1 - New family

‘I cannot believe I actually came here.’ Walking out of the airport, Svetlana mumbled, regretting her decision. The clicking sound of her heels was barely audible amidst the chattering. A smirk appeared over Svetlana’ burgundy matte mischievous lips. ‘Let’s teach those fuckers all the types of F’s, hah!’ Scoffing inwardly, Svetlana recalled her triplet step-brothers. Fucking hot. Filthy rich. Wheeling out her luggage without any expectations that someone would be picking her up.

To Svetlana’s surprise as the slanting sunlight glinted her blonde hair. The girl’s emerald orbs were stunned to see the triplets. Standing with a board for identification, Svetlana clenched her jaw seeing the mockery. She wasn’t expecting anything good from them but they could spare her pretty name. Reading ‘S-wet-Lana’ an enraged Svetlana leaped towards them and snatched the board. Throwing it on the floor she stomped over it with her emerald eyes glaring.

“Thank you for such a memorable welcome, brothers.” She spoke with a twitching eyebrow, while her eyes glanced at each one of them. Svetlana intentionally stressed over the title to indicate the boundaries. Wondering how the trio could change that much in just a few years. All three of them had grown into fine young men who could make any girl weak in her knees. However, Svetlana wasn’t one of those braindead ones since she knew how cunningly dangerous they were. 

Svetlana glared at them while one among the trio was completely ignoring her presence. “Oh, introduction! Forgive me. I am Sahan, the youngest; this is the oldest, Raihan, and this is Zuhan”. He pointed towards his brothers with a wicked smile. Something was definitely suspicious in their body language. Svetlana knew she couldn’t trust everything coming from the trio. It made her wonder how their attitude was with her mother since she was the Luna now.

There was not much difference between their demeanour and voices. Sahan appeared to be a gym rat and seemed a jovial outgoing type of person. Whereas, the reserved one, Zuhan, had long hair and lean stature with his silvery eyes displaying serene nature. However, the eldest Raihan, had short hair and a stoic personality. All of them were towering above her and could potentially scoop her up. However, Svetlana shook her head to dismiss all those explicit thoughts. 

‘Why am I even thinking such things?’ Svetlana shook her head to condense those steamy thoughts. But she couldn’t help and appreciate their looks and the assertive aura they all carried. Within those slowed down moments every single envious eyes in the surroundings were glaring at her. Svetlana had already run a thorough search on them and the Dark Stone pack. The filthy rich pack of New York, led by Alpha Zaro. 

The powerful alpha among all the packs, alpha Zaro was her mother’s mate. They both crossed paths later in life when their respective partners died. Svetlana’s father passed away and Alpha Zaro’s wife died in childbirth. However, it took both of them a lot of time to accept each other due to their children. Nonetheless, Svetlana and the triplets weren’t biologically related. And that reminder provoked the trio to prey their way into her boundaries. 

“Nice to meet you.” Svetlana replied politely, hiding her awkwardness caused due to her hyperactive imagination. “Same to you, Svetlana.” Zuhan had the same deep voice as Sahan but was lacking a smile. For some reason Svetlana could feel something stirring in her gut upon hearing her name from his mouth. However, staring right into Sahan’s silvery orbs made her uncomfortable. Svetlana was fully aware of the hype the Zaro brothers had in NYC and chattering with them garnered attention and envy.

“Believe me, pleasure is all ours.” Sahan added while licking his lips as he emphasised on the word pleasure. Upon feeling discomfort Svetlana tried to avert her stare with a forced smile. However, Raihan didn’t show any interest in the conversation. Svetlana ogled at him occasionally whereas he stood leaning against the wall with a nonchalant attitude. She met them nearly ten years ago and was still carrying the bad memories regarding her birthday. 

‘Rude!’ Svetlana couldn’t help but think of him as an egoistic person.

