FATED TO THE ALPHA TRIPLETS

CHAPTER 2: BOUND BY HEAT

~SELENE~

I woke to the sound of hum in the surrounding woods, but it wasn’t just the wind in the trees. It was the pulse under my skin, the beating awareness that I wasn't alone.

I opened my eyes and instantly wished I hadn’t.

At the edge of the bed was Darius, silhouetted in moonlight that speared through the canopy outside. He wasn’t touching me, not exactly, but his filled the whole room.

I sat up, panic beating my heart. The forest smelled different here, thick and wild with a rich, earthy smell laced with the sharp bite of something dangerous.

“What the hell?” I gasped, my breathing harsh.

My hand smoothed desperately over my thigh for the dagger, but it wasn't there.

“You’re safe,” Darius said slowly, steadily, with authority.

“You’re with us, Selene, in our territory.

Our territory.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t run away anymore. I didn’t even know if I wanted to.

My panicked gaze scoured the room, recognizing the softly woven sheets that encased me. My body ached, sore from battle. But I was alive.

I looked around. And then I saw them. Caspian was leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes dark but amused.

Lucian stood in the shadows, his gaze fixed on me, unreadable as always.

“Did you d**g me?,” I asked gritting my teeth.

“No,” said Darius, his voice a quiet, firm reassurance.

“You collapsed after the fight. You pushed yourself too hard. But you are fine.”

A peal of soft laughter escaped Caspian, as if he were enjoying this far too much.

“She’s hot, I’ll give her that.”

I shrugged him off and pushed myself up from the bed, hoping to shake off the fuzziness in my head.

“What the hell is going on here? I belong to none of you.”

“You already do,” Lucian said at last, emerging from the shadows into the moonlight. He took a few steps forward, close enough now for me to feel the heat coming off his body even a few feet away.

“It’s already been decided, you don’t have to accept it, but it has already been decided. And we’ll ensure that you know what that means.”

I gasped, struggling to hold back the wave of emotion hitting me. I was trying to corral my wolf, who was clawing under my skin, desperate to be free. Control them.

“And if I don’t want this? What then?” I demanded, my voice trembling with a blend of rage and something I wouldn’t let myself call fear.

Darius tilted his head ever so slightly, his pale eyes keen.

“You think you have a choice? You don’t, Selene. You can resist it, you can try to escape, but the connection will always bring you back to us.”

“Is that a threat?” I bit out.

“No...” he replied quietly, stepping closer. He was too hot, too near, too close.

The tension between us was palpable, like an electric charge in the air.

“It’s the truth. You will never be left to go from the pack. We won’t let you go.”

I swallowed, my heart racing in my chest as I looked into his eyes. My body was responding before my head had caught up. I desired him, the way a wolf desires a mate, primal and animalistic, but that didn’t mean I needed to submit. Not yet.

Darius touched me lightly, his fingers brushing my cheek. It was a gentle touch, but it jolted me, sending a wave of heat rushing straight into the core of me. I gasped, surprised at how much I wanted more.

“Stop,” I breathed, but even I knew that was weak. My sound was a whisper, but my body was shouting something entirely different.

He didn’t stop. Instead, he bent down, mouth close to my ear.

“You can resist us all you want, Selene, but the truth is… you belong to us already.”

I should have resisted him, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to.

Lucian moved closer, his voice hard. “Let him touch you, Selene. Let him prove to you just how real the bond is.”

A chuckle from Caspian filled the room. “Let’s see how long she lasts.”

All three of them were surrounding me. The tension thickened. Their eyes were on me, their scents mixing… storm… spice and something darker I couldn’t name.

Darius’s mouth grazed mine, and for a heartbeat, I forgot how to think. I leaned into it, too, because my body betrayed me, because I wanted this, wanted them, as every ounce of my pride screamed against it.

His hand traced the curve of my spine, drawing me in and igniting my skin. The kiss deepened… slow and deliberate, yet it ignited something inside me, something wild and thrumming that I couldn’t contain.

Next was Lucian’s voice, gravelly and low. “Let him take you, Selene. Let us all take what’s ours.”

His words made me gasp, and shiver at the thought of them, all three of them, claiming me. It was a hazardous line I was walking, but the tug of the bond was irresistible, encouraging me to break it.

Caspian was at my side in an instant, his fingers fastened on my shoulders as he kissed the arch of my neck. His lips were fire on my skin, but it was Lucian’s gaze that held me captive… dark, stormy, and hungry.

“Don’t tease,” Caspian muttered, his breath warm against my ear.

“Give in to us, Selene. Let the bond consume you.”

And for the briefest moment I thought about it… thought about going absolution… and just sinking into them. Into the bond.

But that moment didn’t last, interrupted by a growl from Darius.

“We’re not done yet,” he said, his voice strained but there was something else there… an exhortation, a demand, a command.

I wasn’t sure I was ready for this. For them. But, as moonlight poured into the room, soaking everything in silver, one thing was clear.

I’d never be the same again.

***

Darius’s growl vibrated low in his chest, his grip on my waist squeezing tighter, his eyes locked on mine. The air buzzed with electricity, an invisible filament tugging us together, coiling tighter with each thudding second. I could feel his raw power emanating from him, but it wasn’t just his strength… it was his control. The control he had over himself, and the control he was starting to have over me.

“You got what it takes to pass on this, Selene?” he whispered, warm breath beating against my ear.

“You’ve been fighting it for a while now, but I can see it in your eyes. You want us. All of us.”

These words dripped and stuck to the air like glue. I wanted to refuse it and shove them away, but the truth was unquenchable. The bond’s draw was magnetic, nearly agonizing, writhing in my insides. My wolf was howling because of the fact, with my human half fighting to keep the reins on.

