Three

My mother married a Lycan?! Double fuck!

"Whatever it is you're doing will not work" Jason asserted and paused for a while. Obviously relishing in his victory.

"I asked what the fuck you want!" I demanded once again. 

"Well, for starters, you are going to convince your mother to end this marriage between her and father." He said. 

"Me? Convince my mother?" I was dumbfounded. “Wasn’t it your father who proposed?" or did I hear the story wrongly?

"Yeah, manipulation. He was manipulated by your witchy mother." Jake snarled above me. He tightened his grip on my wrist. 

"My mother isn't even a witch and you know that!" I yelled at him. 

"I don't care." Jason said. "You are going to do as I say. You don't have a choice." With that, he walked back to his seat and cut up his steak. "I believe you have burnt up my food." He said absent-mindedly as Jake let go of me.

I got up and rubbed my wrists. I could see angry red marks of red on my skin. 

"Sit and eat your food." Jason gestured and I felt anger brimming in me. He must think I didn't know more than to eat. Because what the fuck was happening here?

I gave all three of them an unbelievable look before I turned and scampered up the stairs but not before I noticed the table where Jared had gripped was indented with what looked like claw marks. 

"You didn't have to be that hard on her." I heard Jared say. 

"Shut up, Jared." Jason snapped. 

"Yeah, shut up, Jared." Jake agreed. 

I fled to the stairs and locked myself in my new room. All the time, I was wondering what my mother had gotten herself into. I tried not to think of what had happened a few minutes ago or the fact that I might be attracted not just only Jared but his brothers as well. It wasn't something I wanted to believe at all. They are all overbearing and sexy as hell.  

I shook my head at the last words my subconscious added and tried to imagine myself somewhere else but I kept having mixed emotions. I was very delighted that finally, my magic spells had worked, but still, at the back of my mind, I was worried about the type of problem my mother had gotten herself into. 

Getting tangled with these psychopaths was not something I relished very much. Not even if they are hotter than Joseph. 

I jumped from my bed and set about, thinking of a way to tell mum what had just happened. 

Then I heard a polite knock and Jared came in. 

"Get Out!" I yelled at him. How the hell was he able to get in? "What are you doing here?" I snapped then I recalled I was in their father’s house. 

"I came to apologise… for my brothers."

"You could have helped, but you didn't. So, just get out. Now!" 

He remained unmoving. "What would my help do? There were two of them.” 

“Still—”

"Did you know there's a camera in here? We can watch everything you do in this room.”

I froze at his words, trying to process what I just heard.

“You guys place a camera in here?” I blinked in disbelief.

Jared looked away, refusing to meet my gaze. 

"Get. Out. Of. My. Room!" I yelled. 

He raised his hand in surrender and backed out of the room. 

I was so angry at myself and at the triiplets, I thought they would be my good step-brothers but they were assholes! Huge ones!

This is the peak. I need to call my mom and let her know that I can't stay here. Instead of a vacation, this house is a promising hell for me.

I brought out my phone and dialled my mom’s line. 

She picked up on the third ring. "Hello, darling." Her voice was loud.

"Hi mom." 

"How're you settling in? You're getting to know your step-brothers right?" She sounded giddy. 

"Actually, yes. I am." I said. "I am getting to know them really well." I took a deep breath. "Mom, I need to tell you some-"

"You can't imagine how happy I am to hear that." She cut me off mid sentence. I heard someone say something to her and she laughed. "Honey, Dan wants to say hi. Here…" 

I started to protest but stopped when Dan's deep voice came on the phone. "Hello, Cassandra. Nice to finally hear from you.”

"Hi Dan." I tried to sound cheerful.

"My boys are giving you problems. I know. I was mischievous like them when I was their age too.”

I gave a small smile. “I see…” Like father, like sons.

"I'll learn to live with it." I muttered, trying to hide my displeasure as this was our first speaking and I was in his house.

"Don't worry. We are catching the next flight. We'll be home in a few hours…an urgent situation came up. Bye." And he hung up the phone. 

I didn't even get to tell mother goodbye. 

He must really share the same arrogance with his sons. 

I scoffed and prepared for bed even though it was just 5.30 pm. 

****

THE NOISE and activities downstairs woke me up. I glanced at my bedside clock. It glowed at 9.15 pm. 

I yawned and slid out of my bed to find out what was happening. 

My mom and Dan had arrived and the boys were helping them in. 

Mom rushed over to hug me while I carefully scanned Dan. He looked like an older, tougher version of his sons but when he looked at me and smiled, I noticed that, unlike his sons, his eyes were warm and kind. 

He gave me a side hug before turning to the boys. 

"There is trouble in our territory in New Jersey." He deadpanned. Shifting into what I assumed must be a leadership role. Is he the leader of the Lycan territory? How many are they in numbers?

"How urgent?" Jason was the first to get over the shocking news, folding his arms as he inquired.

"Very." Dan responded with a sigh.

We walked to the living room, and my mom went about pouring drinks in glass cups. "The Vampires are making moves to invade." 

"Those bastards." Jake snarled, accepting the glass from mother without even looking at her. 

"Yes. Them." Dan said, he turned to Jason. "With me, dropping my alpha rank, and you've not risen up to the post…the pack is in a vulnerable state." 

"They plan to attack when the pack is without an alpha." Jared remarked, sounding pissed too.  He took a glass from mother and muttered. "Thank you."

"So I need you boys to drive down to New Jersey as soon as possible to handle things." Dan instructed and they all nodded. Good, I will finally breathe fine. And definitely find the goddamn camera they placed in my room.

"Early tomorrow morning is fine." Jason spoke out and I snapped my eyes at him. Didn't he understand what as soon as possible means?

"It's not a long drive, Jas." Dan said, wearily. "You can make the drive now, it's not too late, not for us anyway." 

Jason's eyes met mine and I saw a glint in them before he nodded.

"Hey, Cassandra can go along with yall." Mom piped. "More of a sibling bonding thing." 

What???

I gaped at her, wanting her to catch my eyes so she'll see my objection, but she didn't. Instead, it was Jason that kept staring at me and the thin material of my nightdress. His eyes focused on the points of my nipples, and I watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed. 

"What do you say, honey?" My Mom called out, reaching out to touch Dan. 

"Well, yeah. It is a good thing that she familiarises herself with the pack and her new brothers." Dan agreed with a smile. 

I opened my mouth to refuse until I saw Jason’s belittling gaze.

“Sure, why not. It's nice to finally have siblings,” I flashed a stiff grin, and the boys’ expression changed. They better be prepared to be sick of me!

“I better get some sleep." 

“No time to nap. We leave in 10 minutes. Be ready." Jason declared to me, killing my hopes of getting some rest.

What the hell is going on in my life? I asked myself as I walked up the stairs. 

It's like I'm not in control of it anymore.