The Triplet Alphas' Secret Mate

Chapter 85: Cross Over

Scarlett’s POV

​I looked to my left. Liam was struggling. Camilla had frozen completely twenty feet up. She was sobbing, her hands shaking so hard she couldn’t grip the stone.

​"Move, Camilla!" Liam barked, his voice full of Alpha authority. "It’s just a wall! Just reach up!"

​"I can’t! Liam, I’m going to fall!" she shrieked.

​Liam tried to reach down to haul her up by the rope, but the angle was wrong. Camilla’s foot slipped, and she went into a full panic, swinging wildly. Liam’s fingers lost their grip on the dusty rock as she yanked him downward. They didn’t fall to the ground—the safety lines caught them—but they were disqualified. Liam’s roar of frustration echoed off the spires as the guards lowered them down.

​Beside them, Sienna and Bianca were also failing. Their warrior partners were strong, but the sisters had no core strength. They were being dragged up like sacks of grain, and eventually, the Elder signaled for them to be cut.

​I looked over at Leon. He was moving like a machine. He wasn’t talking to Elara, and she wasn’t talking to him. They moved in a strange, silent sync. When she slipped, he caught her without a word. When he reached a difficult spot, she waited. They reached the top just as Ethan and I hauled ourselves over the final ridge.

​I rolled onto the flat, sun-warmed stone at the summit, my lungs burning. Ethan stood up immediately, offering no hand to help me. He was staring at the woods ahead, his mind already on the next task.

​I looked back down the cliff. Out of the fifty couples that started the climb, only twenty had made it to the top. The rest were being led away, their festival over.

​Ethan finally looked down at me, his eyes cold again. He reached out and unclipped the rope from my waist, tossing it aside like it was trash.

​"That was too close, Scarlett," he said, his voice flat. "If you slip again, I might not be able to catch you."

​I stood up, brushing the stone dust from my leggings, my eyes burning with a mix of hate and unwanted attraction.

you should have bought a

I could feel his gaze on my back, and further away,

is the Rapids Sprint!" the Elder shouted over the thunder of the river. "Twenty pairs remain. You must cross the rapids using only the jagged stones. If you fall into the

sharp, moss-covered teeth of rock sticking out of the foaming, freezing

my skin just like they had the night before. "This isn’t the cliff,

slip," I said, my teeth chattering slightly from the cold

a voice rasped from

with Elara. He looked terrible—his skin was pale and his eyes were bloodshot—but he was staring at the river with a grim determination. Elara was silent, her

growled, staring at

voice flat. He looked at me

Tessa were already at the water’s edge. Leo didn’t say anything to us. He just stepped onto the first stone, his balance perfect, his body coiled like

​"Go!" the Elder yelled.

The rock was like ice, and the moss made it as slippery as oil. I landed hard, my boots skidding. Ethan caught my waist, hauling me

hissed into

It was a rhythmic,

the river got deeper and the stones further apart. I could see the other couples struggling. One pair of warriors lost their footing; the woman screamed as she was pulled into the foam,

right beside us. Elara had frozen on a high stone, the water spraying

her voice thin over

gap with her tucked under his arm. It was a massive feat of strength, his muscles bulging as he landed on a tiny, pointed rock.

he held. He looked up, his eyes meeting mine, and for a heartbeat, the pain in his expression was so raw I almost forgot

​"Scarlett!" Ethan yelled.

jumped. I reached for a flat-topped stone, but as my boot hit the surface, the