Between the Three Alphas

Ariadne

I smell smoke.

I lift my head from my pink pillow, rubbing my eyes as I glance out my window. My heart races as my eyes widen, fire engulfing the house next to me.

That’s Jenny’s house.

I leap out from under my covers just as my door slams open. I scream, my head whipping towards the door, expecting to see bad men ready to take me. But I immediately relax when I see my mom and dad running through the door.

“C’mere, sweetie,” my mother says, quickly grabbing my hand and pulling me out of my room.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“We’re under attack,” my father explains, shielding us with his arm as he peers out of our front door.

“Is Jenny going to be okay?” I ask, glancing at my schoolmate’s house once more. We played with dolls in her room when we were younger, more times than I could count.

“I don’t know, Ari,” my mother answers calmly. “You can’t think about her right now.”

My father motions for us to follow him outside, keeping low to the ground as we rush around our house towards the expansive woods of the pack territory.

I hear the low growl of a wolf to my left, and I look. The wolf is enormous, with thick black fur and evil red eyes. The wolf mauls a much smaller one, one I don’t recognize.

I gulp, tears streaming down my face.

“This is all because of me, isn’t it?” I ask.

“Stop it,” my mother insists. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“This is because I’m the girl! You know it, and I know it! This is because they’re after me!” I cry.

“Yes,” my father answers, turning to face me, cupping my face in his large hands. “They are after you, but we all know how important it is to keep you out of the wrong hands, which is why we need to protect you. You’ll have to be on your own now.”

“On my own?” I cry, my eyes darting to my mother, who can’t seem to look at me. “Mom! Dad! You can’t leave me!”

“We can’t protect you anymore,” my mom whimpers. “It was silly to think we ever could.”

“You’re going to run, Ariadne. Run as far away from here as you can, and don’t let anyone know who you are,” my father says. He points at my chest and adds, “And don’t let anyone see your birthmark.”

“You’re fourteen, so there’s a good chance you’ll be able to find a rogue pack to take you in. At least until you’re older,” my mother reassures. “And your dad and I will always be with you in your heart, okay? We will see each other again. I love you so much, my little girl.”

She wraps her arms around me, my father enveloping the two of us in his embrace. I sob into her chest and beg, “Please! Please don’t leave me! I-I don’t want this! I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of me!”

My mother pulls away and says, “Enough, Ariadne. There’s no time for laments. There’s one more thing you need to know.”

She glances at my father, and he nods. She opens her mouth to speak, but the loud growl of a wolf interrupts her, and my father immediately shifts, snarling.

I turn around and shriek at the sight of the black wolf, my mother pushing me off her and to the side, shifting as well.

‘Run!’ She mindlinks. ‘Your father and I will hold him off. I love you.’

My eyes widen as I scramble to my feet, darting into the woods. But I look back.

Why did I have to look back?

I see the wolf slashing my mother’s chest open, my father lying limply on the ground next to her.

‘We must shift,’ my wolf, Phaedra, insists. ‘There’s nothing we can do for them. We’re on our own now.’

The image changes, like dropping a stone in a pond, the ripples growing wider and wider as they overtake the image until it shifts completely.

I feel cold. I look down at my feet and see snow under my boots.

“My Queen,” someone whispers behind me. I turn to look over my shoulder, and I see a man, but I can’t see his face; it’s covered with armor.

It feels like I know him.

I open my eyes, pulled away from my dream, back to my stark reality. I groan, lifting my head as it throbs. Where am I?

I feel the hard, rocky ground underneath me, the stone cold to the touch. I look in front of me and see bars, the kind in prisons.

Shit. This isn’t good.

I stand up and move towards the bars to get a look at the hallway, but I’m pulled back by something.

I look down at my wrists and ankles and realize I’m shackled to the wall behind me. “Fuck!” I hiss, stomping towards the hook my shackles are connected to. I kick it, attempting to dislodge it. But it’s no use.

I huff, sitting against the wall and looking up at the dim light overhead. What am I going to do?

Whoever my captor is must’ve taken me when I was at the underground market today. I was trying to buy inhibitors since I know I’ll be going into heat soon since my eighteenth birthday is in just a few days. I can’t let anyone see my mark, which means I can’t let anyone take my clothes off.

So even if I wanted to have sex, I can’t. There’s too much at stake.

I remember running into some men at the market, and they asked me questions. I tried to get away, but that’s all I remember. They must have drugged me with something.

“The bitch is awake,” I hear a man sneer as he opens the door, throwing a basin of cold water over me. I gasp, covering my body as my wet shirt clings to my breasts. I shiver, glaring at him as he approaches me.

