Chapter 1. That Familiar Eyes 

PEONY CRIMSON’S POV

Life on the run was hard, especially with my triplets. I didn't live a day without fear. Terrible secrets cloaked in beauty ready to pounce from the darkness. And my three daughters don't need to face any of that.

On that morning, I gave each of my beautiful six-year-old triplets—Rose, Jasmine, and Violet—a charm before they left for school. The charm contained some magic to cloud their aura. As a werewolf, it’s the thing I did to keep my daughters hidden among the mortal. 

The triplets didn’t know this fact. I told them it was my secret way of making them feel special. The charms were made from wood and carved into the shape of flowers and butterflies. Each of them wore one on a silver chain around their neck.

“Don’t lose your charms today,” I said. “Promise me.” I smiled at them with loving eyes.

“Yes, Mama!” 

The girls nodded obediently and kissed me goodbye. Then they went off to school.

Our next-door neighbor Gloria, a mid-level witch who opened a tarot shop, saw their sweet farewell and waved at them. 

“How long will you make me create those charms?” she asked curiously. “Their true identity… You can’t always keep them under your hat, remember?”

“I know. Just do as long as possible until I’m ready to reveal everything. Right now, it’s still too early, Gloria,” I replied, smiling faintly. “No doubt that is the only way so I can keep us safe and sound. So, please do me a favor for years to come.”

Gloria nodded. “Just don’t tell anyone else.”

I smiled again. “Absolutely not.”

I closed the apartment door with a long sigh. Being a single parent was challenging, especially when I had to be extra careful not to let anyone suspect me and my triplets. 

As a werewolf on the run, I knew better than anyone that people would want to hurt my family or kill them. That was why I could never tell any mortal about my other life.

I did my house duty extra quickly because I had to work. Before leaving the apartment, I glanced at the right side.  

A photo frame of a man’s face I’m not familiar with hung on the wall. The man was skinny, but his military uniform made him more defined. Yet Rose, Jasmine, and Violet know him as their father. He wasn’t even my mate. It was another lie that I had kept all these years.

I sighed when I finally got to work. I hated my job working for a fast-food restaurant. My boss, Mr. Mathew, was a tyrant; he wanted everything done perfectly. Also, he would fire anyone without warning. He was also a kind of pervert.

“Get your fat ass up and do your damn job! The one over there hasn’t been cleaned yet!” he shouted, pointing at the corner restaurant. 

Every day I tried to keep as far away from him as possible. I don’t want his dirty, fat hands on my butt as he did with the other female employees.

I pulled out a broom and began sweeping up the restaurant. Then I wiped the windows, ignoring the people passing by outside. The mortal with the same routine tended to rush to catch up on work without being concerned about the existence of immortals.

But all of sudden, my heart was racing. All the blood in my body flowed as hard as river water. A smooth wave as gentle as a feather swept over my skin. I lowered my hand from the window, then stared straight outside.

“Who’s that?”

There was a man who was strangely taller than others. His specially styled black hair didn’t move as he walked. He stopped in the middle of the crowd as if he wasn’t disturbing the flow of pedestrians. 

His blood-red irises were fixed on me as if they could pierce through the window glass. When my eyes met those beads, I felt skinned alive. But a second later, a sense of familiarity hit as if I could recognize the owner of those smoldering eyes. The air that arose made me shiver.

In that one quick second, I thought my eyes were deceiving me. I was startled, frozen in place. Once again, I ventured to look at the crowd of people walking outside. But that man disappeared.

Was it just a trick of the light? 

Or perhaps something magical had happened as I stared blankly at the crowd. 

There was no doubt in my mind that man wasn’t a human.

A cold wave filled my chest. Yes, I think he was a werewolf. I took a moment to concentrate. 

Oh, no. That was terrible news. I had to think of something. But then I stopped. 

What if it was my ex-mate? That is the only reason why I’ve been hiding for years. Someone I never wanted to go near my triplets. The one I hated the most. 

