Resisting the Alpha Triplets by Cara Anderson

Ch. 27 Hallucinations

Mal’s POV

“Goddess Damn it! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I screamed to myself once I was safely within the confines of my room.

Thankfully mom wasn’t home to witness my pathetically infantile meltdown. The last thing I needed was a witness, let alone her genuine yet misguided attempt to fix anything and everything that made me unhappy. I loved her dearly, but contrary to every parent’s popular belief, she did not have all the answers.

“I should have stayed at the academy.” I muttered aloud.

“No you shouldn’t.” A disembodied voice answered me. Fucking fantastic! I really was losing my fucking mind and it was starting with auditory hallucinations.

“You’re funny!” The voice laughed, a high-pitched, tinkling sound, like bells chiming. 1

“Okay, I’ll bite. Apparently my subconscious feels I need this imaginary conversation. So…why shouldn’t I have stayed at the academy? Everything was perfect there. I was respected, capable. I knew my place. And let’s not forget, I had the perfect boyfriend whom it never, ever crossed my mind to be unfaithful too.” I ranted to myself, then looked around furtively as if someone would appear from the shadows, a witness to my descent into madness.

“He’s not ours!” The voice hissed, a much more menacing sound than her previously amused tone. “We belong here! With our mates and the people who love us, the people who can help us achieve our destiny!”

Okay! If I hadn’t been before, now I knew I was fucking losing it! Ours?

Well, I supposed if it was my subconscious talking, then that made sense. But mates, as in plural? How did I rationalize that one? Either even my subconscious was delusional or I was secretly hoping to, literally, bite off more than I could chew. Then again, maybe she was referring to the man and the wolf as separate entities. I would have to pack that conundrum away for later.

“All I’ve managed to do since coming home was ignore my mother, cheat on my boyfriend, and nurture a love-hate relationship with the triplets. So if I have some glorious destiny that will require my own personal cheering squad to achieve, I’m not exactly winning any popularity contests right now.” I retorted, carrying on with the neurotic argument I’d started with, well, myself apparently.

“I’ll be back soon.” The voice faded as she spoke, until she was gone altogether. “Everything will make sense then.”

Great! I didn’t even want to talk to myself anymore. I padded across my room, dropping clothes as I went. The dress I’d worn didn’t allow for underwear so I pulled open the drawer and grabbed the comfiest pair of faded gray panties I owned. Then I dug through the pile of clothes on the floor of my closet and until I found my favorite pair of sweatpants with the holes in the knees and my threadbare jersey tee with the neck so stretched out it hung over one shoulder.

Once I’d pulled on what mom had dubbed my “pity party uniform” I flopped down on my bed and proceeded to do just that. When the fuck had my life become so confusing? When had I lost all the certainty I’d gained over the last two years about who I was and what my life was meant to look like?

The day I’d arrived for Luna training, I immediately felt a sense of belonging. No one asked my designation, just assumed I wouldn’t be there if I didn’t deserve to be, and I didn’t correct those assumptions. Everything I’d accomplished there, I’d earned through hard work and determination. And I did it for myself.

Nathan supported me, pushed me, trained with me, but he never made it about him. He knew I was an omega because I told him. But never once did he say I had to be more, do more if I wanted to be a Luna. He asked me what I wanted and waited for me to ask for his help.

All that hard work, that hard won self- confidence, and all it took to see it crumble at my feet was to come home. As soon as I stepped in that packhouse, laid eyes on the three men who’d been the banes of my childhood, it all fell apart. Because as much as I wanted to deny it, and fuck did I ever want to deny it, they still had the same hold on me they always had and I had no fucking clue how to solve that Triple Collins puzzle.

As if the thought of them alone could conjure said triplets, the sound of something tapping against my bedroom window had me bolting upright to see Clay’s stupidly handsome face smiling back at me.

“Open the window, Mal!” He called to me through the glass.

I just put my hands on my hips defiantly and locked him in a stern glare.

Is your idiot younger brother with you?” I demanded haughtily.

“Of course I am, darling. Do you think I’d let this fucker have you all to himself?” He thumbed in Clay’s direction, smirking impishly.

“Please, little wolf.” Clay made his best attempt at puppy-dog eyes which only made me laugh. His answering grin was so wide, you’d think I’d just made all his dreams come true with one damn giggle.

“Fine.”I huffed, heaving the window open and standing aside as they both clamored through.

I reached out to close the window but before my hand could find purchase, I was being pulled into the middle of a hug sandwich. Both men buried their noses in my neck and took in huge lungfuls of my scent. They breathed me in with all the need of an asthmatic would their rescue inhaler. And once again, I was putty in their hands.

“Fuck, I missed you little wolf!” Clay’s warm breath grazed my neck sending a shiver down my spine.

But just as I came back to myself, Cary stiffened. A menacing growl rumbled in his chest as he set me at arm’s length and shot me a look that threatened violence.

“I can smell him on you.” A simple statement, spoken with all the venom of a rattlesnake about to strike.

“Of course you can. We were on a date. Did you expect him not to touch me?” I challenged.

“Exactly how did he touch you, darling?” Cary’s usual term of endearment held nothing sweet this time.

“Look, Goddess only knows why you think you have any right to this possessive bullshit you’re pulling right now. But I’m too mentally and emotionally exhausted to have that argument with you.” I blustered. “He took me for ballroom dancing lessons. He held me while we danced, in front of an instructor. Then he took me to dinner at Dolce, which I’ve been dying to try, but he ruined it all with a jealous display in the middle of the restaurant, demanding to know what happened with you today. So, I’ll offer you the same courtesy I gave him, right before I walked out on him. Nothing happened. Now since this is my house, it’s your turn to get the fuck out!”

I sucked in air, my tirade robbing me of breath for the better part of a minute. Then I walked straight back to my bed, ready to take up my previous position on the soft mattress calling to me. But before I could reach it, heavy arms coiled around my waist, pulling me back into a scrumptiously muscular chest I had no strength to resist.

“We’re sorry, little wolf.” Clay swallowed his pride, the only one of his brothers who did so readily. Something I appreciated about him. “You’re stressed. My wolf can feel it and it’s making him wild. He’s scratching and clawing at me, insisting I make it better but I don’t know how. Tell me how.”

“I-, I don’t know. I feel like I’m losing my mind. Right before you showed up I was actually nevermind. My head is all over the place. I wish I could just turn my thoughts off for a while but that doesn’t seem likely to happen any time soon.”

“I think I know exactly what you need, love.” Cary locked eyes with Clay, some silent agreement passing between them before Clay broke out into a mischievous grin.

“Come for a run with us, little wolf. It’s guaranteed to clear that gorgeous little head of yours. Nothing but you, us, the wind in your hair and the beautiful forest under the moonlight.” Clay chimed in where his brother left off.

“Um, that sounds lovely and all, but there’s just one tiny little problem with that plan. In case you forgot, I don’t have a wolf. I’ll never keep up and running in the forest alone at night is not my idea of stress relief.” I countered.

“Oh, that’s no problem at all, darling.” Cary wore the same shit-eating grin as his brother. “You can ride on my wolf’s back.”

I stared back at him in shock, unable to form a reply. What he was suggesting was so outrageous it was almost sacrilege. Outside of emergencies, wolves didn’t give rides to just anyone. In fact, the only person to be granted that privilege was a wolf’s mate.

What they were offering me was nearly the same as asking me to be their chosen mate. But they couldn’t be asking that, could they?