Chapter 5

Eira

Behind him stood the triplets: Thorne, Soren, and Kae they remained silent.

My bag suddenly felt heavier.

Alpha Ronan didn’t waste time.

“I know everything,” he said. “I overheard the three of you last night in the garden. I know about the mate bond.”

His eyes moved to the triplets, hard and disappointed.

“And some of the workers at the mall already reported to me what happened yesterday how you publicly humiliated her and made her look like a thief.” His voice dropped into a low growl. “You will apologize. Now.”

None of them moved.

“I said now.”

Thorne was the first to speak. His voice was pure ice. “Sorry.” He didn’t even look at me.

Soren’s apology was just as hollow. “Yeah. Sorry.”

Kael didn’t bother pretending. He stared straight at me and said, “Apologies,” like the word itself disgusted him.

Alpha Ronan nodded once, satisfied enough. “You three will treat her with basic respect from this point forward. Am I clear?”

They didn’t answer. They just turned and walked out without another glance.

The second the door closed behind them, Alpha Ronan turned to me. His expression softened.

“Eira… don’t leave.” He rested a hand on my shoulder. “I know this is hard. I know how they’ve treated you. But the mate bond is sacred. It will change them. Give it time. Give them time. They won’t be able to fight it forever.”

I wanted to laugh. Or cry. Or both.

I knew better. The bond might force them to feel something, but it would never make them accept me. They would fight it every step of the way, and they would make me suffer for it.

Still, I forced a small nod. “Okay… I’ll stay.”

I didn’t stay for them. I stayed because Alpha Ronan was the only person in this pack who had ever treated me like I mattered. Disappointing him felt worse than enduring the triplets a little longer.

He gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze and left for his meeting.

I barely made it to the hallway before the three of them cornered me.

Thorne stepped in so close I could feel the heat rolling off him. His voice was low and venomous.

“Don’t get comfortable, four-eyes. That little performance downstairs means nothing. The second we find a valid reason to reject you…something our father can’t argue with..we’re done. You’re an Omega. A slave. We don’t stoop that low.”

Soren’s lip curled. “You’re not our Luna. You’ll never be. So keep your head down and stay the hell out of our way.”

Kael’s voice was quieter, but somehow colder. “This bond is a mistake. And mistakes can be corrected.”

They left me standing there with their words still burning in my ears.

I wanted to scream until my throat tore.

⸻

At school Mira found me at my desk before first period. She was already talking, trying to lift my mood the way she always did.

“…and then I told him if he ever called again I’m blocking his number for real. Can you believe the nerve…” She stopped mid-sentence and frowned. “Eira? You’re not even listening.”

“Sorry,” I muttered.

“You’ve been like this all morning.” She leaned closer, voice softer. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t give me that. Talk to me.”

I stayed silent for a long moment.

“They’re my mates.”

She blinked. “Who?”

“The triplets.”

For a second she just stared. Then her eyes went wide.

“Wait…You’re serious?”

I nodded once.

Mira sat back hard in her chair. “Oh my god, Eira… reject them. Right now. You don’t owe them a single thing. You’ve already suffered enough because of those three. Don’t let some stupid bond trap you with people who treat you like dirt. Reject them before they destroy what’s left of you.”

I opened my mouth to answer, but the classroom door opened and the triplets walked in.

They didn’t look at me at first. Then Thorne’s eyes landed on me and a cruel little smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He walked straight past my desk and deliberately knocked my books to the floor with his bag.

“Oops,” he said loudly enough for half the class to hear. “Didn’t see the trash sitting there.”

A few people laughed.

Soren followed right behind him, stepping hard on one of the fallen notebooks. “Maybe if you weren’t some dump omega, four-eyes, things like this wouldn’t keep happening.”

Kael didn’t say a word. He just looked down at me with pure distaste before taking his seat, like the sight of me sitting near him was offensive.

I picked up my things with shaking hands, face burning. Mira looked ready to explode, but I shook my head at her. Fighting back would only make everything worse.

The rest of the morning was relentless. Every chance they got to remind me I was beneath them, they took it. By the time science class started I already felt hollowed out.

The teacher wrote something on the board and turned to the class with a cheerful smile.

“For your group projects, I’m putting you into groups of three. This is about learning teamwork, so I expect every single one of you to play your role well.”

His eyes scanned the room and landed on me.

“Eira”

I stood up automatically, already dreading whatever was coming.

“Since you live with the Storm triplets, you get to choose any two of them for your group.”

He smiled like he’d just done me a favor.

The entire class turned to look at me.

Thorne, Soren, and Kael all raised their heads at the same time. Three pairs of cold, furious eyes locked onto mine.

And in that moment I realized just how deep the trouble I was in really was.