Rejected by My Mate, Claimed by the Triplet Alphas のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 31 - チャプター 40

Viene’s POV “Underneath us,” Nathan repeated. “That’s not possible. Nobody gets under this compound without going through six checkpoints.” “I’m reading what the sensor is reading,” Neil said. “I don’t have a better explanation yet.” “Then get one.” “Give me a minute.” “Nobody moves until I know where he actually is,” I said. All three of them looked at me. Nathan opened his mouth, the start of an order forming, and then stopped himself. He looked at Neil instead. “You heard her.” Neil didn’t argue either. He just kept working the tablet, quiet, focused, and for the first time in five chapters, nobody talked over me to decide what happened next. “The signal’s not stable,” Neil said after a minute. “It’s not moving like a person walking. It’s flickering, on and off, like it’s coming through something instead of past it.” “Through what,” Nolan asked. “I don’t know. Stone doesn’t usually let a signature through clean. Unless whatever’s carrying it isn’t stone.” “The Vault,”

Viene’s POV Nathan found out within the hour. I don’t know how — Neil swore he hadn’t said anything — but he was at my door before the blood had fully dried on my shirt, and the look on his face told me the conversation wasn’t going to be gentle. “You used something from the archive without telling me.” “I made a choice,” I said. “It was mine to make.” “You bled from your nose, Viene. Neil said you dropped from the pain.” “I’m still standing.” “That’s not the point.” He turned to Neil, who was standing near the window, quiet, arms crossed. “You brought her an untested object without clearing it with anyone.” “I cleared it with her. She’s the one it happened to.” “She’s not the one responsible for weighing the risk. That’s supposed to be us.” “That’s supposed to be all of us,” I said. “Not just you deciding what risks I’m allowed to take.” Nathan turned back to me, and for once he didn’t soften it. “No more sessions. I’m shutting it down.” “You don’t get to shut it down.”

Viene’s POV The argument with Nathan happened two days later, small and stupid, about nothing that mattered — whether I should be allowed outside the east wall without an escort. It ended the way most of our arguments ended now, with him giving an order and me refusing it, except this time I walked away before he could say anything else and went looking for Neil instead. I found him in the study, same as always, and sat down across from him without a word. “You look like you just fought with Nathan,” Neil said, not looking up from his notes. “How can you tell?” “Your pulse is elevated. Your mouth is set the way it gets when you’re still arguing with him in your head.” I laughed, short, surprised. “That’s unsettling.” “You get used to it.” He looked up. “Actually. Give me your hand a second.” I held it out. He wrapped two fingers loosely around my wrist, the way he did when he was checking my pulse the old-fashioned way instead of trusting a sensor. “That’s strange,” he said.

Viene’s POV Neil didn’t sleep that night. Neither did I, mostly, turning over the words assembling in my head until they stopped meaning anything at all. By morning he had a new theory, and this one he brought to Nathan directly, without asking me first, which told me how much it worried him. “Short-term, Nolan’s presence is the most stabilizing force we’ve got,” Neil said. “Long-term, I think that’s the risk.” Nathan crossed his arms. “Explain.” “The pattern keeps concentrating around him. Every time she destabilizes, he’s the fastest fix. That’s not neutral. Every time it works, the pathway strengthens toward him specifically, not toward all three of us equally.” Neil didn’t look at Nolan when he said it, which somehow made it worse. “If the structure is building toward something, and it keeps routing through the same stabilizer, I don’t know what happens when he becomes the whole load-bearing point.” “You’re saying I could break,” Nolan said flatly. “I’m saying I don’t know

Viene’s POV The alert came before dawn. A perimeter breach, not subtle this time — Miel wasn’t hiding his approach anymore. He was walking straight for the border wall in plain sight, alone, and the guards had orders not to engage until Nathan arrived. We got there as the sky was turning gray. Miel stood on the far side of the boundary line, close enough now that I could see him clearly for the first time since the ceremony — thinner than I remembered, his eyes wrong somehow, like something had been feeding on him from the inside for months. “Viene.” His voice carried across the distance, rough, like he hadn’t used it much lately. “I need you to hear me.” “You don’t get to talk to her,” Nathan said, stepping in front of me. “I’m not asking your permission.” Miel’s eyes found mine over Nathan’s shoulder. “I made a mistake. I know that now. I felt what’s happening to you, even from where I’ve been, and I need you to know I never wanted this for you.” The old bond stirred, faint a