The Rogue Triplets’ Little Nerd

CH 12 - Persefone

PERSEFONE POV

My mouth fell open.

Not gracefully either.

Like an actual i***t.

Because sue me, I had eyes.

Three very naked, very muscular men standing under the f*****g moonlight after shifting out of gigantic silver wolves was a lot for my poor overstimulated brain to process at once.

Especially Thane.

Goddess.

That man looked carved out of stone, forged in underground fighting rings...

Broad shoulders. Thick arms. Lean waist. Scars crossing bronzed skin everywhere and I second guessed the rumorns running at school... they were probably right. Indeed he looked like someone had tried to kill him multiple times and failed out of pure luck.

And those scars—

My brain snagged on them immediately.

One slashed across his ribs.

Another disappeared beneath his hip.

One ugly mark cut straight over his left pec like claws had nearly ripped his heart out once.

The sight punched something strange straight through my chest.

Not pity.

Definitely not pity.

Just—

awareness.

Dangerous awareness.

“Sweetheart,” Keres drawled lazily, “if you keep staring at my brother like that, we’re definitely kidnapping you.”

Heat exploded straight up my neck.

Fuck.

My gaze snapped upward so fast it almost hurt.

“I wasn’t staring at his body,” I shot back immediately.

Keres’ grin widened.

Bullshit grin.

Annoying grin.

“I was looking at the scars.”

That shut him up for half a second.

Not entirely.

Just enough for his expression to flicker strangely before amusement rolled back in harder.

“If you say so, mate.”

Mate.

That stupid f*****g word hit again.

My stomach twisted unpleasantly.

Because every single time one of them said it, something inside me reacted before my brain could.

And I couldn't call their liars because Eden was f*****g gone and I didn't know if they'd been catfishing me or not.

I hated that too.

Thane shifted slightly beside Keres, muscles tightening under moonlight while his jaw flexed once.

Then—

Oh my god.

Was he blushing?

No.

Absolutely not.

Impossible.

The terrifying caveman with murder-eyes and enough scars to start his own war could not physically be blushing because I looked at him for half a second.

I had officially lost my mind.

That had to be it.

Aiden dragged a frustrated hand through his dark hair, clearly one bad second away from snapping at all of us.

“We need to decide what the f**k we’re doing bef—”

He cut off violently.

A strangled sound ripped from his throat.

Then he dropped.

Hard.

A scream tore out of him as bright golden current exploded across his body.

“NO!” I shouted instinctively.

Keres hit the ground a second later.

Then Thane.

Electricity cracked through the clearing violently enough to light up the trees around us while all three of them convulsed against the dirt, muscles locking painfully beneath their skin.

The smell of burned air hit me instantly.

My heart stopped.

No.

No no no—

A massive golden wolf stepped silently from the bushes.

Summer.

My mother’s wolf looked absolutely f*****g furious.

Pure gold fur gleamed beneath the moonlight while sparks snapped violently around her body, lighting the forest floor every time her paws touched dirt.

And behind her—

Mom.

Daddy Dalton and Pops Derrick.

All three of them looked ready to kill.

Actually kill the three rogues that could, or could not, be my mates.

Oh s**t.

My stomach dropped straight into hell.

Because from their perspective this looked horrifying.

Their daughter missing minutes after midnight.

Rogue alarms going off.

And three naked rogue wolves standing over me in the middle of the forest.

Yeah.

This looked bad.

Very bad.

Another scream ripped out of Aiden as electricity jolted through him again hard enough to arch his back off the ground.

And suddenly—

suddenly all the fear and anger inside me twisted into something horrible when I saw blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

They weren’t fighting back.

Not one of them.

Even Keres had gone quiet instead of letting his wolf surfacing aggressively as I thought he would.

Thane was gripping the dirt hard enough his fingers were clawing trenches into the earth, jaw clenched like he was trying not to make a sound while sparks crawled over his skin.

Oh god.

Oh god.

“STOP! MOM PLEASE STOP!”

My voice cracked loud enough to echo through the clearing.

Summer’s glowing eyes snapped toward me instantly.

So did my dads’.

I stumbled forward before anyone could stop me, planting myself directly between my family and the three idiots currently dying on the forest floor.

“Persefone—” Daddy Dalton started sharply shifting back in his human form.

“No!”

I spread my arms instinctively.

Protective.

The realization hit me a second too late. f**k.

“They saved me!”

Silence slammed through the clearing.

Heavy.

Dangerous.

Behind me, another painful groan left Aiden’s throat.

My chest squeezed hard enough to hurt.

“They didn’t hurt me,” I said quickly, breathing too fast now. “There was a wolf—a black wolf with red eyes—and it attacked me in the greenhouse and—”

Daddy's expression shifted instantly.

