Mated To The Alpha Triplets (SPICY)

Chapter 14

BASTIAN’S POV

I’ve never enjoyed being right.

People assume I do. They look at what I can feel as an empath and they assume it must come with some kind of satisfaction when my read on a situation turns out to be correct. It doesn't. Being right, for me, usually means I felt the pain coming before it arrived and still couldn't stop it. That wasn’t a comfort. That was just a longer version of helplessness.

Standing outside that house, looking at my brothers' faces, I was right and I knew it and it felt like carrying something too heavy for one person.

Cassie laid unconscious. Her small body was barely moving under the blanket I had placed over her.

Casein paced back and forth in front of me. His jaw was clenched so hard I thought his teeth might c***k. Daren stood a little distance away, running his hand through his hair again and again,

None of us spoke for a moment, but the silence wasn’t calm. It was loud, filled with anger, regret, and something none of us wanted to say out loud.

“We should have left one alive,” Casein said finally. “One. That’s all it would have taken.”

“I know,” I replied. “But they were going to kill her. There wasn’t time to think.”

“There is always time to think,” Casein snapped, stopping to face me. “That’s the difference between reacting and controlling the situation.”

Daren let out a frustrated laugh

“Control?” he muttered. “You think any of us were thinking about control when we saw her lying there like that? When we smelled her blood?” He shook his head slowly. “I wasn’t thinking. I was ready to tear them apart with my bare hands.”

That shut Castien up instantly. Darren was right. We felt a strong bond to Cassie, even though we just met her. She made our Lycans react in a way we never had before.

I closed my eyes for a brief moment, trying to steady my thoughts. This wasn’t about the attackers anymore. It wasn’t about what we should have done. It was about what came next.

“Cassie hasn’t woken up,” I said quietly. “And she’s not healing the way she should.”

Casein frowned “She’s wolfless. That’s probably why her healing is slower. That’s expected.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “This is different. She’s not just slow. She’s… blocking it.”

Daren stepped closer.

“Blocking it?” he repeated. “You mean like she doesn’t want to wake up?”

“Yes,” I said. “Her mind is shutting everything down. The pain, the memories… all of it. The trauma is a lot.”

They went quiet again. They knew where I was going with this.

"She won't be able to come back from this on her own," I said. "Not tonight. Not the way she needs to."

Darren's jaw was tight. He knew exactly what I meant “We already said no, Bastian."

"You said no," I told him. "I'm still talking."

Castien sighed “Bastian-”

"Listen to me guys. I won’t remove everything," I said explained. I needed them to understand that first. "I would never take a memory from her. What she experienced is hers. It belongs to her grief, to her relationship with her mother. I wouldn't touch the love. I wouldn't touch the loss." I paused “The part that is killing her right now isn't the grief. It's the image. It’s the sensory shock of walking through that door, the blood, the visual of what those men left behind. That part is sitting on top of her consciousness like a stone and it’s crushing her underneath it. If I can move the stone - not destroy it, not pretend it isn't there - just shift the weight of it enough that she can breathe-"

"You're describing manipulation," Darren said.

"I'm describing mercy," I said "There is a difference and you know there is."

He looked away. That meant he was listening even though his posture was still arguing.

"She has no wolf to help her process this," I continued. "A wolf would have her pack bond to draw on, would have the ability to shift and physically move through the trauma, would have her animal to share the weight with. Cassie has none of that. She’s entirely alone inside and her mind has gone somewhere it doesn't know how to come back from without help." I looked at the car. "We’re the only help available."

For a moment, there was silence.

"She'll still know her mother is gone," Castien said slowly.

"Yes," I said. "She’ll wake up knowing her mother’s gone. She’ll grieve. She’ll hurt. I can’t change that and I wouldn't try." I met his eyes. "But she’ll wake up as herself”

“I don’t like this” Darren said.

I turned to him “This is about saving her.”

“By lying to her?” Daren looked at me. “By taking away her choice to deal with it?”

“She won’t survive it like this,” I said firmly. “You saw her. She watched her mother die. She was covered in blood. She tried to fight them and couldn’t. That kind of trauma…” I paused, exhaling slowly. “It can destroy someone from the inside.”

Casein shook his head. “Or it can make them stronger.”

“Not like this,” I said. “Not when she doesn’t even have her wolf to anchor her.”

Daren took a step closer to me. “And what happens when she finds out? What happens when she realizes you took something from her?”

I didn’t answer immediately, because I didn’t have a perfect answer. I didn’t know what to say.

“She won’t,” I said finally, even though part of me knew that wasn’t guaranteed. “I’ll make sure the memory is sealed. She’ll believe something else happened, something peaceful.”

Casein let out his breath. “You’re asking us to start this… whatever this is… with deception.”

“We’re not starting anything if she doesn’t wake up,” I shot back. “We’re not building any bond if she’s broken beyond repair.”

Silence fell again. It was heavier this time.

Daren dragged a hand down his face. His voice was rough when he spoke again. “This is a bad start. You know that, right?”

“I do,” I admitted quietly.

Darren looked straight at me "Bastian, I need you to actually understand what I'm saying. If she ever finds out we made a decision about her mind without her knowledge, in the first hours we knew her, while she was unconscious and couldn't say no - that's not something you come back from. That's not a mistake you apologise for and have forgiven."

"I know," I said again, and I meant it differently this time.

Darren looked at me for a long moment.

"It's not a good start," he said finally. "Whatever comes after this - this is not how it should begin."

"No," I agreed. "It isn't."

Casein looked away. His jaw tightened as he thought it through. Daren exhaled slowly. His shoulders dropped just a little as the fight left him.

“Damn it,” Daren muttered under his breath.

Casein finally nodded.

“Fine,” he said. “But if this goes wrong-”

“It won’t,” I cut in, even though I couldn’t promise that.

“It better not,” he replied.

Daren looked at me one last time, “You do this, you own it. Every consequence.”

I nodded “I know,”

And I meant it.

"Do it carefully," Darren said.