The Triplet Alphas' Secret Mate

Chapter 188: The Painting

​Liam POV

​"Fucking no way!" I gasped.

​The chair behind me hit the floor with a loud crash, the sound echoing through the sudden silence of the ballroom. Several people turned to look at me, but I didn’t care. The entire room could have caught fire right then, and I wouldn’t have blinked. My eyes were glued to the canvas under the bright spotlight.

​My breath caught in my throat, cutting off my air.

​The painting was beautiful, but it wasn’t a fantasy scene. It was a memory. A very specific, private memory from our childhood that nobody else in the world could possibly know.

​The canvas showed a massive, ancient oak tree under a bright blue sky. High up on one of the top branches, a little girl with long, wild chocolate hair was trapped. Her tiny hands gripped the bark, her face painted with a mix of fear and excitement, terrified to jump down.

​And directly below her were three identical young boys.

​My eyes watered as I stared at the details. One boy was already halfway up the trunk, his hands and knees scraped up as he climbed frantically to reach her. I choked back a breath. I knew that boy was me. I was always the one who couldn’t wait, the one who had to climb up to get her myself.

​Beside the tree trunk, the second boy was standing with one hand stretched out high in the air, his expression calm and steady, gesturing for her to just take his hand so he could guide her down safely. That was Leo. Always the grounded one, trying to be reasonable.

​And the third boy—Leonard—was standing right at the base, his arms thrown completely wide open, a bright, confident grin on his face. You could almost hear him yelling through the paint, daring her to just let go and jump, promising he would catch her no matter what.

​It was the summer we turned ten. Scarlett had climbed too high trying to rescue a bird, and the three of us had nearly lost our minds trying to get her down. We had never told a soul about that day.

​To anyone else in this room, it was just a sweet, nostalgic painting of children playing by a talented artist named ’Faceless.’

bolt straight to my soul. It wasn’t an

lead organizer asked, stepping toward me with a worried

couldn’t move. My wolf, who had been sleeping for five years, suddenly slammed against the walls of my mind, howling so

filled with a manic, desperate energy. She’s alive, Liam! She painted this!

the artist?" I demanded, my voice dropping into a dark, terrifying growl that made the organizer instantly take three steps back, his

don’t know, sir!" he stammered, his hands shaking. "As the auctioneer said, she goes by ’Faceless.’ Everything was handled through her manager via email and

my hands onto the table, cracking the polished wood under my palms. "Find

even started for that

snarled, turning my gaze back to the painting. The detail was too

mind link to

chance to speak. "Drop whatever the hell you are doing and come

just got back from a treaty meeting, I’m not in the mood—"

I stared at the painted memory of our childhood. "Scarlett is alive. And she

about, Liam?" Leonard’s voice slammed into my head through the mind link, sharp and vibrating with a mix of exhaustion and sudden

the sheer force of my mental voice making both of my brothers wince on the other end.

though I could hear his breath hitching. "You’re not making sense. Scarlett died five

and the young version of Leo

shut up and wait for me at the pack house," I snapped, cutting them both off. "I am bringing her message

wrist, I severed the mind

the room was absolute, heavy and suffocating. Hundreds of high-society wolves, powerful politicians, and wealthy pack members were all staring at me. Some looked terrified, their instincts telling them to cower under the suffocating pressure of my Alpha aura. Others just looked deeply confused, whispering behind their hands as they

his mouth, completely unsure

the way, the heavy wood scraping loudly against the marble floor. I didn’t care about their whispers. I