5.

It was a dull day in February, 20x4. The sky was gray and the air was cold. The large pack was busy with people rushing to their jobs, their homes, their lives.

But not him. He had nothing to rush to. He had everything he wanted and more. He was an Alpha, one of the most powerful and influential in the country. He owned a successful company, a luxurious penthouse, a fleet of cars, and a pack of loyal followers. He had money, power, and respect.

But he was bored.

Sitting in his spacious office, he stared at the wall of windows that overlooked the forest. He had no meetings, no calls, no emails to attend to. He had delegated most of his work to his trusted subordinates, leaving him with nothing but time.

Time to play his mind games.

He loved playing mind games. He loved manipulating people, making them do what he wanted, making them owe him favors, making them fear him or admire him or desire him. He loved expanding his network of connections, finding new allies and enemies, new opportunities and challenges. He loved being in control.

He picked up his phone and scrolled through his contacts. He had hundreds of them, from politicians to celebrities, from CEOs to journalists, from Alphas to Omegas. He knew everything about them: their strengths and weaknesses, their secrets and scandals, their hopes and fears.

He could ruin them or help them with a single call or text. They call him The Puppeteer.

"It's been five years already." Scorpion, his wolf peered into his mind. "Let's pay a visit to the kids, shall we? They are ripe enough now."

"Let's. Bring the action."

He grinned wickedly as he selected his target.

*

Inside a lumbering store in a suburban town, Natalia checked her phone for the tenth time, feeling a surge of panic. The message was still there, taunting her.

"Lovely." It says, captioning a photo of her cute triplets at their school.

She clenched her fists, fighting back the panic attack threatening to consume her. Ten minutes ago, she received a message from an unknown number with a picture of her own kids. She tried to brush it off. Only a few people know about her kids, her colleagues and her only neighbor to be precise. And among the four, she couldn't fathom who would play such a prank like this to her and why?

She had been careful, so careful, to keep a low profile in this town ever since she arrived five years ago. She had left her pack, her home, her mate, everything behind, to start a new life here. A life where she could raise her triplets in peace and safety.

Natalia loved her kids more than anything. They were the only good thing that came out of that night. The night when she had given herself to Vitale, her mate, only to be rejected and humiliated by him the next morning.

She still remembered his cold words, his murderous gaze, his demonic aura.

"Leave, Natalia." He said his voice hard and cold, mirroring the storm raging in his eyes. "If you still value your life, leave and never come back. If I ever set eyes on you again, trust me, that would be your last your last day alive."

She had run away, sobbing, feeling like her heart had been ripped out of her chest. She had wandered for days, until she stumbled upon this town. A small, quiet place, where no one knew her or cared about her and vowed never to love again. She embrace the life of a rogue wolf.

Everything had been fine, Natalia had found a job at a lumbering store, where she used her strength and speed to cut and load wood. It was hard work, but it paid well enough for her to rent a small apartment and buy the essentials for her kids.

She had gone into labor one night, alone and scared, and delivered her triplets by herself, with no one to help or comfort her. And when she saw their faces, she had broke down again, out of shock and happiness. They were beautiful, healthy, and perfect. But they looked exactly like the devil. Vitale.

They had his dark hair, his gray eyes, his sharp features. They even had his birthmark on their left shoulder. A mark that signified they were his heirs. His true bloodline.

Natalia had felt a mix of emotions then. Anger, resentment, sadness, but also love, joy, pride. She had named them Lev, Luka and Lila. They were hers, and she loved them with all her heart.

She had vowed to protect them from Vitale and anyone else who would harm them. She had hidden their scent with herbs and charms, making sure no one could track them down. She had enrolled them in a human school, where they learned and played like normal kids.

They were happy, and so was she. Until today.

As usual, Natalia had been working at the lumbering store when she received the anonymous message. She tried to ignore it at first, but was growing restless by each passing second.

"Hey, Brown, is it okay if I leave early today?" Natalia approached her boss, asking for an early leave. It was an hour before her shift ended.

"Lea, of course. I'll have John take over. Is everything okay?"

"Yes. I just want to check on the kids at school."

"I see. Take the rest of the day off, stay safe."

"You too Mr Brown. Take care."

Dropping everything she was doing, Natalia rushed to the kid's school, hoping it was a prank or a mistake.

But the moment she arrived at the school, she realized it wasn't.

The huge yellow gate stood before her in all its glory. But it was empty.

"Excuse me, ma'am. Sorry for dropping by early, I'm here to check on my kids." She smiled at the teacher at the reception desk.

"The triplets?" The teacher, Mrs Agnes smiled and shook her head.

"Their father came to pick them up earlier. You two must have crossed roads."

Their father?

Natalia felt a chill run down her spine.

"Who? Who is their father?" she asked, trying to keep calm.

Mrs Agnes looked at her strangely.

"Why, Mr. Moretti, of course. He came here this afternoon with some papers and said he was taking them for a vacation. He said you knew about it and agreed to it."

Natalia felt like she was going to faint.

Vitale Moretti?

Her mate?

He was here?

He had taken her kids?

How?

Why?

She shook her head in disbelief as several questions rang through her mind.

"No...no...that's not possible...he's lying...he's not their father...he can't be..."

The teacher frowned and showed her some documents.

"Look here, these are their birth certificates. They have his name on them. And these are their passports. He said he needed them for traveling."

Natalia looked at the papers and felt sick.

They were fake.

Someone had forged them.

Someone had planned this.

Someone had betrayed her.

She looked at the teacher with horror.

"Where did he go? Where did he take them?"

The teacher shrugged.

"I don't know. He didn't say. He just left with them in a black car."

Natalia felt a surge of rage. She knew she couldn't confront Vitale by herself. He was too powerful, too dangerous, too ruthless. He was the alpha of the largest and strongest pack in the country. He had hundreds of loyal warriors and guards at his disposal. He had money, influence, connections. He had everything.

She had nothing.

Except her kids.

And she had to get them back.

She had to find someone who could help her. Someone who could infiltrate Vitale's pack and get information about her kids' whereabouts. Someone who could sneak in and out without being detected. Someone who could be trusted.

.