He’s tall, skinny, and has a patchy beard along his jawline. He looks young, maybe in his early twenties. I get a good look at him as he kneels in front of me, and his eyes are truly evil. He smiles menacingly, showing off his crooked teeth.

“So, girl,” he starts, his voice overly sweet. “Let’s start with your name.”

“Ariadne,” I answer, playing up the meekness in my voice. I can’t play it too cold, or he won’t believe the rest of what I have to say. Maybe if I appease him, he’ll let me go?

“Good! Good. Keep cooperating like that, and you and I can be good friends. Now, tell me what you were doing at that market yesterday?”

So I’ve been unconscious for a day? Perfect, just perfect.

“I was looking for inhibitors,” I answer honestly.

“And why would a gorgeous wolf like you want those?”

“Because I’m a rogue. I’m living amongst humans and want to be as normal as possible around them. Going into heat would make that difficult.”

He smirks, shaking his head. “Liar.”

I glare at him. “I’m not lying,” I insist.

He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a plastic bag. Without warning, he launches at me, wrapping the bag over my face and pulling it around my throat.

I gasp for breath, the bag covering my airway as I choke for air, struggling against his grip. I scratch at the bag, trying to tear it, clawing at his hands in the process.

My head throbs, and my lungs burn as I take a deep breath, but no air comes. I kick furiously, fighting for my life. I manage to tear a hole in the thick plastic, quickly gasping for breath as my head floods with relief. I collapse to the ground as he lifts the bag over my head. As I catch my breath, I clutch my throat, the skin raw from the plastic. He kicks me in my ribs, a sharp pain erupting in my side, and I cry out, curling up in a ball.

“Tell me the truth, shewolf!” He commands. “Or I’ll do worse to you.”

I keep my mouth shut, glaring at him defiantly. “Over my dead body!” I scream, hoping he may oblige the request. The world would be much better if the prophecy died with me.

He scoffs, grabbing my face and lifting me to my feet. I cover my chest with my arms, feeling exposed in his gaze. He leans in, his lips next to my ear, and whispers, “Put your arms to your sides.”

I shake my head, tightening my grip around my body, desperate to hang on to what little modesty I have.

“Put your arms to your sides!” He barks, grabbing my wrists and tearing them away from my chest.

He smirks, glancing down at my soaked shirt clinging to my breasts, my nipples erect from the cold air in the dungeon.

“My, my, my,” he whispers, stroking my cheek with his thumb. I turn away, my body shaking as I struggle to keep my composure. “Ariadne, don’t you know there are worse fates than death?”

I gulp as his hand moves down my neck and to my breast. “Besides, it would be such a waste for me to kill such a gorgeous girl.”

He pushes me against the wall, and I scream as he gropes me, his fingers lifting the hem of my shirt. I panic and quickly bite his shoulder as hard as I can, anger surging through my bones, letting my canines sink into his skin. I tear his flesh as he scrambles away, yelping in pain, his eyes turning bright orange.

“You little cunt!” He screams, stomping toward me with a raised fist.

I close my eyes, flinching as I prepare for impact… But it never comes.

I open my eyes and see a man behind him, gripping my assailant’s wrist tightly. I let out a sigh of relief, but it is short-lived.

The man’s eyes are glowing a furious shade of burgundy. “What happened?” He barks.

The guard answers, “I’m trying to get information from her, Alpha!”

“I wasn’t asking you,” the man, apparently the Alpha of this pack, replies, glancing at me.

My voice shakes as I reply, “He was trying to take my clothes off. I think he was going to rape me.”

The Alpha glares at the man, his jaw clenching. He grabs him by the throat, throttling him against the wall. “Did I give you the authority to touch this woman?”

The guard’s face turns purple, gurgling sounds escaping his lips. The Alpha lets him down and roars, “Get out of my sight before I kill you!”

The guard quickly scurries away, and I hear his steps pounding up what sounds like a flight of stairs. That means I am in some kind of basement.

“Are you hurt?” The Alpha asks.

I shake my head, my throat closing, not letting me squeak out any words.

I would guess that the man in front of me is about six foot four. He has straight obsidian hair parted to the right, the locks curling just over his dark, thick eyebrow. He has a square jaw with a neat five o’clock shadow, his skin tan and warm. His lips are long and thin, a light beige color. His eyes are a gorgeous dark brown, like the trunks of the trees in the vast woods outside the home I used to share with my parents. And my is he muscular. His biceps bulge out of his short-sleeved shirt, his thighs straining against his jeans.

I can practically see his eight-pack peeking through his shirt, but I can’t let myself get carried away.

“Your name?” He asks.

