Running with Wolves

The freezing morning wind immediately bit at my exposed skin the second we stepped out the back door of the massive Alpha estate and into the dense, snow-covered woods. The fresh powder was ankle-deep, crunching loudly beneath our feet with every step we took into the dense tree line. I shivered, wrapping my arms tightly around my waist, but the Alpha Triplets stood barefoot in the freezing snow like it was absolutely no big deal. The sheer heat radiating from their massive, muscular bodies seemed to melt the snowflakes the instant they made contact with their golden skin.

I turned away quickly as they began to effortlessly strip off their clothes, suddenly feeling incredibly shy. I was absolutely not ready to see them completely naked yet. The mate bond was already overwhelming enough without throwing three perfectly sculpted, naked Alpha male bodies into the mix. I stepped behind a massive, snow-laden pine tree, seeking a shred of privacy, but as I moved, I accidentally caught a glimpse of Zander out of the corner of my eye. He was already completely stripped down. Even in the freezing morning cold, his cock was extremely thick and long, hanging heavily between his heavily muscled thighs. The sheer, intimidating size of his dick made my breath hitch violently in my throat. They were identical triplets, meaning they were all packing the exact same terrifying size. A sudden, wildly inappropriate flash of panic, completely mixed with a heavy rush of heat, washed over me as I worried about how my much smaller body would ever be able to handle them.

I quickly squeezed my eyes shut, burying my face against the rough bark of the pine tree, trying desperately to focus on the task at hand. The sound of their shift began almost immediately. They shifted so much more quickly than I did. It took them barely ten seconds to transition. I listened in absolute awe as their heavy bones effortlessly cracked and popped, their human flesh seamlessly giving way to thick, rippling muscle and fur. In the blink of an eye, the three towering men had transformed into massive, terrifyingly huge midnight-black wolves right before my very eyes. I peeked around the trunk of the tree. Their coats were a shiny, pitch-black color, perfectly reflecting the dark shade of their human hair. They were absolutely huge—easily the size of small horses, radiating pure, unadulterated Alpha dominance and terrifying power. They panted heavily into the frosty air, their hot breath pluming in thick white clouds as their massive paws dug into the snow.

They patiently stayed a few yards away, giving me my absolute privacy as I prepared myself. Shifting was still an incredibly painful, agonizing process for me. It took me significantly longer than their effortless ten seconds. I closed my eyes and let my inner wolf push forward. It took me about five agonizing minutes of my bones cracking and popping with excruciating slowness, my muscles tearing and reknitting themselves, before I finally managed to push through the pain.

When the transition was finally complete, I shook out my thick coat and trotted out from behind the pine tree into the snowy clearing to show them my sandy-colored wolf. The dynamic instantly changed the second I stepped into their line of sight. Three pairs of glowing, predatory Alpha eyes immediately locked onto my smaller form. They instantly bounded over, playfully circling me, their massive tails wagging slightly in the frigid morning air. I was barely half their size. Standing next to them, my sandy coat looked incredibly light against their midnight-black fur. They towered over me, completely dwarfing my small frame, yet my inner wolf wasn't afraid. Instead, she happily wagged her tail, utterly thrilled to finally be surrounded by her massive, protective mates.

Without a single human word spoken between us, we took off. We spent hours playfully and aggressively running together through the dense, snow-covered forest. The cold winter air whipped past my face, filling my lungs with the crisp, refreshing scent of pine and the intoxicating, earthy musk of the three Alpha wolves surrounding me.

