HATED BY MY TRIPLET ALPHAS

CHAPTER 7: KADE'S CHARITY

AMARIS’S POV

I stifled my pain, holding my tears at bay. It was Lilith’s expectation that I would be reduced to a sobbing mess, but I refused to give her the satisfaction.

Lilith pursed her lips in annoyance at my static expression, and again, I tried to find some connection between us, but there was none.

She might have been my mother’s sister, but to me, she was nothing more than a vicious stranger.

In that moment, I missed my mother fiercely. Lilith had told me stories about her—stories of how she had died young of an incurable, mysterious illness.

According to Lilith, I seemed to have inherited the same strange illness from my mother.

My tears were close to falling. I bit down on my bottom lip to hold them back. Lilith snorted, unimpressed with my incessant need to show bravado in the face of her cruelty.

“Seems like you’ve still got some fight left in you, Amaris. You should go clean up the pantry in the kitchen. Make sure you hurry up. I don’t want you showing up late to Vera’s feast.”

Vera’s feast.

She said it like the Moon Goddess had planned the entire selection ceremony specifically for her daughter.

Lilith sighed and sauntered out of the bathroom. She breezed past Vera and her friends, who were still framing the doorway, reeling from the shock of the reddened burns on my hands.

* * *

I arrived half an hour late to the feast. By the time I burst into the hall through the back entrance, I was out of breath.

My uniform was dusty and wet with sweat and splotches from Lilith’s wine. Though my hands still hurt, they had already begun to heal, looking significantly better than they had hours ago.

The sting of the burns remained, but I clenched my fists and forced myself to move forward. I wouldn’t let the pain—or anything else—stop me from serving tonight.

I needed the money.

One last night of hell, and all of this would finally be over.

Vera and her friends had left for the feast over an hour ago, and it was already in full swing as I scurried toward the kitchen from the back entrance of the pack grand event hall.

I rounded the corner and bumped headfirst into Kade. The force of our collision caused me to reel backward.

I rubbed my temple, stunned for a moment, as I watched the alpha prince deftly adjust the waistline of his trousers.

He caught me staring at his waistline and gave me a lopsided grin. Judging by the impish glint in his eyes, he definitely knew the power of that grin.

Just then, a girl turned up next to him.

She was dressed resplendently in a red shimmering cocktail dress with a low-cut bodice, but there was a mussed quality to her hair that gave away what she’d just been doing with none other than Kade.

I was taken aback when I realized who she was. She was one of Vera’s lackeys—the same girl who’d helped her get ready for the feast a few hours ago.

I scoffed, giving Kade a disgusted look. For a moment, I forgot that I was late and most likely going to get in trouble with the head caterer.

I couldn’t believe he had felt inclined to hook up with another girl on his mating night. The worst part of all is that the girl in question was one of Vera’s best friends. How messed up was that?

“What the f**k are you staring at, weirdo?” Vera’s lackey hissed. “Never seen a pair of sexy wolves before?”

I snorted at that, repulsed by her inability to feel even an ounce of shame after being caught.

Unenthused by the prospect of a snarky exchange, I pushed past the both of them. I’d already endured enough cruelty for one night. I didn’t have the patience for more, especially from the likes of these two.

“Did you get a whiff of the sweaty smell on her, Kade? Don’t even get me started on that uniform.”

Vera’s lackey snickered, not even bothering to be discreet about it.

I turned back around, my eyes narrowing at the sight of Kade trying to hide his laugh behind his hand.

Anger surged through my veins, blinding me for a moment. I thought about Lilith burning my hands, Vera’s earlier snide jabs, and now this. There was no way in hell I was putting up with it.

“I may be sweaty,” I began, “but at least I’m not the one screwing my best friend’s fiancé behind an alcove like a cheap slut.”

“Did you just call me a slut?” she scoffed, stunned by my outburst.

“Does Vera know about this?” I looked between the two of them. “You may think you’re worth something just because your families are rich, but the truth is, you’re both disgusting. Vera may be a despicable b***h, but I actually feel sorry for her. I feel sorry that she’s going to be stuck with a womanizing man-w***e for a mate and a two-faced slut for a best friend.”

After I said that, I turned on my heels to leave. Unfortunately, the head caterer chose that moment to step out of the event kitchens.

As expected, he wasn’t happy to see me. If anything, he looked pretty pissed. His wide nostrils flared in annoyance as he gave my uniform a scathing look.

“You. You’re late. And why does your uniform look like that?”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized in a rush, inwardly wincing at how rattled I sounded. “I got held up with chores. I tried to get here as fast as I could.”

