The Triplet Alphas' Secret Mate-Chapter 85: Cross Over

Scarlett’s POV

​I looked to my left. Liam was struggling. Camilla had frozen completely twenty feet up. She was sobbing, her hands shaking so hard she couldn’t grip the stone.

​"Move, Camilla!" Liam barked, his voice full of Alpha authority. "It’s just a wall! Just reach up!"

​"I can’t! Liam, I’m going to fall!" she shrieked.

​Liam tried to reach down to haul her up by the rope, but the angle was wrong. Camilla’s foot slipped, and she went into a full panic, swinging wildly. Liam’s fingers lost their grip on the dusty rock as she yanked him downward. They didn’t fall to the ground—the safety lines caught them—but they were disqualified. Liam’s roar of frustration echoed off the spires as the guards lowered them down.

​Beside them, Sienna and Bianca were also failing. Their warrior partners were strong, but the sisters had no core strength. They were being dragged up like sacks of grain, and eventually, the Elder signaled for them to be cut.

​I looked over at Leon. He was moving like a machine. He wasn’t talking to Elara, and she wasn’t talking to him. They moved in a strange, silent sync. When she slipped, he caught her without a word. When he reached a difficult spot, she waited. They reached the top just as Ethan and I hauled ourselves over the final ridge.

​I rolled onto the flat, sun-warmed stone at the summit, my lungs burning. Ethan stood up immediately, offering no hand to help me. He was staring at the woods ahead, his mind already on the next task.

​I looked back down the cliff. Out of the fifty couples that started the climb, only twenty had made it to the top. The rest were being led away, their festival over.

​Ethan finally looked down at me, his eyes cold again. He reached out and unclipped the rope from my waist, tossing it aside like it was trash.

​"That was too close, Scarlett," he said, his voice flat. "If you slip again, I might not be able to catch you."

​I stood up, brushing the stone dust from my leggings, my eyes burning with a mix of hate and unwanted attraction.

​"Then maybe you should have bought a better rope," I hissed.

​I walked past him toward the treeline, where the sound of the rushing river awaited us. I could feel his gaze on my back, and further away, I felt Leon’s eyes on me too.

​"The third trial is the Rapids Sprint!" the Elder shouted over the thunder of the river. "Twenty pairs remain. You must cross the rapids using only the jagged stones. If you fall into the water, you are out. If you lose your partner, you are out."

​I looked at the stones. They weren’t flat path stones; they were sharp, moss-covered teeth of rock sticking out of the foaming, freezing water. One wrong step and you’d be swept a mile downstream before a guard could reach you.

​Ethan gripped my upper arm, his fingers digging into my skin just like they had the night before. "This isn’t the cliff, Scarlett. The current is fast. If you slip, don’t try to swim. Just grab for me."

​"I’m not going to slip," I said, my teeth chattering slightly from the cold mist.

​"Everyone slips," a voice rasped from behind us.

​I turned. Leon was standing there with Elara. He looked terrible—his skin was pale and his eyes were bloodshot—but he was staring at the river with a grim determination. Elara was silent, her face white as she stared at the rushing water. She looked as if she wanted to run away, but she stayed glued to Leon’s side.

​"Just stay out of our way, Leon," Ethan growled, staring at Elara for a second before looking away.

​"The river doesn’t care who is in whose way," Leon replied, his voice flat. He looked at me then, his eyes lingering on my mouth for a split second before he looked away.

​On our other side, Leo and Tessa were already at the water’s edge. Leo didn’t say anything to us. He just stepped onto the first stone, his balance perfect, his body coiled like a spring. He moved with a grace that made the rest of us look like clumsy humans.

​"Go!" the Elder yelled.

​Ethan lunged for the first stone, pulling me with him. The rock was like ice, and the moss made it as slippery as oil. I landed hard, my boots skidding. Ethan caught my waist, hauling me upright against his chest for a brief, breathless second.

​"Focus!" he hissed into my ear.

​We began the sprint. It was a rhythmic, terrifying dance. Leap. Land. Stabilize. Leap.

​Halfway across, the river got deeper and the stones further apart. I could see the other couples struggling. One pair of warriors lost their footing; the woman screamed as she was pulled into the foam, her partner diving in after her. They were gone in seconds, swept toward the elimination bank.

​I looked to my left. Leon and Elara were right beside us. Elara had frozen on a high stone, the water spraying her red gear.

​"I can’t!" she cried, her voice thin over the roar. "Alpha Leon, it’s too far!"

​Leon didn’t yell like Liam had. He simply stepped back onto her stone, grabbed her around the waist, and literally jumped the gap with her tucked under his arm. It was a massive feat of strength, his muscles bulging as he landed on a tiny, pointed rock. He wobbled, his boots fighting for grip, and for a second, I thought they were going down.

​But he held. He looked up, his eyes meeting mine, and for a heartbeat, the pain in his expression was so raw I almost forgot to jump myself.

​"Scarlett!" Ethan yelled.

​I jumped. I reached for a flat-topped stone, but as my boot hit the surface, the moss gave way. My legs went out from under me.

​The cold hit me like a physical blow. The water was screaming in my ears, pulling at my hips, trying to drag me into the dark. I clawed at the stone, my fingernails breaking against the rock.

​"Ethan!"

​I felt a hand slam into my wrist. It wasn’t Ethan.

​I looked up through the stinging spray. Leo was crouched on the stone above me, his hand locked around my arm like a shackle. He had abandoned his own path to reach across the gap.

​"I have you," Leo roared over the water.

​A second later, Ethan’s hand was on my other arm. The two Alphas were hovering over me, their eyes meeting over my head. The air between them was more dangerous than the river.

​"Let her go, Leo," Ethan snarled, his grip tightening on my bicep. "She’s my partner."

​"She was drowning while you were looking at the next stone," Leo spat back, his blue eyes flashing gold. "I’m not letting her go."

​I was dangling between them, the freezing river trying to rip me away, while the two Alphas engaged in a silent war of wills.

​"Both of you!" I screamed, the water splashing into my mouth. "Get me up!"

​Together, they hauled me out of the water and onto the stone. I collapsed, shivering and gasping for air. Ethan stood over me, blocking Leo’s path, his chest heaving.

​Leo stood on his own stone, his clothes soaked, his jaw set. He looked at me one last time—a look of such fierce protection it made my heart stop—before he turned and continued his sprint with Tessa.

​"Get up," Ethan commanded, his voice shaking with a mix of fear and rage. "We’re losing the lead."

​I pushed myself up, my clothes heavy and freezing. I looked back at the bank. Only ten couples were left. The rest had been taken by the river.