Chapter 0001

They smelled her arousal. There was no doubt the future Alphas knew she wanted them, and that was forbidden.

Thea, the Beta's daughter, trained every morning with identical triplets Alaric, Conri, and Kai, the future Alphas of their pack, New Dawn. 

This morning, Thea was about to pin Kai when Conri and Alaric grabbed her arms from behind and held her tight.

"Come on, Kai," Alaric said. "We've evened out the fight for you."

"What the hell?" Thea said. She tried to free her arms from their grasp, her ponytail of chestnut hair whipping back and forth.

"You didn't sense us behind you?" Conri said.

"I thought you were watching, not plotting." She continued to struggle against their grip. "It's not fair. Boys get strength and muscles when they hit puberty. Girls get boobs. Useless!"

Kai's crystal blue eyes went to her chest and darkened. "I don't think boobs are useless," he said. 

"You three keep getting bigger and stronger." Thea's turquoise eyes raked over Kai's tall, broad, thick-muscled body, his workout clothes leaving nothing to the imagination. 

"And yet you still routinely pin us," Kai said.

Her eyes flitted back to his. "You guys pin me all the time now."

"We never used to be able to pin you at all," Alaric said, his strong hands holding her steady.

"I'd say the playing field is evening out," Conri said from her other side. One of his course hands slid down her arm an inch and renewed its grip.

"By restraining me while he attacks?" Thea said.

Conri shrugged, then smiled.

Thea shook her head at him. "This reminds me of when we were kids, and Kai punched my head from behind when I was leaving the ring, thinking he could sneak in a surprise attack and beat me after the fight. Your father was so angry, but before he could punish you, I jumped up from the ground, tackled you, and punched you until you cried. Your father laughed so hard. I can still hear him. 'That's what you get for being dishonorable, son.' What would he say if he saw you now?"

Kai walked toward her, head tilted down in what everyone else would call an intimidating posture. Nobody knew it was a turn-on for Thea. His crystal blue eyes—the same color and intensity as his brothers'—peered at her from under his messy pompadour of dark hair, muscles rippling in his broad shoulders.

"Dad’s not here now,” Kai said in his deep voice. “No one will save you when I have you on your back, begging for mercy.” 

Kai always egged her on, goading her until she fought him. He loved it when she exerted dominance over him. It made him feel like he belonged to her. That she wanted him. She hadn’t figured that out yet. She just got caught up in the challenge.

As soon as he was close enough, Thea used Conri’s and Alaric’s hold on her as leverage to kick and swing her legs up and over Kai’s shoulders. She squeezed them around his neck and locked them into a figure four submission hold. 

“Thanks for the assist, boys,” Thea said.

Conri and Alaric let go as if she burned them. Her top half fell, and her head hit Kai’s knees, but she didn’t loosen her submission hold on him. She punched Alaric and Conri in the crotch, and they doubled over.

Conri’s long hair covered his face, but Alaric’s crew cut showed his pained expression. Kai passed out and crumpled to the ground. Thea caught herself and landed on her feet, smiling to herself.

“That wasn’t fair!” Conri said, hunched over.

“Excuse me? You want to talk about fair?” Thea put her hands on her hips.

“You hit below the belt,” Alaric said.

“You guys changed the rules in the middle of the fight. Why can’t I? If this was real life, and a group was attacking me, you better believe I’ll do what I have to. Plus, you’re wearing cups. You’re fine.” 

She turned to Kai and knelt next to him on the grass. They were on the training field—a big clearing in the middle of the woods of their pack lands. 

“Kai, are you okay?” She noticed Kai’s chest wasn’t moving, and she gasped. “He’s not breathing!” 

She put her hands above his heart to start CPR, and suddenly Kai’s hands shot up. He flipped her, straddled her hips, and pinned her hands above her head. He leaned down and put his mouth to her ear.

“Gotcha.” His warm, hard chest brushed against hers, and her body reacted. She hoped he didn’t notice her now stiff peaks pressing against him. “Hold her down. We need to punish her.” 

Alaric and Conri each grabbed an arm and held it down. Three identical, chiseled faces looked down at her. Kai started tickling her sides, and she started laughing.

“Stop!” she cried. She struggled against them, kicking her legs and laughing. Kai lifted her shirt and blew a raspberry on her belly. Alaric and Conri started biting her arms, working up to her shoulders. Kai bit the side of her waist. 

She was gasping for air between laughing fits, but the bites had her feeling something entirely different. Tingles all over that sent warmth pooling low in her belly.

After her next gasp, Alaric and Conri bit a place on either side of her neck that made her panties wet and her body melt into compliance. She had never been sensitive in those areas before, but she immediately stopped struggling as her laughter transformed into moaning.

The triplets stilled. 

Thea froze in horror, except for her chest, still heaving up and down from trying to catch her breath. 

The triplets lifted their heads to look at her, shock on their handsome faces. They looked at each other, breathed in the air laced with her scent, then looked back at Thea, eyes dark.

She knew they smelled her arousal. Mortified, she used their moment of distraction, threw them off, and ran from the training field into the woods.