The Triplet Alphas' Secret Mate-Chapter 10: A Stolen Kiss

​Scarlett’s POV

​This was it.

My very first kiss.

​As a young girl, before my world was destroyed, I used to dream about this. I used to imagine Liam—or one of his brothers—leaning down to kiss me. I had kept that dream hidden like a precious secret.

But now that it was happening, I didn’t know how to feel.

​Liam deepened the kiss, sending a sharp jolt of electricity racing from my lips down to my toes. My body reacted instantly, melting into the warmth of his chest.

It felt right.

And yet it felt terribly, horribly wrong.

​He let out a low sound against my lips, his hands tightening around me as he pulled me closer. There was nothing gentle about the kiss. It was demanding, possessive—like he expected me to surrender. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

And for a second, I almost did.

Then the memories came rushing back.

The day everything had been taken from me.

The cold, merciless look on his face as they turned their backs on me. The sound of their voices giving the order that ended my parents’ lives.

The pain hit me like a blade to the heart.

And suddenly, I wasn’t that foolish girl dreaming about a kiss anymore.

Without hesitation, I bit down hard on his lip.

Liam hissed and pulled back, the smell of blood filling the air. Before he could speak, I raised my hand and slapped him. The sound of my palm hitting his cheek was loud in the quiet night.

​"Don’t you dare," I whispered, my voice trembling with anger and pain. "Don’t you ever touch me like that again."

​He stood there, stunned, his hand rising to his reddened cheek as his eyes searched mine, flashing with an unreadable emotion. I didn’t give him a chance to speak. I turned and stumbled away, my wet dress heavy and clinging to my legs.

​As I rounded the corner of the tent, I nearly ran into Leo. He was approaching us, but I ignored him and kept running, my heart feeling like it was being crushed.

​By the time I reached the party again, I must have looked like a ghost—my dress ruined, my hair soaked, my face pale.

​Lana spotted me instantly and rushed over.

"Scarlett! Oh my Goddess, look at you!" She grabbed my shoulders, her eyes wide with worry. "What happened? Who did this? Was it those boys at the lake?"

​"Nothing," I choked out, tears finally falling. "I just... I want to go home, Lana. Please."

​"I’ll kill them," Lana hissed. She was angry; she thought I was crying because I had been bullied and thrown into the water. She had no idea. She didn’t know I was crying because my first kiss had been stolen by a man who treated me like dirt.

​"I’m sorry about the dress," I whispered weakly.

She immediately wrapped her shawl around my shoulders.

"Don’t worry about the dress, Scarlett. Let’s get you out of here."

​As we walked toward her car, I could feel eyes following us. People whispered quietly among themselves, but I ignored them.

​Lana’s car was quiet, the only sound being the low hum of the engine and the heater she had blasted to keep me from shivering. I stared out the window at the passing trees, my mind a mess. My lips still felt swollen from Liam’s kiss, and my pussy still burned where Leon had marked me earlier.

​Suddenly, the car screeched to a halt on the side of the dirt road.

​Lana turned in her seat, her eyes wide and glowing with a faint, protective amber light. She leaned closer, her nose wrinkling as she sniffed the air inside the small cabin.

​"Scarlett," she said, her voice sounding serious and worried. "You smell like Liam. Not just a little bit. You smell like his scent is branded into your skin."

​I froze. I didn’t know what to say. My heart started to race, and the silence in the car became heavy.

​"Did something happen?" she asked. When I didn’t answer right away, her face went pale. "Scarlett... did Liam touch you? Did he... did he force himself on you?"

​I could see the horror in her eyes. She thought the worst. She thought her brother, the future Alpha, had taken advantage of me.

​"No!" I said quickly, my eyes widening. "No, Lana. It’s not what you think. He didn’t... we didn’t have sex."

​"Are you sure?" she pressed, her hands gripping the steering wheel so hard the leather groaned. "I smell his musk, his rage... it’s all over you. If he hurt you, I don’t care if he’s my brother. I will tell Fathers. I won’t let them break you more than they already have."

​"I’m sure," I whispered, looking down at my lap. The blue silk was ruined, clinging to my legs. "He just... he was angry. We had an argument. That’s all."

​Lana watched me for a long time, her gaze searching for the lie. She didn’t look convinced, but she let out a long, shaky breath and sat back.

​"You know you can talk to me, right?" she said softly, reaching over to squeeze my hand. Her touch was the only thing that felt safe in this world. "Whatever they are doing to you... you don’t have to carry it alone."

​"I know. Thank you, Lana," I said, though I felt like a hypocrite.

​I couldn’t tell her the truth. I couldn’t tell her that Leon wanted me in his room every night, or that Liam had stolen my first kiss. If I told her, it would start a war between the siblings, and I would be the one caught in the middle.

​A few minutes later, we pulled up to the servants’ quarters.

​"Get some sleep," Lana said. "I’ll see you in the morning."

​I nodded and stepped out of the car, pulling her shawl tightly around me.

I walked to my small, cold room and pushed the door open. But as soon as I stepped inside, the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

​The scent of cedar and dark chocolate filled the tiny space.

​"You’re late," a voice rumbled from the corner.

​I gasped, spinning around. Sitting on my small wooden chair, his long legs stretched out and his eyes glowing in the dark, was Leo.

​Panicked, I turned on the light to be sure I was seeing correctly, and indeed it was Leo. My eyes widened. How did he arrive before us?

​"Leo..."

Before the word could leave my lips, he moved with terrifying speed, pinning me against the door before I could even blink.