The Triplet Alphas' Secret Mate

Chapter 4: Accused

Scarlett’s POV

​My heart pounded wildly as the guards dragged me toward the kitchen.

All the female servants were already gathered there, their eyes burning with familiar hatred. To them, I wasn’t a girl. I was the daughter of traitors. A stain on the pack. A weed that should have been ripped out long ago.

"Scarlett, come forward," the Head Maiden, Angela, barked.

I stepped toward her, my head bowed low. Unexpectedly, a loud slap landed across my cheek. The force sent me stumbling to the side, my vision blurring. I gasped as a sharp sting radiated through my face, and the awful taste of blood filled my mouth.

"You’ve been stealing from the kitchen purse!" she screamed.

"Stealing? I’m not a thief," I whispered, a single tear tracking through the soot on my skin.

"Don’t lie to me!" she snapped. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small leather pouch, the one the staff used for market runs. "The guards searched the servant quarters after the cook noticed the week’s grocery cash was missing. Guess where they found it? Hidden inside your pillowcase, Scarlett."

Another slap landed, harder than the first. I shook my head in disbelief. I hadn’t touched that purse. I didn’t even know where it was kept. Someone had planted it to frame me.

out,

traitor’s daughter, and now you’re a common thief," she sneered. "You think you can steal from the very pack that feeds you? Guards! Tie her to the

of the courtyard. They shoved me against the wooden post and bound my wrists tight with rough hemp rope. I closed my eyes, bracing myself.

WHIP!

the back of my thin uniform. I gasped, my skin erupting in a line of

WHIP! WHIP!

screams, biting my lip until it bled. Mansion workers and warriors gathered to watch. Some were entertained; others whispered, and a few stared

squeezed my eyes shut and prayed for my twentieth birthday to come faster. When my wolf awakened, I would heal

familiar voice echoed through

"Enough!"

whipping stopped instantly. I opened my eyes, blinking away the sweat and stinging tears. Standing at the edge of the yard, looking like a god of anger,

presence silenced everyone. He looked at my shredded uniform, the blood soaking the fabric, and then turned his piercing green eyes

the charge?" he asked, his voice low

stole the kitchen cash, Alpha," Angela bowed. "The

as everyone waited for what