The Rogue Triplets’ Little Nerd

CH 6 - Aiden

AIDEN POV

She was staring at Keres again.

Not subtle about it either.

Just fully f*****g staring from across the cafeteria like he was candy.

Honestly? I f*****g hated it.

And when he heard her talking about him with her sister, he stared right back.

Fuck. Me.

Fuck Keres and f**k Rachel, who couldn’t keep her damn mouth shut for her own good.

That girl was asking for something she wasn’t going to like. Not. One. Bit.

I leaned back against the chair, spinning the plastic fork between my fingers while pretending I wasn’t having a front-row seat to their eye-f*****g competition.

The cafeteria was loud as usual. Too loud. Trays slamming, people laughing, the smell of burned fries and cheap coffee mixing together until it became unbearable. Human schools always smelled weird. Too many bodies packed together, half of them pretending they weren’t predators.

And right in the middle of all that noise—

there she was.

Green eyes.

Blonde curls.

Glasses sliding down her nose while she shoved fries into her mouth with the same aggression most people reserved for murder.

Cute.

Fucking irritating.

Keres grinned slowly when she finally looked back at him.

Like he’d been waiting for it.

Thane, sitting beside me, didn’t even pretend not to notice. His jaw tightened slightly before he looked back down at his phone.

Bullshit.

He couldn’t be reading anything. It was flipped upside down.

Ferus had been acting more unhinged than usual for two days in a row.

And I knew my brothers well enough to understand that s**t was going to hit the fan.

Pluto, my wolf, had been acting like a freak since we met her in third grade, so the low growl threatening to leave my lips wasn’t exactly breaking news.

Keres leaned back in his chair, arms crossed behind his head.

“The nerd is glaring at me,” he said casually.

“No s**t,” I muttered.

“She likes me.”

Across the table, Thane scoffed.

I rolled my eyes.

“You almost got your wrist broken yesterday.”

“Worth it.”

Jesus Christ.

Keres’ grin widened when Persefone narrowed her eyes from across the room.

And something ugly twisted low in my chest.

My fingers tightened around the fork hard enough to bend the plastic.

What the f**k?

I released it immediately.

Nope.

Not dealing with that.

Absolutely f*****g not.

I’d seen men lose themselves over women before.

Weak men.

Pathetic men.

Men who forgot who they were the second instinct got involved.

I used to swear I’d rather rip my own throat out than become one of them.

Now?

Now I wasn’t so sure anymore.

“She’s staring at you now,” Keres added smugly.

I looked up before I could stop myself.

Was she?

Mistake.

Big mistake.

Because he was right.

She was looking at me.

Or maybe through me.

Her brows were slightly furrowed behind those ridiculous glasses and she looked annoyed enough to start a war.

And somehow—

my body reacted like that was the hottest thing I’d ever seen.

Wonderful.

Just wonderful.

I pushed my chair back harder than necessary.

Both my brothers looked at me immediately.

“What?” Keres asked, amused already.

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit.”

I grabbed my leather jacket from the back of the chair.

“If you idiots keep staring at her any harder, she’s gonna file a restraining order.”

Keres barked out a laugh.

Thane stayed silent.

Watching me now.

Great.

Even better.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and walked out before either of them could say something else.

Because I needed air.

Needed silence.

Needed my own f*****g brain to shut up for five minutes.

The light spring breeze hit my face the second I stepped outside.

Good.

I inhaled deeply, leaning against the wall near the gym entrance while students moved around me without daring to enter my space. They knew better.

Typical.

People usually avoided us instinctively.

Smart survival instinct.

Good.

Because Pluto was getting closer and closer to biting anyone who stepped near her without permission.

And we didn’t even have the f*****g right to feel possessive.

I closed my eyes for a second, playing with the ring on my lip. It was like a tic I had when my mind wouldn’t shut up, but just kept drifting in circles around the very thing I shouldn’t want.

I hated packs.

I hated alphas.

I hated the easygoing aura her sister had and the tormented look Persefone had every single time I looked at her today.

In calculus, she’d spent two straight hours staring out the window.

And she usually loved calculus.

Fuck.

Why did I even know that?

This was getting ridiculous.

At first, she’d just been entertaining.

That Alpha girl with too much attitude and absolutely no survival instinct when it came to us.

Then she became interesting.

Now?

Now I noticed everything.

Which lipstick she bit off first.

Which hand she used when she was tired.

Which fake smiles reached her eyes and which didn’t.

Sick.

Completely f*****g sick.

The way she forced smiles when she was upset.

The way her eyes sharpened before she snapped at someone, usually my brother.

The way she always positioned herself slightly in front of her sister without realizing it.

Protective.

Fierce.

Exhausted.

Like she thought she had to protect everyone herself.

Pluto loved that about her.

I wanted to chain that instinct down before it got her killed.

And something about that exhaustion was getting under my skin in ways I couldn’t explain.

I dragged a hand down my face.

No.

Absolutely not.

She was an Alpha.

Pack princess.

Protected.

Wanted.

Everything we should hate.

Everything our mother had nearly died because of.

The mate bond, packs, hierarchy—

all of it was poison.

And Persefone Savage was born in the middle of it.

I kept telling myself girls like her ruined men like us.

But every time she walked into a room, my brain started calculating how fast I could lock the f*****g door.

So why the f**k did I keep noticing the dark circles under her eyes?

Why did I know exactly how her smile changed when she was being genuine versus when she was pretending?

Why did seeing her upset make something violent wake up inside me?

And worse—

why did the idea of someone else comforting her make my jaw lock hard enough to crack a tooth?

The gym doors opened behind me.

I turned instinctively—

and there she was.

Storming out like a f*****g hurricane.

Mad.

Murderous.

And swinging her fist straight toward my solar plexus.

Cute.