Her Triplet Alphas

Tomorrow was my birthday, but no one cared or even remembered because it was also the birthday of the Thorn Triplets.

The Thorn Triplets were the pride and joy of the Winter Moon Pack. They were the sons of Alpha Romeo Thorn. They were filthy rich, devilishly handsome and disgustingly arrogant. All the young she-wolves adored them wholeheartedly, but I was not included.

At the tender age of nine, my parents left the pack to go rogue then I was taken into the pack house under the care of Alpha Romeo and his wife, Ronnie. As if I had not been devastated enough, I now had three twelve-year old tormenters. The identical triplet sons of the Alpha were, in order of birth, Alex, Felix and Calix.

They despised me and ensured that I knew I was beneath them. My parents had incurred a huge debt. Thus, I had to earn my keep and repay my debt by doing as many chores as possible while the triplets enjoyed an idyllic childhood in the very same house.

Tomorrow, on November eleventh, the triplets would turn twenty-one and take over the pack while I would turn eighteen and experience my first shift. Eighteen was also the minimum age when werewolves found their fated mate but I did not care about that. All I wanted was to come of age so I could leave this behind.

For the past month, I had been drowning in work while attending my final year of high school. I had seven more months of high school before I could leave this place. That was the deal. At eighteen and after high school, I got my freedom and whatever I had paid off by then would be the end of it. The current Alpha and Luna seemed to think they were being extremely generous. Today, I got up early to make breakfast for the whole family. The triplets came over when the breakfast was ready.

Alex was the eldest and the most serious and severe. He would surely rule with an iron fist and a surly demeanour. Felix as the middle triplet loved being the centre of attention and was naturally filled with wise-cracks, jokes and quips. Classic middle child. The youngest, Calix, was the charmer, a professional sweet-talker and Mommy’s favourite. He almost treated me like I was human. “Did you make all of this, Charity?” Asked Calix, immediately trying to pull my hair out of its bun. I nodded, dodging him, only to bump into Felix who smirked and slipped my hair tie off. My curls tumbled down all around me. Felix and Calix laughed.

“Stop!” I implored them, reaching for my only hair tie. Felix held it high above my head. He threw it to Alex who caught it and put it in his pocket. I tried to lunge towards Alex but Felix grabbed me. Felix and Alex started shoving me back and forth between them like I was a ball and they were playing catch.

“I give up! I give up!” I said while they snickered.

Calix said, “All right. Cut it out. Let her go wash the wares. Mom wants the place kept as clean as possible so there’ll be less to do tomorrow.”

The elder two relinquished me. I ran into the kitchen. My heart was racing. I started on the dishes. By the time I was done, the family of five hungry werewolves, four of them from Alpha stock, had devoured literally everything I made except for one pancake. The chairs were all empty. I went to get the last pancake but Felix snatched it up. He had zoomed in out of nowhere, fast as a cheetah and quiet as a mouse.

“I haven’t eaten anything,” I told him, my eyes wide.

“Good, you’re fat enough as it is,” he said, sneering. He ate the pancake in two bites.

I sighed. I refused to cry. I had not cried in front of them since the first year of torment when I was nine.

The Triplets were widely regarded as the most handsome eligible bachelors in the Pack.

Well, never mind, their attitude didn’t matter.

...

At the night before the triplet’s birthday party...

The triplets walked into the house, each having their arm around a girl.

They had different girlfriends every two months or so. It did not make sense learning the girls’ names. Also, the triplets were anxious to find their real mate.

They were not sure if they had three separate mates or just one mate to share. So theoretically identical twins and triplets were naturally occurring clones. Every girl wished she was their mate. That was so crazy to me. The triplets were handsome but they were awful and three mates sounded so complicated.

The party planner Ronda glared at their girlfriends, jealousy evident in her beady eyes. The girls did not stay long and when they left, Ronda told the triplets I had showed up really late to help her. I sighed. I had been under the table literally as I wrapped tiny presents for door prizes. All the pack members got to pick a mystery present from a huge box tomorrow.

