Slow Burn

The party - Orion

We, the alpha triplets of the Crystal Moon pack, only came to this party because this was our last chance to find our mate before we were forced into choosing a chosen mate. I know that none of us wanted that, so we were practically begging the goddess in the last week or so to let us finally find our mate.

Being at the event now, I felt envious of all the people calling out the word "Mate" to each other like it would never go out of style. Cygnus, Aries, and I had escorted our sister here. This would be the first time she came to an even like this since her 18th birthday.

She immediately started acting weird as soon as we got to the door and sniffed at the air. She followed a scent and found herself in front of a young man with blonde hair and blue eyes. I felt myself smile, knowing she had likely found her mate. Just then, though, I started to catch a scent, and Mars, my wolf, started pacing in my head.

I reached through the mindlink and pulled my both my brothers' attention, telling them to sniff the air, and they caught it too. The unmistakable and alluring smell of vanilla, and, was that cherries? My eyes wandered across the other side of the room. A beautiful woman with silky black hair and green eyes caught my eye, but she looked pale and upset.

She turned to grab a wine glass with water in it and started stomping over towards a woman with black hair and a man with dusty brown hair. When she heard them say the word "Mate" to each other, you could just see the heartbreak instantly. Hear it too when she dropped her glass on the ground.

Could she not smell us? Why was she upset over another man? I looked to my brothers, and their reaction was similar to mine, though Aries looked a little pissed. Some ladies tried to console her, but she could hardly fight back the tears. She pulled away from the women trying to console her, and I felt myself just start moving, automatically.

So many people's eyes were on her because of what just happened, but all I wanted to do was make sure she was alright for now.

As we got closer, she seemed to jerk and then walked right into me. There was no direct skin contact yet, but my heart slammed against my chest anyways, the beginnings of what might have been the tingles started when she was against me. It would get more intense when we confirmed it. We just had to lock eyes. However, she didn't lift her head to look at me or my brothers as they swooped in on either side of her. Mostly shielding her from the crowd.

We were getting a lot of looks, but we didn't care. was the triplets, we knew there would be great interest in who our mate might be, but we didn't want to push her. Something was wrong with this situation. We were so sure this woman was ours, but she was refusing to look at us. I went ahead and tried to grab her chin, feeling the electricity of the yet to be proven bond. Not that this wasn't proof enough, but it had to be solidified with the eyes.

She pulled away, apologizing but not finishing her words and pushing past me. I looked at my brothers, and we all nodded, we would follow her to the ends of the earth if we needed to. Our mate was upset, and she was refusing to look at us to forge the bond. We had to figure out why.

We kept following her out to the garden. None of us men had said so much as a word to her yet. Maybe, though, now was the time to do so.

"Would you please stop?" My voice coming out far softer than I had ever heard it do before.

It was enough. She stopped now that we were completely alone with her. The scent she gave off was just so enticing. This time, however, it was Aries that took her in his arms. Cradling her against his chest, whispering to her that it was okay to be upset, no matter the reason.

For a moment, she seemed like she relaxed, but then she froze and tried to push him away.

"You know nothing! I...!" She screamed in tearful agony as her eyes looked up to meet his, and then all of our eyes met, and it was perfect. All of us, including her, spoke up.

"Mate!"