Sahan guided her towards the car while Zuhan was driving as he moved ahead. Raihan was sitting next to him and Svetlana was sitting on the back seat with Sahan. The drive from the airport to the pack house was grim silent. ‘Ugh! I wish I could escape this awkwardness sooner.’ Svetlana twitched her fingers while averting her head to avoid Sahan’s occasional stares. They reached the pack house in nearly thirty minutes. Svetlana looked outside the window and saw a freaking mansion in front of her. 

Her jaw dropped expression didn’t go unnoticed by the triplets. As the vehicle moved towards the parking lot, Svetlana witnessed their pack house wasn’t just any regular mansion. The whole estate was not less than a friggin castle surrounded by acres of green land. She had a prior rich perception regarding her mother’s mate. However, Svetlana didn’t expect Alpha Zaro to burst her bubble and exceed the already high expectations. 

Alpha Zaro’s house was a few miles away from the downtown, having a different entrance itself towards the cliff. Zuhan pulled the car into the parking lot and they all entered the mansion. Svetlana saw her mother excitedly waiting for her at the ingress with Alpha Zaro, whose hand was on her mother’s shoulder. They both appeared genuinely invested in meeting her, unlike the suspicious trio. “Svetlana, my little girl, I can’t believe you are finally here. Look how much you have grown into a fine woman.” Her mother chirped excitedly, contrasting to Svetlana’s emotions.

“Same here, mom.” Lana responded with a sarcastic smile, which her mother didn’t seem to catch and literally choked her in a tight hug. Alpha Zaro also walked up to her and head patted Lana, which nearly made her cry with the overwhelming emotions. No matter what she couldn’t help but notice how the alpha had truly treated her as his own daughter. Lana had issues with her mother and her decisions but she had no beef with Alpha Zaro. Lastly, she got a gentle hug from Saikus, her mother and Alpha Zaro’s child.

“I was waiting for your arrival, sister.” Saikus spoke politely while hugging her as they both swayed a bit. Saikus looked nothing like the triplets except his coloured eyes. He had emerald eyes and blonde hair just like Lana. His chiselled face with a sharp jawline, small pointy nose also resembled her. Anyone could say that they both were siblings, while Saikus somewhat had traces of being related to the trio. The genes didn’t fail to sneak in to make him appear distinctive via the other facial features.

“So, happy to finally be able to hug you.” Lana couldn’t be rude to her own brother, though she suspected that he would have been ‘trained’ into hating her by the triplets. It looked like he didn’t really get that much influenced by arrogant and bratty Triplets. Lana was dragged out of her thoughts by Alpha Zaro’s strong, intimidating voice. She could not help but wonder what else the triplets had inherited from their father apart from the raspy, sexy voice and hunky looks. It was hard to pick one among the three of them. Heck! All of them were hot!

“Thank you for coming, Svetlana. Your mom and I are equally happy to have you here. Please make yourself feel at home. We have made all the arrangements for your comfortable stay.” Svetlana couldn’t help but sense genuine concern coming from him. “You are my daughter and you have all the rights as my other kids have.” Alpha Zaro spoke kindly while reassuring her about how she could use and abuse her rights as the alpha’s only daughter. However, Svetlana had no such intentions of staying with them permanently. 

“As the matter of fact, if they are at the position of Alpha, you are at the position of Luna.” Alpha Zaro chuckled softly while wrapping his arm around his wife. Svetlana saw her mother smiling at her husband for such generosity. “And if someone gives you trouble, tell the triplets, they will handle it for you”. He chuckled but something stirred in her upon hearing those words. It was the first time Svetlana could rely on someone else for her mess without any worry. Not even one man but frigging 3 hotties!

“Yes, I will.” Looking at the triplets Lana spoke again knowing she was never going to involve those devils in anything. “If I need their assistance I will tell them.” She saw 2 of them staring back at her with a smirk while Raihan remained uninterested as before. As she was just having a nice chat with Alpha Zaro, Suhan and Zuhan appeared in between. “Lana must be tired, dad. We will show her the room.” Both of them said in unison when Sahan placed his hand over her shoulder.