Chapter Two – The Pull
1200 Words
Aria hadn’t slept.
Not really.
She’d spent the night tangled in sheets that clung too tight, her heartbeat thrumming against her ribs like a trapped bird. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw them. Felt them. The triplets. Caelum’s unreadable silver gaze, Darius’s wicked smirk, Nero’s bone-deep stillness. They were carved into her nerves now. Every inhale reminded her of how they smelled—dark cedar and snowstorm wind and something sinfully male.
And that pull.
God, that pull.
It wasn’t just an attraction. It was deeper. Older. Like her bones were trying to twist toward something they had known in another life.
Now, as she stood at the entrance to the Vale Foundation, she tried to collect herself. She has a job now. A damn good one. Admin assistant to the Executive Board. Her pulse jumped at the thought—the Executive Board being three unnervingly gorgeous, powerful, inexplicably magnetic men who had stared at her like they wanted to devour her and then war over her remains.
She tugged her coat tighter, praying for composure as she stepped inside.
“Miss Reyes.”
Her stomach dropped.
Darius stood waiting at the elevator, dark suit sharp, hands in his pockets, a lazy smirk tugging at his lips. He looked like sin in a three-piece suit—ink-black curls pushed back from his forehead, olive skin glowing under the building’s high lighting.
“I’ll be orienting you today,” he said. “Unless my brothers steal you.”
She blinked. “Your brothers?”
Darius c****d his head. “You met them yesterday, "Caelum and Nero.” He stepped closer, and his voice dropped to a delicious rasp. “Though I wouldn’t blame you if you confused us. We tend to have...overlapping personalities.”
The elevator doors pinged open, and before she could question that, he stepped inside. She followed, half dizzy with nerves.
He didn’t touch her, but she could feel him.
Feel his gaze.
Feel the tension like static in the elevator’s sealed air.
“So,” she managed, gripping her tote like a life raft. “What does orientation entail?”
His smirk deepened, slow and devilish. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
She swallowed.
The elevator doors opened.
The top floor gleamed like power itself. Dark glass, rich wood, minimalistic design that whispered wealth instead of screaming it. A curved reception desk sat empty. The entire level belonged to them.
Darius guided her into a private office—his, judging by the sharp cologne and the black leather chair behind the desk. He didn’t sit. Instead, he leaned against the edge of the desk, crossing his arms.
“Let’s begin,” he said. “First—your hours are flexible. We don’t do clock-watching here. You’ll be working directly with me today. The others may…intrude.”
That smirk again.
“Anything I need to know before we start?” she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.
He tilted his head. “You’re not afraid of wolves, are you?”
Her heart tripped. “Should I be?”
Darius grinned, but there was something feral underneath. “Depends on how close they get.”
Before she could respond, the office door opened.
Caelum entered, black suit tailored to perfection, silver eyes locked onto hers like a hawk circling prey. Behind him, Nero followed—silent, broad-shouldered, with a stillness that felt…otherworldly.
Her stomach twisted.
Three men.
Same blood.
Same presence.
But something else buzzed beneath their skin. Like their energy wasn’t three, but one—fractal pieces of a singular mind, splintered across three bodies.
Caelum’s voice was quiet but firm. “She should shadow me next.”
“No.” Nero’s voice was deep, resonant, and final.
They didn’t look at each other, didn’t argue.
Instead, all three of them turned to her.
“Who do you feel safest with?” Caelum asked softly.
Aria’s breath caught. “I—what?”
“Choose,” Nero said. “Only for today.”
Her mouth went dry. Their gazes pinned her, unrelenting.
She opened her lips. “I—I don’t know.”
And then something strange happened.
Caelum’s brow lifted slightly.
Darius leaned forward, murmuring, “She’s not ready.”
And Nero, who hadn’t moved a muscle, finally blinked.
Their bodies hadn’t signaled to each other.
But they all responded to her choice—together.
Like they’d heard it through each other.
Her skin prickled.
Darius stepped away from the desk. “I’ll take her through the accounts first. Let’s not overwhelm her.”
The others said nothing. They simply watched her. Nero’s eyes dark and fathomless. Caelum’s cool and stormlike.
As they left, she felt their eyes linger like a touch across her back.
—
The rest of the morning was a blur of spreadsheets, staff directories, and executive calendars. Darius was a capable mentor—wicked in his teasing but sharp when it came to work. He moved with a lazy elegance, as if nothing surprised him.
Except her.
Every time she leaned closer to check the screen, he inhaled subtly. Like he was scenting her.
It made her stomach flip.
“You smell like dusk,” he said, out of nowhere.
She blinked. “What?”
He glanced at her, amused. “Soft. Dangerous. Like something ancient waking up.”
She swallowed. “You have a very creative nose.”
“I have a very accurate nose.”
He wasn’t joking.
She looked away, her heart fluttering.
At lunch, she tried to eat in the staff kitchen, but Caelum appeared before she even took her first bite.
“Walk with me,” he said. Not a question.
They walked the rooftop garden in silence. The city sprawled beneath them, gray and endless.
“You feel it too, don’t you?” he asked quietly.
She looked up at him. “Feel what?”
He paused. “The threads.”
When she didn’t respond, he clarified. “Between us.”
Her lips parted, but nothing came out.
“I can hear your heart,” he murmured, ``even when I’m not in the room. It’s not normal, Aria. Nothing about you is.''
“I’m just a girl from Westvale—”
“You’re not just a girl,” he said, turning to her fully. “We’ve waited too long for you to pretend otherwise.”
Her throat went tight. “Waited?”
But he didn’t answer.
Because the glass door behind them slid open, and Nero walked out.
Something in the air shifted.
Like a storm closing in.
“Time’s up,” Nero said softly. But his tone carried finality.
They stared at each other for a beat, something unsaid crackling between them.
—
That night, Aria dreamed of a forest.
A moon hanging blood-red.
And three shadows moving toward her, faster than human, hungrier than a beast.
She ran.
Branches sliced her skin.
A voice whispered," Run, little mate. Run if you want us to chase.
She woke with a gasp, her body slick with sweat, and a pulse thudding between her thighs she didn’t want to acknowledge.
Not yet.
Not when everything inside her felt like it was unraveling.
- Writer
