HATED BY MY TRIPLET ALPHAS

CHAPTER 3: ROMANOV BROTHERS

AMARIS’S POV

It took my mind a moment to realize that I had been set up.

As nasty as it sounded, I refused to believe that Zevran had anything to do with it. Not when he had been so nice to me.

He had defended me against Master Stone. Hell, he had gotten me to open up to him about something so personal.

The more I thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed that I had allowed myself to trust him so easily. What was I thinking?

He was betrothed to Vera. But he wasn’t the only one. All three of the Romanov brothers were betrothed to her. Why did I think a Romanov could have even a shred of decency in them?

She was their chosen mate. The future Luna of the pack. Everyone knew that. Everyone was aware that the Christmas selection feast was going to be a mere formality—a celebration of a done deal.

More laughter filled the room. My face was coated in messy cafeteria food.

Vera laughed the loudest.

She snapped my journal shut and wiped an invisible tear from the corner of her eye. Her manicured nails shone brightly under the cafeteria lights.

“You’re so naive, Amaris,” she sneered at me. “Did you really think you had broken through the wall by accident?”

What?

“What are you talking about?” I asked, trying—and failing—to wrap my head around just how far she had gone to trick me.

Vera smiled cruelly. She leaned forward on the table, dipped her fingers into her sauce cup, and splashed it on my face.

I shut my eyes for a second, forgetting to breathe. I had never known what it was like to feel first-hand embarrassment until this moment.

Vera giggled. “Wake up, Amaris. We all know you’ve been spying on our training for a while now. We set the floor trap, knowing you’d take the bait. And then, the funniest part of all—Zevran.”

She threw her head back and laughed hard.

“Oh, Goddess. What were you thinking? Did you honestly believe he wanted to have lunch with you? I heard you tried to play hard to get at first. That’s cute.”

Vera’s voice was loud, making it easy for everyone to witness my total humiliation. I pressed my fingers into my thigh, trying to hold it together, willing myself not to cry.

“He’s engaged to me, you coveting little weasel,” she said, pursing her glossy lips and enunciating each word. “He’s my mate. The only reason he agreed to talk to you was because I asked him to. That’s right, Amaris. I asked my fiancé to engage you in conversation. I asked him to seduce you for a moment. Judging by how quickly it happened, you’ve definitely got the makings of a slut. Perhaps I should have the word ‘slut’ carved into your forehead.”

“Stop talking,” I snapped, having had enough of her bullshit. “You had no right to go through my stuff and take my diary. Invading my privacy like that—how could you do that to me?”

I was angry. My voice was raised. The other alternative was to cry, and I refused to cry in front of her.

“What can I say?” Vera shrugged. “Reading the stuff you wrote in your diary was way too funny for me to keep it all to myself. I had to share it with the rest of the school.”

“Give it back!” I seethed, lunging for her. I tried to snag my diary from her manicured grip, but she held it away from me.

“Get your sloppy mess away from me, you freak!” Vera shrieked, stepping away from me.

She jerked back from her seat and peered down at the bodice of her uniform. There were splotches of sloppy joe on her impeccably white shirt.

“You sniveling b***h. You’ve ruined my shirt.”

Vera snarled and raised her hand to slap me. The sound of her palm connecting with my face sent me reeling backward.

I fell against the table, toppling my food tray in the process. More sloppy food splashed onto my shoes.

My cheek throbbed. My heart felt numb and broken at the same time. My breaths came out in short puffs. I tried to breathe properly, but all I could manage was to heave.

“What’s the matter, loser? Are you gonna cry? Go ahead. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“That’s enough,” Tobias snapped coldly, coming out from our eating corner and intercepting Vera’s looming stance.

He was still wearing his work apron, his scowl deep and frosty as he glared daggers at her.

Vera leaned back, giving him a smug look.

“What’s your deal, Tobias? Amaris and I were merely having a conversation. You have no right to butt in.”

“You must be delusional if you think that was a conversation,” he retorted, growing angrier by the moment. “Stay away from Amaris. This is your last warning.”

“Or what?” Vera challenged him, her eyes dark with rage. “Who the f**k do you think you are to say that to me, anyway? You don’t tell me what to do, Tobias. You’re a f*****g nobody. Get that through your thick skull.”

Tobias scowled, glaring daggers her way. He took a few steps toward her but stopped short when two tall figures appeared from opposite corners of the cafeteria.

They moved in synchronized steps, stopping only when they were right behind Vera—like a pair of guard dogs.

Theron and Kade.

They were the rest of the Romanov brothers. The Alpha triplets.

Theron was the most ferocious of the alpha triplets. He was the guy who led fights during football games against rival team members, always the first to throw a punch when an enemy dared to spat with his brothers.

