came to spiting Violet for all she’s worth. But the downside was that I barely had room to breathe, much less escape his line of sight.

Thankfully, it was as though the Moon Goddess had heard my prayers. A blast echoed from a distance away. Even though the sound came from somewhere afar, the pack house still felt the tremors from the impact.

Rowan and I exchanged a look of surprise. Just then, a warrior came running over.

"Alpha!" he said, panting. Worry colored his eyes. "The southern border has been attacked by rogues!"

"Rogues?" Rowan echoed, frowning. His expression turned serious immediately.

On the flip side, I tried my hardest not to smile too enthusiastically. Where there were rogues, there was Lucien.

Was he here? Did he come for me?

I tried to reach into our bond to search for his presence, but seeing as how we weren’t properly bonded yet, I wasn’t able to reach for him like I could sense Rowan whenever he was even just slightly nearby.

Rowan went quiet, presumably communicating with the pack through the mind link. However, judging by the way his face turned more and more sour, I assumed whatever he was trying to do didn’t turn out too well.

"If you need to go, I can find Samuel myself," I said, tapping Rowan’s forearm to get his attention. He turned to me, and I gestured down the corridor. "The infirmary is only a short walk away from here. I’ll be fine."

Rowan looked conflicted. "I’m not too worried about that right now," he said.

I pinched my lips tightly, wondering what he meant before I widened my eyes in realization.

"If you mean I would make use of the commotion to escape, then rest assured, I won’t," I said. Rowan raised an eyebrow, clearly doubting my words. I sighed and elaborated. "Not until Willow wakes up."

The corners of his lips twitched. "I don’t know whether to feel comforted by the fact that you’re not leaving now, or feel uneasy knowing you have plans to do so once the time is right," he said.

Another ear-shattering boom sounded, and this time, it felt much closer to the pack house than the previous one. I could faintly catch the sounds of snarling wolves and howls of pain, battle cries quickly filling the sky.

Rowan clenched his jaw, and even his fists tightened into balls by his sides. It didn’t take long before he made his decision.

"Don’t run off too far," he said. "If anything happens, look for either one of us."

I didn’t need clarification to know he meant for me to look for him, Soren, or Cassian.

He barely even waited for me to nod in acknowledgment before Rowan sprinted off with the warrior. I could see him shifting into his wolf along the way, quickly tackling a rogue who had somehow managed to break into the pack house.

I gasped, quickly turning on my heel before sprinting down the corridor.

What I told Rowan was true― I had no intention of leaving until I knew what happened to Willow. Not only would this clear my name — which I frankly no longer cared for — but it would also allow me closure and revenge.

This had been a crime I had carried on my shoulders for years. I deserved to know who had been running my name through the mud all this time, and with concrete proof.

Bursting into the infirmary, I quickly glanced back and forth. Surprisingly, the infirmary had been cleared out. There weren’t any patients lying in bed. Most importantly of all, Violet and Cedar were nowhere to be seen, even though Violet had been sent here just a short while ago.

"Samuel?" I called out, scouring every corner of the room and searching behind curtains and under desks. "Healer Samuel?"

No one replied, and the table that Samuel often worked at was empty. There weren’t any documents present either, and it looked completely wiped clean, other than some scattered pens and empty notebooks.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance, darting out of the infirmary. Wherever Samuel had gone, it couldn’t have been far. He wasn’t a fighter, and couldn’t possibly be defending the pack with the warriors right now. However, he could’ve noticed the attack and gone to the front lines to tend to the injured.

Turning sharply, I went down the exact same path that Rowan did previously, hopping over the dead body of the rogue wolf that had attacked him earlier. I stopped as I passed by the wolf, frowning. It looked a little familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on where I had seen it before.

Tucking it to the back of my mind, I shook my head and continued. I needed to find Samuel first. If he had the evidence, I could hide somewhere high up and try to spot Lucien, if he was here. Ralph had managed to infiltrate the pack once again. Lucien couldn’t be far.

Right as I turned a corner, a broad chest came into view. I gasped in surprise, stepping back right before I collided. A familiar scent filled my senses, and I widened my eyes in surprise.

Looking up, I came face to face with a smiling man, and my features scrunched up in anger. I stepped back, putting as much distance as I could between us, my nails digging into the palms of my hands.

"You!"

The man smiled at me wickedly, his lips curling into a smirk as he flicked his hair out of his scar-ridden face.

"Well," Magnus said, sounding awfully pleased with himself. "Fancy seeing you here, buttercup."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!