Alle Kapitel von CONSUMED IN THE TRIPLET ALPHAS' HEAT : Kapitel 171 – Kapitel 180

LiraI couldn't stop trembling.My human body had returned hours ago when the poison finally wore off enough to release me from that form, but the tremors hadn't stopped. They rattled through my bones like I was coming apart from the inside.Someone had thrown a blanket over me. I didn't see who. I pulled it tight around my body and curled into the corner of the cell where the concrete was coldest.They'd seen me.My mates had stood in that doorway and seen my wolf. They saw the mark blazing on my chest and every lie I'd ever told them made manifest.The horrified look on their faces replayed on a loop. I squeezed my eyes shut, but the image was burned there. A sob tore from my throat. Then another. I pressed my hand over my mouth to muffle the sounds, but they kept coming anyway. Heaving gasps that shook my whole body and left me breathless.I'd caused all of this. Every terrible thing that had happened all traced back to me. To the choice I'd made to hide instead of confess. To li

LiraKain wrapped me in a carpet like I was contraband being smuggled past checkpoints, which, I supposed, I was.“Stay still,” Kain murmured as he rolled me into the heavy fabric. The fibers scratched against my skin where Kain’s jacket didn’t cover. I tried to breathe slowly, trying not to panic as the world disappeared into darkness and the weight of the carpet pressed down on me.The jarring thump as they loaded me into what had to be a van made my heart pound faster. The carpet hit the metal floor hard enough that I had to bite my tongue to keep from crying out.“Careful,” Kain said, his voice sharp with warning.“Sorry, Alpha,” someone I didn’t recognize replied.Then there was darkness, the smell of dust, and my heart beating so fast I thought it might give me away. The van started moving. I tried to stay still like Kain had ordered, but every bump in the road jostled me. At one point we hit a pothole hard enough that my head bounced against the metal floor, and stars burst acr

Jax I'd never been torn about anything in my life.When I wanted something, I took it. When I hated something, I destroyed it. When I needed to make a decision, I made it and lived with the consequences without looking back.Simple. Clean. The way an Alpha should operate.But now I sat in my room with a bottle of whiskey that refused to get me drunk no matter how much I drank, and I couldn't decide if I wanted to save Lira or let her burn.The thought alone made me sick. But I couldn't escape it.She'd lied for months. Every kiss had been tainted by deception. Every time she'd looked at me with those wide, frightened eyes and let me think I was protecting her, she'd been hiding what she really was.A curse-bearer. The triple mark. A white wolf that shouldn't exist.Everything about her was wrong according to every law we had.And if the council confirmed she was truly cursed and actively dangerous, they would kill her. They'd drag her to the ceremonial grounds and light the fire.I t

Kain I woke up to Angie screaming. It was not the startled cry of a bad dream, but real terror. I was in her room before I registered moving, finding her tangled in sheets soaked with sweat."The bad men," she sobbed when I gathered her into my arms. "The bad men are coming. They're in the walls, Popsy. They're in the walls.""Shh," I murmured, rocking her. "You're safe. I've got you."But she wouldn't calm. She kept pointing at the corners of her room that clearly held monsters for her six-year-old eyes.I held her until her breathing evened out, until she finally fell back asleep against my chest. Then I sat there in her too-small bed, staring at the wall, wondering how the fuck I was supposed to protect her from nightmares I'd helped create.My daughter was traumatized. Too young to understand what was happening, but old enough to sense that something was terribly wrong. That the adults around her were scared and angry and breaking apart.And there was nothing I could do about it

KainI summoned Thor the morning after I spoke with Garrick.He came in looking like he had not slept. His clothes were wrinkled, his hair a mess, and his eyes carried the sharp edge of someone who had been awake too long and angry the whole time.“Sit,” I said, pointing to the chair across from my desk.He stayed where he was. “Garrick came here yesterday. He made threats and demanded blood for his son.”Thor did not react. “You killed the child. He wants your head.”“Let him come,” Thor said flatly. “I don’t care.”I watched him. Grief had stripped him down to a monster. His sister was dying in the healer’s wing, and he had nothing left to protect except his anger.“Thor—”“Is that all? I need to get back to Tova.”“How is she?”“Dying,” he said. “Slowly. While everyone worries about your cursed mate.”I could have defended myself. I could have listed what I had done for Tova, the healers, the resources, the money, the time. None of it mattered. He needed someone to blame, and I w