Chapter 2

Eira

Concentrating in class was nearly impossible. The whole day my mind kept drifting to what waited for me after the final bell, and it showed I completely messed up on Algebra word problem. That was when Mira finally decided something was off.

The break bell rang and students poured out of the room in pairs and groups. Mira walked over to my desk at the front, perched herself on the edge of the table, and looked down at me.

“You’ve been off all morning,” she said. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing serious ,” I lied. “Just stressed about… you know who.”

“Right. The school’s golden triplet boys.” Mira rolled her eyes. “I still don’t get how they can be so awful to you when you’re literally the one who keeps their house running.”

“I know,” I sighed. “It only makes it worse. Alpha Ronan complains nonstop about how irresponsible they are, and they take it out on me.”

“Well, he did give them a slave,” Mira said with a shrug. “What did he expect?”

“Not helpful, Mira.”

She muttered a quick sorry, and I kept going.

“This morning he somehow remembered it was my birthday. Now he wants the three of them to take me shopping at the mall.” I grabbed her shoulders, my claws pricking her skin for a second. “It’s going to be a disaster. Thorne already promised he’d make sure I never forget today.”

Mira just stared at me for a moment, the same way she always did when my luck seemed especially cursed. She’d been an Omega and a slave too until she found her mate last year on her own eighteenth birthday.

“I’ll come with you,” she offered. “They’ll behave better if I’m there.”

“This is why I love you,” I said, leaning into her. Mira had only been my friend for a year, but she was the one bright spot in an otherwise dark world.

“When are we going?” she asked. “I’ve got a movie later.”

“Probably right after classes finish,” I said.

“Which is now,” a familiar voice cut in.

I spun around and found Thorne standing there. Heat rushed to my face. He’d clearly been listening for a while, and I wished the floor would open up and swallow me.

“Th–Thorne,” I managed.

“I told you you’d have a memorable day, Eira,” he said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I plan to keep that promise. I even made sure the rest of today’s classes got canceled so we’d have more time. And when I say we…” he glanced at Mira “I don’t mean you and your nerd friend. Just the four of us. No extras.”

I blinked hard against the tears stinging my eyes and clenched my fists until my claws bit into my palms. Spending the rest of the day alone with the triplets was the last thing I wanted.

“I… I have a History test,” I stammered. “I need to go.”

Thorne caught my arm and pulled me closer. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Right then the school alarm blared, and Principal Johnson’s voice came over the speakers.

“Attention students of Moonridge High. We are experiencing technical difficulties. All remaining classes for the day have been canceled. Students are advised to leave campus immediately…”

The first hot tear slid down my cheek. There was no way out now.

“You’ll be okay,” Mira whispered. “Happy birthday, Eira.”

She gave me a quick hug, shot Thorne a look, and walked out. I wished she could have found some excuse to stay. I would have felt safer with her there.

Once she was gone, Thorne steered me out to the car where Kael and Soren were already waiting.

“What took so long?” Kael asked as he pulled onto the highway.

“Her nerdy best friend wanted to tag along and grab some free groceries,” Thorne said with a low chuckle.

All three of them laughed. I sat in silence, staring out the window. Mira hadn’t been trying to freeload. She’d only wanted to protect me from them.

A few minutes later we stopped in front of Central Mall..the most expensive place in the pack, the kind of store only wealthy families shopped in.

“Go on in,” Thorne said. “We’ll catch up.”

I didn’t want to walk in alone, but sitting in the car with them felt worse. I stepped inside. Almost immediately a cheerful young woman in a red apron over a T-shirt and jeans approached me. She wore a plain black face mask and a baseball cap pulled low over her forehead.

“Hi, Eira. I’ll be your shopping assistant today,” she announced, already grabbing a trolley without waiting for an answer.

“Wait…” I tried to stop her, but she was already heading down the jewelry aisle.

I kept glancing at her, trying to study her face. Something about her felt familiar like I must have seen her somewhere before. Every time I tried to get a clearer look, she tilted her head down or turned slightly away, almost as if she was deliberately dodging my gaze. I squinted harder as she moved between the aisles, but my bad eyesight made it impossible to see her properly through the mask and the low cap.

How did she even know my name? Had the brothers set this up too?

Questions raced through my head, but I had no answers. All I could do was watch as the woman started loading the trolley with expensive things sparkling jewelry, designer dresses, boxes of Muncho cereal.

“Hey!” I called.

She turned, still keeping her face angled downward. “What do you think of this diamond necklace? Only three thousand.”

My stomach dropped. Three thousand dollars was a fortune, and I didn’t care how much money Alpha Ronan had. I wasn’t spending it.

“I appreciate the help,” I said carefully, “but I don’t need any of this.”

By then the trolley was already half full.

“Of course you do,” she insisted, still not looking at me directly. “It’s your special day. Don’t be shy.”

Before I could argue she was off down the next aisle, tossing in whatever caught her eye. Eventually she wheeled the overloaded trolley up to the checkout counter and told me she needed to use the restroom. She left me standing there alone.

“Next?”

The cashier eyed the mountain of items, then looked me up and down.

“You do realize this is Central Mall, right?”

I couldn’t answer. I turned, searching the store for any sign of the triplets. If they didn’t show up, I was about to look like a complete fool.

Luckily or unluckily Thorne appeared out of nowhere with his girlfriend Yara at his side.

“Eira?” Yara looked at me like I was some strange exhibit. “What’s four-eyes doing here? Did she get lost?”

“Beats me,” Thorne shrugged. “And with a full cart. Maybe she’s been dipping into someone’s wallet. Everyone check your purses.”

A ripple of tension moved through the nearby shoppers. People started patting their bags and pockets. Every eye turned toward me. I finally understood I’d walked straight into their trap.

“That’ll be nine thousand two hundred and fifty dollars,” the cashier said. “Credit card?”

I looked at Thorne, stunned. Was he really going to pretend he didn’t know why I was here?

“I… I didn’t pick any of this,” I stammered. “The lady in the apron did.”

“Sure,” Yara shot back. “Your imaginary friend filled the cart for you.”

Laughter erupted around us. I stood frozen, mortified. Yara’s comments were bad enough, but the cashier was already losing patience.

“Pay up, young lady,” she snapped. “I don’t have all day.”