The Triplet Alphas' Regret

Chapter 94: She’s Staying

"No one cares about keeping you here forever," Cassian growled.

Beside him, Rowan and Soren both looked sheepish. Rowan even cleared his throat awkwardly, earning Cassian’s glare of annoyance.

I snorted. Even if Cassian didn’t, it seemed like his brothers at least had the thought briefly flash through their heads. It might’ve been fleeting for Soren, but whatever Rowan thought previously, that answer had surely changed by now, considering I was stamped with his mark.

Love me or hate me, it was impossible now for him to willingly cast me away, much to my chagrin.

"Then what is it?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest. "You thought that you three leaving Shadowclaw at the same time wouldn’t raise any suspicions whatsoever? Or that Violet would dutifully wait for you in the pack while knowing that you’re here with me?"

There was a silence that told me that these men believed so. I exhaled heavily in disbelief and shook my head.

Clearly, none of them understood the obsessiveness Violet had towards them. Even if they took refuge in a volcano, I had no doubt Violet would find a way to tunnel through the magma to find a way into their arms.

Finally, Rowan was the one who spoke up.

"Violet violated our trust in her," he said. "To send someone to follow us without our knowledge is also proof of her disrespect towards us and a neglect of her duties. She needs to be punished, along with her accomplice."

I resisted the urge to blatantly roll my eyes. Violet violating people’s boundaries was a tale as old as time.

"But that’s not the only reason why I brought you here," Rowan said.

"What else do you want me here for? Surely it’s not just to talk about Violet?" I asked. I was quickly becoming very exhausted, and every second here was just causing my eyelids to droop even further.

Right as I thought so, a yawn escaped my lips. I couldn’t catch it in time, resorting to hiding behind my hand in an attempt to shield it from view. All three men watched me in disbelief, turning to look at each other.

"We were discussing your escape," Cassian said with a hiss.

"I wasn’t trying to escape," I said, shooting him a glare. "I’ve already said that. Believe what you will."

"You lied about the wolf," he countered.

"And do you have any proof that I lied?" I rebutted.

"You don’t have proof that you didn’t," he seethed.

Just like that, we were locked in a glaring match. In the end, Soren stepped in between us, forcefully using his body to serve as a barrier to stop our glaring contest.

"There was a wolf out there," I said quietly after a while. "I didn’t lie about that."

If Willow was out there, if there was any chance that she was still alive, I needed to make sure she was saved. Only after her return to Shadowclaw would I finally be free of this torment.

This is wishful thinking, but Rowan might even be too preoccupied with Willow that he might forget about me long enough for me to escape. It was a stretch, and there was a higher chance of Soren and Cassian being distracted, but I clung to that tiny glimmer of hope. If they had their eyes on me, I would never be able to leave.

I still had to look for Lucien, wherever he was. He had to be worried sick.

"We will send men out to look for the wolf," Soren said, his voice gentle. When I looked at him, the gaze in his eyes was soft as well. My heart skipped a beat traitorously, and I had to tear my gaze away so that it wouldn’t remain interlocked with his.

The tender look he gave me almost made me think of Lucien in his place. If it weren’t for their hair colors, they truly looked identical. It was difficult to tell them apart when they looked at me with the same sort of puppy eyes.

Rowan huffed, coming over. He tugged me towards him by my elbow, and I collapsed against his chest. It took me a second to find my balance, and when I did, I furrowed my eyebrows, glaring up at him. His attention, however, was trained on his brothers instead.

"We need to rest for the night," Rowan said. He didn’t look at me, but his grip tightened nonetheless. "We set out at dawn." fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

"It’s almost dawn," Cassian flatly said.

"Then you should’ve slept when I told you to," Rowan smoothly replied.

There seemed to be sparks dancing between the two of them, and I glanced back and forth with intrigue. It was a rare sight to hear Rowan utter so many words in one night. And even rarer than that was seeing the three brothers fight as though they were mortal enemies. For the longest time, they were three peas in a pod.

"Right," Soren said, coming into the middle once more to play the peacemaker. "We’re all going to bed."

Cassian huffed loudly before storming off down the corridor. He entered one of the three rooms, slamming the door dramatically behind him without so much as another word.

Soren exhaled heavily once Cassian was gone. Then, he turned back and looked at Rowan’s hand, which was still firmly attached to my elbow.

"Are you not going to bed?" Soren asked, tilting his head slightly to one side with a confused frown.

"I am," Rowan said. However, despite his answer, he made no signs of moving from his current spot.

"And?" Soren raised an eyebrow. "What about Briar?"

I glanced between the two of them, snorting.

"If either one of you two would be so kind as to put me back in my cell, that would be great," I said.

Not that I wanted to be back there, especially with Violet on the loose. However, it would be a much better option than staying here. Cassian could kill me at any time in the night, and Rowan and Soren looked like they might eat me alive.

At least in my snug little silver-encased jail cell of a bedroom, I had a fighting chance to live until daytime.

"She’ll be staying here tonight," Rowan said, completely ignoring everything I had just said. "With me."