“You’re a mess,” he sneered at me. “Your hair is frazzled. Your uniform reeks. On top of that, you arrived very late. How are you going to take responsibility for your actions? Answer me, you filthy back-alley scum.”

The head caterer raised his fist to slap me. I shut my eyes, bracing myself for the hit.

As I waited, I tried to convince myself I deserved it. If only I’d worked faster, kept my mouth shut, or avoided the wrong people tonight, maybe things would have been different.

My hands wouldn’t be burned. I wouldn’t have encountered Kade or Vera’s lackey.

Two seconds passed in silence.

I opened my eyes to find Kade gripping the head caterer’s hand, halting it mid-air. His interference was so unexpected that I froze, struggling to process the situation.

Why?

Kade was definitely enjoying the conflicting emotions flashing across my face. His grin was infuriating, a cocky smirk that revealed nothing but hinted at everything. If he was pissed about my earlier insult, he hid it well.

“Alpha Kade,” the head caterer stuttered, flustered at the alpha prince’s sudden appearance. “I didn’t recognize you for a moment. What are you doing down here in the kitchens? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for the selection?”

He was rambling. The Romanov brothers had that effect on people.

Kade shot him a cool, unimpressed look. “I go wherever the f**k I want. It’s my feast, after all.”

“Of course, sir,” the head caterer stammered, his hand still suspended in Kade’s grip.

“I’m curious about your mother, though,” Kade continued smoothly. “She never taught you it’s improper to hit women?”

The head caterer gulped. “I’m sorry, sir. I was carried away for a moment. It won’t happen again.”

“Good.” Kade’s tone remained light, but his grin sharpened. “Glad we could have this little talk.”

Then he turned his gaze on me. His searing blue eyes transported me back to the cafeteria, to the moment he had distracted Theron. Back then, I had thought I imagined him going out of his way to help me.

Now, there was no illusion. It was glaringly obvious.

But why?

Why was he helping me now?

Why was he still looking at me like that?

And why was my heart reacting to it?

Kade finally released the head caterer’s hand and issued rapid instructions.

“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to let Amaris’s lateness slide, and I want a fresh uniform brought to her. Can you handle that?”

The head caterer nodded vigorously, bowing in reverence. When he straightened, he glanced at me, barely hiding the urge to glare.

“Follow me,” he snapped.

Without waiting for my response, he pushed past Kade and me.

“That was fun,” Kade remarked, brushing invisible lint off his perfectly tailored suit.

He turned back to Vera’s lackey, who was lounging against the alcove, looking utterly bored.

Kade grinned and held his arm out to her. She returned the grin, unbothered by the time he’d kept her waiting. They stepped away, and just before they disappeared, Kade turned back to me and winked.

“Don’t speak like you know me, mutt,” he said lightly. “This was a one-time thing. Think of it as charity.”

Mutt.

That was one of Vera’s many nicknames for me.

I couldn’t help but linger on how he’d used my actual name earlier. When had he bothered to learn it?

For someone like Kade, who likely had hundreds of girls vying for his attention, it was stunning that he even remembered.

I shook my head, trying to clear my muddled thoughts.

That was when I spotted Tobias walking toward me from the opposite end of the hallway.

As he walked pass Kade, a heated tension settled in the air. Tobias’s shoulders were rigid, his glare icy. Kade, ever the provocateur, met his gaze with a lazy smirk, as if daring him to make a move.

It was like one of those gut-punching, slow-motion scenes out of a movie.

Kade and his companion disappeared moments later, and I let out a sigh of relief.

“What happened to you?” Tobias asked, his eyes narrowing as he took in my messy uniform. “Did that jerk do this to you?”

“What? Kade? No, he didn’t.”

“Really? I saw him talking to you. He looked way too close for comfort. Was he giving you a hard time?”

Was he? I hadn’t even noticed.

“What’s wrong, Amaris? Why did you arrive late? What happened?”

“It’s a long story, Tobias,” I sighed, feeling the weight of exhaustion in my bones. “I’ll tell you all about it later. For now, I need to catch up with the head caterer. I’ll see you later.”

“Wait.” Tobias gently tugged my arm, halting my steps.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small hyacinth pin, clasping it carefully into the loose knot of my braids.

The gesture was so sweet and thoughtful that, for a moment, I forgot about everything—the burns, the insults, the humiliation. I let myself smile.

“It suits you,” he said softly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “You look beautiful.”

“Thanks, Tobias. Truly.”

“I’ll accept your thanks,” he replied with a smug grin, “if you let me accompany you to meet the head caterer. I have a feeling you’ll need me to protect you, just in case he tries to chop your head off.”

I laughed, the sound lightening the heaviness in my chest.

“Fine. Come on then.”