Resisting the Alpha Triplets by Cara Anderson

Ch. 12 It Wouldn’t Work

Clay’s POV

“Wh-, what?” Mallory stuttered, her eyes flitting nervously between the three of us.

“He said we want you, Mal.” Cary repeated my words, sounding more vulnerable than I’ve ever heard him.

“I don’t-” Mallory seemed taken aback at first, but then her back stiffened and her eyes hardened. “I’m not the same girl I was two years ago, the one who let you intimidate her. I’m not falling for the same old games where you try to get me to admit I like you so you can laugh at me and tell me what a naive, stupid little girl I am to think you’d ever be interested in me. Frankly, I’m a bit disappointed you haven’t come up with something more original by now.”

“That’s not what we’re doing, Mal!” I implored her to believe me. “Fuck! We were immature idiots back then. We never should have treated you that way. We should have realized how special you were even then.”

Mal just stared at me for a minute, processing my words. I held my breath, hoping she would see my sincerity. It seemed like she was really considering it, but then she gave a little shake of her head and shot me a malicious smirk.

“Please, tell me more. When did this miraculous change of heart come about?” She challenged.

“I missed you the minute you left.” I answered honestly. “It took me longer to understand why, but I gradually came to realize you meant more to me than I had been willing to admit to myself.”

“And you?” She nodded in Cary’s direction. “When did you experience this revelation?”

“I already knew I had feelings for you before you left. I panicked when our parents announced you’d be leaving for two years. I couldn’t wait for you to come home so I could tell you how I felt and try to make up for how I treated you.”

“Colt, what do you have to say about all this?” Mallory asked, giving him a pointed look. “You’re obviously still with Darcy and there can only be one Luna.”

Cary and I exchanged a nervous glance. Colt had yet to admit his feelings for Mallory and he didn’t respond well to being called out.

“Darcy will be my Luna.” He stated firmly, daring us to contradict him.

I could have sworn I saw pain flash in Mal’s eyes but it was gone quickly. She nodded at him curtly then turned back to us.

“There you have it. Game over! Now can we cut the bullshit?” She gritted out.

“It’s not bullshit!” I protested. “Just because Colt is a stubborn idiot doesn’t mean we are lying!”

Mallory glanced back at Colt to gauge his reaction but quickly drew her eyes back to Cary and I, the same devious smirk plastered on her face.

“Really?” She pressed. “You expect me to believe you’ve been pining away for me for the last two years?”

“Yes.” Cary and I answered together.

“So we like to fuck. I’m not going to apologize for it. I don’t see a mate- mark on my neck.” She deepened her voice, mocking Cary’s earlier words to her. “And before you even try to sell me a line about that being all in the past, you should know girls like to talk. I’ve heard the she-wolves around the pack bragging about your exploits.”

I hung my head in shame. I had no excuse to offer, other than loneliness, which I doubted she would believe anyway. Not that it would make it any better if she did. But in typical Cary fashion, he took a different approach.

“We’re Alphas with high sex-drives. Did you expect us to live like monks?”

“Of course not! I would never expect that level of maturity from you, to actually show some respect for the girl you supposedly had feelings for.” She berated him. “Self-sacrifice for the benefit of others has never been your thing, has it? But who you do or don’t fuck is irrelevant to me. Just leave me off your list of conquests!”

Cary’s hands were balled into fists at his sides and his chest was heaving as he struggled to restrain his anger. We may have been triplets, but he was still the baby. He was used to getting his way and being coddled by mom. It wasn’t often someone called him on his shit or refused to give him what he wanted.

But if he thought Mallory would trust us easily or fall into our arms at our first attempt to win her over, he was sadly mistaken. She wasn’t your typical soft, sweet omega. The girl had a stubborn streak that rivaled Colt’s. Between the two of them, we had our work cut out for us. But I wasn’t going to give up. I just needed to get my baby brother to shut his mouth before he ruined our chances.

“Mal, please just listen.” I tried drawing her attention back to me. When she finally released Cary from her vicious glare and looked at me, I continued. “There is no excuse for our behavior, past or present. It’s just, this is all new to us. We’ve never had feelings for a woman before. And for that woman to be you, knowing how we treated you and how unlikely it was that you would ever forgive us, it was just easier to keep doing what we were doing than to let ourselves hope.”

“But then you came back,” Cary picked up where I left off, “and it all came flooding back, only a hundred times stronger than it was before. Your strength, your beauty, your scent! The pull is so strong and we can’t just let you go without a fight. I know you feel it too so don’t even try to deny it!”

“I won’t deny it. I do feel something.” She admitted. “That’s why I came here in the first place. I don’t know what this is that’s going on between us, this weird connection I’ve felt ever since I came home. But whatever it is, it can’t happen. We can’t happen.”

“Why not? Why can’t you just give this a chance and see where it goes?” I pleaded.

Mallory looked down at her feet and sighed deeply before answering me.

“There are so many reasons it wouldn’t work, Clay. You’ve all hurt me so many times, trying to make me believe you felt something for me, were affected by me, just to rip it away the minute I showed the slightest bit of interest. I don’t think I could ever trust that you truly felt something for me.”

“But we were affected by you. We were just too young and stupid to know how to handle it. Feeling something for you made us feel out of control and we hated that, so we tormented you rather than face the truth.” I confessed. Cary nodded in agreement.

“Even if that were true, loyalty is important to me. On one hand, you are trying to convince me you knew you had feelings for me but on the other hand, you kept fucking your way through this pack and who knows how many others. I don’t need that drama in my life. I want to be with someone who can be honest with himself about what he feels for me and who is willing to commit. I could never trust you to be faithful to me.”

“You are such a hypocrite!” My usually silent, brooding older brother suddenly burst out. “Is that what you were doing when you had your tongue down my brother’s throat? Being faithful? Funny how you haven’t even mentioned Nathan throughout this entire conversation. Didn’t even list him as one of your reasons for not giving us a chance. Shouldn’t he be your main excuse?”

The whole room went silent aside from Mallory’s sharp intake of breath. I wasn’t even sure Colt heard what he’d said, but the rest of us heard it loud and clear. The question was, would Mallory brush it off, or call him out.

“Us?” Mal answered my silent question, looking at Colt with guarded interest, the gold in her eyes dancing with curiosity.

“You know what I mean!” Colt deflected. “It was a figure of speech.”

“Right!” Mal sighed, sounding disappointed. “Because you love Darcy.”

Colton nodded curtly, but didn’t say more.

“And I love Nathan. I’ve already said I made a mistake and it won’t happen again, but I think it’s better if we just avoid each other.” Mallory declared with finality in her tone, then turned for the door.

I wanted to find something to make her stay but no words would come to me. In my peripheral vision I could see Cary hanging his head in defeat as well. But then salvation came from the most unexpected source.

“Mallory!” Colt called after her, stopping her before she could leave. She turned back to look at him with a blank expression on her face. “You seem to expect my brothers to avoid temptation because of their feelings for you. Surely you can do the same for Nathan. You will continue to help us train the pack.”

Mallory’s face turned bright red and she clenched her fists in anger but didn’t argue. Instead, she just walked out and slammed the door behind her.