Even stripped entirely of their human skin, their distinct, individual personalities shone brightly and undeniably through their animal forms. I could easily tell them apart just by their unique mannerisms. Zander was heavy-footed, rowdy, and completely chaotic. He bounded through the deep snow with massive, earth-shaking leaps. He snarled and growled playfully at me constantly, always trying to gently tackle me into the powder. Kellan, on the other hand, ran with rigid, calculated, and absolute discipline. He was often in the lead, possessing the most fluid, graceful movements of the three. But he constantly slowed his dominant pace to run strictly beside me, staying aggressively and protectively at my flank, his sharp eyes scanning the frozen tree line to watch over me carefully. And Corbin was just extremely, incredibly playful. He ran with a joyful, bouncy energy. He was the first one to sneak up and playfully nip at my ears. He tackled me gently into a snowdrift, and we rolled around together in the freezing powder, our jaws playfully snapping at the empty air. Afterward, he joyfully raced in tight, dizzying circles around me, kicking up massive clouds of white snow just to show off exactly how incredibly fast he could go.

We must have spent hours aggressively running and playing together as our wolves. It was so incredibly healing and cathartic to just let go and be wild with them. We were full-grown adults, acting like entirely carefree pups. As my paws pounded against the frozen earth, a sudden, heavy thought crossed my mind: I wondered deeply why we had never played together like this as children in our human forms. Why did it take the absolute magic of the mate bond to erase the years of brutal bullying and finally allow us to just exist together without cruelty?

Eventually, we finally completely exhausted ourselves. The sun was fully up now, casting bright, blinding glares across the endless sea of white snow. My muscles ached with a deep, satisfying exhaustion. I signaled to them with a soft bark and ran back behind my designated tree to shift back into my human form. The excruciating pain of my bones snapping back into their human alignment made me bite down hard on my lip. Once I was fully human again, I shivered violently in the biting cold and quickly pulled my clothes back on, my fingers completely numb and fumbling clumsily with the fabric. The brothers shifted back and dressed in their own clothes with lightning speed, effortlessly stepping back into their human skin.

I walked out from behind the tree, fully dressed, and they immediately fell into step behind me as we walked back toward the massive back doors of the estate. The playful, carefree energy of the wolf run was quickly fading, replaced by the heavy, complicated reality of our human lives. I gathered every single ounce of my courage. My heart hammered aggressively against my ribs, but I forced my voice to remain completely steady.

“We need to talk,” I told them firmly, stopping on the back porch and turning around to face all three of them.

Instantly, they looked utterly mortified. The blood seemed to drain slightly from their handsome faces at the serious, demanding tone of my voice.

“Get used to us having talks,” I told them, my voice unwavering. They were three massively powerful Alphas, but I knew deep down that I absolutely had to establish basic, fundamental respect right now if I was ever going to survive as their potential future Luna. There were three of them, and only one of me. I had to learn to be firm, to stand my ground, and to demand the respect I was rightfully owed. I was done being the weak, submissive pack servant they could just walk all over.

The brothers exchanged a very serious, heavy glance. They didn't argue. Instead, they completely submitted to my demand, silently leading me inside the warm house and guiding me upstairs, directly toward Zander’s private bedroom. It was the absolute only room in the entire massive estate that I had not seen yet during my years of cleaning and serving.

The moment I stepped through his heavy oak door, I froze in my tracks. I was entirely, completely stunned by what I saw.

Every single inch of the massive bedroom walls was covered in hand-painted artwork. It was completely, entirely not what I was expecting from the most aggressive, rowdy, dominant brother of the triplet Alphas. I slowly walked further into the room, my jaw practically on the floor.

“Who drew all of these?” I asked, my voice barely above a shocked whisper.

“I did,” Zander said simply, a proud, slightly nervous grin spreading across his handsome face.

Zander? A sensitive, talented artist? What absolute parallel universe had I just walked into? My mind struggled violently to reconcile the brutal, heavy-handed bully I grew up with against the incredibly detailed, deeply emotional artwork surrounding me.

My eyes scanned the dozens of canvases and sketchpads. The drawings and massive paintings mostly depicted wolves. I easily recognized the triplets in their midnight-black wolf forms in many of the action-packed drawings. I noticed one particularly beautiful painting featuring five wolves running together through a dark forest. The other two larger wolves must have been their parents, the current Alpha and Luna. There were random, highly detailed sketches of everyday items scattered around, along with incredibly life-like portraits of various family members and some of their popular school friends. I searched the walls carefully, feeling a sudden, sharp twist of jealousy, but Zander did not seem to have a single piece of artwork dedicated to Tessa or any of his other numerous ex-girlfriends. The realization made me feel a massive, undeniable wave of relief.

