#12 The Triplets of Emerald Forest

Harlow

We pulled up to the new front gate and immediately I could tell that something was wrong. The girls stiffened beside me and I could literally feel the nerves coming off of Gabriel in waves. I looked around the driver’s seat to see that he was gripping the wheel with white knuckle intensity.

“It’s another attack.” Gabriel said in a tense voice.

I reached over the back of the seat to grip his shoulder and his hand immediately snatched up mine. He turned around to look at me.

“Your guards have all shifted and are surrounding the cars. We’re going to drive to the packhouse and you’re all going to get inside.” Gabriel said with black eyes.

“Gabriel, we talked about this.” I glared at him.

“Yes, and we’ll talk more about it later. But, right now, this is what’s happening.” He said in a no nonsense tone. I sighed in frustration but gave in.

I watched out the window as Gabriel floored it down the main road. The cars were surrounded by the twelve guard wolves who didn’t hesitate to kill any wolf that came near us. This had to be the largest attack yet. There was fighting and chaos everywhere. I could tell by the look on everyone’s face that this was bad.

We pulled in front of the packhouse and the SUVs stopped right beside the stairs, parking in the grass so we didn’t have to walk far. The guard wolves were all around us. Gabriel was out of the car and opened my door in a second. He pulled me out and carried me inside the packhouse with Waylon right behind us. The girls followed behind.

“Where are we going?” I asked Gabriel as he carried me down the hallway.

“There’s a safe room inside my office.” He said, kicking open the door to his office.

He fiddled with someone on his bookshelf and then it swung open, revealing a large, windowless room. He put me down inside the room and gave me a quick kiss.

“Stay in here. For real this time, Harlow.” He leveled me with a serious gaze.

“I promise.” I nodded, mostly because I was actually scared this time.

“Griff is on his way back. Everything will be fine.” He promised me before leaving the room.

The girls all filed in with me. Waylon would be waiting in Gabriel’s office and the Luna guard would be patrolling the packhouse. Waylon shut us inside the room and we were enclosed in silence.

“This is really starting to piss me off.” Nova growled.

“Tell me, if I wasn’t here where would you girls be?” I asked them.

“Kori and Annie would be inside the bunker. Nova and I are trained but since Nova can’t shift, she usually guards the bunker or the hospital while I’m usually out in the action. But, we’re happy to stay here and guard you, Luna.” Matti said, giving me a reassuring smile.

“I don’t want to hide away. I want to be in the bunker or the hospital, helping.” I grumbled.

“Once you’re marked and they can sense you better, Gabriel will definitely want you to be more involved if that’s what you want.” Nova said,

Suddenly, there was chaos coming from outside the secret room. The girls all looked worried and quickly shuffled around the room. Kori, Annie, and I were shoved behind Nova and Matti. Viscous growls and snarls were bursting through the soundproof room and panic sank into the pit of my stomach. I knew pack wolves were out there dying.

Then, the banging started. The front wall to the safe room started to shake and then the invisible door fell open, collapsing into the room. I gasped and Matti and Nova started growling in front of me. Matti shifted, her medium sized brown wolf snarling dangerously at the intruders. Four wolves entered along with two large men who all eyed the wolf with disinterest.

There was the sound of laughter, and then a man who seemed to be about my age entered the room. There was something eerily familiar about him. His green eyes scanned the room until they landed on me. He grinned menacingly and nodded his head towards the wolves.

“No!” I shouted, “Leave them alone.” I fought my way through the girls and stood in front of Matti’s wolf.

“We don’t want them, young Luna, only you.” The man grimaced.

“I’ll go if you leave them alone.” I bargained and the man laughed.

“Deal. Take her.” He waved his hand and the two men grabbed my arms, dragging me after him.

“Harlow!” Annie shouted but I just held up my hand, telling her to stay put.

I looked around in horror as they pulled me from the safe room. Waylon was knocked out on the floor of the office and I prayed that he was still alive, I couldn’t tell as the men dragged me across the floor. The hall that led towards the back door was littered with bodies. I knew the ones still in their wolf form weren’t dead, they were just injured. Some of the men and women laid in their human forms, bloody and at odd angles, and I knew they were gone.

“You’re a monster!” I cried out. The man turned around and bent down so he was eye level with me. He grabbed my chin with a bruising grip and forced me to look at him,

“And don’t you forget it.” He growled.

The men drug me out the back door and tossed me down the steps. I yelped as I hit the grass and the men laughed at my helplessness. The man with green eyes who seemed to be in charge picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, growling at me to stay quiet. The wolves plowed through the fence, leaving a gap for the men to walk right into the woods. I knew it was now or never so I let out an ear splitting shriek.

