NAERIS'S POV

“Drop the washingcloth and pack your bags.” I heard Nyea say as I was still cleaning the west wing, and I looked up in confusion. What does she mean by that? Or is this one of her many tricks?

I remember the first time she played a prank on me, when the Alpha said he was sorry for rejecting me and wanted to see me.

I was full of hope and stupid enough to believe that Talon would actually apologize to me. The way they had all laughed at their silly little joke then was horrible.

“Didn't you hear me?” She asked, and I threw the washcloth into the bucket while turning to face her. There was something distinctive in her look, like she was relieved in a kind of way.

“I'm sorry, I'm just a little confused. What do you mean, pack my bags?” I questioned as I couldn't place a finger on why she would even tell me to do that.

“It's a good riddance for all of us. You're leaving this pack for the North province. The Triplet Alpha's already bought you as a maid, so huddle up and be fast about it.” Immediately, she was done talking, she walked away.

Of course, she was relieved. Now, I confirmed that part. She must really be relieved that the daughter of a traitor in their midst was finally leaving their pack.

The way she walked away like she hadn't just dropped a news that was definitely going to turn my life around. And I'm sure it wasn't turning for the better, but even worse.

“Why? Why would they do that?” I muttered to myself as it felt like my heart had been tugged again.

It was clear they hated me, were disgusted and irritated by my presence, yet they had bought me just when I was already immersed and getting used to the life a bit, I had already accepted fate the way it was.

Leaving this pack for the North province, I was unsure what would be in store for me, but it just couldn't be good.

What if I face even greater pain there? What if I don't? It's possible they weren't disgusted by me, but the fact that we were all mated together? No, that was absurd. They made it pretty clear they didn't like my presence.

“Your cue to leave, Naeris. You can't keep the Alpha triplets waiting.” Nyea yelled, and I instantly began throwing my things into the pack I had brought out.

The first time she said it, I thought she was bluffing. But repeating that they were Alpha's even scared me more.

No one knew what the future held anyway.

Walking outside, for the first time in a long while, I set my eyes on Talon. A few months after my parents' death, his father had crowned him Alpha, and I'm sure he was the one who made it impossible for me to ever see him

Yes, that's right. After that day, I hadn't set my eyes on Talon ever again, yet we stayed under the same roof.

My foolish and stupid mate who rejected me because I was ‘unfit’

“One month.” I heard Nyxion say as he extended his hands for a shake, and Talon received it.

Some deal was ongoing, and they didn't look like they were on good terms anyway, but it wasn't something I should worry about.

“Be a good maid and don't bring disgrace to my pack,” Talon stated, and for the first time ever, I realized I was getting away from his clutches and could finally say what I wanted to say to him all this time.

“Fuck you, Talon. Fuck you for making me feel worthless and unfit. I wish you die and rot in hell and I never ever have to set my eyes on you ever again. Or wait, no, I'd absolutely love to attend your funeral because you would deserve every single thing that befalls you.” I seethed, and somehow saying that soothed my broken heart as my mind went down memory lane to that day he rejected me.

He raised his hands like he was going to strike me, and Nyxion immediately planted himself between me and Talon.

“She's under us now. You have no right to hit her, Alpha Talon, and I think it would be best for both of us if we respect boundaries,” Nyxion stated, and Talon immediately took his hands down slowly.

“Try not to rub off some of your treachery at your new home.” He said with a smile, and I folded my fist at my side, gritting my teeth to keep myself in check like I had done all this while, but it wasn't working. My wolf was getting the better of me, and no matter how I tried to steady my breath and calm myself down, it fucking wasn't working.

Nyxion was towering in front of me, though, so I wasn't able to see Talon properly. This man was tall and huge; why didn't I notice it sooner?

“I found out, Talon. That's all I have to tell you, I found out. Your father didn't make that decision; you did. You killed them.” His jaw tightened, and it seemed he was about to say something when someone stretched out his hands, grabbed me by the collar, and pulled me into the chariot, and I let out a big sigh.

The devastation I had to go through months ago, when I realized that Talon was the one who ordered my parents to be killed, was second to none.

I could literally feel my heart falling to my feet, but I knew that it didn't matter. No one would have even believed me, but it felt therapeutic that at least I could tell him that I knew.

Joke's on him because I knew that sometime much later, when I had conquered all the stumbling blocks in my way, I would come back for revenge and he wouldn't even expect it.

“You sure she's an omega?” I heard the other one, whose name I hadn't found out yet, question, and they all sighed while I looked out the window as their chariot sprinted away.

It felt like forever to get to their pack, and in that forever, none of them uttered a word, not to me. It was absolute silence, and I kind of enjoyed it, but now we were here. They alighted and I shut my eyes while taking a deep breath as I mounted off as well.

“Take her to the dungeon and lock her up there.” I heard Nyxion command one of the warriors waiting to receive them at the foot of the porch, and I raised a brow in confusion.

“What the hell? What do you mean by that?” I questioned, turning around to see if there was someone else behind me, but there wasn't.

The guard nodded and hit the back of my legs, causing me to grunt out of pain as I fell to my knees before hurling myself onto his shoulders.

“You brought me to your pack just to lock me up? I didn't even do anything to you. Put me down.” I yelled, kicking my feet in the air as I bit into the arm of the person holding me. He didn't budge as he took me to the dungeon, where he locked me up.

