The Triplet Alphas' Secret Mate

Chapter 84: The Cliff

​Scarlett’s POV

​I was panting, my chest heaving, sweat dripping down my neck. Ethan stood over me, his face covered in dust, his eyes glowing with a dark, satisfied smirk. He reached out and wiped a smudge of dirt from my forehead with his thumb. The touch was lingering—too long for a fake partner.

​"Not bad, little partner," he murmured, his voice dropping so low the crowd couldn’t hear. "But if you ignore my lead again, I’ll throw you out of the circle myself just to keep you from getting hurt."

​"You don’t care if I get hurt," I snapped, pulling away from his touch. "You just don’t want to lose."

​The look of pride in his eyes vanished, replaced by that cold, stony mask. "Exactly," he said, his voice flat. "Keep that in mind for the next round."

​We walked out of the ring, but as we did, I saw the other brothers.

​Leo was standing by the water barrels. He was crushing a tin cup in his hand, his eyes fixed on the way Ethan had touched my face. He looked as if he wanted to kill someone. Leon was being forced to walk back into the ring with Elara. He caught my eye and looked at the bite mark on his lip, then at the dirt on my clothes. He looked disgusted—not at me, but at the fact that Ethan was the one getting to touch me.

pushed into the mud. Liam was standing over her, looking like he wanted to shift and run

"The first cut is made. Thirty pairs are out. The rest of you... prepare for the

at the edge of the field. My hands were already shaking. I looked at Ethan, and for the first time

stone. "You will be bound at the waist by a single six-foot rope. If one falls, the other carries the weight. If the rope snaps, or

bringing forward. Ethan stepped behind me without a word. I felt the heat of his body radiating against my back as he looped the rope

the shell of my ear. "We move

to climb, Ethan," I snapped, though my heart was hammering. "I used to scale the

a bit more than necessary. "Your father’s oaks

complaining about the grit under her fingernails, her face pale as she looked up at the cliff. Her sisters, Sienna and Bianca, were paired

anyone. She just stood there, waiting for Leon to finish the knot. Leon looked like a ghost, his eyes hollow as he stared at the rock. He hadn’t looked at me once since I’d bitten him, and the silence between them was like

​"Go!" the Elder roared.

handhold, his powerful back muscles rippling under his compression shirt. Because we were tethered, I was yanked forward. I had to scramble to find my

as we climbed