Owned By The Alpha Brothers

Ciara.

I went back to the palace all by myself. Thankfully, my wolf, Elsa, could remember the road leading back to the palace.

"Can you believe he just abandoned me to go all by myself?" I fumed, not minding the fact that there were people around.

"To be fair, you did get his hopes up and then brought it down within seconds without even denying that you had indeed been thinking of another guy," Elsa replied.

"That isn't enough reason for him to act that way. Wasn't he the one that sympathized with me earlier, acting like he could understand being mated to three hot brothers all at once?"

"You're right. He is a jerk," she agreed.

"Thank you!"

The security guards looked confused when they saw me all by myself, but didn't say anything and just exchanged weird glances. I honestly felt like a fool as I hurriedly walked away, feeling like all the palace maids and guards in sight had their eyes on me. They all seemed to know something was up and threw a pitiful look in my direction. At least, that's what I assumed.

I was about to head to my room with my head bowed in shame when all of a sudden, an authoritative, yet feminine voice, stopped me. "Ciara."

I spun around quickly to see Alden's mother, Luna Vienna, sitting in the gazebo making an embroidery design on a silk glove.

I forgot about feeling ashamed immediately and ran to her, bowing even lower. "Greetings, Luna Queen Vienna,"

I said.

"Greetings. Do have a seat," she motioned with her hand.

Nodding nervously, I sat down opposite her, feeling her study me with her eyes. A pregnant silence that lasted more than five minutes fell upon us, and the tension was slowly eating me up.

"Leave us alone," she broke the silence, instructing the maids and guards present.

"Luna" a maid started.

"You heard me," she said, and bowing to her, they all left in no time.

"Is... is something wrong?" I inquired, slightly worried.

"Of course not. I heard you went horse riding with Liam. I smell the lake. He must have taken you to his hideout," she noted.

My eyes widened in surprise. "You know about his hideout? I thought it was more of a secret spot for him," I said.

The Luna chuckled. "Oh, sweetie. Nothing gets past me. You do embroidery?"

"I'm not sure," I said, even though I was a master at it.

"Perhaps, you were good at it before the unfortunate incident that happened to you. Here, try it out. You should have a muscle memory if you actually know how to do it," she said, handing over the second glove to me. "This should be fun," I said, picking up a needle as I proceeded to do as she had said.

"So, did you have fun?"

"Kind of."

"The lake is beautiful, isn't it?"

"It truly is. It's like it's in a different universe and it's just so perfect. I would love to go there again soon, but-" my words hung there.

"Are you scared that you might run into Liam? Why? Didn't your make-out session go well?" she inquired.

"What? Were you spying on us?" I asked, feeling really embarrassed.

"Of course not. I've been alive for way too long. So, tell me. What happened? I thought you too were getting close," she said.

"Yeah, but I'm just confused," I said, surprised that I was actually opening up to her. "It's difficult, you know. I was going to choose Blake and then, Liam kissed me out of the blue and then, Blake got mad. I was going to choose Liam, but it felt like I was betraying Blake and now, I feel like I made the right decision since Liam let me walk to the palace all by myself but I also feel like I might have done something stupid because I'm not even sure if Blake wants me anymore," I said, all in one breath.

She gave a light chuckle. "Wow. That's a lot to process. How about Alden? I didn't hear you mention him. Why? Is he not your type?" she inquired.

"It's not that. Alden is really thoughtful, kind and sweet. He's also really handsome and he treats me well. We have agreed to just be friends," I explained.

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A frown appeared on her face. "Just friends? That sounds wrong. I'm not saying this because he's my son, but sometimes, we get too distracted by irrelevant things around us and fail to actually see the gem that's right in front of us until it is too late," she told me.

I heaved a sigh. "I get what you mean, Luna Vienna, but making things go beyond friendship would ruin our relationship entirely. I want us to stay as friends because I don't want to ever lose him," I said.

She was silent for a moment, then took my hand in hers and squeezed it gently. "That's okay. Can I give you a piece of advice though?"

"Yes, Your Highness," my ears itched to hear what she had to say.

"Don't make yourself too available for my sons, Blake and Liam. You've done nothing wrong so far. Let them look for you and not find you easy to get; the one who is persistent despite rejecting all their advances is the one you should accept. If possible, use their competition to make them jealous and work harder," she said, staring intensely into my eyes.

I swallowed. "You are right, my Luna. Thanks for your advice. I'll be sure to do as you've said," I told her.

A smile replaced the frown on her face as she stood up, preparing to leave. "Your embroidery is neat and beautiful. I guess you were indeed good at it. It gets really lonely in the palace. Let's have tea sometime, and just know that you can always come to me if you need someone to talk to," she said.

"Thank you, your highness," I said to her.

"You can keep the gloves. I'll see you at the masquerade ball," she said, then turned around to leave.

"Thanks for your kindness," I called out in a loud voice, bowing low until she was out of sight.

I didn't take her words lightly and pondered over them even after she was gone.

Luna Vienna was right. I needed to step up my game as I couldn't keep letting Blake and Liam toss me around like I was something to be toyed with. I decided to do as she had said and make them jealous by making use of their competition- Alden. Only then would they work harder to get my affection and it would be easier to choose one of them then.

Thankfully, the Luna was on my side and it felt good to finally have someone to talk to. At least, that's what I believed, not knowing she had other plans in mind.