THE BILLIONAIRE ALPHA SECRET TRIPLETS

I went to the Blackwood Grand rooftop bar for a waitress interview. Not to party. Not to drink. To get a job. I was 19, wearing my only good dress. Faded blue, secondhand from Willow Creek market, with a small tear I stitched myself. My shoes were too small. My bag was old. I clutched it so tight my hands were sweating. The manager barely looked at me. "Aria Cross? You are an Omega, right? Lowrank?" "Yes, sir. I can work hard. I can clean, serve, anything." He scanned my cheap shoes and said, "We will call you." Then he walked away. That was it. No interview. Just rejection. I stood there frozen. I needed this job. My mother was sick at home. Our rent was two months overdue. I was a low-rank Omega with no pack, no money, no protection. Nobody wanted me. Tears burned my eyes. I turned to leave. That's when the scent hit me. It was strong and dark. Like rain, pine trees, and whiskey. It hit my chest so hard my knees almost buckled. For 19 years, my wolf had been silent, sleeping inside me. In that second, she woke up and lifted her head. I gasped and looked up. He was sitting alone at the VIP table. Even drunk, he didn't look like other men. Black suit, white shirt open at the throat, black hair pushed back. Tall. Even sitting, I could tell he was over 6'4. An empty whiskey bottle in front of him. His tie was loose. And his eyes. Even from far, they were glowing amber gold. An Alpha. A highrank Alpha. The kind that makes the air heavy. Then he looked up and saw me. Our eyes locked across the bar. The music didn't stop for anyone else, but for me, everything went quiet. The crowd disappeared. It was just his golden eyes on mine. His nostrils flared. His whole body went tense, like a predator that just found something. He stood up. Slowly. People moved out of his way without him saying a single word. He walked straight to me. My brain said run. My mother always told me, "Aria, stay away from Alphas, especially drunk ones." But my feet would not move. My heart was beating so fast I thought everyone could hear it. He stopped right in front of me. So close I had to look up. He was huge. I came up to his chest. "What's your name?" His voice was low, rough from whiskey. It vibrated through me. "A-Aria," I whispered. "Aria." He said it like he was tasting it. His eyes dropped to my lips, then to my neck where my pulse was jumping. "You smell like wild honey and rain." No one had ever said I smelled good before. Omegas like me were always told we smelled weak. Before I could answer, the DJ changed the song to a slow one. He held out his hand. "Dance with me." It was not a question. It was a command. Alphas do that. And my body obeyed before my brain could say no. I put my small shaking hand in his. His hand was huge and hot. He closed it around mine and pulled me to the middle of the dance floor. I had never danced with a man. I stepped on his expensive shoes twice. I was clumsy. But he didn't care. He put one big hand on my waist and pulled me flush against his hard chest. His other hand held mine tight. We moved. He led. I just tried not to fall. "You are shaking," he murmured in my ear. His breath was hot on my skin. "Are you scared of me?" "Yes," I said honestly. He laughed, dark and low. "Good. You should be." But his hand on my waist softened. He pulled me closer. No space between us. My cheap dress against his expensive suit. My small body against his. Then I heard it. He growled one word, so low only I could hear. "MINE." My whole body shivered. I didn't know then that Alphas only say that word to their fated mate. The song ended. He didn't let go. "What's your rank?" he asked, his thumb rubbing my waist through my thin dress. "Omega," I whispered. I was ashamed to say it. His jaw clenched. "An Omega alone in a place like this?" "I was looking for a job. They said no." He stared at me for a long second. Then he made a decision. He grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the private elevator. "Where are we going?" I stumbled in my small shoes trying to keep up. "To my room. Suite 1201." My heart stopped. Every girl in Willow Creek knew what it meant when an Alpha takes you to his penthouse. I should have pulled my hand away. I should have said no. I should have run. But I didn't. My wolf was whimpering inside me, saying yes, yes, yes. And I was tired of being invisible. For the first time in my life, a man was looking at me like I was the only woman in the world. The elevator doors closed. He pushed me gently against the mirrored wall, both hands on either side of my head. He caged me in. His face was so close. His lips were so close. I could smell whiskey and his scent, that storm rain smell. "You can say no," he said, his golden eyes burning into mine. "If you say no now, I will let you go. I am drunk, but I am not a monster." He was giving me a choice. I looked at him. Handsome, powerful, broken underneath. Alone, like me. I didn't say no. I went up on my tiptoes and kissed him. For one second, he froze. Shocked that a little Omega dared to kiss him first. Then his control snapped. He growled and crushed his mouth to mine. He tasted like whiskey and sin. His big hands grabbed my waist and lifted me off the floor, pressing me hard against the mirror. The elevator dinged. Suite 1201. He carried me inside without breaking the kiss, kicking the door shut with his foot. The penthouse was dark, with glass walls showing the whole city. He laid me on the giant bed and came over me. His body covered mine. He looked down at me, his eyes glowing gold and black, his wolf fighting to come out. "Tell me your name again," he whispered, his hand sliding up my dress. "Aria," I breathed. "Aria," he groaned like a prayer, and kissed me again. That night, I became a woman under a billionaire Alpha whose name I didn't even know. I thought it was just one night. One mistake I would forget. I didn't know I would get pregnant that night with triplets. And I didn't know that when I ran away at 5am the next morning, scared and sore and ashamed, my silver moon necklace with the letter 'A' ,the only thing my dead father left me - would slip off my neck and fall under his bed. And keep him obsessed for the next five years.