The Triplet Alphas' Secret Mate

Chapter 14: Their Secrets

​Scarlett’s POV

​My eyes widened in pure terror. My heart, which had only just begun to slow its frantic pace, kicked back into a desperate gallop. I stood there shivering and naked, slick with Leo’s scent and the heat of his release, while another brother stood just inches away on the other side of that thin wooden door.

​Leo stiffened instantly, his hand freezing on the brass knob. His muscles corded with sudden tension, and for a fleeting second, I saw a flash of something akin to panic in his eyes before it was replaced by a gaze of cold, murderous steel. He looked ready to kill Leon if he dared to step through that door.

​But before the handle could click open, a sharp, familiar voice cut through the silence of the hallway.

​"Leon? What the hell are you doing at Scarlett’s door?"

​It was Lana. My heart skipped a beat.

​"Lana, mind your fucking business and get back to the main house," Leon’s voice boomed, thick with a suppressed, guttural growl. He sounded beyond pissed off.

​"No," Lana snapped, her voice rising in defiance. "I know what you three are like. She’s exhausted and she’s had enough for one night. If you don’t leave this hallway this instant, I will scream and alert the entire pack. I’ll make sure Father knows exactly which of his sons is prowling the servants’ quarters like a dog in heat."

I held my breath, clutching the edges of my ruined dress against my chest, praying fervently to the Moon Goddess. Finally, there was a low, frustrated growl and the sound of heavy boots

lingered for a moment, her voice softening. "Scarlett? Are you

back at me, his expression shifting from that of a tensed predator to something utterly chilling and

to croak out, my throat feeling raw, as if I’d been

paralyzed with fear—terrified that she would somehow perceive Leo’s overwhelming

whispered, her footsteps finally

room felt ice-cold the moment we were truly alone again. Leo didn’t move toward me. He didn’t offer a cloak to cover my shame or a single kind word to steady my nerves. He looked at me—at my torn clothes, my wild hair, and the marks he had just branded onto my skin—with a look of total, clinical blankness. There was

at me like I was a mistake. Like I was a

his voice as

hall with a soldier’s precision, and vanished into the shadows, leaving me shivering and broken on the

by one brother, and whose body had been claimed by the other two. I stayed on the floor for a long time, my skin prickling from the drafty

my muscles aching and my core throbbing

​I scrubbed.

scrubbed my neck where his mouth had been, my breasts where he had marked me, and between my legs where his fingers had stretched my virginal walls. I wanted to wash him away. I wanted to wash Liam away. I wanted to wash Leon away. I wanted to erase the feeling of being a prize they fought over in the dark. But as much as I cleaned my skin, I couldn’t scrub away the memory of how my own body had betrayed me—how I had arched into the "monster" and begged