The Triplet Alphas's Christmas Gift

Chapter 8 - Secrets part 1

Ryan's POV

I looked at Teira, stunned by her outburst. School nobody?! Who would DARE to call this sweet girl the school nobody?!?

Probably the same people to tried to hurt her at school today. My wolf, Smoke, growled in my head. I clenched my fists at my sides, they were going to pay when I found out who they were.

Finding Teira like that was one of the worst times of my life; I had only met her today, but I felt an instant connection. My brothers admitted the same through our link after she left, but we didn't want to let Kyle know; he seemed pretty protective of her.

I had wanted nothing more than to comfort her myself and I was a bit jealous that Tyler had carried her to Kyle's car despite her protests. She didn't protest too hard, probably in shock mostly but the tender look Tyler had on his face showed he was in heaven.

That's part of the reason we argued at the training gym; we had gotten through school as much as we could, but the look on Teira's face as she clutched her shabby coat around her so as not to show her chest to anyone through her torn clothes, kept replaying over and over in my mind.

We had agreed to go to the principal's office on her behalf, but we figured we could leave her name out at least and get a look at the cameras. The principal agreed to show us the camera footage but stated he couldn't do much without a complaint. So we had to figure out a way to have her come forward.

The fight occurred when we got to the gym. We were already ready to punch something before we texted Kyle, but the anger we felt when he didn't reply after a while caused the rage we were holding back to boil over.

We were pretty strong individually, but when our rage grew like that, we were almost unstoppable. All it took was one sly comment from one of the warriors trying to tease us, not realizing we were already angry, to set us off.

Luckily we didn't kill anyone, just hurt them enough to keep them from repeating the same mistake twice. Then we turned on each other, anger and guilt blinding us and causing us to blame the other for not protecting her. ft

Kyle's shout managed to snap us out of it, since he was her brother, we could get news about her from him to ease our minds. Tyler and I trained with him since he looked ready to kill someone himself, leaving Matt, the most level-headed, to check on the other warriors and start the training.

When we finished, and I managed to stop Kyle, I was wondering how we were going to talk to Teira again when Kyle mentioned dinner. Tyler smoothly included us and Matt and I agreed after making sure Kyle was ok with it. He seemed hesitant but did agree in the end, leading the way to his car.

As we drove to his place, Kyle's grip on the steering wheel tightened a bit. "What's wrong?" I asked quietly but he shook his head, "Nothing, just don't expect Tei to be a dinner. She was pretty wiped earlier today." he said cautiously. "Does that mean you haven't told your parents yet?" I asked and Kyle nodded.

"They work kinda late, and I'm not going to say anything until she's ready," he explained, and I nodded as we pulled up to the house.

It was a three-story wooden colonial painted brown with white trimmings and surrounded by trees. It was an old house but looked to be in good condition, with no peeling paint, and windows sparkled in the late sunshine. It looked warm and inviting.

Kyle parked the car, and we climbed out, following him inside, "I'm home!" he called, and I heard the clicking of heels as a woman approached. She wore a red silk dress, cut modestly with a diamond necklace around her neck and her blonde hair framed in curls around her face, "Kyle! How was school today?" she asked as she hugged him gently, then stiffened, seeing the three of us behind him.

"Mom, you know the Mason triplets, this is Ryan, Matt, and Tyler. They wanted to join us for dinner, is that alright?" he asked politely. His mom smiled brightly, but I could see the hesitation in her eyes, "Of course, it's good to see you again, Alphas, please come in. Dinner's on the table." she said sweetly as she led us down the hallway.

We looked at Kyle curiously but he shook his head and followed her. Matt stared at his back then at us, Something's not right here, Kyle doesn't seem like himself. He linked and I nodded. Tyler glanced around as we slowly followed behind them, Hey guys, did you notice the pictures on the wall? There's plenty of Kyle and his parents, but none of Teira. He stated nodding to the family portrait we passed.

That's odd. Matt stated, and we nodded, then walked quietly into the dining room.

The large oak table was piled with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, brown rice with tomatoes as well as glasses of water, hot apple cider, and a hot chocolate stand set up by the back door. Tyler walked over to the hot chocolate, poured himself a cup, and added whipped cream and cinnamon. Sipping, he walked back over to the table and sat next to Kyle with me on Kyle's other side and Matt sitting next to me. Kyle's mom sat across from us next to a man who I assumed was Kyle's dad.

We'd only seen him a few times in Dad's office when we needed something taken care of; he usually worked at a separate desk from Dad and was always frowning when we walked in like he couldn't believe the Alpha was being bothered by our petty requests. Usually, those requests were urgent, like when one pack member came to us saying that she was being bullied and didn't know whether to head to another pack or go rogue.

We had run to Dad immediately after linking him and he sent Mr. Harris out of the room so we could speak privately but when we left, Mr. Harris smiled at us but it looked forced.

Now that we were sitting across from them, it was all smiles and friendly talk like we were old friends. I tried not to let my contempt show on my face, I hated fake people.

We were about to dig in when Kyle's mom held up her hand, "Pardon me Alphas, I forgot the salad in the kitchen. It's always best to start with something healthy." she called loudly over her shoulder as she headed for a door off to the side. I heard scrambling as she walked in, but nothing else; when she returned, there was a huge bowl of Caesar salad freshly made in her hands.

We began to eat after that with Mr. and Mrs. Harris praising Kyle's accomplishments and telling stories about him that made him sound like a prince among wolves. Tyler was hiding his mouth behind his hand, trying not to laugh, and Kyle looked down at the floor, his face flushed red from embarrassment.

Matt pushed his plate away after a bit wiping his mouth and rubbing his stomach, "That was fantastic, Mrs. Harris. What do you put in your chicken to make it so tender?" he asked. Mrs. Harris froze, her smile still in place, " Oh, um. Thank you Alpha, I believe it's soaked in buttermilk for about 30 minutes before I fry it up. Makes the meat nice and tender." she stated calmly. He nodded, and I looked at him curiously, but he shook his head.

We stood up and began to collect our plates, we didn't like leaving dirty dishes out for the staff to have to grab later. Mrs. Harris frowned, "Oh Alphas, you don't have to do that. I'll clean it up later. I'm sure you all have studying to do with finals next week. Kyle, take them home please." she said. We tried to protest but Mr. Harris put up his hand, "We insist, it's getting late and I'm sure your parents will worry if you don't head home soon. Thank you for joining us for dinner, it was a pleasure having you." he said bowing. Mrs. Harris curtsied while Kyle shrugged and grabbed his keys.

I sighed and sat my plates down on the table, I hated leaving a mess behind. Mom would always yell at the staff whenever she discovered a mess in the house, especially after a meal. So we resolved to clean up after ourselves to lessen the load on the kitchen staff. Looking at Mrs. Harris's hands, it was obvious she wasn't going to clean up.

I was about to protest again, using my Alpha tone when Kyle put a hand on my shoulder and barely shook his head. I suppressed a growl and followed him down the hall grabbing my coat with my brothers following.

"What was that, Kyle?!" Tyler asked hotly after the front door closed. "Your parents don't seem to talk about Teira at all! And from the look of the house, it's like she doesn't exist!" Kyle put a hand up, "Later, get in the car, and I'll explain." he whispered, looking back at the house worriedly.

I c****d my head and then glanced at the window by the front door; someone was peeking out of the blinds watching us. I motioned to Matt and Tyler, Someone's watching. Let's do as he says. I linked and they nodded. Tyler grumbled but followed as we climbed in the car and Kyle drove off.

"What's going on Kyle? Why are your parents treating your sister like some dirty little secret?" Matt demanded as we pulled over a few blocks down from the house.