I crawled out from under the table to make myself known before they had to look for me. Hiding from them would just set them off. The triplets stared at me, their eyes wide. They looked at each other. I remembered my makeover. I did not think they would notice or even care.

Alex his lips, trailing his eyes from my head to my toes. I took a step back. Felix looked flabbergasted and Calix smirked at me.

“Leave it to us, Ronda,” said Felix, recovering his usual haughty sneer, “We’ll punish her.”

Ronda smiled maliciously at me. She was the most immature adult I had ever met including the triplets and that was saying something. The triplets had me backed against the kitchen island.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I had to do some extra math.”

It was not a complete lie.

“Ok,” said Felix simply. He took a step towards me. “What’s all of this?” He gestured to my outfit, makeup and hair.

“My eighteenth birthday is tomorrow too. I’m just trying out how I wanna look,” I said, looking down.

“Do you have a boyfriend, is that it?” Asked Alex, anger rising in his voice.

Why did he even care?

“Don’t play games with us,” said Felix softly. “Is all of this for your mate? Have you figured out who he is?”

“No!” I said. They were acting so strange like I had done something underhanded.

“You’ll only know for sure tomorrow. Your inner wolf will tell you who your mate is,” said Calix.

“I don’t want a mate,” I said honestly. I had never had a guy be nice to me and I could not picture it happening.

Alex asked like I was crazy for saying that.

The Triplets were eager to find their real mate. They talked about it every birthday. They would visit other packs hoping to get a whiff of their mate. They thought maybe their mate was younger than them. That would explain why they could not pick up her scent. Only mates who had come of age could be discovered.

“Because he’d just be mean to me and call me names and I get enough of that from you,” I snapped. I should not have snapped. I was a little frightened now.

The triplets had not hit me since we were little. The last fight happened when I was eleven and they were fourteen.

After he had let out a blood-curdling scream and told his elder brothers about his nose, Alex slapped me and then Felix slapped me. Calix had been reluctant but they made him hit me.

They dragged me out to the frozen river behind the pack house. There was a hole in it for fishing. I was small enough to dip in the hole. Their parents had been furious. I went to the hospital for hypothermia. I never knew what their punishments had been but after that we never got physical with each other, nothing more than a shove.

Asked Alex.

I shrugged.

“No werewolf would insult his own mate or be mean to her,” said Felix, rolling his eyes.

“Don’t you know anything?” Added Calix.

“Ok, thanks, I get it now,” I said simply.

“You dressed up for us, didn’t you?” Said Felix smirking and rubbing his chin. The other two grinned. My heart leapt a little at the sight of their dimples. I shook my head. What was wrong with me? The triplets were monsters and good looks did not absolve them of that.

“Don’t make her admit it,” said Calix. “She’s embarrassed, Felix.”

“Admit it! You did this for us!” Felix exclaimed, grinning wickedly. He kept coming closer and my back was pressed against the kitchen island now.

Alex was quiet, smiling faintly and watching me closely. I just wanted them to go away. I was so frustrated with my whole life. There would not be a single present for me tomorrow. No one had counselled me about my shift at midnight and I was scared. I knew it would be painful and I did not need this from these three privileged who did not deserve the title of Alpha. They were physically Alphas but they had no integrity. They could not lead this pack. What a joke! I decided to play along.

“Yeah, ok,” I said softly, looking down to feign embarrassment and hugging myself tightly. “I dressed up for you. I asked two girls at school to help me. I really did have a math thing but I went to get dolled up after so that made me late as well. I’m sorry.”

I hid my face in my hands, stifling my laughter. They seemed to think I was crying.

“Hey, you know, we aren’t the little boys we used to be when we would fight with you,” said Alex gently. “We’re taking over this pack tomorrow and as you’re part of this pack we just wanna know what’s going on with you that’s all.”

Huh?

“Don’t cry,” said Felix exasperadteay.

“Don’t insult her when you’re trying to cheer her up,” said Calix, turning on Felix. “Chasity,” said Calix, using my real name for the first time in nine years.

I dropped my hands. I was shocked. I just stared at him.

