Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.

Leilani.

For a moment, I simply stood there, stunned beyond reasoning and wondering if by chance he’d been hit in the head by an alien.

Because that’s the only logical explanation as to why he would even think something like that.

It was the only reason he’d think I would ever stoop so low as to ’make him jealous.’

A frown creased my forehead as I glared at him, and for the first time in a long while, I finally realized something sad. Or good. Or shocking, as the case may be:

I didn’t love the triplets anymore.

I didn’t feel shit for them anymore besides the occasional weird sensations, the sparks flying here and there, and perhaps the way I cared about them in a weird way, all of which I attributed to being caused by us sharing a mate bond.

My eyes met Zevran’s coldly, and oh sweet goddess, I didn’t feel anything.

Nothing at all.

I flashed a smile at him, one that in a situation like this in the past, I wouldn’t have been able to, and straightened my back. I spat in a low tone; "Are you insane?"

Zevran recoiled as if physically struck. His eyes darted across my face as if he was searching for something. As if there was a hidden gem on my face he was trying to uncover, and I bristled at the uncomfortable scrutiny whilst scrunching up my face as I asked;

"What now?"

"Leilani, I asked you before. Were you trying to make me jealous?"

"And who the fuck do you think you are that I’ll go that far to prove a point to?" I sassed back, ignoring the way his eyes widened slightly and the way a bright shade of red suddenly stained his face and neck.

His eyes darkened but this time, it wasn’t out of rage. It wasn’t despair either. It was out of... wait, is that hurt?

Is he hurt?

Goddess, I wanted to laugh at the irony of it all. I wanted to laugh at how stupid he looked staring at me like that. His gaze lowered slightly, just as his tone dropped a few notches; and he whispered; "You don’t mean that, do you?"

"I do. However, I don’t know what that has to do with you." I answered— more like sneered at him, and I was stunned when instead of getting angry, he simply looked sad.

He drawled; "We’re mates..."

I rolled my eyes.

"...and you shouldn’t be seeing other men while still bonded with us."

Now, that was the height of it. It was the peak of his stupidity. Gosh, I always knew that the triplets had tiny brains, but I just never knew the extent to which it was so bad.

Usually, this should be the part where I pointed out that he and his brothers were doing just the same with Chalice, but deciding that I would simply lose more IQ points by explaining that to him, I sighed and looked away.

"You’re embarrassing yourself." I said after a while, that is after noticing the weird glances from the other guests.

Jarek stepped closer to us, having watched our exchange for a while. His sharp gaze was fixated on Zevran’s hand wrapped around my arm as he spoke. He said; "Let her go."

"With all due respect, the matter between us is solely between us..." Zevran hissed back. "She’s my mate, so if there’s anyone who should back off, then it’s you."

And do you want to know what my reaction to those words were?

—I’d gladly tell you.

I smacked his forehead so hard that he blanched. A few people close by turned to us in shock but after beaming a smile at them and then at Zevran, they turned away as if unwilling to be involved in our drama.

I seethed; "You should be the one to back off! Now, let go of me."

His eyes widened again "No."

"Why?"

"Because we have to talk..." he snapped back, and in a more serious tone, added; "...somewhere private."

"No."

"You heard the woman." Jarek snarled at him, "...She doesn’t want to go with you. I don’t know what you were taught while growing up, but something you should know is that when a woman says no... it means no. So let go of her."

"Please, stay out of this, Alpha Frostclaw!" Zevran snarled, his face contorting into an ugly frown, but just as I was about to respond to him, the event’s host began to speak on stage.

She was a blonde woman dressed in a deep crimson dress with a pretty face and cheekbones so high, they nearly touched the chandelier above. Her eyes were a striking shade of green and she looked to be around fifty years of age.

I watched her quietly as she spoke at the front and at the end of her speech, she invited Jarek over to give the introductory speech, seeing as Frostclaw was one of the leading companies present.

He immediately turned to me; "Let’s go, Leilani," he drawled softly, but as soon as I tried to move, Zevran held me back, he growled into my ear;

"If you go with him, it means you’re letting me go... it means that you’re letting us go, and you know what that means."

And those... those were the words of a mentally deranged psychopath. I rolled my eyes at him, the corners of my lips tilting upwards comically as I seethed;

"I’d rather let you go a million times than not go with Jarek, who is a thousand times a better man than you and your brothers put together could ever be."

His jaws dropped but I was unaffected by that.

I simply pried my hands free from his suffocating hold and slipped my arm into Jarek’s, smiling softly as we walked through the crowd while I could feel Zevran’s piercing gaze drilling holes into the back of my skull.

The buffoon!

—

Zevran.

My eyes burned with fury as I watched her walk away from me for the millionth time; And at this point, I didn’t know what to do anymore. I didn’t know how else I could win her over anymore... or how to get her to speak about the things going on between herself and Chalice.

Behind me, I felt a presence— more— and I didn’t even need to turn around to know that it was my brothers. I didn’t even need to see their faces to know that they were equally as enraged as me.

I mean, who wouldn’t be mad when they see their mate with another person?

"And that’s exactly how she felt when she watched you three flock around her sister.’ My wolf answered, and as soon as I heard those words, if I felt bad before, then I definitely felt worse.

I was however snapped out of my daze when Leilani soon began to answer questions being thrown at her by other innovators, and goddess, I couldn’t help but be floored when she answered each and every one with ease.

Her face was pleasant while she spoke, and throughout, she had a polite smile on her face even when she was being asked very stupid questions.

In the midst of the chaos, someone suddenly asked; "And what is the relationship between you and Alpha Frostclaw?"

I froze.

My eyes met my brother’s and it wasn’t until I’d seen how red-faced they looked that I realized I’d been holding my breath.

I began to suddenly feel sweaty and my heart raced when she ducked her head shyly and muttered; "No, I do not wish to answer that."

But I didn’t miss the blush on her face or the smile radiating from her lips like stars in the sky. The press probably noticed this too because they soon began to press further.

She sighed and lowered her lashes. "We’re taking things slow." She answered, and I could swear that I heard my heart crack open.

I could swear that I felt like I was dying.

The smile on her face was real.

The affection in her eyes as she looked at Frostclaw was real. It was just the same as the one she used to reserve for us— but now, it belonged to another man.

My heart sank.

And then, I realized... I realized to my utmost horror that she hadn’t debunked the news; and neither did Jarek.

They were indeed a couple!