Then, my eyes landed on it.

I gasped sharply, my hand flying up to cover my mouth. Hanging in a prominent spot was a breathtakingly beautiful, incredibly detailed oil painting of a girl. It was me. I was sitting on the wooden porch steps of the servant's quarters, staring out at the falling snow with a look of deep, profound sadness and isolation captured perfectly in my eyes. All of his artwork had dates carefully painted in the bottom corners. I checked the date on my portrait. It was clearly painted exactly a year ago. Long before the mate bond had ever snapped into place. Long before they ever knew I belonged to them.

I slowly turned around to look at Zander, entirely speechless, desperately waiting for an explanation as to why he had spent hours meticulously painting the face of the poor, pathetic servant girl he supposedly hated.

“I told you,” Zander said simply, walking up closely behind me. His voice was incredibly rough and thick with emotion. “I think you’re gorgeous.”

A hot, heavy blush violently stained my cheeks. I quickly tore my eyes away from the stunning canvas, my heart racing uncontrollably.

“You’re giving me anxiety, Amity. Let’s have this talk, come on,” Corbin encouraged, breaking the heavy tension. He ran a nervous hand through his dark hair and moved toward the center of the room.

We all moved over to the edge of Zander’s massive, king-sized bed. We sat down together, the mattress dipping heavily under the combined weight of the three massive Alphas. Zander and Corbin sat incredibly close to me on either side, their massive thighs completely bracketing my legs. I felt really, really warm, completely surrounded by their intense body heat and their dark, intoxicating cedar and spice scents. Kellan sat directly behind me, his broad chest a solid wall of heat against my back. I was so entirely lost in the overwhelming physical sensation of being surrounded by my three massive mates that I momentarily completely forgot what I had even demanded to talk about.

“Talk, Amity,” Kellan urged, his deep, rumbly voice vibrating right against my ear, sending a violent shiver down my spine.

Taking a deeply shaky breath, I forced my scattered mind to focus. “Right, um, so I have a question,” I said firmly. The triplets instantly went dead silent, waiting entirely for me to ask it. I looked down at my hands, gathering every ounce of bravery I possessed to finally ask the heavy, painful question that had plagued my mind for almost a decade.

“Why did you hate me so much growing up?” I asked, my voice cracking slightly on the words. I looked up, meeting each of their eyes in turn. “And please, really think about it and give me a real, actual answer. Not something completely dumb like 'we were boys' or 'we were stupid'. Those aren’t good reasons. I’ve always genuinely wondered why we could never just be friends,” I said, letting out a heavy, exhausted sigh. “Is it just because I’m poor? Because I was a massive burden in your parents' eyes? What exactly is it?”

The massive room grew uncomfortably, painfully quiet. The triplets kept absolute silence for a long, agonizing moment. I wondered if they were desperately trying to figure out a way to make me forget about the talk entirely.

Finally, Zander aggressively ran a large hand down his face, his jaw clenching tightly. “In my case…” he started, his voice rough and violently honest. “Your mere existence deeply, deeply frustrated me.”

I blinked, completely taken aback. Huh?

“I thought you were a really cute little girl when I was a little boy. You came to our pack after a massive tragedy, and I just did not get that. I didn't understand trauma. You were always so sullen, and you cried all the absolute time, and I was also just a little stupid, aggressive Alpha at that age,” Zander admitted, his shoulders slumping slightly.

His brothers let out dark, humorless laughs at his admission of stupidity.