The green eyed man threw me down on the ground and punched me across my face. I cried out in pain and held my face, feeling the thick sticky blood pouring from my broken nose and split lip.

“Shut up!” The man growled, hitting me again.

This time I saw spots but I fought the overwhelming urge to pass out or vomit. I clamped my mouth shut and the man smirked, seeming satisfied with my response. He nodded towards one of the other guys to pick me and we continued through the forest. I heard two deafening howls and, without a doubt, I knew they belonged to Gabriel and Griffin, and they were calling out for me.

“You’re stupid Alphas will never find you, silly Luna.” The man chuckled at my hopeful expression.

After what seemed like forever, we broke through the trees. There was a dirty country road with a large tank of a car waiting for us. The man clicked open the trunk and stuffed me inside.

“Be a good girl.” He warned me with a wink before slamming the lid shut and leaving me in darkness.

I heard them shuffling around outside and then the car jerked forward. I started kicking at the brake light and it finally gave way, dangling from the back of the car by the wires. I scooted across the trunk to look out the new window. I recognized nothing and something inside me told me that I was moving far away from my mates.

I had no idea where we were, but wherever it was, they didn’t have smoothly paved roads. I cursed as the car jerked and I jumped around, slamming my head into the roof of the cramped trunk. At some point, I was pretty sure I managed to knock myself unconscious.

I had no idea how much time had passed when the car started to slow. I quickly pulled the brake light in and tried to at least half fix it so the men didn’t beat me for that. The trunk opened and I blinked against the intense light. One of the men from before appeared in front of me and lifted me from the trunk.

I looked around and noticed that we were still in the middle of the woods. There was a rundown looking cabin surrounded by tents and, what looked like, a makeshift campsite. A pungent smell filled my nose, it was like hot garbage and BO. There were filthy, scrawny looking men and women all around us and I could only assume that they were rogues.

The man took me into the cabin and to a small shoe closet of a room, flopping me down onto a dirty mattress. I gasped as I hit the mattress which had little cushion left to it. Without a word, the man stomped out of the room and slammed the door shut. A few minutes later, the green eyed leader entered.

“My name is Cairo.” He said, kneeling down in front of me, “Do you know who I am?” I shook my head.

“I’ll try not to be offended that my family doesn’t speak of me.” He faked a frown.

An older man entered the room then, he looked to be in his fifties and he had startling similarities to Lukas.

“Now, now, son. Don’t tease the poor girl.” He sneered, “I’m Christopher, dear.” He said in a polite voice, but I wasn’t going to be fooled by his fake kindness.

“You’re Cairo Emerald’s son.” I said, there was no question now that they were Emeralds. The man laughed,

“So you do know something. Yes, that false Alpha Cambridge Emerald was my father’s twin. Cairo is your mates’ cousin, isn’t that nice?” He chuckled.

“What do you want?” I snapped at him.

“Well, that there is a complex answer.” Christopher sighed.

“I’ll try to keep up.” I bit.

“Feisty thing, aren’t you?” Christopher laughed and Cairo let out a hungry growl.

“It began with a simple goal: my father wanted to kill his brother and the Alpha family, taking over the pack for himself. He succeeded, partly, but then was killed himself. I was a bit too young and inexperienced to mount a counterattack and finish off the pack, something I’m man enough to admit I deeply regret. Seven years later, I had my rogues attack again but they were idiots and just went straight for their humans. I knew I needed a much stronger army before taking the Emerald Forest pack and now, here we are.” Christopher was smug.

“You only have an army because you bribed them with money.” I snapped, repeating what my mates’ learned from their interrogations.

“Oh, look, this little thing is smarter than she looks,” Christopher chuckled, “I do have a financial benefactor, yes.”

“Who is it?” I asked,

“It’s an anonymous benefactor, dear.” Christopher smirked, seeming to enjoy the show he was producing.

“Funny, everyone my Alphas interrogate seem to be under the impression that this benefactor is really the leader and you’re just his patsy.” I baited him.

Christopher’s fake facade finally faltered and he slammed his fist into the wall right beside my head.

“You’ll be careful with how you speak to me, girl!” He shouted.

“Seems like I hit a nerve.” I continued to mock him.

Christopher slapped me across the face but I didn’t give him the satisfaction of crying out. He looked startled by my reaction and then he slowly began to grin as he knelt down in front of my face.

“Oh, I see. Being worshiped by the Alphas has given you a false sense of confidence. Do worry, dear, we’ll beat that out of you.” He promised, his hand gripping my face painfully.

“I just don’t think you’re as in charge as you think you are.” I mumbled against his forceful grip on my jaw.

