The Triplet Alphas' Secret Mate

Chapter 20: Ripe

Scarlett’s POV

​I bit his lip hard, the awful taste of his blood filling my mouth.

Leon groaned, a sound filled with frustration and pain, and finally pulled back.

I braced myself, my heart hammering against my ribs. I expected him to lash out, to scream, or to pin me back against that stone wall until I told him what he wanted to hear.

​But he didn’t.

​He just stood there, his chest heaving, his thumb swiping the blood from his lower lip. He looked at me with an expression that made my skin crawl; it wasn’t anger. It was a dark, terrifying promise.

​"Leave," he said, his voice low but vibrating with rage. "Leave, Scarlett. But don’t think for a second that this is over. I’ll be seeing you soon."

​I didn’t stay to ask what he meant. I didn’t dwell on his words or the way his eyes seemed to glow. My only thought was escape. My body was screaming, every joint feeling as if it were being pulled apart by hot wires. The shift was coming, and I had to be away from him—away from all of them—before it hit.

​I scrambled for my gown, my fingers shaking so badly I could barely pull the fabric over my burning skin. I didn’t bother with the buttons. I just held the fabric to my chest and bolted out of his room.

​I burst through the door of the servants’ quarters, my gown clutched to my chest. Every breath felt like inhaling fire, and my skin was so sensitive that even the fabric felt like sandpaper. I just needed to reach my room. I just needed to survive the next two hours.

​But as I rounded the corner toward my door, a shadow stepped out of the dim hallway.

​"Scarlett."

man, a friend of my late father’s—or at least, he had been before the execution. Now, he was just another high-ranking wolf who looked at me like I was something

Jose," I breathed, trying to steady my voice. "Please,

cocky smile spreading across his face. He was in his late fifties, his hair graying at the temples, but he was still a

churn. It was a perverted, lustful gaze that felt as though he were undressing me right there

If you please, excuse me; I have to leave," I said, trying to push past

me against the rough stone wall. He pressed his body against mine, his weight heavy and suffocating. He didn’t

smelling of stale ale and meat as he leaned into my ear. "That means you’re finally

swallowed hard, forcing back the bile. I hated the way he spoke, as if I were

my jawline. "Be my third mistress. I’ll speak to the Alphas for you. I’ll make sure you’re no longer

lip. I shuddered in disgust,

up in a nice place, far from this packhouse. All expenses covered." His smile turned darker, more predatory. "You’ll live like a queen. My queen. But only if

fever. "I won’t... and I never will,"

was the same thing my other two mistresses said. You’ll come crawling back. The triplets will never

lingering exactly where Leo had just kissed me—lingering over the hickey that

I winced.

I snapped, finding a sudden burst of

his throat as I scrambled away. "Oh,

my heart pounding like a drum. I collapsed onto my small, worn-out bed, the heat in my chest becoming an

I lay there staring at the ceiling, my mind refused to quiet down. The weight of everything

few more hours...

be twenty. If I was lucky, I’d get my wolf, and maybe—just maybe—I’d find my mate. A small part of me dared to hope that he would be strong, powerful enough to take me away

was someone like Sir Jose? Or one of the triplets? The thought made me shudder. No. The

thoughts. Slowly, my body