Lucian fell in behind me, overwhelming my senses with his presence, sitting at my back like my own shadow. His breath was cold on the nape of my neck, and I involuntarily shivered.

“You’re fighting a losing battle, Selene,” he murmured in a voice that was a velvet promise.

“Let go. Allow us to demonstrate how good it can be.”

The heat of his body radiated through the flimsy fabric of my clothing, and his nearness was a stark contrast to how I wasn’t nearly as in control of this situation as I’d like to believe. Their words and their touch were threads weaving themselves around me, pulling me further into their world.

Caspian came last, sliding into motion with a predatory elegance that sent a shiver of anticipation skittering in his wake. His fingertips brushed along my jaw, angling my face toward him.

“You think you’re strong, huh? But deep down, you know that eventually you’ll give in. The bond is not something you can fight against indefinitely.”

His lips were near mine, but he did not kiss me, not yet. His eyes, dark and calculating, had me in t****l.

“You’ll give in, Selene. You’ll let us in.”

I breathed unevenly, my body responding to them in ways I was unable to stop. My body, my heart, cried out for release, cried out to give in to the desire, the need I’d felt ever since I walked into their world.

But I wasn’t ready. Not yet. I couldn’t be.

I averted my gaze from Caspian, turning to Darius. He was inches from my face, breath mixing with mine in slow, deliberate cadence.

“I’m not ready,” I said, hardly more than a whisper.

Darius’s eyes softened, something almost tender flickered in his gaze.

“You don’t have to be ready, Selene. Not yet. But you will be. And when you are …” He hesitated, allowing the unspoken promise to hover between us.

My chest felt heavy as the weight of the words settled over me. I didn’t know if I was ready to surrender, to yield to the bond dragging me deeper into their universe. But I knew something else, too… it wouldn’t be easy. It wouldn’t be quick. But when it happened, when I finally released it, it would devour me.

And I didn’t know if that scared me… or if that was everything I wanted.

***

I felt them looking at me, the pressure of their attention surrounding me. The feel of Darius’s hand at my waist was both grounding and overwhelming, his touch like fire against my skin. Lucian’s breath was still ghosting the back of my neck, sending shivers up my spine, and Caspian’s fingers were still resting on my jaw, his eyes tracking mine without falter.

Our bond felt like a tether trapping my heart with each beat, yet there was a reluctance within me, a rebellion that burned with the intense light of time, even as it began to dim. I wasn’t prepared to relinquish control. Not yet.

“You’re not going to win,” I told him, the words tumbling out even though my voice was shaking. I hated the weak way it sounded, but it was all I had in me.

“I won’t let you break me.”

“You’re already breaking, Selene.” Lucian’s voice sounded behind me, hoarse and low, his words a heady blend of danger and temptation.

“And we won’t allow you to continue to fight this way.”

I shut my eyes, struggling to ignore the heat blooming in my chest and the way my body was reacting to them in ways that didn’t make sense.

But it did make sense. The bond, the pull between us, was undeniable. It permeated the air, permeated every breath, every move they made. The tension between the two of us was so thick it was suffocating.

Darius’s hand glided, slow but purposeful, along my side, outlining the curvature of my waist as he inched in. His voice was hardly above a whisper, yet it caressed like an intimate touch.

“I don’t want to shatter you, Selene,” he said quietly.

“I want to provide you everything that you need. But you first are going to have to let go of your fight.”

I couldn’t argue with the truth of what he said. I wanted to let go. I want to stop fighting, stop pretending I had anything under control. My heart hammered in my chest, and my wolf clawed at the skin under my fingertips, begging for release.

But I wasn’t ready. Not yet.

Caspian’s voice sliced through the tension, irritable and teasing. “She’s strong,” he said, biting off a joke.

“But even the sturdiest walls give way under pressure.”

I turned my head slightly to meet his eye, and ignited the fire within my chest once more.

"I'm not some prize to be got hold of," I said hotly. It was half anger, a dash of desire, and my voice was splintering.

"You can't just take whatever you want"

Lucian's hands moved around my shoulders, tents to show his hands were gentle but in no way relaxed.

"No one is going to take you, Selene." That voice sounded a little stuffy I didn't really know how to describe it.

"We are not here to claim your body, we hope that we will bring you home directly and should find what has been hiding inside you all along."

His words resonated within me, as if I could sense their own truth. However much I didn't want to give in, it was there. Attraction, it brought me closer, the flames always threatening to spill over.

But I persevered.

Darius reached out, his fingertips sliding over my skin. The cool touch of his fingers seemed all the more unendurable as if set against the heat of my skin.

"You don't need to fear us," he murmured, his lips brushed my ear. "Not anymore."

I started convulsing at the warmth of air, heart rising rapidly. Temptation was at my doorstep, pressing and compelling… but I kept fighting.

"I'm not afraid of you," I said, although I recognized a bitter taste in my mouth when I told such lies even I could taste one.

"You should," Caspian said with a smile devoid of meaning.

"But not for the reasons you're worried about now."

The air in the room felt heavy, slowly ratcheting up the tension. I wanted to break free, to flee, to show that I was not a mere pawn in their play. Somehow... I wasn't certain that I could do so anymore.

Darius's hand rose again, it's movement as slow as it was deliberate. He inched toward me, his mouth brushing a gentle kiss against mine… so soft, so light that it only left me wanting more.

I did not move, did not pull away, but I did not give in either. Not yet. Not entirely.

But I could feel the change in the atmosphere, the way things stood between us. Bond or be bound it was undeniable now, and I tried to resist them. In the end, I could not explain why I sweated even to fight against myself.

And in that moment, I realized something horrifying.

I was being defeated.