Alaric was still holding Thea when she woke up.

"You ready for early morning training?" Alaric's voice, rough with sleep, rumbled through her body, waking her up in the sweetest way. She wished she could wake up like this every morning. Then his words registered.

"I don't want to go today. I can't." She needed a day off. Maybe a week. A year. However long it took to figure out what was going on with her.

"Thea, you can, and there's no reason not to."

"Please don't make me—"

"Thea, you're coming. I'll see you outside in fifteen, okay?"

She knew she had to obey him.

"Yes, Alpha."

"Hey, that's not—I don't mean it like that," Alaric said. "You know you can say no to us, right? Thea, please. I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything you don't want to."

"Then why are you making me go train?"

"Because you love training. I'm not going to let you throw it away over a misunderstanding. Come on. This isn't like you. Where's my fearless Thea?"

"Back on the training field where she died of mortification?"

Alaric squeezed her into his chest and kissed the top of her head. "Let's go find her corpse and revive her then."

"Fine," she grumbled.

He got out of bed and left her room. She got ready and went to the training grounds where the triplets waited for her. She hoped her body behaved today. She didn't have time to make the tea to mask her scent.

They ran a lap around the field, and before they finished, Kai grabbed Thea from behind. Instincts kicked in. Thea sidestepped and threw him over her hip. Kai landed on the grass with a thud, rolled out of it to his feet, and faced her. Conri and Alaric caught up to them, and each grabbed one of Thea’s arms.

“Again?” she said. “Because this went so well yesterday.”

Kai walked toward her.

“Today is different,” Kai said. He put his hands on her waist. “Today, we’re not sparring.”

“What?”

Conri’s and Alaric’s grips shifted, and the three of them surrounded her, caging her in.

“Today, we’re seeing if we can turn you on,” Kai said.

He leaned in and ran his nose up and down her neck. His hands roamed over her body. She tried to ignore the sensual feelings he invoked. The more she tried to think of other things, the harder it was.

“Why are you doing this to me?” Thea said. “You already know you can. Please, don’t. Please. Please stop.”

“Why would we stop?” Kai said.

“You already proved your point. I get turned on by you guys. I’m sorry! I don’t know what’s wrong with me!”

“Nothing is wrong with you. You should get turned on by us,” Conri said.

She groaned. “I’ve never been so humiliated in my life,” she said, eyes closed and head down.

“Why are you embarrassed?” Alaric said.

“You guys have always been like my brothers. Sisters aren’t supposed to moan uncontrollably when their brothers tickle them.”

“We haven’t thought of you as a sister for a long time. Not since you grew those boobs you say are useless,” Kai said. “Should we see how useless they are?”

He watched her face as his hands traveled under her shirt and cupped her breasts. She gasped. He squeezed, and her mouth dropped open. He pulled her bra down, releasing her breasts, then found the peaks and rolled them between his fingers. She moaned and arched her back, leaning into his touch.

“Please,” she begged, not sure if she was begging him to stop or keep going. She wanted this so badly. “This isn’t fair.”

“But you like it?” Alaric said. She didn’t answer. Her breathing was getting shallow and fast. “What about this?”

Alaric pulled her chestnut hair out of the way and kissed her neck from behind. Her eyes closed, she whimpered, her head fell back against his shoulder.

“I think she likes it,” Conri said. He pressed his face into the other side of her neck and breathed in deeply. His lips trailed down, kissing her, paying extra attention to her sensitive marking spot where she couldn’t hold in her moans. Alaric found the same spot on her other side, and she moaned louder.

“No. No. Stop. Please. I’ll figure out a way to stop.”

“You’ll figure out a way to stop what?” Kai said, confused. Thea always fought until she won. Why was she giving up so easily? Begging. It wasn’t like her.

“Being turned on,” Thea said.

“Why would we want that?” Kai said.

“For so long, we thought you didn’t like us that way,” Conri said. He started sucking on that spot on her neck.

“Or maybe you weren’t ready,” Alaric said. He nibbled the spot on his side.

“I can’t tell you how happy we were to smell your arousal yesterday. Hoping we were the cause of that sweet, delicious scent,” Kai said.

They all looked at her, hopeful. She lifted her turquoise eyes and met theirs.

“You want me to be turned on by you?” she said.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Kai said.

“I don’t understand.”

“We realize it’s not fair that we can smell your arousal, and you can’t smell ours,” Alaric said.

“But you can feel it,” Kai said. He started moving his hands down, pulling on the peaks until they popped from his fingers and back in place. “So let us make it clear how much you turn us on.”

He slid his hands around and down to her backside, squeezed, and pulled her against his front. She very clearly felt his bulge against her stomach.

“You have no idea how difficult it’s been to keep ourselves in check while training with you. How much we’ve wanted to do this.”

