Chapter 4 04|Give myself to the Alpha Triplets.

The cursed Alpha triplets.

That was what everyone called them.

They were the ones destined to die on their twenty-sixth birthday if they didn't find, mate, and mark their true mate before then.

Everyone feared and respected them. Feared them because they were ruthless, they killed without hesitation, unlike their father, who had been known as a kind Alpha. Yet people respected them because they were unlike any Alphas the Fangspire Pack had ever seen.

They were powerful men, each blessed with a white wolf-the strongest breed there was.

And now, those very men were standing before me, white eyes locked on mine.

I wasn't sure if it was the intensity of their piercing stares or the cold, heavy rain pouring down on me, but my body trembled, and my breathing grew heavy-almost suffocating. I clutched my chest and shut my eyes against the pain as the world blurred around me.

"Are you alright, miss? Do you feel unwell?" the man in front of me asked.

When I opened my eyes to look at him, his face was unreadable, not a flicker of emotion despite the concern in his words.

Alpha Silas.

Brown-haired, with eyes as piercing as the white moon.

"I don't think she's okay, Silas," a low, lazy voice hummed.

I turned to the blond-haired man leaning casually against the car, arms folded, an amused smirk tugging at his lips as the rain poured down over him.

"I mean, we did almost run her over a few minutes ago," he added with a low chuckle, water sliding down the sharp line of his jaw. "Pretty sure that's the opposite of okay."

My heart hammered against my chest as I met his gaze, and when his eyes narrowed on me, that smirk widened, his irises flashing whiter.

Alpha Claude.

I immediately lowered my head, looking away.

"If running her over meant not standing in the rain, I'd take that choice," a cold voice drawled. "Let's go. I'd rather not catch a cold after that boring meeting with that old man."

I didn't need to look up to know who had just spoken.

Alpha Lucien.

These three men stood before me, and I was in a daze-drenched, trembling, and unsure of what I was even doing.

But more than anything, what kept running through my mind was how I had almost died.

How I had stood there, frozen, as the car came barreling toward me... how I had nearly abandoned my mother.

In that moment, I had truly seen my life flash before my eyes but it wasn't the bad memories I saw. It was the good ones, the ones from before my father died and everything in my life turned upside down.

And one memory had shone brighter than all the rest.

The day before my father left for the war with the late Alpha.

That day, it was just the three of us, my father, mother, and I-sitting together, smiling as we drank tea and talked.

We laughed, joked, and spoke about his return in time for my eighteenth birthday.

He had promised me he'd be home.

That promise never came true but I had also made a promise too.

Whenever he went off to war against the rogues, my father always made me promise that if anything ever happened to him, I would stay strong.

That no matter what, I would remain unbroken. That I would never give up.

At the time, I'd thought he was just treating me like a child.

I thought it was ridiculous.

But now I understood.

He knew the risks that came with his position.

He knew one day, he might leave... and never return.

A tear slipped down my cheek before I even realized it, and as I brought my hands to my face, more followed, my body wrecked with sobs. And as I cried, I could feel three intense gazes locked on me.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry," I whispered, crying harder because I had almost broken that promise. I knew I wasn't strong, but I couldn't give up.

"Damn, is she crying? I think you made her cry, Lucien. That's pretty mean of you," I heard Claude murmur, followed by an unamused scoff.

"Can you stand up?" Silas, who was kneeling in front of me, asked. And as I lifted my head, eyes blurred with tears, I found a slight frown tugging at his lips.

"It's raining," he added, brown strands of hair clinging to his face as he reached his hand out for me to take. "Let's get to the car, and we'll talk."

My lips trembled as I stared at him, but before I could say a word, the sharp ringing of a phone cut through the moment. I blinked, then shakily lowered my gaze to my pocket and instinctively reached for it.

I already knew who it was.

The hospital.

And when I saw the caller ID, I was right.

I didn't think twice before answering, even though I was still in front of the three Alphas.

As soon as the call connected, the voice on the other end spoke urgently.

"Mrs. Lilith, we've been trying to reach you for a while now. Can you come to the hospital? Your mother-your mother-"

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach as the voice became static and inaudible. My eyes widened in panic.

"My mother-what happened to her? Hello? Can you hear me?" I asked, my voice rising with worry, but the line had already disconnected.

"Hello?! Please, can you hear me? What happened to my mother?!"

No response.

I brought the phone to my face with shaky hands and saw that it had died.

Without thinking twice, I shot up from the ground and turned around, running through the rain, leaving the three men behind me.

As I ran toward the hospital, the only thing I could hear was the pounding of my heart in my ears as I silently prayed to the goddess that my mother would be fine-that this wouldn't be the day I received the news I had always feared.

It wasn't long before I arrived at the hospital.

By then, the rain had already stopped, and as I stepped inside, one of the receptionists who recognized me immediately stepped forward but I rushed past her, heading straight to the ward where my mother was staying, ignoring her as she called after me.

As soon as I reached there, I stopped.

The doctor was standing in front of the door, instructing the nurses around him.

"We don't know when her body will start convulsing again due to the wolfsbane spreading fast, so make sure you check on her-"

"Doctor," I cut in, stepping forward, my voice breaking.

He stopped speaking and turned to look at me, a sad frown forming on his face.

Ever since my mother had been admitted to this hospital three years ago, I had learned to read the doctors' expressions and even without him saying a word, I already knew what he was going to say.

I bit my bottom lip and walked past him toward the window.

And as I saw my mother's frail figure on the hospital bed, with life support machines hooked up to her, my heart cracked even more.

"Miss Lilith," the doctor's voice came from beside me, but I didn't look away from my mother. Still, he continued,

"I'm sorry to say this, but your mother's condition is getting worse. It's beyond our control now. As you know, we don't have a cure for wolfsbane yet. The only option is surgery to slow the spread but we can't begin until you..."

His words trailed off, but I already knew what he meant.

Until I pay.

Silence stretched between us, heavy and suffocating. Then finally, I whispered,

"Give me a day... just one more day. I'll have the money by tomorrow."

My breath trembled as I closed my eyes.

I knew he wanted to say something but instead, he sighed and nodded.

"Okay, Miss Lilith. Please don't be late. We can't afford to delay the surgery."

With that, he left.

I turned away from the sight of my mother and sank to the floor, curling in on myself, arms wrapped tightly around my head.

What was I supposed to do now?

How was I supposed to come up with that kind of money by tomorrow?

I couldn't even cry anymore. I just needed to think.

I needed to find a way.

And right then, as if the universe had heard my desperate questions, two women passed by in front of me, their voices loud as they chatted.

"Did you hear that Stella got real gold just for spending the night with the Alphas?" one of them said in disbelief.

Lifting my head slowly, I watched as the other woman responded, "Really? Is it because of that ritual where the Alphas are sleeping with different women to find their mate? Even if she wasn't their mate, they still gave her gold?"

As they continued walking away, the first woman nodded.

"She just had to offer her body for the night and they paid her."

My gaze dropped to the ground, breath catching as my chest tightened.

That was it. The only choice I had left.

If I wanted to save my mother.

If I wanted to keep my last piece of family alive.

Then I had to give myself to the Alpha triplets. I had to participate in the ritual.