One Rejected Luna, Three Ruthless Alphas.

The Enemy Inside.

Two nights of relative quiet followed the second battle.

Nightfall used every hour. Walls were reinforced. Extra patrols circled the borders. Messengers rode out to smaller allied packs asking for support. Yet the real tension lived inside the fortress, in the private chamber where three Alphas continued to share one female and refused to hide it.

Selene felt the shift in the pack’s mood. Some warriors looked at her with open respect after she had fought beside their leaders. Others watched with narrower eyes, especially the older ones who still believed a Luna should belong to only one Alpha.

Elder Marcus was the loudest of those voices.

He waited until the third morning to speak. In the crowded main hall, with most of the high-ranking wolves present, he stepped forward and bowed just low enough to stay polite.

“Alphas,” he said, voice smooth. “The pack is strong, but the current arrangement is… unusual. Three Alphas claiming one female has never been done in Nightfall history. Some of the warriors are beginning to question whether this shared bond weakens our leadership at a time when we need it most.”

The hall went silent.

Kael’s frost-pale eyes fixed on the elder. “Question it carefully, Marcus.”

Ronan’s low growl rolled through the room. “Or don’t question it at all.”

Darius only smiled, but the smile never reached his golden eyes. “Our Luna has already spilled blood for this pack. That is more than enough answer.”

Marcus inclined his head, but the dissatisfaction in his scent remained. Selene caught it clearly. So did her three Alphas.

Later, alone in their chamber, the mood was darker than usual.

Kael stood at the window, arms crossed. “Marcus has been speaking to others. Quietly. He believes a shared Luna makes us look divided.”

Ronan paced. “I can remove his tongue if you want.”

Darius sat on the edge of the bed, pulling Selene down onto his lap without asking. His hand slid under her shirt, resting possessively on her bare stomach. “Or we can remind the entire pack exactly how united we are.”

Selene felt the familiar heat rise between the three of them again. Even with internal trouble brewing, their focus snapped back to her within seconds. Ronan stopped pacing and came to her side, fingers threading into her hair. Kael left the window and stood in front of her, tilting her face up with two fingers.

“They need to see it,” Kael said quietly. “Not just hear about it.”

That evening the three Alphas did something they had never done before.

They brought Selene into the main training yard after dark, when most of the pack was present. Torches lined the walls. Warriors stopped what they were doing and watched.

Kael spoke first, voice carrying. “There has been talk. Doubt. Questions about whether one female can hold three Alphas without weakening us.”

He turned, cupped Selene’s face, and kissed her in full view of everyone—slow, deep, and openly claiming. When he stepped back, Ronan took his place and kissed her harder, one hand on her throat in clear possession. Darius went last, kissing her so thoroughly that several warriors looked away.

When they finished, Kael’s voice was ice. “This is not division. This is strength. She belongs to all three of us. Anyone who has a problem with that can say it to our faces right now.”

No one spoke.

Marcus stood at the edge of the crowd, face unreadable, but his scent had turned bitter.

Later that night, behind the locked door of their chamber, the three Alphas took their time reminding Selene exactly who she belonged to. They moved slower than usual, more deliberate, as if the public display had only sharpened their hunger. Ronan held her open for Kael. Kael made her come on his tongue while Darius watched and stroked himself. Darius took her last, deep and steady, while the other two kissed every inch of skin they could reach.

They competed even in the quiet moments—who could draw the softest moan, who could make her shake the longest, who she looked at when the pleasure peaked. Selene lay between them afterward, thoroughly marked, the pack’s doubts still echoing outside but unable to touch what existed inside these walls.

Just before dawn, a soft knock disturbed the quiet.

A young guard entered, face pale. “Alphas… Elder Marcus is gone. He left through the northern tunnel two hours ago. Scouts found tracks leading toward Moonridge territory.”

The temperature in the room dropped.

Kael’s expression turned lethal. “He went to Thorne.”

Ronan’s hands curled into fists. “Then he has chosen his side.”

Darius pressed a slow kiss to Selene’s bare shoulder, golden eyes already burning with the promise of violence. “And when we find him, he will regret it.”

Outside, the first warning horn of a new attack began to sound.

The enemy was no longer only at the gates.

One of their own had just opened the door.

The horn was still echoing when the first Ironfang and Moonridge wolves hit the northern wall.

This attack was different. Faster. More precise. Someone had told them exactly where the weaker points were. Marcus’s betrayal was already bleeding Nightfall.

Kael, Ronan, and Darius moved as one unit with Selene between them. They did not leave her side for a second. In the chaos of claws, teeth, and steel, she felt their attention constantly flicking back to her—checking, protecting, claiming—even while they killed.

Selene shifted mid-fight, silver-white fur flashing under the torchlight. She took down two wolves that tried to flank Ronan, her own rage sharp and clean. When she looked up, all three of her Alphas were watching her for a split second longer than the battle should have allowed. Pride and hunger mixed in their eyes.

The fighting lasted less than an hour. Nightfall held, but the cost was higher than the last two battles. Several warriors went down. The northern gate was damaged. And somewhere in the dark, Marcus and Thorne were already planning the next strike with better information.

When the last enemy retreated, the three Alphas did not wait for the full report. They took Selene straight back to their chamber, locked the door, and turned on her with the same intensity they had shown on the wall.

Ronan reached her first, still blood-streaked, and kissed her like he needed to prove she was alive. Kael pulled the torn leather from her body with controlled precision. Darius dropped to his knees and dragged his tongue over a shallow cut on her thigh, then higher, until she was gasping.

They did not speak of the betrayal yet.

They claimed her instead.

Ronan sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her onto his lap, facing him. He entered her in one deep thrust, hands gripping her hips hard. Kael stood beside them, guiding her mouth to him while Darius moved behind her, fingers stroking her c**t in tight, relentless circles. The rhythm was urgent, almost desperate—three males reaffirming their bond with the same female after nearly losing pieces of their pack.

Selene came first, crying out around Kael. Ronan followed with a rough groan, holding her down through it. They shifted without breaking contact. Kael took her next, slower but deeper, eyes locked on hers the entire time. Darius and Ronan never stopped touching her—mouths on her breasts, hands in her hair, fingers sliding over every sensitive place. When Kael finished, Darius flipped her onto her back and thrust into her with long, powerful strokes while the other two kissed her through every moan.

By the time they were done, Selene lay limp and thoroughly marked in the center of the bed, the scent of all three Alphas sunk so deep into her skin that no one in the fortress would ever doubt who she belonged to.

Kael brushed damp silver hair from her face. “Marcus will tell them everything he knows. The next attack will be worse.”

Ronan’s arm tightened around her waist. “Then we hunt him first.”

Darius pressed a slow kiss to the fading rejection mark on her shoulder. “And every time they come, we bring you back here and remind you that you are ours. All three of us.”

Outside, the fortress tended its wounded and repaired its walls.

Inside, three ruthless Alphas curled tighter around the female at the center of the war, already planning blood and already wanting her again.

The enemy was inside the gates now.

But so was the only thing they refused to lose.