Three Alphas for Christmas

Chapter Twelve – The Hunt Begins

The weight of the triplets' presence should have comforted Amelia. Three powerful men—no, three alphas—were ready to burn the world down for her to hunt the monster lurking in the shadows. But as she sat in the centre of their massive bed, wrapped in a blanket, her heart still pounded from the realization.

She wasn't safe.

Not even here.

Adrian was already on the phone, barking orders to someone on the security team. His voice was sharp, clipped, like a blade slicing through steel.

"I don’t care if you have to go through every single second of footage manually—find him."

Jasper stood near the door, pacing. His usual easy smirk was gone, replaced with something darker. Something deadly. His fingers flexed and unflexed like he was itching for a fight, a chase, something to tear apart.

Caleb, the most level-headed of them, had taken a different approach. He sat beside Amelia on the bed, his presence grounding but tense.

"You're sure you don’t recognize the number?" he asked.

Amelia shook her head, rubbing her arms as she tried to stop the chill, creeping into her bones.

"No. It’s always from an unknown number."

Caleb’s gaze darkened. "Coward."

She swallowed hard. "You think he’s been following me for a long time?"

Jasper stopped pacing. "I think he’s been watching long enough to know too much." His voice was tight, barely controlled. "Which means we need to end this. Now."

Adrian hung up the phone. "Security’s scanning the estate perimeter. No one unauthorized has been caught on camera."

"Then he’s good," Caleb muttered. "Or he has inside help."

The thought sent another wave of unease rolling through Amelia’s stomach.

"Inside help?" she whispered. "You think someone on your staff—"

"No," Adrian interrupted, his voice firm. "We vet our people too thoroughly for that." His golden eyes burned with something dangerous. "But someone had to give him access. Or he found a way in himself."

Amelia pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. "And if he’s inside right now?"

Jasper’s smirk returned, but this time, it was anything but playful.

"Then we’ll drag him out by his throat."

The raw possessiveness in his tone made her shiver.

Caleb reached for her hand, his thumb brushing over her knuckles. "We need to be smart about this. You’re not leaving this estate until we figure out who’s behind this."

Adrian nodded. "We’ll increase security. Move you to the safer wing of the house."

Amelia frowned. "You mean lock me up like a prisoner?"

Jasper scoffed. "Not a prisoner, sweetheart. A queen in her castle while her knights go hunt the bastard threatening her."

That sounded a little too fairy-tale for her liking, but she understood their intent.

Still, something didn't sit right with her.

If her stalker had gotten this far, what was stopping him from getting even closer?

Or worse… what if this wasn’t just about watching her anymore?

What if he was ready to act?

---

Into the Night

The Blackwood estate had always been massive, but tonight, it felt like a fortress. Armed security patrolled the grounds, their eyes sharp, their weapons visible.

Despite the warmth of the crackling fireplaces, a chill settled over the house. The tension was thick, wrapping around Amelia like an invisible noose.

She hated this feeling.

The feeling of being hunted.

She sat in the lounge area, watching as Adrian pulled up surveillance footage on his laptop. Jasper lounged beside her, twirling a knife between his fingers like he needed something to occupy his hands. Caleb stood near the window, scanning the grounds below.

It was silent—too silent.

Until Amelia’s phone buzzed.

She jerked, her heart slamming against her ribs.

Jasper was the first to react, snatching the phone from the table before she could reach for it. His jaw clenched, his entire body going rigid.

"What is it?" Adrian asked.

Jasper turned the screen around.

A message.

Unknown Number: You think they can protect you forever? I’m closer than you think.

A second message followed immediately.

A photo.

Of her.

I'm not sleeping this time.

But sitting right here, in this exact spot, staring at the laptop screen.

Amelia’s breath hitched.

He was watching.

Right now.

Jasper shot to his feet, the chair screeching against the floor. Caleb was already moving, heading straight for the control panel on the wall.

"Lockdown the estate. Now." Adrian’s voice was pure command, pure authority.

The lights flickered as security protocols activated. The estate's doors locked with a heavy thunk, reinforced shutters sliding over the windows.

Jasper was already striding toward the nearest exit, a lethal promise in his movements. "I’m going to find this bastard and rip him apart."

Adrian grabbed his arm before he could leave. "We do this smart, Jasper. No one makes a move until we know exactly where he is."

Jasper’s nostrils flared, but he nodded, barely restraining himself.

Amelia, meanwhile, was frozen in place.

A fresh wave of terror crashed into her.

How? How was he doing this?

Was he inside the house? Outside? Hacking their cameras?

Every nerve in her body screamed at her to run, to hide, but there was nowhere to go.