“You look pretty, ok” said Calix, winking.

My heart skipped a beat. He was bending down. His face was really close to me.

“Thanks for dressing up for us. I hope you wear an even shorter skirt tomorrow,” he said softly, smirking.

I rolled my eyes. Alex and Felix burst into laughter. I tried to brush past them but Felix grabbed my arms and put my back against the island again. My breath hitched in my throat.

“Did I say you could leave?” He asked, his nose brushing against my nose as he bent towards me. I squirmed in his arms.

“You need to have respect for your Alphas, Charity,” Alex said, using my awful nickname. The spell that Calix had cast on me was broken.

I screamed. “Let me go! Three Alpha males against one omega female is insane. You have no honour,” I cried, struggling against Felix. He released me.

“We were just playing with you Charity!” Said Felix “Good grief! Go! Run upstairs!”

I ran upstairs and to my room. I locked the door. I sat on my cot, hugging my knees to my chest. The Alpha and Luna came knocking on my door when darkness fell. I went out to them.

“We almost forgot, you have your first shift at midnight, same birthday as the triplets,” said Alpha Romeo rubbing the back of his neck.

I smiled. Were they going to counsel me or give me a gift?

“Yeah, so make sure and be out of the house at least by 11:45pm so you don’t break anything or make any mess when you shift,” said Luna Ronnie.

I nodded. I supposed that was one piece of advice. I left the house at half past eleven wearing my old clothes. I crunched through the snow. It was pitch-black. I sighed. I was nervous. I was scared of the pain. I wished my parents could be here. For the first nine years old my life, they had been in and out of rehabs. They were inconsistent but they actually seemed to love me a lot.

They would always make my birthdays and holidays special no matter how high they were. They were deeply in love with each other as mates and back then I almost looked forward to having a mate of my own. It was almost midnight. I did not want to rip my clothes so I removed them and stood in the snow without any clothes and barefoot my curls covering. If I had not been a werewolf I would have frozen to death. Midnight came and I felt my bones breaking.

The pain shot through me. It was excruciating. I screamed. My bones lengthened and rearranged themselves. Sandy-coloured fur enveloped my form. My eyesight and hearing became so sharp. I stood on all fours. I howled. I was a wolf.

I ran through the night, white snow beneath me and black sky above me. I practically flew. When I had tired of running. They would probably so cold after lying in the snow. I focused on what I looked like human and my bones started breaking again. It was painful but not nearly as bad as the first time. The triplets had gone out to ring in the first few minutes of their twenty-first birthday with some of their friends at a bar.

I passed by their rooms. The house had three floors. The Alpha and Luna slept on the top floor. The Triplets and I slept on the middle floor. I had a tiny converted storage room and each triplet had a master bedroom and bathroom. There was the most delicious smell coming from Calix’s room. I snuck in. He was the least scary of the triplets so I did not mind if he caught my scent when he came home and realised I had been in his home. His room literally smelled like freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. I looked around. Maybe he had pot cookies or something. I did not find anything. Ugh. I had put my scent all over some of his stuff for nothing.

I walked out and caught another scrumptious scent. This one was coming from the middle master bedroom that belonged to Felix. I dared not go in there but I sniffed the doorway. The smell reminded me of sweet coconut shavings. There was a tropical edge to it. I breathed it in, wondering why I had never picked it up before. My heart started to race. I was afraid to go near Alex’s room but I had to know. If all three rooms suddenly smelled great to me then…

I refused to think about it. I walked over to Alex’s door. I picked up the scent. The strong smell of coffee and cocoa hit me. My mouth watered a little. Did Alex smell that good? The window blew open suddenly and all three scents wafted down the hallway. Their combined scents hit me. I was in big trouble.

I went to my tiny room and locked the door. I tried to fall asleep but I kept tossing and turning. Those scents were plaguing me. Would they smell me when they returned home? Would I suddenly smell different now to them? I did not want to analyse it too much. Maybe my enhanced sense of smell was just picking up a lot that I had not noticed before. Maybe everyone smelled this good.