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."

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 to

my voice. "Please, I have to get

at the temples, but he was still a

stomach churn. It was a perverted, lustful gaze that felt as though he were

Sir Jose. If you please, excuse me; I

He pressed his body against mine, his weight heavy and suffocating. He didn’t care that

he murmured, his breath smelling of stale ale and meat as he leaned into my ear. "That

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

rough fingers tracing my jawline. "Be my third mistress. I’ll speak to the Alphas for you. I’ll make sure

my lower lip. I shuddered in disgust, my skin crawling where he

place, far from this packhouse. All expenses covered." His smile turned darker, more predatory. "You’ll live like a queen.

haze of my fever. "I won’t... and I never will," I

mistresses said. You’ll come crawling back.

fingers traced my neck, lingering exactly where Leo had just kissed me—lingering over the hickey that had

careful," he hissed, his grip tightening on my wrist until I winced. "The triplets aren’t the only ones who can make your

a sudden burst of strength to

let go, laughing low in his throat as

like a drum. I

there staring at the ceiling, my mind refused to quiet down. The weight

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 from this nightmare of a

one of the triplets? The thought made me shudder.

thoughts. Slowly, my body relaxed, and before I knew it,