Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 287: No please.

Leilani.

I saw the moment we were finally snapped out of our hallucinations. The moment the light gradually left their faces, sucked out by nothing but jealousy.

My hands quietly hovered over the bouquet of flowers with Yvette, but I could never bring myself to just... take it. I couldn’t help the shame I had felt to think that while Jarek cared deeply for me, I was just here. Here. Giving the triplets a chance that they do not deserve.

"Thank you, Yvette." I said softly. Coldly.

She nodded at me with a stiff smile but I couldn’t help but notice the way her cold eyes darted from one triplet to the other or the way she shook her head almost imperceptibly.

"You’re welcome ma’am. Alpha Frostclaw asked me to deliver it to your house and not to the company... and I am glad that it is to your liking."

Fair. Of course it is to my liking!

I didn’t say that though but simply sighed, closed my eyes and whispered, loud enough that they could all hear. I said; "Thank you once again for coming but I’d love to go to bed now. I’m tired."

She nodded but the triplets didn’t move an inch.

"I think it’s high time I go to sleep," I tried again, and still... they didn’t move.

And goddess, that spiked my anger. That immediately made me see red. And that... that was when I spun on my heels to face them, my eyes just as fiery as the hotness searing through my veins. I hissed;

"I’ll be fine, you three. You should go too."

"But... we told you, we want to keep you—"

"Get out!" I snarled, interrupting Zevran.

They froze. Kael’s mouth hung open. Zevran looked like he’d just seen a ghost. Caelum was the most disappointed. And I... I just really wanted to be left the fuck alone.

My eyes filled with tears I couldn’t shed as I shouldered past them and into the house. I set the bouquet on top of my table and planted my hands on my waist. And by the gods, I was enraged now... enraged because—

"Won’t you three just leave?!"

"We want to be sure that you’re fine!" Caelum shouted back, and I... I rolled my eyes at those absurd words and shrugged.

"I feel brand new. But it’s time for me to rest. So if you really want me to be fine, you’ll do as I have said. Moreover you’ve all completely overstayed your welcome."

The words ’overstayed your welcome,’ did it for them. It snapped them out of whatever fantasies they may have cooked up in their heads. It replaced the smug grins on their faces with a look of pure horror. And it made them take a step back as if physically stung by my choice of words.

Kael nodded briskly and hissed; "You never wanted us here. Did you?"

"Is that even a question?" I spat back quickly, without hesitation.

I saw something dark fly past their faces before they quickly schooled their expressions into one of sheer indifference. He muttered. "No. It isn’t a question. It should never have been a question."

"Good."

I knew that my words were hurting them. I could see it in the way their foreheads creased and their faces were scrunched up as if in physical pain. I could feel it in the sudden drop of the temperature in the air. But did I care?

Of course, I did not!

"...so I believe that this should be the part where you get the fuck out." I seethed, and surprisingly, this time, they didn’t argue with me about protection. They didn’t say a thing. They simply turned and left, leaving me panting like someone who had just run around the entire streets of California and back.

My eyes stung too, but I do not know if I was just angry or frustrated or both. But I knew that I felt something akin to the lines of both as my tears began to stream down my face. And clutching my chest, I let myself fall to the floor, sobbing, not because I was hurt but because I was stupid.

Very stupid.

I was stupid to have let those three men sway me so easily. I was stupid to ever think that there was a life where we could ever be together. I was stupid to think that they may love me.

And do you know how laughable that is?

That they would love me?

I shook my head. "You’re such a fool. You’re such a complete fool."

The tears fell in torrents but I made no move to stop them from falling, and as I slowly rocked myself on the floor, I suddenly began to realize something.

That this was all me.

That I had given them the impression that we could get past everything. And when I say that, I mean the entire dark years of my life... and I needed to quit doing that.

—

"You still have not given me a concrete response, Lani." Darius’ voice drifted through the phone— cold but nerve rattling; just like he always was.

I sighed deeply and after putting the call on speaker phone, I dropped it on my table and continued to design the new prototype I was supposedly helping him to work on.

I sounded just like him— cold, when I responded. I simply said; "I have. You’re just too stubborn to admit it."

"And you’re also too stubborn to see that I am trying to help you."

"Help me?" I sounded condescending and irritated.

He sighed through the phone. "Yes, I am trying to help you." Then continuing when I rolled my eyes, he said; "Another full moon is on its way. Another full moon without your wolf, Lani, and these days, no one knows how it will be for you. No one knows if you would go into heat... or... or what if you almost-shift? What if you lose your life this time? What if—"

"Agreeing to marry you still won’t save my face before the next full moon." I hissed into the phone.

I had half expected him to go quiet or say something else. However, nothing prepared me for his deep rich laughter. He said;

"We could hate before then. We could do it today if you so wish. I would do anything for you."

I frowned and spat; "Anything for me?"

"Of course."

"This sounds like a you thing not me. And no, Darius. No please."

Silence. That was what settled between us as soon as I uttered those words. And when I had begun to think that that was all. That he would stop bugging me about it now and just focus on work, he chuckled again.

"You’ll change your mind." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"I won’t."

"Never say never."

And hell, that sounded like a threat. My blood ran cold.