Fear.

“Hybrid?” he asked sharply.

I blinked.

“You know what that thing was?”

A horrible look passed between all three of my parents.

The kind adults shared when they knew something you didn’t.

And suddenly I hated it.

Hated all of it.

The secrets.

The confusion.

The fact my entire eighteenth birthday had apparently turned into a supernatural horror movie.

Summer growled low in her throat again, electricity still sparking violently around her body while her gaze locked onto Aiden like she was debating frying him anyway just for existing.

“Mom,” I said more quietly this time. “Please.”

Her eyes snapped toward me.

And for one terrifying second—

I thought she wouldn’t listen.

Because my mother looked furious.

Terrified.

Protective.

Like she wanted blood.

Then Summer slowly backed down beneath her skin.

The electricity weakened instantly.

The three idiots behind me finally stopped convulsing against the dirt.

Thank goddess.

Aiden rolled onto one elbow breathing hard, chest heaving while smoke literally curled from his skin.

Keres looked ready to murder someone.

Probably my entire bloodline.

Fair honestly.

Thane just stayed on one knee, head lowered while breathing slowly through the pain.

My stomach twisted again.

“Perse,” Pops Derrick said carefully, voice dangerously calm in the way that usually meant someone was five seconds from violence, “come here.”

I didn’t move.

Oops.

Every single person in the clearing noticed.

Daddy’s jaw tightened instantly.

Mom narrowed her eyes.

Behind me, Keres went very still.

Fuck.

Why wasn’t I moving?

I wanted to move.

I should move.

So why did the idea of turning my back fully on the rogues suddenly feel—

Wrong.

Daddy extended his arm toward me and finally my feet started moving, just one step.

And I couldn’t move anymore because Keres was holding my wrist with enough force to make me flinch.

Aiden pushed himself fully upright despite the burns still crawling across his skin.

“You’re not taking her anywhere,” he growled.

The possessiveness that rolled through the clearing afterward was so thick it almost choked me.

Oh my god.

OH MY GOD.

Daddy took one slow step forward.

“That,” he said very softly, “is not your decision to make, boy.”

Fuck. I saw it instantly in Aiden’s glowing eyes. His wolf surged forward, almost feral, violent.

Keres moved between me and my parents automatically pushing me behind.

And Thane was right beside Aiden in a flash.

Three against three.

And me standing stupidly in the middle while my pulse hammered hard enough to crack ribs.

“Can everyone stop acting insane for FIVE SECONDS?” I snapped.

Nobody listened.

Wonderful.

Just absolutely f*****g wonderful.

The clearing went deadly silent.

Then Daddy Dalton snarled, low and vicious like only him and Pops could be.

His aura exploded outward hard enough to make the air feel heavy in my lungs.

Beside him, Pops Derrick bared his fangs openly.

Oh.

Oh s**t.

Every instinct inside me screamed that this was about to turn catastrophic.

“She is our daughter,” Daddy said dangerously softly. “And you are standing on Bloodclaw territory making demands after dragging her through the woods like an animal.”

“She was hunted in your territory,” Aiden shot back, baring his fangs too. “Drugged in your own f*****g pack house.”

That landed.

I saw it.

The split-second flicker across both my fathers’ faces.

Fear.

Rage.

Guilt.

And then Keres took another step forward.

Half-shifted.

Silver fur crawled violently across his forearms while claws slid from his fingertips with a sick metallic sound, his wolf pushing so hard beneath his skin it made my pulse spike.

“She’s not safe with you,” he growled.

Summer’s eyes were now just slits, her ears flat back against her skull. f**k, mom was going to bite their asses.

“ENOUGH!” I shouted before somebody actually ripped another person’s throat out.

Thane moved then.

Just stepping between everybody slowly, chest still heaving from pain while moonlight caught against the scars carved across his body.

His wolf was close to the surface too.

I could see it in his glowing eyes.

But unlike the others, he looked exhausted.

Like he was fighting himself harder than anyone else in the clearing.

“Why don’t we all calm the f**k down for five minutes,” he said roughly, voice low enough to cut through the growling around us, “and find somewhere safe to talk before this turns into a bloodbath?”

That was… reasonable… and weird coming from him.

Then Penny burst into the clearing looking like an emotionally unstable glitter bomb with the alpha she was dancing before hot on her heels and that had my brain short circuit for a second. Could he be her mate?

Her eyes landed on me first.

Then the rogues.

Then the fact they were naked.

Then me standing between everyone like I’d fully lost my mind.

“Oh my goddess,” she whispered.

Pause.

Then—

“WAIT.”

Her eyes widened violently.

“No f*****g way.”

Yeah.

That made two of us.