Trap of the King Alpha Triplet

Content warning: This chapter contains mature themes including sexual situations and violence. Leo.

My wolf is clawing at the underside of my skin as I cradle Emily's limp body to my chest. The pull to claim our mate is a vicious snarling thing, only enflamed by her heat-soaked scent. Every primal instinct demands I take her now. She's burning up. Vulnerable. Ripe for the claiming. My wolf, Dominick's voice is gravel and gunpowder, more beast than man.

I grit my teeth so hard my jaw creaks. No. She's hurt. We protect our mate, not ravage her.

Even as the human words leave my mouth, something darker and more ancient writhes in my blood. The need to dominate. Possess. Mine.

I shove it down with a growl. Emily mewls faintly, a fragile, frightened sound. So different from her usual firecracker defiance.

Rage pools in my gut, thick and acidic. I want to tear something apart. When I find the bastard who did this to her...

"Leo?" Logan links in my mind. "Joe will meet you at Granddad's hunting cabin. She said you should get Emily out of those clothes before the heat triggers a shift."

The snarl that leaves my throat is pure animal. Undressing my unconscious mate, putting my hands on her naked flesh... it's dangerous. Too fucking dangerous when my control is fraying by the second.

But if she shifts now, she could break every bone in her body. A witch-wolf hybrid wracked by a drug-induced heat? The competing magics would tear her apart from the inside. Worse than any assault. "Fine," I bite out.

How did a fucking rogue infiltrate our territory on the most guarded night of the year? He's got to have an accomplice. When I get my claws on him...

Emily whimpers, dragging me back to the crisis at hand. Focus. Get your mate to safety. Vengeance later.

I start for the rear exit, shouldering through the drunken crowd. Let them think their alpha heir is sneaking off for a conquest. It's not the worst rumor that will come out of tonight.

I snag a throw blanket off a bench, wrapping Emily in a makeshift cocoon. She's shaking hard, her fever-hot skin practically steaming in the cool night air.

The SUV is a beastly black thing, all jacked-up suspension and bullet-proof windows. Logan throws open the passenger door as I approach. I ease Emily into the seat, clipping the harness around her with fingers that tremble from barely leashed violence.

"Luca's coordinating with security to lock this place down." Logan reports. "I'll be right behind you."

I barely hear him, peeling out of the mansion driveway in a spray of gravel. The engine roars like a challenge into the darkness.

Steady, Dominick warns. She needs us clear-headed.

In the close confines of the car, Emily's scent is overwhelming. Jasmine and vanilla and woman, spiked with the musk of terrified arousal. She's panting shallowly, fingers clawing at the blanket. A wounded keening spills from her throat and my vision flashes red.

"I've got you, Emily" I rasp. My knuckles are white on the steering wheel. "You're gonna be okay. Just hold on."

Hurry, Dominick urges, pacing. Before it's too late.

The hunting cabin materializes out of the trees, a rugged stone-and-timber structure. I know Joe is already inside from the Jeep parked haphazardly out front.

I kill the engine, rounding the hood to unbuckle Emily from her seat. She's a twig in my arms, bird-boned and breakable. A savage part of me wonders what those slender legs would feel like locked around my hips as I---

No. I slam the door on that thought. Not now, not fucking ever without her full consent. No matter how badly I want her, Emily is not a toy for my base instincts.

Joe intercepts me on the porch, her blue eyes sharp in her grandmotherly face. "Bring her in, quickly now. I've got the guest room ready."

I shoulder past her, careful not to jostle Emily against the doorframe. The guest room is dim, lit only by the orange flicker of the fireplace. Joe's medical bag sits open on the nightstand, vials and syringes neatly organized inside. "Put her on the bed," Joe instructs briskly. "Then out. I don't need you going all territorial alpha while I work."

A visceral protest roars through me at the command to leave Emily, but I bite it back. Joe is trustworthy. She'll keep our mate safe.

I set Emily on the quilt as gently as I can. Her eyes flutter at the movement, glassy and unseeing. I have to stop myself from gathering her back up, hiding her away like wildfire with my body as the only shelter.

"I need to get her undressed to bring the fever down." Joe's tone brooks no argument. "Wait outside, Leo."

Every cell in my body revolts at the idea of another person putting hands on my mate, medical professional or not. I know it's the heat pheromones wreaking havoc on my senses, the primitive dread of losing the chance to claim what's mine. I know Emily needs treatment or she could die. I know all that.

But when Joe reaches for the zipper of Emily's dress, my control frays to a single hair-thin strand.

Let me. The wolf's demand is a black flood, hot and hungry. It's a bad idea. I know it's a bad idea. But I can't make my feet move toward the door. My claws slice out of my nail beds, needle-sharp and ready.

"I'll do it," I grit out. "Turn around."

Joe arches an iron-gray brow, but complies.

My fingers tremble as I tug the delicate zipper down Emily's spine. The dress is ruined already, torn and stained from her flight through the woods. I ease the straps off her shoulders, gritting my teeth against a wave of irrational, blistering jealousy at the rogue who dared lay hands on her.

Should have been my claws shredding the lace, Dominick snarls, all snapping fangs and neon fury.

Shut up, Donnie. I hold my breath as I work the bodice over the ripe curve of Emily's breasts. The blue satin of her bra looks eggshell-fragile against the angry flush of her skin. She whimpers, back arching, and I nearly swallow my tongue. Look at her, so soft and sweet. Imagine how those pretty nipples would pebble on our tongue. How tight and hot she'd be squeezing our --

Enough! I wrench the wolf back before the image burns me alive from the inside out. Panting, I peel the ruined dress down over Emily's hips as clinically as I can manage. The cotton of her panties is the same cornflower blue as her bra. My cock pulses against my zipper like a second carnivorous heart.

"Done," I rasp, throwing the dress aside like a live grenade.

Joe turns, face carefully blank. "Go, Leo. I'll take it from here."

I stagger back from the bed, a wounded animal. Emily's scent clings to my hands, lush and blood-hot. The wolf howls, fighting my grip on his leash with everything he's got.

Take. Claim. Mine!

I'm at the door in two strides, claws gouging the wood. I can't look back at Emily sprawled on the sheets, skin glowing like an offering in the firelight. If I do, I won't be able to leave. Won't be able to stop myself from pinning her down and sinking into her scorching heat until she's full of my knot and my seed and my--

Fuck. We almost lost it in there.

My wolf paces, hackles bristling. She needs us. Needs our strength.

I shake my head. She needs a clear-headed alpha, not a mindless beast. We give Joe space to work unless she calls for us.

A bitter, furious part of me hopes the rogue is still breathing when I get my claws on him. I want to feel the life drain out of him in hot spurts, to crunch the bones of the hand that dared touch what's mine. He'll pay, Dominick vows, cold as the grave.

I raise my face to the sky and let the night swallow my howl.