The Triplet Alphas' Secret Mate

Chapter 146: The Hard Favour

​Leo’s POV

​She pulled away from me, her movements slow and heavy. One by one, she began removing the pieces of the armor. I stood back, my eyes never leaving her, watching as the warrior shell fell away to reveal the woman underneath. When she was done, she sat on the edge of the large bed, looking small and fragile.

​I knelt on the floor in front of her, resting my hands on her knees, just staring. I was trying to understand why the air felt so still. The mate bond was right there—I could feel the golden thread of it in my mind—but it was quiet. It wasn’t humming with life like it used to. It felt like a phone line that had been cut.

​I didn’t want to pressure her. I didn’t want to scare her away again. So, I took a shaky breath and asked the simplest thing I could. "How have you been, Scar?"

​"I have been fine," she said softly.

​The answer was too short, too simple for three years of being "dead," but I swallowed my questions. I just wanted her to feel safe enough to tell me herself.

​She reached out and took my hands in hers, her grip tight. "Leo, can I ask you for a favor?"

​"Yes, Scar," I said instantly, leaning closer. "You can ask me anything. Anything at all."

​She swallowed hard, her eyes darting to the locked door before looking back at me with a desperate intensity. "Can you keep this between us for now? Especially... especially from your brothers."

​The request hit me like a punch to the gut. I swallowed hard, thinking of Liam and Leonard. "Scar... my brothers have been living miserably. We all have. They deserve to know you’re alive."

Leo. Don’t tell anyone yet. Just

my brothers who were miles away, still mourning

wide with a fear I didn’t understand. "I will tell you

let alone two years. "Scar,

my arms, her body trembling again. "I will tell you everything after two years... I just need you to trust me. Please, Leo. If you love me,

saw a terror so deep it chilled my bones. She wasn’t just hiding; she was

I was betraying the two people I cared about most. But

whispered, leaning my head against her knees. "Okay, Scar.

my eyes, feeling like a traitor and a savior all at once. I didn’t

smoothed my hair. "I heard that you men are married.

her the truth instantly. I wanted to tell her that Bianca was my wife in name only, that our

a different voice, a cold instinct at the back of my mind that felt like a warning. It told me that if I told her I was free, she

be a mate or a wife yet. If I tell her my mate bond with Bianca was fake, she’ll feel trapped by the

lack of it. Why wasn’t it humming?

up at her, my heart heavy with a new kind of lie. I

said, my voice thick with fake shame. "We were... we were forced. After you were gone, the Council and the packs... they

the hole deeper. "They drugged us, Scar. They used our grief against us and took advantage of