CH005

A week had passed since the beatings.

The bruises still burned beneath Olivia’s skin with the scars raw on her body. Though the old chef had secretly slipped her a healing ointment, a thick paste that smelled like crushed roots and herbs, it only soothed the outer pain. The deeper ache remained.

She had no wolf and that meant no quick healing even for her.

Today was her birthday. She'd already turned nineteen.

But no one knew. No one remembered. It was also Sheryl’s eighteenth birthday—the day the Moon Goddess would reveal which of the Alpha’s triplet sons was her fated mate.

The entire mansion buzzed with celebration. Olivia’s birthday had been forgotten long before it arrived.

She stayed tucked in her small space near the servants' quarters. She curled up on the cold floor, her satchel quietly packed beneath her blanket. She wasn’t going to be here much longer.

She had faked illness that morning to avoid being summoned as one of the servers at the grand event. But it didn’t matter.

By noon, Sheryl sent for her and a guard came pounding at her door to deliver the message.

***

Sheryl stood in front of the mirror in her grand bedroom, the air thick with expensive perfume and oils. She sat before a glowing vanity with a silk robe falling loosely off her shoulders.

“There you are,” she said without turning. “I need help dressing.” she added.

Olivia stepped in quietly, her face unreadable.

“You’re lucky I’m in a good mood today,” she added casually, not even sparing Olivia a glance.

Then she gestured to her bed where boxes upon boxes of gifts sat on display like treasures in a museum.

“Look at these,” she said with glee. “Kade gave me this—” She held up a green jade pendant sparkling under the light. “It cost millions,” she added, lifting the green jade against her collarbone.

Olivia said nothing, though her eyes lingered briefly on it for a while.

“He’s trying so hard. They all are,” she added with a smug grin.

“Zenon sent this dress all the way from a Parisian designer,” she went on, holding up a deep red silk gown that shimmered like wine.

“And Knox, oh sweet Knox, he bought me shoes and diamond jewelry. Men are so predictable when they want to impress.”

“All of them want me Olivia. Each one thinks he’s the lucky one fate will choose tonight.”

She tossed the red gown aside and looked at Olivia’s reflection in the mirror.

“Doesn’t it make you jealous?” she asked sweetly. “Three handsome Alpha heirs, three gods in their own right and one of them if not all will be mine tonight.”

“Wouldn’t you like to be me for once?”

Olivia kept her mouth shut, simply picking up a comb and began to brush her hair as she was told.

Sheryl wiped off the makeup she had applied on her face and made Olivia redo it. Again and again, Sheryl complained each time.

“No, I said I want it softer. Not this harsh peasant look. Do it again!.”

“Ugh. No. Again. It looks too plain. I want to look like a queen, not a corpse.”

"Has your wretched omega status over clouded your knowledge?! Why are you so clumsy and letting your poverty stricken self ruin everything!?"

Five times. Ten. And even more.

Even though Olivia knew her professional stylists were already on their way. This wasn’t about getting her ready. It was about humiliating her and reminding her that she was nothing but a slave.

***

The mansion slowly emptied as evening drew near. Laughter and footsteps, the rustling of gowns and the clinking of perfume bottles—all faded as the servants and royals headed to the Alpha's Grand Hall at the middle of the palace for the celebration.

No one noticed her as she slipped out from her corner. She took her old satchel, the same one they accused her of hiding money in. And before she stepped out, she crept into Sheryl’s room.

There, in the same drawer Sheryl had miraculously found her money to be stolen from, she found it again.

This time, she took it.

"If I’ve suffered for it, I might as well have it" she muttered to herself as she shoved the money into her satchel, along with her worn clothes and the healing ointment.

Her heart beat fast as she opened the exit door near the servants’ quarters. The main door of the mansion had been locked to keep her inside. Her hands trembled on the lock of the exit.

This was it.

She took one last glance at the mansion and the walls that had witnessed her pain and sufferings.

Then she ran.

Her satchel bounced on her shoulder. Her legs, still weak from the wounds, pushed forward on willpower alone. She climbed the small dais near the side gate, the exit she had waited so long to use.

And then she reached it but as she pushed the gate open, her breath catching in her throat as her freedom was just a step away.

She froze.

Three figures stood right outside.

Three tall, broad-shouldered men. The Alpha’s sons.

Kade. Zenon and Knox.

Their eyes locked on her at once.

Their shirts were half unbuttoned and their chests heaved as if they’d been running. But what caught her attention wasn’t their eyes or their presence.

It was their wrists.

Each of them had a glowing, red-hot symbol burning through the skin—a mark she had only ever heard about in stories whispered among servants.

The Mate Mark.

Pain suddenly shot through her wrist and she gasped and dropped her satchel, clutching her arm.

She looked down at her wrist to notice the same symbol. Glowing.

She backed away slowly, confused and terrified.

“No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “This—this can’t be—”

The three men stepped forward in unison. Not one of them smiled. Their faces were carved with disbelief, with something deeper—shock, and even disgust.

Her heart skipped.

Not one.

Not two.

She had been fated to all three of them. But there was just one problem....... they're her cousins. And the Luna their mother hated her more than anything.

Her vision spun and her legs gave out beneath her. Before she knew it, everything faded again.