He leaned in, eyes daring her to stop him, and pressed his lips against hers. Her body lit on fire. Kai’s hands kneaded her cheeks. One of Alaric’s hands slid up to her breast. One of Conri’s found her other breast. She whimpered in pleasure.

After a moment, Alaric’s hands went around her waist, gripped hard, and turned her to face him. He pulled her into his front so she could feel his erection. Then he moved his hands up and gently held her face. He looked deeply into her eyes.

“We want you,” Alaric said.

He brought her into a kiss. His hands slid into her hair, and he tilted her head to deepen the kiss. Four other hands roamed her body.

“My turn,” Conri growled.

He turned her to him, one hand at the small of her back. He pressed her into his hard length. His other hand kneaded her breast. She whimpered again, her mouth fell open, and he kissed her, exploring her mouth with his tongue. Alaric and Kai pressed against her side and back, kissing and nipping her neck and shoulders. After a moment, Conri pulled back.

“You don’t need to be embarrassed, baby,” Conri said. He nuzzled her nose with his, then leaned his forehead against hers. “We want to smell you. We want to turn you on. We want you to want us. We’ve been waiting forever for this. I can’t wait to taste your arousal.”

Kai and Alaric growled. “WE can’t wait to taste your arousal,” they said together.

Breathing hard, she started to gain confidence. “You want me?”

“Yes. Do you want us?”

Thea nodded. She had been clenching her legs together to hide her smell. She relaxed and spread her legs to let the breeze bring her scent to their noses. She was soaked. The triplets groaned.

“Goddess, you smell so good,” Kai said. His hand slid under her shirt, his fingers brushing under the waistband of her pants. He paused, his mouth against her neck, under her ear. "Have you touched yourself thinking about us?"

"Yes." She had never heard her voice sound like this before—breathy, weak, practically a whimper—all because of how turned on she was. It made all three future Alphas growl. "Have you touched yourselves thinking about me?"

"Always you, only you," they said in unison.

"Oh, goddess. That's hot." Thea leaned forward and kissed Conri. She grabbed the back of Alaric's neck and guided his lips to her neck. Then she reached behind her, threaded her fingers through Kai's hair, and pulled him to the other side of her neck.

"I can't believe you were punching us in the crotch just yesterday. This is better," Alaric said. He nibbled her shoulder, breathing deeply.

"Much better," Conri said.

Thea laughed. "This is nice."

"It's very nice, darling," Kai said.

They continued, trading places, pressing against her, hands and lips roaming, until it was time to get ready for school.

"I don't want to stop," Thea said against Conri's lips. "But we should go clean up."

"We could shower together?" Conri said.

Thea looked like a deer in the highlights.

"We have to move slow, Con," Alaric said. "Don't rush her. We only just got her. Don't scare her away."

Thea leaned into Alaric and gave him a quick kiss, then pulled away, blushing. He lifted her chin to look at him.

"I like that look on you," Alaric said.

The triplets and Thea went to their rooms to shower and change.

As soon as she was alone, Thea freaked out. She wasn’t sure what had just happened. Maybe she dreamed it. It wouldn’t be the first time.

The triplets were waiting for her when she left her room. They were all showered and in fresh clothes. Thea admired the view for a moment. The way their jeans hung from their hips. The way their T-shirts stretched across their broad, muscular chests. The way their identical faces lit up when they saw her. She could always tell who was who, but their hair was the only thing most people could use to tell them apart.

With his long crew cut freshly styled, Alaric leaned in for a quick kiss. She blushed, and he took her hand. It wasn’t a dream.

Conri ran his hand through his long, bro flow hair and kissed her too. “You’re never getting rid of us now,” he said. He splayed his hand around her hip, hooking a finger into one of the belt loops on her jeans.

Kai, with his messy pompadour, leaned in for his kiss. He took her hand and brought it up to his chest, holding it against his heart. They walked down the hallway—Alaric a little ahead, Conri a little behind, and Kai right at her other side.

They passed by the Alpha’s office on the fifth floor, and Thea stopped when she heard her mother’s voice full of shock and fear.

“What could have done this?” Thea’s mother, Naomi, said behind the closed door.

“Vampires? Witches? Rogues?” Luna Ada said. Her voice also held concern.

Thea motioned for the triplets to be silent and listen with her by the door.

“Rogues couldn’t do that,” Alpha Ulric said. “I’ve never heard of witches or vampires organizing a force powerful enough to massacre an entire werewolf pack overnight.”

“Then there’s the question of why,” Naomi said. “What could that pack have done to warrant such an extreme reaction?”

“They may not have done anything,” Thea’s father, Beta Walter, said. “It’s not the first pack they’ve found desolated back east. There have been several others. They find out the pack is gone when someone goes to visit a ghost town.”

“Something is taking out werewolf packs?” Luna Ada said.

“What do we know about the packs that were targeted?” Alpha Ulric said. “Any clues left behind as to who did it or why?”