Dark. Feral. Dangerous. Self-destructive. Yet lethally composed, controlled in his every action, like a perfect gentleman. It all seemed to add a twisted sort of attractiveness to his stereotypical brooding looks.

Like his brothers, he had raven-black hair, but his eyes were an even darker shade of black.

When not in the academy’s school uniforms, he was impeccably dressed in designer suits and dress shirts, his hair styled to perfection, not a strand out of place.

It was ironic how his perfectionist streak contrasted with his obsession with causing damage.

Kade, on the other hand, had a laid-back look. If Zevran and Theron were black guard dogs, Kade was a golden retriever—in looks, anyway.

His black hair was overgrown, always falling into his eyes no matter how much he tousled it. I’d overheard girls in the cafeteria lines talking about how Kade tousling his hair was the sexiest thing ever.

Of the three Romanov brothers, he was the most popular among the girls. He had a different girl on his arm every day, making them feel special before moving on to the next.

According to rumors, he’d been hooking up with Vera low-key for the longest time and only planned to quit his womanizing ways after the selection feast.

I couldn’t blame the school’s girls for falling for Kade’s fleeting charm. There was something about him that was effortlessly sexy.

His icy blue eyes always twinkled with amusement, giving the impression he was planning something mischievous or borderline dangerous. One could never quite tell with Kade.

Like now.

They were both standing guard behind Vera. So far, neither had uttered a word or interfered in our fight, but I could tell something was up.

“Of course,” Tobias muttered, narrowing his eyes at the sight of Theron and Kade hovering silently behind Vera. “They’re the only reason you keep acting shitty and getting away with it. It’s because you know they’ll always come to your rescue.”

Vera smirked at him. “I’m glad you’re aware of how things work around here. Now, back to Amaris’s diary.”

She shot me a wicked grin as she pried my diary open to the page of my last entry. I knew what I had written on that page.

There was no way in hell she was reading that out loud to the entire school.

“No!” I lunged for her. This time, I slapped my diary out of her hands and gripped a fistful of her stupid blonde hair.

“Let go of me!” Vera screeched, grabbing my hair in return.

“Let go of her,” Tobias growled, stepping toward us. The second he moved, Theron and Kade pounced on him.

Theron stepped in front of him, bringing the tip of his nose dangerously close to Tobias’s.

“Back off,” he warned, his baritone laced with subtle venom.

“Get out of my way,” Tobias snapped, his voice furious as he tried to sidestep Theron, desperate to get to me.

Then it happened.

It all happened so fast.

Theron slammed his knee into Tobias’s stomach, taking the breath right out of his lungs.

Tobias doubled over instantly and dropped to the floor. His face contorted in pain, an ugly grimace that had my heart racing for all the wrong reasons.

I let go of Vera’s hair and tried to run to him, but Vera yanked me back by my hair and slapped me hard across the cheek. Before I could recover from the blow, she slapped me again.

“Amaris!” Tobias rasped, trying to drag himself across the floor to get to me.

He winced in pain as Theron lowered his feet onto his spine, pinning him in place.

Kade faked a yawn, feigning boredom, but his posture gave him away. He was clearly backing Theron. The way he carried himself, it was like a carefully laid-out trap, daring anyone to interfere.

Theron pulled Tobias up into a sitting position and raised his fist to punch him.

My eyes flared at the sight of his fist. Adrenaline shot through my veins, giving me the strength to shove Vera away from me.

I skidded across the floor and threw myself in front of Tobias, shielding him from Theron’s fist just before his blow could land against Tobias’s nose.

There was a collective gasp from everyone in the cafeteria.

“What’s the matter?” I yelled in Theron’s face. “Why did you stop? Don’t tell me you’ve got a moral code against hitting women. That’s bullshit for a guy like you. I want you to go right ahead and punch me. Do it. Come on.”

I leaned upward, meeting his loathing gaze. Staring into his eyes was like staring into a bottomless abyss.

Deep down, I knew it was incredibly stupid to challenge someone like Theron, but something inside me had finally snapped, making me unafraid of him.

My face throbbed. Food was plastered all over my body. My muscles ached. And right below me, my best friend was struggling to breathe—all because he had tried to come to my rescue.

The more I thought about it, the angrier I became.

“Come on, Theron. What are you waiting for?” I yelled louder. “Hit me already, you asshole!”

The cafeteria was dead silent. Everyone held their breath, watching to see what Theron would do.

Theron lowered his fist toward my face, but instead of punching me, he wrapped his hands around my neck.

He pulled me up to my feet, his grip still locked tightly around my throat.

It hurt.

I tried to kick him, but he pulled me impossibly close to his face, literally lifting me off the ground. This close, I had no choice but to stare into those black orbits of his eyes.

I felt like I was drowning in a dark sea. I had only ever seen him from afar, repelled by his dark, controlled energy.

Seeing him up close felt like staring at my worst nightmare.