Caleb was back in an instant, a pistol in his grip. "We’ll find him, Amelia. And when we do, he won’t be a problem anymore."

She believed him.

Because the Blackwoods weren’t just protecting her now.

They were hunting for her.

And God helped the bastard who dared to threaten what was theirs.

---

The Shadows Stir

Somewhere outside, hidden in the darkness beyond the estate’s gates, a figure stood motionless.

Watching.

Waiting.

A faint red glow flickered from the cigarette between his fingers before he crushed it under his boot. He lifted his phone, eyes scanning the new security measures now in place.

Predictable.

They thought walls could keep her safe.

They thought cameras and guards would stop him.

A slow, eerie smile curled his lips.

They had no idea who they were dealing with.

With a single tap on his phone, he sent another message.

This one wasn’t for Amelia.

It was for someone inside the estate.

Unknown Number: Make sure she’s alone tonight.

And just like that, the game changed.

The estate felt different now—no longer the warm, elegant sanctuary Amelia had started to grow comfortable in, but a battlefield waiting for its first shot to be fired.

She curled her fingers into the plush fabric of the couch, trying to steady her breathing. Every tick of the grandfather clock in the hall felt like a countdown, an ominous warning that time was slipping through her fingers.

Jasper, who was rarely ever truly still, stood frozen by the doorway, his fingers twitching at his sides. His usual teasing demeanor had disappeared, leaving behind a man teetering on the edge of violence.

"He had to be close," Caleb muttered, rubbing the back of his neck as he continued pacing. His mind was working at lightning speed, calculating possibilities, planning ahead. "Close enough to take that picture and send it in real-time."

Adrian exhaled sharply through his nose, his fingers tapping against the arm of the chair in controlled frustration. "We’ve swept the estate top to bottom. Every entry point, every security feed." His golden eyes darkened. "And we still have nothing."

"Then we’re looking in the wrong place," Jasper snapped, his patience wearing thin. He turned to Amelia. "Think, sweetheart. Have you noticed anything unusual? Anyone who seemed out of place, even for a second?"

Amelia swallowed. Her mind raced back over the past few days, the past few weeks. There had been so much chaos—meeting the triplets, falling into their world, the growing threat lurking behind the scenes. She shook her head, frustrated at herself.

"I—I don’t know," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "I wasn’t paying attention to things like that. I didn’t think—"

"Of course you didn’t think," Jasper said, softer this time, but no less intense. "That’s not your job, Amelia. It’s ours."

Caleb, ever the calm one, crouched in front of her, taking her hands in his. His touch was warm, steadying. "It’s not your fault," he reassured her, his thumb running over her knuckles. "But if there’s anything—anything at all—you remember, it could help."

Amelia closed her eyes, trying to ignore the fear slithering through her veins.

A shadow at the market last week.

A car idling too long outside her office.

That strange, lingering feeling of being watched every time she left the house.

But none of it had seemed dangerous then.

"There was a car," she said hesitantly, her voice barely above a whisper. "A black sedan. It was parked outside the office building for three days in a row. I thought it belonged to a client or someone from another company, but…"

Adrian’s gaze sharpened. "License plate?"

"I—I don’t know. I didn’t think to check."

"We’ll find out," he said with certainty, already reaching for his phone.

Jasper’s jaw ticked, his irritation barely concealed. "He’s been watching you for longer than we thought."

Caleb stood, exchanging a glance with his brothers. "Then it’s time we start watching back."

Hours passed, but no new messages came.

The silence was almost worse than the threats.

The triplets didn’t let her out of their sight, but neither did they relax. If anything, the tension in the estate only thickened as night deepened.

Amelia tried to rest, but every sound—every creak of the house, every rustle of the wind—sent her heart racing.

She wasn’t the only one.

Adrian hadn’t stopped working, scanning through footage, making calls.

Caleb had taken a position by the window, watching, waiting.

Jasper had been sharpening his knife for the last twenty minutes, the steady scrape of metal against stone the only sound in the room.

"We can’t keep waiting for him to make the next move," Jasper muttered, his patience fraying.

"We won’t," Adrian said smoothly, eyes never leaving the screen. "We’re going to set a trap."

Amelia’s stomach tightened. "A trap?"

"We let him think he’s getting closer," Caleb explained. "Make him bold enough to slip up."

Jasper’s lips curled into something dark and deadly. "And when he does?"

Adrian’s gaze lifted to Amelia, his expression unreadable. "Then we end this."

She believed them.

But as she lay in bed later that night, the estate locked down, her door guarded, she couldn’t shake the feeling.

That somewhere in the dark…

He was still watching.

And waiting.