Chapter 0002

Thea sprinted to school. She couldn’t risk running into the triplets back at the pack house. She went to the girls’ locker room to shower.

What was wrong with her? She had never gotten aroused while training before. She was always professional. She saved that for her alone time.

Yes, ever since the triplets hit puberty, they were getting more muscular, and they could actually pin her now, and yes, she secretly liked it. Keyword being secret. She wanted her future Alphas to get more powerful. She also wanted them on top of her. That was the real reason they were sometimes able to pin her. She let them. They weren’t supposed to know any of that. No one was.

She was supposed to be the next Beta. Their Beta. She couldn’t complicate that relationship by fawning over them. A Beta couldn’t be in love with her Alphas. She’d never get the position if she acted like a lovesick puppy around them or if she smelled of arousal whenever they were near. Once the triplets found their mates, the Lunas would want her replaced. That’s why most Betas were male. Well, aside from the fact that males were almost always stronger.

She had Alpha blood, though. Her father was the Beta of their pack—New Dawn, the biggest pack on the west coast—but he was the fourth son of an Alpha from the east coast. His pack didn’t need him, and he wanted to be useful, so he came out here to be Beta. Thea's mother was the daughter of an Alpha too.

Thea was strong. Tall, strong, and she trained harder than anybody.

The triplets’ father, Alpha Ulric, had included her in his sons’ training since day one. The unspoken expectation was that she would take over her father’s position just like the triplets would take over theirs.

Now that was all jeopardized. She had demonstrated why a female shouldn’t be Beta. She thought her attraction to them was under control, but something took over her body when they were all biting her. When they nipped her marking spot, that moan was as involuntary as it was embarrassing. One second she was fighting against them. The next, she was limp and wanting.

She was about to tilt her hips and grind herself against Kai when they all froze. They must have been horrified at the sound of her moan. Then they sniffed the air and smelled how turned on she was! How could she ever look at any of them again? She shouldn’t have stopped running at the school. She needed to leave town. The state. The country. Who was she kidding? The planet.

She got out of the shower and changed into some spare clothes she had there. Her life here was over. She couldn’t go to classes. She shared all but one with the triplets. She would have to leave and start a new life somewhere else. Maybe her uncle’s pack on the east coast would take her in. She would call her parents and apologize for shaming the family after she settled.

She left the locker room and ran straight into the triplets. Alaric had Thea’s backpack on his shoulder and a peach in his hand. She abruptly turned and ran in the opposite direction.

“Hey!” Kai called out.

“Thea, stop!” Conri said.

Alaric caught up to her first. He grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. “Thea, what are you doing?”

“I’m running away,” she said. Conri and Kai caught up. The three of them formed a circle around her.

“Why?” Conri said.

“Why do you think? I'm humiliated.”

“Why are you embarrassed? It's okay,” Kai said.

“No, it's not, and it'll never happen again,” Thea said.

Kai’s hands trailed up her sides. He stepped closer to her, pinning her against Conri and Alaric, who each grabbed one of her arms. Kai leaned down and brushed his lips across her collar bone then up to her ear. She suppressed whatever sound was building in her throat.

“Are you saying if we kissed your neck, it wouldn't turn you on?”

They brought their noses to her neck and breathed in. Thea clenched her legs together, trying to temper the heat that was building. Kai’s hand moved down, snuck under her shirt. His fingers grazed inside the waistband of her pants.

“If I reached in and touched you, you wouldn't be wet for us?”

It took everything in her not to beg him to do just that. Best she could figure, this was some kind of test for the Beta position, and she was failing miserably. That thought sobered her quickly, and anger built inside Thea—not at Kai, but herself. She wasn't Beta material. She steeled herself, ripped her arms from Conri and Alaric, and shoved Kai.

“You’ll never find out, Kaiser Valko,” she said, using his full name. She only did that when she was angry.

She ran, waiting until she rounded the corner to wipe the tears from her eyes.

“Way to go, idiot,” Thea heard Alaric say to Kai.

“I can smell her. Why is she fighting it?” Conri said.

She made it to her locker before Alaric caught up with her. He offered her backpack to her.

“I figured you’d need this since you didn’t come back to the pack house,” he said. “I put a change of clothes in there.”

“Thanks.” She took her bag from him. He offered the peach to her.

“Figured you didn’t get breakfast either.”

She wanted to hug him. Instead, she took the peach. “Thanks,” she said. She could always count on Alaric to take care of her, make her feel better, but even he couldn’t fix this.

“I’m sorry about Kai. Are you okay?”

“I can’t stay here after that,” she said.

“What do you mean? Where would you go?”

“My uncle’s pack? Anywhere else, really.”

“Thea, you’re not going anywhere. We’ll track you down and drag you back. You’re not leaving.”

“You don’t get it.”

“Don’t let his immaturity scare you off.”

“It’s not him. He was just testing me. I failed. I’m the problem.”

“What?” Alaric said. Kai and Conri turned the corner and slowly approached.

“How can I train with you anymore? I can’t.” She grabbed her stuff, closed her locker.

“Thea, you’re not making any sense.”

“Think about it. If I can’t train, my future in the pack is over.” She wiped the tears she couldn’t stop and walked away.