Saving My Triplet Alphas

Frankie: “So, you will tell her then?” I was sneaking up the steps, entranced by the smells of Cedarwood and lust. “I intend to as soon as she realizes.” That was the voice of my future alpha, my bully by day, my best friend by night… and now my mate. My wolf’s growls rumbled my mind as the sounds of their kissing encased the dark hallway of the alpha floor. “A powerful alpha like you must have a powerful luna, Tyner.” I knew that voice, but I couldn’t place her face. My mind was mangled by the groaning sounds from the crack in Ty’s bedroom door. “That is why I tend to take you as my chosen mate.” He purred. I peered through the door, watching my mate thrust into Charlotte Miller. I clutched my chest and stepped away, sure at any moment Ty would sense me, come out of the room, and make me pay for sneaking around on a floor that an “orphan” like myself had no business being on. Once back on the stairs, I fled back to the attic. After all, three in the morning comes early. Yet even rolled in my comforter, I couldn’t find sleep. Something about this nagged at me, and it had nothing to do with Alpha Tyner being my mate. I had known since my shifter’s spirit awakened that he was mine. I had watched for the last five years as he sucked face with every pack female coming and going, felt the pain as he slept through them left and right. I was used to the shattering of my heart, that deep ache behind my ribs every time he slept with someone. But it doesn’t hurt like it used to, and it sure doesn’t change that I am leaving just because he turned eighteen mere minutes ago. That nagging came from something else that felt so close that I could feel it crawling beneath my skin, yet so far away that I felt like I could never put a finger on it. “It’s your alpha blood. It seeks its people. Even the blood in your veins knows you do not belong here.” I felt my wolf stretch before lying in the dark part of my mind where she often dwelled on nights like tonight. In that part of my mind, she can ease the pain. “Oh please, you won’t even let me shift. What do you know?” I snapped at her while stretching myself. “You will shift in time, but it must be when the time is right, not just because you couldn’t control your emotions. Now sleep. Training comes early.” She spoke softly as she fell asleep, still easing the pain from Tyner’s infidelity. Ty had been training me for the last three years, something we did secretly, hidden by the brickwork of a secret room within the pack house. He started training me because girls like Charlotte put their hands on me. He said he would be in trouble if anyone knew he and I were friends. That is also when his smiles and kind words turned to hugs and morning coffees. I still struggled to fall asleep for a few minutes, then all at once, rest took me into its embrace, letting my mind unscramble and rest. They must have finished. “Frankie!” My wolf’s howls rattled my sleep. I sat up in bed, gasping for air. “What? What?” I repeated. “Training time. Get on it.” She laughed at my expense. But I jumped up and pulled on the leggings and sports bra that Ty snuck me and my old shoes. I made the bed and sat on it, pulling the small coffee maker from under the table that Ty had given me to hide a few years ago. With our coffee brewing, I waited. Only this morning, that usually giddy excitement, well… it wasn’t there. Even with the sound of his shoes coming up the steps, the excitement that used to choke me was gone. I thought… When he turned eighteen, I thought all the flirting between us over the years would be… something else. Something beautiful. But, alas, it wasn’t. It couldn’t be. The old attic doorknob turned, but his cedarwood scent was painting the room before he even came through it. “Early bird catches the worm, I see.” He chuckled, and I only offered him coffee. “Does eighteen feel any different?” I turned to face where he had flopped down on my bed, and instead of seeing him lying there as I had suspected, his lips crashed against mine, taking me by surprise. I shoved him away. Even with the rapid beating of my heart in my ears, his smokey tone rang through clean. “I have feelings for you. I can’t describe them, but I feel like I need you, or at least a part of you. I need something from you before my father sends me on this month-long journey to find my mate.” I wanted to hit him, to scream that I knew about everything, but my wolf was in my ears, whispering her sweet nothings that always seemed to suck the anger from my bones. “I want your virginity, Frankie.” His tone was gruff this time, and its sound gave me chills. He will never have me, and I would rather chug rat poison than give a man like him that much of myself. “No, Ty.” I knew with me not being eighteen, despite already having my wolf spirit, that if I said no, he could not touch me by law. Under the law of Pinnala, he could be dethroned or beheaded for this. His hands slipped from my heated skin, lingering only seconds longer than they should have. “I’m saving myself for my mate.” I held my chin high, knowing d.a.m.n well that he wouldn’t admit to being mine. “I understand. Unfortunately, my father wants to send me on my trip a day early. So, I cannot train with you this morning.” He stood, tapping his foot while eying me. “That’s too bad.” I couldn’t force my usual smile. Why pretend he would sweep me off my feet and out of this attic? “Yes. Too bad.” Something in his demeanor changed with those words. He stepped towards the door, and I stood to lock it, no longer trusting the electricity in the air that could not promise I was safe despite the law. As we neared the narrow doorway, Ty moved so fast that it made me dizzy. He pinned me on the wall by my throat, my head slamming into the old wooden beams that lined the dusty, dysfunctional room. “What do you know?” He growled in my ear. I couldn’t answer his question. That question had just enough context behind it that I had abundant room to stick my foot in my mouth. I couldn’t breathe because of his fingers closing off my airway with nothing but anger in his eyes, and by the throbbing of my lips, I knew they must be blue by now. I kept my eyes sharp, peering into him despite it all. “M—Mate!” I growled, watching as his honey eyes widened, realizing that I did, in fact, know more than I had let on. He released me, dropping me to the ground while I scrambled to breathe, coughing and snotting with every breath of air that sliced through my aching lungs like razor blades. “What is your last name?” He demanded. I stood, forcing a menacing smile, even though behind my dead eyes were waterfalls of sadness and grief for what could have been just waiting to roll over. “You know that I don’t know the answer to that.” With the straightening of his broad shoulders and the anger dimming to a mere spark, he spoke the words I had long waited for. “I reject you, Francesca, as my goddess-given mate and Luna.” I had expected this to hurt, but it barely burned. “Before I accept, I request to leave Pinnala immediately.” Again, his movements were dizzying, making me sway on chattering knees as my face met the rough, splintering wood. “Are you trying to blackmail your alpha?” His question floored me. How could that have been what he took from my request? “What? No! I don’t want to be here anymore. I accept your rej-“ The words were stolen by a kiss I had no eagerness to return. I tried to keep my lips closed as the call of my wolf howled mighty in my ringing ears. She was pissed, knowing what Tyner had planned the moment his fingers slipped into the waistband of my leggings. But I would rather die than let him take anything from me. I fought. I fought hard until both of us were breathless and bleeding on the old attic floor. He had either called on someone, or someone had heard the commotion because before I could scramble to my feet, the guards of Pinnala and the alpha were through the door, and the commotion already surrounding us grew tenfold. “Drag the orphan to the cells. She’s done here.” The alpha growled, releasing the words I knew would come next. “She will be sentenced to death for crimes against her future alpha. Prepare her immediately! Come the eve of her eighteenth birthday, she will be stripped in the town square and beheaded.” the alpha growled, dragging Tyner to his feet. Tyner’s wolf’s eyes were trained on me, but I didn’t indicate that I had gotten my own wolf, nor did I give them the satisfaction of reacting to the news of my death. Instead, I kept my expression neutral and let the guards drag me away. Two guards I once attended high school with dragged me into the cells. Neither of them bothered to act as if they knew me, knew I was once their peer. Instead, they intended to lock me in a damp cage barely big enough to turn around inside of before chaining me to the wall by my hands and feet. I did not fight. Why even bother? Death would be a welcoming comfort compared to a secret lifetime with a man more in love with his power.