“These are the questions we need to find answers to,” Beta Walter said.

“This feels like the beginning of something big. Something that’s only going to get worse,” Naomi said.

“Let’s keep this between us for now,” Alpha Ulric said. “The boys and Thea have a few months left before they shift and graduate and then take over the pack. They’re the ones who will have to deal with this. Let’s let them enjoy these last weeks of being carefree before they have to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.”

“Agreed,” the other parents said.

They heard shuffling inside the office. Thea motioned for the triplets to go, and they quietly ran down and out of the pack house.

“I’m happy to ignore what we just heard until we’re the ones in charge,” Conri said as they walked to school. He took his place next to Thea, hand on her hip.

“We will have to deal with it,” Alaric said, slipping his hand into Thea’s. “It sounds like this thing is going to affect all werewolves everywhere.”

“Our parents will get the ball rolling,” Thea said.

“And they’ll help us even after they pass the Alpha title to us,” Kai said. He took Thea’s other hand. “We don’t have to stress about this yet.”

Everyone at school stared at them as they walked down the hallways. It wasn’t unusual to see the four of them together, but they had never held hands and kissed.

No one living had seen a polyamorous relationship. It was the stuff of myth in the werewolf community. Some people slept around, but they weren’t in committed relationships with all their conquests. Wolves eventually mated with one person. They were known for it. Wolves were notoriously possessive, jealous beasts, unable to share.

The triplets didn’t break contact with Thea the whole day except for the one class they didn’t have together. Third hour, right before lunch. The triplets walked her to her room, each kissed her, then said their goodbyes.

It was a class about omegas, the lowest-ranked pack members, what their uses could be, and their role in a pack. New Dawn didn’t designate any members as omegas, but other packs did. Some had slaves. Thea wanted to change that. She wanted to learn all she could to know what needed to change.

“That’s new,” Lizzy, her blonde-haired best friend, said when Thea sat next to her. “Since when are you kissing our future Alphas?” She had one eyebrow raised.

“Since this morning?” Thea said.

“It’s about time.”

“What?”

“I guess you didn’t need the Talent Show to get their attention after all.”

“That’s why you wanted me to wear the slutty outfit for the Talent Show tomorrow?”

“Duh. Someone needed to give you all a little push. I wonder who won the betting pool.”

“That thing went dry months ago,” Tessa, another girl in their pack, said. “No one thought it’d take this long.”

“What are you talking about?” Thea said.

“The whole school has been betting on when you all would get together,” Lizzy said. “Which of you would get together, if it’d be all three sharing you, or just one or two. If there’d be fights. If you got together with one and then mated another. All the possibilities. Everything.”

“I’m so confused,” Thea said.

“About what, girl? Those boys have been in love with you forever.”

Thea stared blankly at her best friend.

“Did you seriously not know?” Lizzy said. “They’ve never shown interest in any other girl. Never asked anyone out. Never hooked up with anyone even though plenty of girls have tried.”

Jealousy surged inside Thea, but she pushed it down. The triplets turned down the advances.

“I always looked at them as brothers,” Thea said. “I thought they saw me as a sister.”

“When did it shift?”

“I don’t know. It came on gradually.”

The bell rang, signaling the start of class. “I want to hear all about this,” Lizzy said.

“We all do,” Tessa said.

“At dress rehearsal for the Talent Show?” Lizzy said.

“Maybe,” Thea said.

After class, Thea walked to the cafeteria and found the triplets at their usual table. Conri pulled her onto his lap and rested his chin on her shoulder, breathing in her scent. Alaric pulled one of her legs over his and rubbed it up and down with his hands. Kai held her hand on the other side of Conri.

People whispered around the cafeteria.

“Did you guys know there’s a betting pool about us getting together?” Thea said quietly.

“I’ve heard rumors,” Kai said.

“No,” Conri said.

“I’ll get to the bottom of it,” Alaric said. Thea turned to him and leaned in for a quick kiss. Kai tugged on her hand until she kissed him too. Conri trailed kisses up and down her neck.

“You guys have to stop, or I’m going to be wet all day,” Thea whispered. She had to prepare those herbs to mask her scent when she got home today.

“Then let us suck you dry,” Conri whispered into her ear.

She gasped.

“Move slower, Con,” Alaric said.

The triplets took turns having Thea sit on their laps in each class, the other two holding her hands on either side. Teachers gave them looks but didn’t bother to say anything since they were future Alphas. Not even when they kissed the back of her neck or caressed any part of her they could reach.

Thea kept smiling. She would enjoy these last months before shifting and becoming Beta if this was how it would go.

After school, the triplets and Thea went out to the field to lead pack training. They split into four different groups and ran drills. When they came back together for conditioning, the triplets hugged and kissed Thea, ignoring everyone else on the field.

