Scarlett’s POV
With a final, mocking pat on my cheek, she turned and walked away, her laughter echoing in the quiet kitchen. I stood there, frozen. My mind was a ss. Was Ethan doing sothing behind my back? Was he seeing soone else? I shook my head, trying to clear the fog. No. Camila was a liar. She just wanted to cause a rift between us. She wanted to build thoughts in my head, and I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of believing her.
I pushed her words into a dark corner of my mind and set to work. I made a late breakfast for myself—simple eggs and toast—and then I made a second plate, piled high with the things I knew Ethan liked. I walked up to his room with the tray of breakfast in my hand and knocked on his door.
"Alpha Ethan?" I called out. No answer. I knocked again, harder this ti, but the room stayed silent. He wasn’t there.
I sighed and carried the tray down to the training field, thinking maybe he was getting so extra practice to clear his thoughts. The sun was hot on my neck as I scanned the grass, but the only people there were a few warriors cooling down. I walked up to a tall guard I recognized as one of Ethan’s personal unit.
"Excuse ," I said, holding out the plate. "Is Alpha Ethan around? I brought him so breakfast."
The guard wiped sweat from his forehead and looked at with pity. "Alpha Ethan went out a while ago, Scarlett. He said he had private business in the main village and wasn’t to be disturbed."
"Private business?" I repeated. My chest tightened. "I... I see. Thank you."
I handed him the al. "Here, you eat it. I don’t want it to go to waste."
The walls of the packhouse felt like they were closing in on . I felt suffocated by them. I needed to breathe. I decided to take a stroll around the pack lands—it had been so long since I had just walked without a chore to do.
As I left the house, the sun was high and hot. As I walked, childhood mories started playing in my head like an old movie. I rembered how the triplets never used to let walk alone. At least one of them was always tucked by my side, like a shadow. I recalled the ti I fell and twisted my ankle near the creek; each triplet had taken turns carrying on their back all the way ho, arguing about who was doing it better.
Back then, they were my dream n. I never even looked at anyone else. Even at seventeen, when other males started asking out, I would just rush back and tell the triplets. The next ti I saw those boys, they would have swollen eyes or bruised ribs, and they would avoid like I was a plague. I used to think it was sweet. I used to think it was protection. I used to think they were my princes in shining armor... How wrong was I.
I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn’t realize how far I had walked until I reached the edge of the village shopping district. But sothing stopped dead in my tracks.
A familiar black car was parked outside a coffee shop. Standing next to it was Alpha Ethan, and standing before him was a furious Elara.
I hid behind a brick pillar, my breath hitching. They were arguing. I couldn’t hear their words, but Elara looked like she was vibrating with rage. She was shouting, her face red, and then—my heart jumped into my throat when she reached out and slapped him right across the face.
The sound was sharp, even from a distance. I waited for him to explode. I waited for his Alpha aura to crush her for the disrespect. But he didn’t.
Instead, he did the unimaginable. He reached out, grabbed her waist, and pulled her hard against his chest. He crashed his lips onto hers. It wasn’t a soft kiss; it was passionate, desperate, and hungry. And Elara didn’t pull away. Her hands flew into his hair, pulling him closer as they moved against the car.
Where I stood, my world dropped out from under .
I watched them kiss for what felt like an eternity. Finally, as if realizing they were in a public parking lot, Ethan pulled away, his chest heaving. He opened the passenger door for her. She climbed in, and he walked around to the driver’s side.
For a long minute, the car didn’t move. I didn’t need to be told what they were doing in the front seat while the windows fogged up. After a while, the engine roared to life, and he drove out, leaving standing in the shadows of the pillar, my heart breaking all over again.
My knees nearly gave out. I stared at the empty space where the car had been, my heart feeling like it had been shredded. Ethan and Elara. Were they having an affair? Was that why she looked as if she wanted to kill when he kissed on the training field? Was it all a show?
"Were they mates?" I whispered to the empty air.
No. I shook my head. They couldn’t be. If they were fated mates, there would be no reason to hide. Elara ca from a respectable family. She was single. Everything was perfect for them to be together. If they were mates, they would be loud and proud about it. Which ant they weren’t. It ant Ethan was just seeing her behind my back. He was using as a cover while he gave his heart—and his body—to her.
The realization hit like a painful blow to my stomach. My heart sank, and the first tear escaped, hot and stinging. Then ca another. Soon, I was walking down the side of the road with tears streaming down my face. I didn’t even bother to wipe them away.
I thought Ethan was different. I thought he was perfect. He was the one who was supposed to save from the wreckage of the triplets, but he was just another Alpha with a silver tongue and a hidden life.
Suddenly, a loud horn blasted behind . I ignored it. I didn’t care if a car hit right now. I just kept walking, my shoulders shaking with every sob. I heard the screech of tires, then the sound of a car door slamming.
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