Mated to the Enemy's Triplets

Chapter 2: Three Weeks Earlier

POV: Seraphina

Three weeks before I stood in Alpha Magnus’s room, I was in a place that smelled like mud and sadness. Our refugee camp was a group of old, patched-up tents hidden deep in the woods. It was a place for wolves who had lost their packs, a place for the forgotten.

I sat on a log inside the biggest tent. It belonged to Elder Matthias, the oldest and wisest wolf left from my pack. His face was covered in deep wrinkles, like a map of all the sad things he had seen. A single candle flickered between us, making shadows dance on the tent walls.

"You are sure about this, Seraphina?" he asked. His voice was scratchy, like dry leaves.

I nodded. I didn't need to speak. He could see the answer in my eyes. I had been waiting for this chance my whole life.

Matthias sighed. He reached into an old wooden box and pulled out a tiny glass bottle. It was the same one I would later hold in the Alpha’s room. He held it up to the candlelight. It was filled with a clear liquid that looked just like water.

"This is it," he said softly. "We have spent years making it perfect. It is made from wolfsbane, a poison to our kind. But we have changed it. It has no scent or taste. A few drops in his drink, and his heart will simply stop. They will think it was old age. No one will suspect a thing."

He placed the bottle in my hand. It was cool to the touch, but it felt like it was burning me. This little bottle held all my hopes for revenge.

"Why me?" I whispered. It was the only question I had. I was only eighteen. There were older, stronger wolves.

Matthias looked at me, and his eyes were full of sorrow. "Because, my child, you are the only one who can do it. You were born an Alpha, with a strong will. But you have learned to hide it. You can make yourself seem like an Omega, like a servant no one would ever notice. And..." He paused, his voice getting even quieter. "You have the most reason to hate him. Your anger will keep you strong when you are scared."

My hand closed around the bottle. He was right. My anger was like a fire inside me. And just thinking about it made the memory come rushing back.

The world went blurry. The tent disappeared. Suddenly, I was a little girl again, only four years old.

I was hiding under my bed. The wood floor was cold against my cheek. My room was supposed to be safe, but tonight it was filled with screams. My house was shaking. I could hear things crashing and breaking downstairs.

The smell of strange wolves was everywhere. It was a scary and an angry smell. Underneath it, there was another smell. The smell of blood.

I heard my father yell. It was a sound of pain, a sound I had never heard him make before. He was the Alpha of our Silver Moon Pack. He was supposed to be the strongest wolf of all.

Then my mother screamed his name. "Elias!"

I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my ears, but I couldn't block out the sounds. I heard a heavy thud, like something big had fallen. Then another thud.

After that, there was silence.

The silence was even scarier than the screaming.

A moment later, my bedroom door burst open. My mother stood there. Her dress was torn, and there was a dark stain on her arm. Her eyes were wide with fear but when she saw me, she tried to smile.

"Seraphina, my sweet girl," she whispered, pulling me out from under the bed. "You need to run. Run and don't ever look back!"

She pushed me toward my window. "But Mama, where are you going?" I cried. I tried to hold onto her hand.

"I have to go back to your father," she said as she kissed my forehead. Her lips were cold. "Be strong, my little wolf. Survive. That is all that matters. Now go!"

She opened the window and helped me climb out onto the roof. The moon was big and bright in the sky. It looked like it was on fire. Below me, our village was burning. Wolves were fighting. I saw the symbol of the Crimson Shadow Pack everywhere;a red wolf head with angry eyes.

I looked back at my mother one last time. A huge man I had never seen before appeared in the doorway behind her. He was laughing. It was a terrible sound.

My mother looked at me and mouthed the word, "Run!"

So I did. I jumped from the low roof and landed in a bush. I scrambled to my feet and ran into the forest behind my house. I didn't look back. I just ran and ran, with my mother's last word echoing in my head.

“Run! Run! Run!”

My eyes snapped open. I was back in the tent. Matthias was watching me, his face full of pity. A single tear was rolling down my cheek, but my face felt like it was made of stone.

"I will do it," I said. My voice was cold and hard. "I will do it for them."

The next two weeks were the hardest of my life. I had to stop being Seraphina, the lost Alpha’s daughter. I had to become Sara, a nobody.

First, I had to hide my scent. As an Alpha, my natural smell was strong. It was a sign of power. It would give me away instantly. Every morning, I would go to a secret mud pit and cover my skin in a thick, smelly paste made of special herbs and clay. It smelled awful, but it worked. It covered my Alpha scent and made me smell like dirt and plants, like a low-ranking Omega who worked in the gardens.

Next, I had to change how I moved. I had spent my life with Matthias, who taught me to stand tall and proud, like the Alpha I was meant to be. Now, I had to learn to be small. I practiced for hours every day. I walked with my head bowed, my eyes looking at the ground. I learned to hunch my shoulders, to make myself look weaker. When someone spoke to me, I learned to flinch, as if I was expecting to be hit. It felt wrong. Every part of my body screamed at me to stand up straight, but I forced myself to stay hunched over.

Finally, I had to build Sara. Sara was not just a name. She was a whole person. We made up a story for her. Sara’s family was from a small, unimportant pack that was destroyed by rogue wolves. She was the only one who survived. She was shy, quiet, and always scared. She was grateful for any kindness but didn't expect any.

I practiced being Sara with the other refugees. I would serve them their food with my head down. I would speak in a small mousy voice. At first, it felt like I was wearing a costume. But day by day, it started to feel more real. Seraphina, the girl who loved to run and fight, was buried deep inside. Sara, the quiet servant girl, was on the outside.

On the last day, Matthias gave me a simple, gray servant's dress and a small bag with a few coins. "The Crimson Shadow Pack is hiring new servants for the palace," he said. "They are preparing for a big festival. With your story, they will take you in. They will feel sorry for you."

I put on the dress. It was rough and scratchy. I looked at my reflection in a bucket of water. The girl looking back at me was not Seraphina. Her face was smudged with a little dirt. Her hair was tied back in a plain knot. Her eyes were looking down. It was Sara.

I tucked the small bottle of poison into a secret pocket sewn inside the dress.

"It is time," Matthias said. He put his hand on my shoulder. "The Moon Goddess watch over you, child."

I gave him one last nod, then turned and walked away from the camp. I did not look back. I couldn't. Sara wouldn't.

I walked for three days, sleeping in the woods and eating the little food I had. Finally, on the third night, I saw it.

Through the trees, I could see two tall stone pillars. A red banner was stretched between them, showing the snarling head of a wolf. It was the border of the Crimson Shadow Pack. The land of my enemy. The home of the man who had destroyed my life.

My heart pounded in my chest. Every instinct screamed at me to turn back. This was a land of monsters.

But then I thought of my mother’s face. I thought of my father’s scream. I thought of the fire and the terrible laughter.

The fire of my anger burned away my fear. I took a deep breath, the air already starting to smell different; wilder, more dangerous.

My mission was about to begin.

I pulled my cloak tighter around me, bowed my head like a good little servant, and took one step forward, crossing the invisible line into the land of shadows.