“Woah,” one of the junior boys said. “Is this a new part of training?” He pulled his girlfriend to him and kissed her. Other people started making comments and asking questions. “Are they finally together?” “What does this mean?”

Kai reluctantly let her go but grabbed her hand. Conri had his hand around her waist, and Alaric held her other hand.

“Thea’s ours,” the triplets said in unison. She blushed. “And we’re hers. Anything you want to add?” They looked at her. She shook her head. The triplets took a moment, and each looked every person in the eye, seeing if there were any challenges to what they just announced. No challenges. Everyone was happy for them. They expected this. They wanted it for the pack. They wanted Thea as their Luna.

“Finally!” Lizzy said with her hand on her hip. “Can’t believe it took you this long.”

“Okay, okay,” Thea said. “Conditioning time.” She led the group until everyone was lying on the grass, spent. “Great job today. Let’s go chill in the common room!”

Everyone went back to the pack house. It was a giant building, like a sprawling hotel. It had six floors above ground with event rooms, guest rooms, pool, gym, balconies, dining hall, and living quarters for most of the pack. Some pack members lived further into the pack lands in private dwellings. Below ground were the dungeons. The top floor was only for the Alpha, Beta, and their families.

The Alpha owned hotels. It's how his family made their money a few generations back. Then they invested in the stock market, and the pack hasn’t worried about money since. They had pack members go to school for financial planning to manage the pack finances and investments, and others went to business school to maintain the hotels.

While Thea and the triplets went up to the top floor where their rooms were, the rest used the communal showers on the second floor. Then they all met in one of the common rooms to hang out. There were giant TVs, couches, bean bags, pool table, ping pong table, all sorts of board games, and entertainment.

“It’s so good to see you together with the future Alphas finally,” Lizzy said.

“Are you dating all three of them?” a sophomore girl said.

“I don’t know if you can call it dating if you haven’t been on a date yet,” Thea said. “I mean, it only started this morning.”

“But all three?”

“Yes,” Thea said.

“How does that work?”

“I don’t know,” Thea said. “The four of us have always been together. I can’t explain it. It feels right. I can’t imagine not having one of them.”

“Probably because you’re mates,” a freshman girl said dreamily.

“You’ll make the best Luna,” another freshman girl said.

Everyone nodded and voiced their agreement.

Thea shook her head. “That’s, no. I’m a fighter.” She hadn’t considered that. She was going to be Beta, not Luna.

The triplets came over, peaches in their hands. They started to pull Thea over to a couch, but she insisted they mingle with everyone instead of monopolizing her. The group played games until pack dinner.

The triplets tried to get Thea to sit on one of their laps at dinner, but Thea insisted it was inappropriate with all the adults.

After dinner, they each went to their rooms. The triplets stopped at their doors and looked at each other. They went in, changed into pajamas, then went to Thea’s room. She walked out of her bathroom in a towel, and all three were lying on her bed.

“Like old times, huh?” Thea said.

“Hopefully not exactly like old times,” Conri said.

She went to her dresser, pulled out underwear and pajamas, went back to her bathroom. She put on her clothes, then came out and jumped into the pile of triplets.

Hands roamed and pulled at her, but Conri managed to get her on top of him in a liplock. He squeezed her ass and pushed his erection against her. Then he flipped her over so he was on top between her legs. He aligned his hard length with her core, and she moaned when he pushed against her.

“Wait,” she said.

What the girls said to her was weighing on her. What did it mean that they were together? They were all going to shift in two months—they shared the same birthday—and then they would all be able to find their mates. More importantly, they would find out they weren’t mates as soon as they shifted. She couldn’t be with them if they weren’t mates. When they each found their mates, she would be devastated. She didn’t want anyone else to have them. She couldn’t imagine caring about and wanting anyone else. The thought of having them and losing them was too much.

“What is it?” Conri said.

“I,” she said. “I want to go slow.”

“I can take it slow, babe,” Conri said. He started kissing her neck and rubbing against her core, painfully slowly. Alaric and Kai caressed her, sending tingles and heat throughout her body. She melted into the feelings they generated and reached for them. Her legs slid up Conri’s sides and wrapped around his hips. She never wanted this to end.

She shook her head, remembering it could and probably would end in two months.

“No. I mean, this is all happening too fast. I need to slow it down.”

“Are you okay?” Alaric said. He tucked her hair behind her ear.

“What’s going on, darling?” Kai said. He rubbed her arm.

Conri scooted down and propped himself up on his elbows. “What are you thinking?”

She chewed her lip. “Are you all okay with me being with all of you?”

“We’ve always shared you. You’re ours,” Conri said.

“You don’t want to be with anyone else?” Thea said.

“We told you this morning. Always you. Only you,” Kai said.

“What about—” she couldn’t finish.

“What?” Alaric said.

“Let’s make it like old times tonight. Just sleep.”