“I genuinely liked teasing you at first, but then it completely got out of hand, and the cruel dynamic just continued. I simply didn’t know how to fix it or how to walk it back,” Zander confessed, his blue eyes entirely fixed on the floor. “Also, you would be on my mind a lot. Constantly. And I was so violently angry that I couldn’t get your sad face out of my head. It makes complete sense now that I know you’re my fated mate, but back then, I’d just be incredibly annoyed and frustrated every single time I saw you. Sometimes I’d be making out with whoever my girlfriend was at the time…”

I flinched visibly at the blunt mention of his intimate moments with other girls. Instantly, Zander reached out, his massive hand gently wrapping around my wrist. He brought my fingers to his lips and kissed them deeply, silently apologizing for the hurt.

“…and I’d be thinking about you obsessively,” Zander continued, his voice dropping an octave. “Sometimes… never mind.” He shook his head, looking deeply ashamed.

“No! Tell me!” I insisted fiercely, utterly fascinated and entirely captivated by his unprecedented transparency.

Zander swallowed hard, a flash of deep, agonizing shame crossing his face. “Sometimes I’d accidentally call a girl 'Pity' by mistake during those moments,” he admitted, heavily mentioning my cruel, derogatory nickname. “Sorry for that nickname, by the way. That was incredibly cruel and rude. There’s absolutely no shame in being poor. I genuinely can’t believe I acted like such a monster.” Zander sighed heavily, his massive chest rising and falling.

“It’s so incredibly close to my real name, it just really stuck. Most of the pack members actually think Pity is my legal name,” I said, forcing a small, sad smile.

Zander’s face instantly twisted into a dark, violent scowl at the sound of the nickname leaving my lips. “I’ll fix that myself, and soon,” Zander vowed fiercely, his Alpha tone leaving absolutely no room for argument. I wondered exactly what he was going to do. I absolutely did not want to be formally reintroduced to the entire pack as their future Luna just yet. I still desperately needed time to make up my mind about whether I could truly forgive them.

Kellan leaned forward heavily, resting his elbows on his muscular knees, his face inches from mine. He went next. “I always thought you were incredibly cute too, Amity. But our parents viciously hated your parents. They told me your rogue parents had racked up so many massive debts. You’d always talk to us about how great your parents were, and how mean mine were to you. I was completely blinded by Luna Vera's exaggerated, toxic claims. I started to harshly and wrongly judge you. I thought you were just completely ungrateful for the roof over your head. But now I realize that… if my parents were going to treat you with such absolute cruelty, then you genuinely might as well have gone to a random orphanage. There’s really no excuse for how I treated you, Amity. I am so deeply, truly sorry,” Kellan softly confessed, his eyes swimming with profound, agonizing regret.

Corbin looked completely down at his hands, his cheeks burning a bright, embarrassed red. He took a deeply shaky breath. “I just foolishly and weakly went along with everything. Mom also constantly manipulated us, saying you were strictly here to repay a massive debt, not to be a playmate for the future Alphas. I was just too weak to stand up to my dominant brothers to avoid conflict. There were a lot of things I really liked about you, Amity, and I absolutely should not have picked on you like that. That was totally, completely wrong of me. I’m so incredibly sorry.”

I sighed heavily, the weight of their confessions settling deep into my bones. But there was still one massive, horrifying elephant in the room. Taking another incredibly shaky, terrifying breath, I forced myself to confront them about our absolute darkest shared memory.

“Last night, I was a little afraid being in my bed,” I admitted quietly.

“Because you’re a virgin,” Zander said immediately, his voice completely softening. “Baby, I know. We aren't going to rush you.”

“No, not that,” I corrected him quickly, shaking my head. “I kept thinking about when Corbin insulted me yesterday, and said my parents were dead, and I broke his nose. Then you guys…” I paused, a violent shudder ripping through my entire body. My throat tightened painfully. This was really, incredibly hard to talk about. It was the single most traumatic event of my entire life.

Instantly, all three of the massive triplets stiffened. The relaxed posture entirely vanished from their bodies.