Christopher shoved my face to the side and growled at me.

“I am the werewolf and I am in charge. That pathetic human couldn’t lead a group of preschoolers let alone a pack of more than two hundred rogues!”

“A human is your boss? How hypocritical.” I scoffed.

I heard Cairo laugh shortly and he shook his head at me.

“Maybe you aren’t as smart as we thought you were?”

“No, no, Cairo. I think she might be quite smart. Aren’t you?” Christopher said, turning back towards me, “She’s trying to get information out of us.”

I stayed silent and gave him a smug look.

“That’s fine, my dear, you won’t be leaving here anyway. It’s all quite comical, honestly. Once the Alphas find out who’s been bankrolling this operation against them, it’ll break their hearts.” Christopher chuckled.

“Do you actually know what you’re talking about or do you just like hearing the sound of your own voice?” I sighed, irritated.

Christopher shook his head at me, his expression amused. I tried not to let it bother me how confident he was that I would never get away and how smug he was about the entire situation. I knew my mates would come for me, no doubt about it, and I wanted to get as much information for them as I could. Christopher knelt back down in front of me and grabbed a handful of my hair, forcing me to look into his green eyes.

“Your Alphas have an uncle they’ve never met, their mother’s brother, Daniel. Well, he didn’t exactly react well to learning about their existence and, the way he sees it, Lukas stole his baby sister from him and forced her to live with wild animals. He wants the pack destroyed and his sister returned to him. He had no idea I’m planning on taking the pack for himself and that I couldn’t care less if his sister survives the attacks or not,” He yanked even harder on my hair, “Now, who do you think is in charge?”

I swallowed back a gasp. This really was going to break the brothers’ hearts and it would definitely crush their parents. All of this family drama was starting to make me feel happy that I didn’t have one. Christopher shoved me backwards as he released my hair. I wobbled on the mattress as I tried to stop myself from falling backwards.

“Why am I here?” I sighed, finally straightening myself.

“You’re the unmarked mate of the triplet Alphas,” Christopher laughed, walking away from me, “This will weaken them immensely and make taking over their pack easy as pie.”

“Then you’ll be mine.” Cairo added with a snarl.

“Excuse me?” My head snapped in his direction.

“Originally, when we first found out that the triplets had found their Luna, you were just going to die with the rest of the pack which would also succeed in weakening the Alphas. But, my son has taken a liking to you so you’ll live and make a fine Luna for Alpha Cairo when he takes over the Emerald pack.” Christopher replied so casually that it chilled my bones.

“You’re out of your mind if you think I’ll ever be your Luna.” I glared at Cairo.

“Oh, Honey, I don’t need your permission.” Cairo smirked, “That was your name, wasn’t it?” He mocked me and I felt shame bubbling up in my chest.

Christopher chuckled darkly,

“I’ll give you two a minute. Remember, son, patience.” He clapped Cairo on the back before leaving.

Cairo leaned down in front of me. I tried to scramble away but he grabbed my arm and forced me to sit still. He reached behind me and I felt something cold wrap around my ankle. I looked behind me and saw that he had chained me to the wall that the mattress was up against.

“Tell me, why didn’t the mighty Alphas mark you?” He asked, leaning close enough that I could smell his vial breath.

“Because I asked them not to.” I spat.

“An Alpha who bows to his Luna is surely as weak as the woman herself.” He sounded amused.

“You know nothing about them and what it means to be someone’s mate.” I gritted my teeth together and refused to back down from him.

“I will teach you what it means to be my mate.” He said with an evil look in his eyes.

I tried to move away again as his face went towards my neck. He gripped my hips painfully and I felt his tongue run along the length of neck. I shivered in fear and resisted the urge to gag. His mouth felt disgusting on my skin and, instead of the usual warm sparks that the brothers left on my skin, his touch felt like molten lava.

“You’ll be screaming my name soon, darling.” Cairo chuckled against my skin.

“You’re disgusting! I’ll never want you.” I gathered up all my strength and thrusted my knee upwards, catching him in the family jewels.

He grunted and stumbled backwards, curling himself protectively around his manhood. When he regained his composure, he looked at me with a furious expression. He grabbed a fist full of my hair and yanked my head backwards. Like father, like son, I guess. I bit my cheek to keep from crying out in pain. With his free hand, he slapped me hard against my cheek. My head whipped to the side, painful tugging against his grip on my hair.

“You will learn to respect me.” He snarled.

He started undoing the belt buckle of his pants and I felt my eyes widen in horror. I tried to get away again, but he had an ironclad grip on my hair. If I could have ripped out my hair to get away from his grip, I would have, but it was no use.