Fated To Not Just One, But Three-Chapter 647: The Third Chance Mate

Olivia’s POV

​They arrived home, and the look on their faces told me something wasn’t right. My wolf could feel it; despite Lennox and I no longer being mates, I could somehow feel him. I just can’t explain it—that feeling was just there.

​They looked exhausted, like they had a long meeting, but I knew it wasn’t just about the meeting. Something was really wrong. I stared at Lennox. He looked different. It had only been a few hours, but the man who had kissed me so fiercely this morning seemed to be receding behind a mask of cold marble. His skin was the color of winter ash, and his eyes, usually so sharp and predatory, looked distant.

​They sat on the couches in the living room, a synchronized collapse of three powerful men who suddenly looked very small.

​"Lennox... what is happening?" I asked, my voice trembling. I ignored the coffee I’d been making and walked toward them, my gaze fixed solely on him. "I don’t know if it’s just me, but you look... you look worse. Tell me the truth. What happened at the hospital?"

​Lennox sighed, a long, rattling sound that seemed to drain the last of the light from his face. He didn’t look at me. He looked at the ornate rug beneath his feet, his jaw set so tight I thought it might shatter.

​"I met someone at the hospital, Olivia," he whispered.

​The air in the room seemed to vanish. I stood frozen, my heart stuttering in my chest. "You met someone? At the hospital? Lennox, what are you talking about? I don’t understand."

​He finally looked up, but his eyes were filled with tears. He swallowed hard, exchanging a look with Louis and Levi that made my stomach drop. It was a look of shared grief, of a secret so heavy it was crushing them all.

​"The reason I was suddenly unwell this morning, Olivia... the reason I couldn’t breathe, the headaches..." He paused, his voice dropping to a jagged whisper. "It’s because my mate is sick. Our bond was reacting to her pain."

​I felt like I had been doused in ice water. "Your... mate?" I stammered, shaking my head. "Lennox, I’m right here. I’m your mate."

​"No," he interrupted, the word sounding like a death knell. "We were mates. But not anymore; you know that. I met my mate at the hospital today, Olivia. She’s my third-chance mate. The Moon Goddess gave her to me because you and I are over."

​"No!" I screamed, the sound tearing from my throat. "No, that’s not possible! You can’t have another mate! We have children! We have a life!"

​"It is possible," he said, his voice terrifyingly flat. "She was brought into the emergency room while I was there. She’s ill, and the second I was near her, I felt it. The pull. The agony. That’s why I fell sick this morning. My body was mourning for her before I even saw her face."

​My legs gave out. I collapsed onto the floor, my knees hitting the hard tiles with a thud I didn’t even feel. The world was tilting, spinning into a dark abyss. I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t believe it. The Moon Goddess wouldn’t be this cruel. She wouldn’t take my Lennox and give him to a stranger just as I was finding my way back to him.

​"You’re lying," I sobbed, my forehead resting against the cold floor. "You have to be lying."

​Lennox looked pained, his hand twitching as if he wanted to reach for me, but he stayed rooted to the couch. Louis and Levi looked away, their faces twisted in a misery so profound it almost felt like they were the ones dying.

​"I’m not lying, Olivia," Lennox said. ​I wiped my eyes, looking up at him with a desperate, frantic hope. "But how? How do you even know? Lennox, you don’t have your wolf! You can’t feel a mate bond without a wolf! What if this woman is lying? What if she’s just trying to take your title?"

​"She isn’t lying," he said, his voice cracking just a fraction before he hardened it again. "I feel it even without my wolf. It’s a soul-pull, Olivia. And my sudden illness... the way I started dying the moment she was in pain... that proves it. The Moon Goddess has made her choice."

​"No... no..." I shook my head, moving toward him on my knees, crawling across the cold tiles until I reached the edge of the sofa. I grabbed the hem of his jacket. "You are rejecting her, right? You have to..." I pleaded desperately, my voice breaking into a thousand pieces. "Lennox, look at me. It’s me you love. You love me." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

​Lennox looked down at my hands clutching him, and for a fleeting second, his mask slipped. A look of pure, unadulterated agony crossed his face—the look of a man watching his entire world burn. But then, his jaw set into a hard, cruel line.

​"I can’t," he whispered.

​"Why?" I shrieked, the sound echoing through the rafters of the house. "Why can’t you? Just say the words! Reject her and stay with me!"

​"I can’t, Olivia," he said, his voice becoming eerily calm, though his eyes remained glassy with unshed tears. "She’s sick. She’s dying. If I reject her now, the snap of the bond will kill her instantly. I won’t have her blood on my hands. I’m an Alpha; I have a duty to my mate, whether I chose her or not."

​"But what about your duty to me?" I sobbed, my fingers slipping from his coat as he slowly stood up. "What about our boys?"

​He didn’t answer. He couldn’t even look at me anymore. He turned his back, his shoulders hunched as if he were carrying the weight of the entire world. Without another word, he began to walk away, his footsteps heavy and hollow against the floor. Every step felt like a nail being driven into my heart.

​"Lennox! Don’t leave me! Lennox!"

​I tried to get up to follow him, but my legs were like lead. I slumped back onto the floor, the tiles chilling my skin as I wailed. I felt like a limb had been torn from my body.

​Suddenly, I felt strong arms wrap around me. Levi and Louis rushed to my side, pulling me up from the floor and into their laps. They held me tight, their own tears wetting my hair.

​"We’re here, Olivia," Levi choked out, his voice thick with a pain I didn’t fully understand yet. "We’ve got you. We aren’t going anywhere."

​"He’s gone," I gasped, clutching Louis’s shirt as I buried my face in his chest. "He’s leaving me for someone else. Why would the Goddess do this?"

​"You still have us," Louis whispered, his grip so tight it was almost painful. "You have us, baby. We’ll take care of you. We’ll be everything you need."

​I felt their warmth, their familiar scents, and their love—but it wasn’t enough. I didn’t just want them. I wanted all three.

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