“Then you each slapped me violently across the face,” I forced the words out, my voice trembling. “Then you dragged me out onto the frozen lake. You violently threw my small body into that jagged ice fishing hole until the sheer, freezing cold caused me to completely lose consciousness. I screamed for my life that day when you were dragging me to that hole... I really, truly thought you were going to kill me. I could’ve completely died,” I whispered, my voice cracking entirely as I fought violently back the hot, bitter tears stinging my eyes.

Instantly, all three massive triplets went deathly, sickly pale. The blood completely drained from their handsome faces, leaving them looking like absolute ghosts. The room fell into a terrifying, suffocating silence.

“You don’t ever have to forgive us, Amity. But please, just be ours anyway,” Corbin begged quietly, his voice completely broken.

Zander looked genuinely, physically nauseous. He hunched over, his massive chest heaving as if he couldn't pull enough oxygen into his lungs. “For what it’s worth, we really weren’t trying to drown you. We just wanted to scare you. But I swear to the Goddess, Amity, even long before the mate bond snapped into place, I would feel violently sick to my stomach every single time I thought about that day. That was an absolute heinous, terrifying act, and I’ll absolutely never, ever forgive myself for putting my hands on you like that,” Zander confessed, his voice dripping with pure self-hatred.

Kellan reached out, his large, calloused hands visibly trembling as he gently took my small hands in his. He looked directly into my eyes, and told me with absolute, agonizing sincerity, “If you had actually drowned that day, we would have never found our mate. We would have shifted three years ago and just not known why the bond was empty. We would be spending our entire lives searching for someone already completely lost to us because of our own cruelty. We would have entirely deserved that agonizing fate. But you, Amity… after all the absolute hell you’ve fought through… you deserve the absolute best life imaginable. Please. I am begging you to please let us be the ones to give that life to you.”

“Please, Amity, we’re so, so incredibly sorry,” Corbin whispered, a single tear slipping down his cheek.

I sighed softly, the massive knot of anxiety in my chest finally, slowly beginning to loosen. This level of groveling, this complete and absolute submission from the three most powerful Alphas I had ever known… I could definitely get used to this. The heavy, suffocating tension in the massive bedroom suddenly began to shift. The crushing guilt and remorse slowly morphed, transforming entirely into a hungry, intense, deeply predatory gaze radiating from all three men. Their Alpha eyes darkened, locking onto my face with a heavy, possessive heat.

“Have you ever kissed anyone?” Corbin asked suddenly, entirely innocently discovering the missing piece of my history during the intense conversation.

“No,” I said honestly, a massive, hot blush instantly flooding my face.

The atmosphere in the room immediately ignited. It was like dropping a match onto gasoline. The triplets exchanged rapid, heated glances, their breathing instantly becoming heavier.

Zander leaned in immediately, closing the small distance between us until I could feel the intense heat radiating off his chest. His striking blue eyes darkened with pure, unadulterated lust. “We wanna kiss you,” he declared bluntly, his voice a dark, demanding rumble.

Though my inner wolf violently howled in absolute agreement, desperately wanting to throw myself forward and claim their lips, I nervously pulled back. I bit my lip, shrinking slightly into the mattress as I admitted the truth. “I’m not sure if I’m ready yet,” I whispered, entirely intimidated by the raw sexual tension rolling off of them.

“That’s okay,” Kellan said immediately, though his jaw ticked with the massive effort it took to physically restrain his Alpha instincts from just taking what he desperately wanted.

Searching frantically for a distraction to break the heavy, possessive sexual tension, I quickly changed the subject. “Were you guys deeply disappointed when you realized I was your fated mate?” I asked quietly, genuinely fearing the answer. After all, I was just the impoverished pack servant, completely lacking the wealth, status, or power of the girls they usually associated with.

They vehemently and aggressively denied it, their reactions completely immediate and visceral.

“No! Of course not!” Kellan snapped, looking almost highly offended by the mere suggestion.

Corbin enthusiastically leaned forward to detail his immediate reaction. “I was so thrilled, I actually went straight inside your tiny room and literally just lay on your bed to seek immediate comfort from your scent,” Corbin admitted with a wide, unashamed grin. I immediately remembered smelling Corbin’s rich scent perfectly imprinted on my pillows the night before, and a small, genuine smile touched my lips.

