The Triplet Alphas' Secret Mate

Chapter 98: Confused

Scarlett’s POV

​The morning light was too bright, falling across my eyes and making me frown. My head felt heavy... and my body felt like it had been run over by a freight train. Every muscle ached with a strange, lingering heat.

I blinked several times, my vision finally focusing on a figure sitting in the armchair by my window.

"Lana?" My voice was weak, barely recognizable.

She smiled at me, though her eyes looked unusually tired. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

"You’re back!" I sat up too quickly, and a wave of dizziness washed over me. I ignored it, sliding out of bed to throw my arms around her. "I missed you so much these last two weeks."

Lana hugged me back, but she was careful—almost too careful—as if she was afraid I might break. As my skin brushed against hers, a jolt of sensitivity shot through me. My breasts felt tender, rubbing painfully against the fabric of my cardigan, and there was a strange, dull throb between my thighs that I couldn’t explain.

I pulled away, frowning. I felt... sensitized. Like every nerve ending was on high alert.

"Are you okay, Scar?" Lana asked, her voice tight. "Do you remember what happened last night?"

I rubbed my temples, trying to piece the fragments together. "I... I went to the lake with Leo. We talked..."

Of course, I couldn’t tell her we made out.

"Then we came back here. He begged to stay in my room because he was worried, and I finally gave in and told him he could sleep on the rug. After that... it’s a blur."

Lana nodded, her gaze shifting to the floor for a second. "I got back early—my flight was ahead of schedule. I came to check on you around 4:00 AM and found you trapped in a massive nightmare. You were burning up with a fever, Scar. I asked Leo to leave immediately—I didn’t think it was appropriate for him to be here while you were in that state—and I stayed with you to cool you down."

I frowned, the memory of the dream clawing at the back of my mind. It was the same one. The battlefield. The blood. The dead bodies of the triplets.

"Thank you," I whispered. "I don’t know what I would do without you. I just... I feel so strange this morning. Heavy. And my skin feels like it’s on fire."

"It was a high fever," Lana said quickly, standing up to smooth out the covers on my bed. "It probably just left you a bit dehydrated and sore."

I nodded, wanting to believe her, but as I walked toward the bathroom, I felt a faint, phantom pressure on my hips—like the ghost of large, heavy hands. I looked down at my reflection in the mirror. My lips were slightly swollen, and my neck was flushed.

I touched my collarbone, a flicker of an image passing through my mind: three shadows, the scent of pine and rain, and a sensation of being utterly, completely consumed.

"Lana?" I called out, my heart starting to thud.

"Yeah?"

"Did anyone else come in here last night? I feel like... I feel like I wasn’t alone with just you."

Lana appeared in the doorway, her expression calm. "Just the two of us, Scar. Why? Did you dream about someone else?"

I looked back at the mirror, the feeling of "missing something" turning into a cold pit in my stomach. "I don’t know. It just felt so real."

Lana let out a small laugh. "You always overthink things, Scar."

I forced a smile, but as I turned on the shower, the scent of the soap couldn’t quite mask a lingering smell in the room. A scent I knew all too well. It wasn’t just Leo’s smell. It was Liam’s spicy cedar and Leon’s earthy musk.

No... I shook my head, gripping the edge of the sink. It was impossible. My mind was just playing tricks on me because of the fever and the trauma of that vision.

Besides, Leo and I had made out in the lake yesterday. The weight on my hips, the sensitivity—it had to be the aftershocks of the heat we’d shared in the water. I touched the faint marks on my neck, my heart squeezing. Those marks were his. They had to be. They had to make sense... because the other possibility? I couldn’t even let my mind go there.

"Bath, Scar! Get moving," Lana called out from the bedroom, her tone sounding excited. "We’re going shopping. I need a serious hit of retail therapy after that flight, and you look like you need to get out of this house."

"Coming!" I yelled back.

I stripped and stepped into the shower, the hot water stinging my oversensitized skin. Even as I washed, the discomfort between my legs remained—a heavy, used feeling that made my breath hitch. I scrubbed harder, desperate to wash away the confusion.

I got dressed in something casual but cute, wanting to feel like a normal twenty-year-old for once. I pulled on a pair of high-waisted light-wash denim jeans and a cropped, soft white knit sweater that hid the marks on my neck perfectly. I laced up my white sneakers and tossed my hair into a messy but effortless bun.

As I applied a bit of lip gloss, my thoughts drifted to Alpha Ethan. Ever since the incident, since the yell and the public humiliation, he hadn’t come to me. No words. No explanation... nothing.

I swallowed the lump of pain in my throat, pushed the heartbreak down, and left the room, heading to Lana’s. She was already set, looking radiant in a jumpsuit. "Ready to blow some cash?" she winked.

I smiled, and for a moment, the weight lifted. "Lead the way."

We headed down to the garage, the cool air of the lower levels hitting my face. Lana hopped into her sleek, red jeep and I slid into the passenger seat. She didn’t waste any time, peeling out of the driveway and onto the main road leading away from the pack lands.

We reached the high-end shopping district in the city about twenty minutes later. The streets were lined with designer boutiques and cafes. As we walked through the first store, Lana was tossing clothes at me left and right, but my mind was elsewhere.

I was standing near a rack of dresses when the sliding glass doors of the boutique opened. My eyes involuntarily moved to the door, and my eyes widened at who just walked in.

It was Alpha Ethan.

And right beside him, Elara.

My heart raced in panic. I didn’t want him to see me. I couldn’t bear the pity or the coldness that had replaced the warmth I once thought I saw in his eyes. I ducked behind a tall display of mannequins, my breath coming in short, shallow hitches. I prayed the artificial scents of the boutique—the perfumes and the new leather—would mask my own scent, but I knew my wolf was practically howling in distress.

Lana noticed my sudden shift immediately. She followed my gaze through the gaps in the clothing racks, her eyes widening as she spotted them. Ethan’s hands were tucked in his pant pockets, his head tilted toward Elara as she was selecting a dress. They looked perfect. They looked like a couple.

"Lana, please," I whispered, my voice trembling. "Can we leave? Now. Before he sees me."

Lana didn’t hesitate. She grabbed my hand, her grip firm and protective, and we slipped out of the side entrance. We didn’t stop until we were back in the safety of her car.

"Scarlett, talk to me," Lana said, turning in her seat to face me as she started the engine. "What is going on? Why are you hiding from Ethan, and why is he with Elara? How do they know each other?"

The dam finally broke. "I caught them, Lana," I choked out, the pain I’d been suppressing for days finally surfacing. "I saw him kissing Elara outside a coffee shop. And then at the contest... the way he humiliated me, the way he stood by her. I think they’re having an affair. No, I know they are."

I looked out the window, my vision blurring with tears I refused to let fall. "I hate it. I hate that I care. But I was... I was actually developing feelings for him. I thought he was different."

Lana looked completely baffled. She stared at me, her brow furrowed in genuine confusion. "An affair? Scarlett, that’s not possible."

"It is possible!" I snapped, my voice cracking. "I saw it with my own eyes. They were together in the city just now! Why else would they be shopping together like a happy couple?"

Lana shook her head, her expression shifting from confusion to something graver. "No, Scar. You don’t understand. Ethan isn’t having an affair with her."

"How can you be so sure?"

Lana sighed, dropping the bombshell. "Because Elara is getting married in a month, Scarlett. To her childhood sweetheart. Her fated mate."