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

Jarek.

The thoughts of Leilani plagued me for the rest of the day, so much so that I couldn’t refrain myself from calling one of the triplet brothers, Kael.

He picked up on the second ring, and as soon as his deep voice seeped through the phone, muttering the word; "Hello?" I immediately knew that there was something he knew that I didn’t.

Hell, he sounded too chill... too relaxed, and something about the coolness that dripped off his words like honey unsettled me.

I immediately blurted; "Have you heard anything from Leilani?"

He took a second— one that I decided lasted too long— to respond, and when he did, he didn’t provide a straightforward answer to my question right away. Rather, he asked; "Did you hear anything about her?"

His response was another dead giveaway that he knew something I didn’t, and it made me frown slightly.

I hissed; "No. I have been considering giving out some of her personal items back at the office, and for this reason, I have to be sure first..."

"Why would you do that?" He snapped quickly— too quickly, and even from here, I could swear that I heard the anger immediately seep into his voice. "Isn’t that a little too early?"

"It is..." I let my voice trail off, wanting to annoy him even further and hoping that the angrier he would get, the easier it would be for me to pry something out of him.

I was wrong.

"But someone needs to take up her position." I continued coolly, "Someone needs to become my acting manager and acting lead engineer, and—"

"Do not give anything out!" He growled, and goddess, if I were a lesser man, then his tone would have made me flinch or even tremble.

But it didn’t.

So I pretended to sigh whilst pinching the bridge of my nose as I muttered; "It is my obligation..."

"Your obligation is to give them to someone who is a close member of her immediate family, and in rare situations... her extended family."

At the sound of his words, I let out a sigh again. And truth be told, at this point, this unnecessary back and forth was beginning to make a whack headache brew at the back of my skull. And when I realized— or suddenly deciphered— that he would continue to pull this ’crazy’ stunt for as long as it is necessary, I snapped;

"Alpha Kael, stop beating around the bush and tell me if you know where Leilani is!"

My words made him go silent, his harsh pants echoing through my phone’s receiver like some exaggerated moan from one of these X-rated sites.

It took him another moment that I again decided was too long to respond. And this time, he said; "I do not know where she is but I may have heard from her."

"How?" My throat stung as soon as those words slipped through, packed full with jealousy so intense, I was shocked that I could feel that much.

I let out a deep breath, hoping to calm the storm now raging in my heart but failing miserably as he said; "I got a text. It was nothing much but it was enough for me to know that she is fine."

The fact that he got a text while I got nothing made me want to see red. My fingers curled around my phone so tight, I feared the device would shatter and my teeth gnashed together so much that it caused another sharp pain to rip through my skull.

"When?"

"Some time around two days ago or so..."

"Two days ago..." my voice trailed off again, and when he didn’t respond— because come to think of it, what else was there to respond?— I continued; "Can I see the text?"

"Why?" He sounded too guarded. Too tense. And that in itself roused my curiosity all over again.

However, I was just about to respond to that when I suddenly heard a feminine voice, not from my end but from his end. It chirped;

"Maya, do you want some mashed potatoes?!"

The voice sounded too familiar. Heavens, I could be dead and only that voice had the power to wake me up. It took me a moment to realize what that meant— that it meant he has been lying to me the entire time and that she was in fact with him— and when that realization settled at the back of my skull, I immediately lost it.

I lost it because:

One, I knew for a fact that that was Leilani.

And two, because she had gone to them and not to me.

My grip on my phone tightened as I took in deep breaths, but before he would say another word to me, probably another lie, I immediately ended the call and placed my phone face down on my table.

For a very long moment, I couldn’t control the way I breathed. I couldn’t control the pain that seared through my midriff and chest, tearing through every muscle and tendon. For a while, it felt as though I had lost the ability to think, to speak... to breathe, and panting through my teeth, I pressed my head into the headrest and drawled;

"She went to them and not to me."

She was supposed to be with me, for me... she was meant to be my own. Not theirs. Never theirs.

And that delirious mindset was what I had until now...

Goddess, that realization hurt more than anything in the world, especially since it was something that I have always suspected.

I always knew that a time would come when she would pick them over me, and I, Alpha Jarek Frostclaw, would not make that decision any easy for her for as long as I am alive.

So with this thought, I swiftly rose to my feet, pushed my phone into my pocket and stepped out of my office with my car key in hand, and with only one purpose in mind;

—And that is to crash whatever party they were having at the moment.

The goddess be damned.