“I went completely through your things,” Kellan proudly explained, though he looked slightly sheepish. “Sorry, Amity. It just violently hit me how incredibly little you actually possessed in that tiny room. I meticulously inspected your meager, broken belongings because I wanted to calculate exactly what I needed to financially provide for you immediately.” I nodded slowly. Kellan was absolutely always the practical, hyper-calculated one.

Zander looked down, heavily rubbing the back of his neck as he shamefully admitted his reaction. “I completely and totally freaked out. I absolutely panicked, completely terrified to my core because I thought you would rightfully reject us on the spot. I knew we’d been completely horrible to you our entire lives, and I was terrified you were going to walk away.”

He was absolutely not entirely wrong. I had deeply, genuinely considered leaving the pack forever the moment I realized they were my mates.

Feeling a sudden, massive surge of vulnerability from their honest confessions, I decided to confess my own deep fears. “I realized what was actually happening when I came back from my first shift in the woods. I smelled something absolutely amazing, and the scent led me directly to each of your bedrooms,” I explained softly.

The Triplets grinned widely, their massive chests puffing up with absolute Alpha pride at the knowledge that their scent was intoxicating to me.

“So, I deliberately went into Corbin’s room first to investigate the scent. I was genuinely too terrified to go into either of the other two rooms in case you guys got completely pissed at me for trespassing. I was genuinely the least afraid of Corbin,” I admitted softly.

Corbin beamed, a massive, victorious smile lighting up his entire face. Kellan and Zander, however, instantly stiffened uncomfortably, clearly violently jealous and deeply ashamed that their mate had been too terrified of their past cruelty to even approach their rooms.

“Then I was just completely not sure what to do… I tried to avoid you all for as long as absolutely possible while I frantically worked out some of my conflicting feelings. Honestly, I fully, painfully expected you guys to just reject me on the spot once you realized it was me,” I confessed, looking down at my hands.

“What?!” Zander barked loudly, letting out an incredulous, massive laugh. His blue eyes widened in absolute shock.

“Never,” Kellan growled firmly, his voice vibrating with absolute certainty.

“We’ve been desperately waiting for our mate for three entire years since we first shifted,” Corbin added, his voice completely serious.

“So how come you always aggressively date random, wealthy girls from school?” I challenged, arching an eyebrow at them.

“We’re men. We have physical needs,” Zander stated simply and unapologetically. His brothers immediately glared heavily at him for his absolute lack of tact, but neither of them said a single word to the contrary.

“When I was setting up the decorations for the massive birthday party yesterday, I genuinely thought I’d have to just stand there and watch you three slow-dancing the night away with your gorgeous, wealthy girlfriends while I miserably served cheap drinks to the guests,” I said, chuckling sadly at the incredibly painful memory of my own deep insecurities.

Their jaws literally dropped in absolute, unadulterated horror. The mere thought of abandoning me to serve drinks while they paraded other females around was clearly violently offensive to their deeply ingrained Alpha possessiveness. The Triplets looked completely, entirely aghast. I actually giggled softly at their absolutely shocked, horrified expressions.

The sound of my genuine laughter caused an immediate reaction. Zander’s bright blue eyes suddenly darkened with an incredibly intense, overwhelming, and absolute desire. He lunged forward without a single second of warning, his massive hands gripping my waist tightly. He suddenly and forcefully pulled my entire body flush against his rock-hard chest. The immediate, intense physical contact sent wild, electric, dizzying tingles violently shooting through my entire nervous system. The breath was completely knocked out of my lungs as I collided with his muscular frame.

“I wanna take you on a date, Baby!” his voice rasps huskily directly against my ear, the heavy, demanding command entirely wrapped in sheer, unadulterated lust.

“Um… sure,” I replied weakly, my heart hammering uncontrollably against my ribs as his dominant scent completely overwhelmed my senses.