NYXION'S POV

“Am I the only one who thinks she has some kind of history with Alpha Talon? I mean, an ordinary person wouldn't cuss him out like that?” Aeron uttered, and I yawned, rocking my seat in different directions while flipping through papers I wasn't even reading.

I just hoped that drowning myself in pack matters would help me take my mind off the silly little mate I had brought down here.

“It sure did look that way, but that's not even the issue on the ground. She's our mate, guys. How do we deal with this?” Varek asked, and I slammed the file I was holding shut in anger.

Harems were outlawed by lycanthropy, and we were on our way to becoming Lycan, so why does she have to be a stumbling block?

If the elders and council get to hear of it before I'm able to figure out what to do, then it's safe to say I'm doomed.

“You know, I think it is really ridiculous and totally insensitive that the moon goddess would even think of mating me with the same person as you guys. And she's an omega, and under the leadership of the same man who killed my first mate. This is all shades wrong. I feel like I might lose my mind and gut that girl from the inside out.” I finally blurted out as I hadn't spoken another word after ordering her to be thrown in the dungeon.

“Dear Bailey. Bless her soul,” Aeron muttered, and I gritted my teeth.

Bailey was my first mate, the absolute love of my life. She was the only one I ever truly felt comfortable with outside my brothers; she was the sweetest, and she was going to be my Luna.

I knew in every fiber of my being that I wanted her to be mine and my Luna.

She was even pregnant with my pup, and yet all my head could replay now was how Talon had sunk his sword into her stomach, and she fell onto the floor, blood gushing out of the place where she was stabbed. She had died at my hands, and I had vowed there and then that I would return the favor.

“I understand we're all a little pissed, but the girl doesn't seem to be a fan of Talon. Didn't anyone hear what she told Talon? She said, “You killed them.” What does that mean?” Aeron asked, and I slammed my hands on the table.

I hated it when he was like this. All soft and trying to understand everyone, it was honestly really annoying.

“I don't care,” I grunted my teeth when I suddenly scented her, and I looked up. She was supposed to be in the dungeon, not here.

When Varek and Aeron looked towards the door, I realized they had scented the same thing.

“What are you doing here? How did you get out?” I questioned gruffly, standing on my feet, and she shrugged.

“I'm not escaping. I don't have anywhere to go anyway. I just wanted to know if there was another spot that gives off more rays of light. I tend to get panic attacks in the dark,” She answered, rubbing her shoulders softly.

From the looks in her eyes, you could already tell that she didn't even mean to end up here. She might have lost her way.

“That wasn't the answer to my question,” I asked, walking closer to her as I wrapped my hands over her neck.

All my wolf could echo in my head was to break her neck into bits right there and then.

“Oh, you mean, how I get out of the dungeon? I'm a maid, I should know basic things like escaping prisons and getting around with the guards.” She answered, not looking the least bit scared, even as my hands were on her neck.

Aeron chuckled a bit, and I turned to glare at him, and he immediately pursed his lips.

“You're a maid, and you should know when to keep your mouth shut,” I warned.

“1 year and four months,” she uttered, and I raised a brow in confusion, tightening the pressure of my hands around her neck, and she coughed.

“What?”

“1 year and four months, I kept my mouth shut as a maid. I let my defiant part die. Because? I was a maid, not just a maid but the daughter of a traitor. Every single move I made could mean ‘death by the gallows’ in 1 year and four months. I yearned to speak the same way I always have.”

“And today, I talked to Talon that way. The way I always wanted to but couldn't.” She chuckled a bit as I stared at her.

“I've been tossed and will continue to be tossed. You imprisoned me because, apparently, all of you hate that a weak omega is mated to you. But I can't change that. And I'm done trying to be who I'm not. I'm loud, I speak, I question things I don't understand, and I wouldn't continue doing that.”

“I'll take her back to the dungeon,” Aeron offered, and I let go of her immediately so I don't end up strangling her to death.

“Please, please take me to another dungeon. I really am scared of the dark. It would kill me faster than any of you would.” She pleaded, and I walked towards the window.

Something about her reminded me of Bailey, but I just couldn't even place my hands on it.

“Take her back.” I nodded, and Varek grabbed her by the arm.

“Don't think that because you're mated to any of us gives you the entitlement to act crazy. You are apparently really lucky that you are still alive and breathing,” Varek muttered as he dragged her along.

“I'm crazy. Yeah, I am. How is that so wrong?” She yelled, and I felt something tug on my chest. My eyes turned pitch black as I could see in my head that my wolf was giving me a visual representation of how she would look undressed.

The stupid mate bond. I tried to withhold myself, but it wasn't working as I dragged my feet over to where Varek had her pinned against the wall.

“What are you all doing?” She asked, looking visibly horrified as Aeron snapped her shirt buttons and began trailing lines over her body.

Her body looked so beautiful, delicate even, and it was so hard to stop myself as I placed my hands onto her skin and felt shivers down my spine.

Grabbing her jaw, I locked her lips in a really urgent and passionate kiss like a wolf that had been starved all his life, and she let out a soft moan.

Damn it! That was it for me, as it seemed like everything in my head was wiped away, and all I could see was her.

If she moans one more time, I won't be able to restrain myself, and I doubt my brothers are even trying with the way they were probing all over her.

“Aww.” She moaned yet again and f*ck!

Just then, there was a knock on the door, snapping me out of the daze that the mate bond had put me into, and I gasped, taking steps away from her.

“Nyxion, are you in there?” Aerila’s voice came in abruptly. Shit! Shit! Shit!