The Triplet Alphas' Secret Mate

Chapter 78: His Excuses

Scarlett’s POV

​"I was scared of what people would say," he snapped, turning to look at me with eyes that were pained. "I’m the son of the Luna. The Luna who was murdered in cold blood. Every time I looked at you, I saw the girl I grew up with... but the pack? They saw the daughter of the traitors who helped coordinate the assassination of my mother."

​I swallowed hard.

​"How could I be seen with you?" he went on, his voice cracking. "How could I be ’friends’ with the girl whose parents let the killers into our territory? I thought if I showed you even an ounce of kindness, the pack would think I didn’t care about her memory. I thought they’d think I was a traitor, too."

​He reached out, his fingers brushing the stone between us but not quite touching my hand.

​"I chose my reputation over you. I chose the pack’s approval over the girl who was my entire world," he whispered. "Every time I saw you scrubbing those floors or even being abused, a part of me wanted to scream at them to stop. But then I’d hear someone whisper ’traitor’s blood,’ and I’d turn away. I was a coward because I was afraid of the whispers, Scarlett. I was afraid of the shame."

​The honesty was brutal. It stripped away the Alpha mask and showed me the broken boy underneath. Zoe was quiet in my head now, her anger replaced by a deep, mourning sadness. We had both been victims of that night—I had lost my parents to the noose, and he had lost his mother to the knife.

​"So, what changed?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. "Why now? Are you not ashamed anymore?"

facing me fully. He reached out and cupped my jaw, his thumb dragging slowly over my lower lip. His touch was electric, burning through the

I realize I can’t live without you, Scarlett," he whispered, his voice filled with an honesty that made my chest ache. "In all my life, I have loved only one person, and that is you. I thought I could let you go. I thought I could bury the bond and be the son the pack

in closer, his forehead resting against mine. The heat from

and the elders. I will tell everyone you are mine. I’ll stand in the middle of the pack circle and announce it, and there is

at the dark treeline below. A

found out? The chaos would be absolute. Three Alpha brothers, all entangled with the same "traitor’s daughter." It wouldn’t just cause a

at me," Leo

wind biting through my thin shirt. Noticing my tremble, Leo didn’t hesitate. He reached back and pulled off his heavy black leather jacket. It was warm, carrying the scent of cedarwood, rain, and him. He draped it over my shoulders,

He didn’t pull away. Instead, he kept his arms wrapped around me, pulling me

freezing," he whispered, his eyes dropping to

managed to say, my breath hitching as his fingers

me keep you warm," he

for me to agree. He tilted my head back, his hand tangling in my hair, and

lips touched, the world simply ceased to exist. It wasn’t like the hurried, guilty fumbling

front of his shirt, pulling him as close as humanly possible. Zoe was howling in my head, a triumphant, wild sound. Ours. Finally ours. Leo groaned, a deep, primal sound that vibrated through my