THE TRIPLETS ARE MY MATES

Chapter One ARIA'S POV The bucket of dirty mop water sloshed against my legs as I stumbled, soaking through my already stained jeans. Perfect. Just perfect. "Watch where you're going, traitor." I didn't look up to see who said it. It didn't matter anymore. It could've been anyone in the pack. They all hated me the same. I kept my head down and kept walking toward the packhouse kitchens. The bucket was heavy, my arms ached, and I'd been scrubbing floors since five this morning. It was nearly noon now, and I hadn't eaten. Not that anyone cared. "Aria! Get in here!" I flinched at the sharp voice. Mrs. Chen, the head cook, stood in the doorway of the kitchen with her arms crossed. She wasn't the worst of them, but she wasn't kind either. Nobody was kind to me anymore. "Yes, ma'am," I said quietly, setting the bucket down. "The Alpha wants the grand hall cleaned before tonight. There's a meeting with the neighboring packs. I need it spotless, you understand? Spotless." My stomach dropped. The grand hall was massive. It would take hours, maybe longer if I had to do it alone. Which I would, because nobody helped the omega. Especially not the traitor omega. "I'll get it done," I said. "You'd better. And Aria?" Mrs. Chen's expression softened slightly, just for a second. "Stay out of sight when the guests arrive. Alpha's orders." Of course. They can't have the murderer's daughter wandering around when important people visit. "Yes, ma'am." I grabbed my cleaning supplies and headed to the grand hall, my whole body protesting with each step. I was so tired. Tired of cleaning, tired of the insults, tired of being alone. But I couldn't stop. If I stopped working, they'd kick me out of the pack entirely. And a lone omega wouldn't last a week out there. The grand hall was even worse than I remembered. Someone had clearly used it last night and just left everything. There were dirty glasses everywhere, food ground into the carpet, and chairs scattered around like a tornado hit. I got to work. My mind wandered as I scrubbed, the way it always did during these long, mindless tasks. I thought about my parents. About the night everything fell apart. I'd been fourteen. We were happy. My dad was a respected warrior, my mom helped in the pack school, and my older brother Evan was training to be a fighter. I was supposed to become a strong wolf, maybe even find my place in the pack leadership someday. Then Luna Margaret was found dead in the woods. Torn apart. And somehow, my parents became the main suspects. I still didn't understand it. My parents loved Luna Margaret. Everyone did. She was kind and fair and everything a Luna should be. Why would they kill her? But Evan testified against them. He said he saw them that night, covered in blood, acting strange. My own brother. I confronted him, begged him to tell the truth, but he just stared at me with these empty eyes and said he was sorry. The pack executed my parents three days later. Evan had a breakdown right after. He started talking to himself, saying he saw things that weren't there. They locked him up in the psychiatric ward two towns over and when I tried to visit once, he didn't even recognize me. I became the traitor's daughter. The omega. The pack punching bag. Four years of this. Four years of scrubbing floors and biting my tongue and pretending I didn't hear the whispers. Four years of wondering if I'd ever be free. I was so lost in thought that I didn't hear the door open. "Well, well. Look who's here." I froze, my hands still gripping the mop. I knew that voice. Slowly, I turned around. Kade stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed. He looked different from how I remembered. He was bigger, harder, and the soft boy who used to sneak me cookies when we were kids was gone. Now he was in the place of a warrior with cold eyes and a cruel smile. "Kade," I said carefully. "I'm just cleaning. I'll be out of your way soon." "No rush." He walked into the room, and I noticed two other figures behind him. Dante and Cole. The triplets. My heart started pounding. The three of them together was never good news for me. Not anymore. They used to be my friends. My best friends, actually. We grew up together, played together, got in trouble together. Their mother, Luna Margaret, used to joke that I was like the daughter she never had. After she died, everything changed. "I heard it's your birthday tomorrow," Dante said, coming to stand beside his brother. He had the same dark hair, the same sharp features, but his eyes were different. There were…. calculating. I swallowed hard. "Yes." "Eighteen," Cole added from the doorway. He was the quietest of the three, but somehow the most intimidating. "Finally old enough to find your mate." My wolf stirred inside me for the first time in months. She'd been quiet lately, beaten down by the constant abuse. But now she was suddenly alert. Something was wrong. "I need to finish cleaning," I said, turning back to my mop. "We're not done talking to you." Kade's hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. It wasn't hard enough to hurt, but firm enough to stop me. I yanked my arm back. "Don't touch me." "Or what?" He stepped closer, and I could smell him now. Something that made my wolf whine in my head. No. No, no, no. "Back off, Kade," I said, but my voice came out shaky. Dante laughed. "She's scared. Can you blame her? After what her parents did?" "My parents didn't do anything," I snapped before I could stop myself. The room went silent. Cole pushed off the doorframe and walked toward me slowly. "Careful, Aria. That sounds a lot like calling my mother's murder unsolved." "That's not what I meant." "Then what did you mean?" Kade was closer now, so close I had to tilt my head back to look at him. My wolf was going crazy. She was pushing at me, trying to tell me something, but I was too panicked to listen. "I just meant... I don't know what happened that night. None of us does." "We know your parents killed her," Dante said flatly. "We know you're from a family of murderers. We know you don't deserve to be in this pack." Each word was like a knife. I'd heard it all before, but it still hurt. It always hurts. "If you hate me so much, why are you here?" I asked quietly. The three of them exchanged a look. Something passed between them, some silent conversation I wasn't part of. Then Kade smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "Because tomorrow, when you turn eighteen and your wolf fully emerges, you're going to find out something very interesting." My wolf surged forward suddenly, and I gasped as the truth slammed into me. Their scent. The way my wolf was reacting. I felt a pull toward all three of them. No. This couldn't be happening. "We're your mates, Aria," Cole said simply. "All three of us." I stumbled backward, dropping the mop. It clattered on the floor loudly. "No," I whispered. "Yes," Dante said. "And we need to talk about what happens next.”