FATED TO THE ALPHA TRIPLETS

~SELENE~ The forest breathed tonight. Not in that soft, peaceful way I’d known since I was a girl, but something deeper… heavier. Like it was holding its breath, just as I was. The clearing ahead sparkled in moonlight, the ancient stone altar glittering pale and ghostly in the dark. I shouldn’t have come here. Not alone. Not tonight. But my legs moved before my mind could stop them. Something had pulled me here. The wind shifted. I froze. That scent. No… three of them. The first hit me like a slap to the chest… sharp, cold, commanding. Earth and storm. The second followed like heat across bare skin… spice and fire, alive and reckless. And the third… gods, the third. It wrapped itself around me like silk, warm… dark and laced with secret-lit metal. My stomach clenched. My wolf stirred. Something ancient and primal within me howled. No. This couldn’t be real. A bond? Three? I took a shaky step backward, but it was too late. The clearing wasn’t empty anymore. He stepped out first… Darius. Tall. Stone-cut features. His pale eyes pinned mine, and just like that, I forgot how to breathe. He was like winter: cold, quiet, and ready to devour me whole. “Running already?” His voice was cool and smooth, like ice against my throat. “We haven’t even touched you yet.” The second emerged just behind him. Caspian. Every bit of him screamed danger, and he wore it like armor. His dark hair was a mess, his chest bare, and his smirk? Ferocious. That one would burn me alive and kiss the ashes. “Damn,” he said as his eyes slid over me. “You’re better than I ever imagined.” My fists curled tight, but my pulse gave me away wild, uneven. Then came the third. Lucian. He didn’t speak. Just leaned casually against a tree, watching me with those molten eyes full of things I couldn’t name. He looked like temptation, personified. A riddle with a body that promised ruin. All three of them. Alphas. Brothers. And somehow, all mine. The bond shimmered between us, invisible but suffocating. My wolf wanted to drop to her knees. My human side wanted to run. “What the hell is this?” I demanded, but my voice cracked. Darius stepped forward. “You tell us, mate.” I flinched at the word. Mate. No. I didn’t believe in that fate bullshit. I’d spent my life dodging bonds, dodging control. No Alpha was going to own me. Not even if he came wrapped in muscle and moonlight… let alone three of them. I straightened, meeting his cold stare with fire of my own. “You think because fate bound us, I’m yours?” I hissed. Caspian chuckled low. “Not yet. But gods, I hope you put up a fight.” Lucian smirked. “She will. Look at her. She’s already deciding which one of us she hates least.” Wrong. I hated them all equally. And yet... my wolf was restless beneath my skin, pacing, snarling, whispering something that made my cheeks flush and my knees wobble. Take them all. I bared my teeth. “Stay out of my way. All of you.” Darius’s voice dropped to a growl. “That won’t be possible.” And then… like a warning shot… the wind howled through the trees. It carried something with it. Something darker. A scent I didn’t recognize. A threat I hadn’t felt before. They smelled it, too. I saw it in the way Darius stiffened, how Caspian’s smile vanished, how Lucian’s eyes narrowed like a storm cloud had just rolled in behind them. The bond wasn’t the only danger tonight. Whatever was coming... it wasn’t just about desire anymore. It was a war. *** The clearing crackled with something I couldn’t name. I wasn’t sure if it was the bond tightening like a noose around my throat or the shift in the wind that carried a promise of blood. Darius moved first. Not toward me… but toward the trees. His head lifted slightly, nostrils flaring. His expression went from calculated to lethal in a heartbeat. “I smell it too,” Lucian said, voice low, more serious than before. He pushed off the tree and stood tall, his usual playfulness gone. Caspian’s eyes gleamed, hungry differently now. “Well, s**t. I didn’t think the bastards would get this close to pack land.” “What is it?” I asked, hating the slight tremor in my voice. Darius didn’t look at me. “Rogues. At least four. Maybe more.” Rogues? I tensed and reached for the dagger belted beneath my leather jacket. I wasn’t merely a she-wolf, I was a trained fighter. I didn't need f*****g Alpha's protection, no matter how bonded fate claimed we were. Lucian’s eyes slid to me. “You shouldn’t be out here alone, Selene. Not tonight.” My name on his tongue did things to me that I didn’t want to think about. “I can handle myself,” I snapped, even as the air grew colder. Caspian smirked. “We’re not questioning your bite, sweetheart. We’re questioning your timing.” A growl built in my throat. But then… movement. Branches cracked somewhere in the trees. Fast. Heavy. And too close. We all turned at once. A flash of fur. A flash of teeth. Darius lunged before I could react, intercepting the blur midair with a sickening crunch of bone. The rogue hit the ground hard, snarling and snapping, but Darius didn’t hesitate. He shifted mid-stride… his massive silver wolf slamming down on the attacker, fangs ripping through flesh. Two more wolves burst through the trees. Lucian and Caspian shifted without warning, the heat of their magic brushing over my skin like firelight. One second they were men, the next they were beasts… huge, powerful, magnificent. I didn’t wait. My dagger flashed in my hand as I lunged at the third rogue, catching it off guard. I ducked beneath its claws, sliced deep into its side. It howled, lunged back… but I was faster. My wolf didn’t beg to be released. She roared. And for the first time in a long time... she and I moved as one. Blood sprayed the leaves. Growls echoed through the trees. The fight was fast and brutal… but we were faster. When it ended, four rogue wolves lay motionless in the dirt. Darius, Lucian, and Caspian shifted back, bodies n***d and glistening with blood and sweat under the moonlight. Gods help me. They were beautiful and lethal and covered in violence… and every part of me, human and wolf, was trembling. I turned away, trying to regain control over my own body. But I felt Darius’s heat at my back a moment later. “You handled yourself well,” he said, low, gravel in his voice. I didn’t look at him. “I told you I didn’t need saving.” “And yet,” Lucian murmured, “you’re marked by fate, same as us.” Caspian let out a breathless laugh, stretching like he wasn’t just covered in blood. “You sure you’re not into this yet? Cause I’ve gotta say... watching you fight, Selene? That was better than foreplay.” I shot him a glare, cheeks burning. “Touch me and you lose a hand.” But the way he grinned told me that was a promise he’d enjoy testing. Darius’s gaze locked on mine. “You can run, if it makes you feel safer. But it won’t change the bond.” I tightened my jaw. “Don’t test me, Alpha.” Lucian stepped closer now, voice quieter, yet somehow sharper. “The rogues weren’t just passing through. They were tracking something. Or someone.” I frowned. “You think they were after me?” Caspian’s playful smirk vanished. “Not think. Know.” And just like that, the moonlight didn’t feel comforting anymore. It felt like a spotlight. Like I was being hunted. Why? Why tonight? Why now? Why me? Darius turned to me again, eyes burning silver. “You're not joining us just yet” Lucian tilted his head. “But you should know… from this moment on, Selene…” “You’re not just bonded,” Caspian finished for him, voice suddenly serious. “You’re claimed.”