Unwilling to dissolve into a panic attack, I took a deep breath.

Perhaps it was just my hallucination. The distance between the pack I came from was a thousand away and located at the end of this continent. With no family who would look after me, I took my chance and went this far that anyone couldn’t ever find me.

This thought quickly sunk in as I was preoccupied with my work. Towards noon, when my shift was over, I boarded a bus and got off in front of an elementary school. My arrival always coincided with school dismissal time.

As I waited at the gate, my triplets emerged from the main entrance of the building. Their faces were indeed similar. Gloria said they’re inheriting my beauty and gentleness. It was only the firmness of their expressions that made the difference.

The cheerful Rose waved first when she saw me. “Mama!”

They rushed into my arms. Seeing my three daughters healthy and safe, close in my heart, was the happiest time.

“Mama, Jasmine cried again today!” reported Violet, somewhat annoyed with her sister.

“Why?” I asked, immediately noticing my second daughter. Jasmine’s pink cheeks were puffy and still wet with tears.

“I told her not to listen to what those brats said, Mama!” continued Violet.

I knelt, aligning my height with Jasmine’s, and rubbed her tiny shoulders. Gently, I asked, “What did those children say, my bloom? Tell me.”

“They said I was miserable because I didn’t have a Papa.” Jasmine looked somber again and added, “They also said that Violet is rude because she doesn’t have a Papa to teach her manners!”

“So don’t listen to them!” snapped Violet. As the eldest, she seemed to understand her responsibility to look after her sisters, even without being asked. But Violet was still a six-year-old girl.

Startled, I hugged the three little girls again while rubbing their heads. My chest ached every time the same case occurred. I was an orphan, too; I knew very well what it was like not to have a parent figure to look up to.

“Oh, my heart… I’m so sorry,” I whispered soothingly while holding back tears. I don't have to show them my weak side.

“Papa!” Rose exclaimed.

“Yes, I’m sorry I couldn’t bring you together with Papa,” I repeated.

Rose broke away from my embrace and pointed behind her. “No, Mama. Over there! That’s Papa!”

The three little girls looked in the same direction and spontaneously screamed.

“That’s right. It’s Papa!”

Spontaneous, they ran off. I was distraught and confused.

“What the–Rose! Jasmine! Violet!” I shouted, running after them, “Wait, don’t run that way!”

The alley around there was more complicated than I had expected. I smelled my daughter’s aroma and found them in one of the narrow alleys.

“Huwaaahh!!!”

“Huwaaahh!!!”

There, I saw them crying and the man in front of them putting his hands on his waist.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you guys? Didn’t you hear me? I’m not your Papa!” the man shouted with a voice that is not at all friendly to say to children.

I was surprised. The man’s face was the same as in the photo on our apartment wall. It never occurred to me that the man was real. I downloaded a random soldier’s image on the internet and prayed for him with my triplets every night without imagining that I would meet him.

“Papa!” Rose still tried to hug him while crying hard.

“I’m not!” The man became even angrier.

I ran and hid my triplets behind me.

“My darlings, please control yourself.” I stood straight before the stranger, pleading, “Please forgive them. They’re mistaken you as their late father.”

“Mama, but he’s our Papa! Look!” Violet insisted and pulled out a worn photo from her pocket.

“Violet, that’s—”

The photo quickly changes into the man’s hand. He was startled and snapped, “This photo… Are you a stalker?”

“No, I’m—”

“What’s going on here?”

A gruff voice managed to turn the atmosphere into a tense one as if the mild temperature of spring had dropped a few degrees below zero. A gust of wind brought the familiar scent of vanilla and bergamot to my nostrils—the unforgettable one, as if I had smelled that last night. A mysterious yet intimidating aura made my hair stand on end. I couldn’t help but freeze, realizing I had no time to run.

I turned my back.

Just five feet away, my ex-mate was staring straight at me with a piercing look in his red eyes. My heart felt like stop beating and fell into a void. 

What I was hiding had brought to light.