But I still can’t speak. I can barely even breathe in his presence. Why does he have such an effect on me?

“Why are you here?” He asks, his voice showing his growing impatience.

I look away, knowing I won’t be able to answer any of his questions from here on out. His pull is too strong; I don’t know if I could muster up a lie. At least not right now.

I feel him step closer to me, the heat between us increasing as my cheeks flush.

My breath quivers as I lift my eyes to meet his, and an image flashes across my eyes. It’s his face under the mask of armor, the one I saw in my dream. He’s looking at me, but his eyes aren’t like the ones I see now.

They have love in them.

I back away, startled by what I’ve seen. Why is he in my dream? What could that possibly mean?

He matches my steps, stalking toward me and grabbing my chin, lifting it.

I take a deep breath, which proves to me a mistake as his intoxicating scent fills my nose, sending my wolf into a frenzy. My body erupts into fire, pain eating at my insides.

No, it’s too soon. Phaedra, it’s too soon.

‘We’re in heat,’ my wolf replies.

I know, but we’re not supposed to be in heat yet!

“You’re in heat,” the Alpha tells me, noticing my predicament.

I can’t reply, so I only continue to gaze at him.

He brushes his thumb across my bottom lip, pulling it down slightly. His other hand grabs my hip, pulling me closer to him. “I could help you, you know?” He says, his voice deep and husky. His eyes are a dark shade of burgundy, filled with lust as his wolf takes control. “If you beg.”

“No,” I finally manage to push through my throat. I can’t let him get to me. No matter how gorgeous he may be.

“No?” He asks, chuckling, pressing his palm against the wall, leaning over me. My breath shakes, and I can’t help it when a slight whine escapes my lips. He shakes his head, keeping his eyes locked with mine, his gaze intense and serious. “Nobody says no to me, sweetheart.”

He leans in, his lips hovering just over mine, and my body screams for him. But I resist. I turn my face away and whisper, “I guess this will be the first time, then.” I take a deep breath before turning my head to glare at him defiantly, my heart racing in my chest. “Because I’m saying no.”

He lets out a little laugh through his nose as he straightens his posture, a cocky smile on his face as he shrugs. “Suit yourself.”

He turns and exits the cell, completely unbothered as he shuts the door behind him.

I sigh in relief, grateful he’s gone. I don’t know how much more temptation I could have resisted.

I groan, a wave of pain surging through me as I fall to my knees.

This is going to be a long fucking day.

Dionysus

I lie on my bed, shaking my head incredulously.

Rejected! Me? That never happens. It shouldn’t happen!

I sit up, grunting. She clearly has no rank! Where does she get the audacity to reject an Alpha? The notion is preposterous.

But fuck, she is beautiful. My bruised ego can’t take that away from her.

She’s small, only about five foot six by my estimate, with long, wavy, light brown hair that reaches her hips. She has fair skin, and her gorgeous rosy cheeks flushed bright red when I got close to her. Her body is petite, and her breasts are small but large enough to take a handful. Her mouth is small, matching her cute button nose, but her lips are red and plump. She has a diamond-shaped face, eyes doe-like, and a light crystal blue, almost like the sky.

I glance down at my pants and realize I’ve got quite the hard-on, and clearly, this mystery girl won’t be helping with that today. I’ll have to put in a bit more work to woo her, but I can’t say I hate that idea.

“Marissa!” I call as I pull my shirt over my head. I begin to unbuckle my pants as she walks in.

“Yes, Alpha?” She asks.

“On your knees,” I instruct as I swing my legs over the side of my bed, pulling my pants and underwear down in one motion.

She follows my instructions, kneeling in front of me before running her tongue up my length as I hiss. I close my eyes, tilting my head back as she pleasures me.

The blue-eyed girl is nothing like Marissa. Marissa is obedient, doesn’t argue, and is eager to please. But her? She seems feisty, headstrong, and guarded.

I shouldn’t like that, but I do.

I think of how the wet shirt clung to her breasts, showing their curves, how her hair cascaded down her back, just above her gorgeous ass. Her nipples were sticking through the fabric, begging me to kiss them, bite them, play with them. Fuck, if only she would have let me.

I grab Marissa’s hair and bunch it in a ponytail, thrusting myself down her throat as I stand. She gags, and I look down at her as I watch her choke, imagining the girl’s face instead of hers. I want those sweet red lips wrapped around my cock.

I grunt, turning us around so that her head leans against the bed, and I increase my pace, fucking her mouth mercilessly as she gurgles, saliva dripping down her chin.

Would the girl in the dungeon be able to take me in her mouth like this? I bet her throat would feel incredible. She seems so innocent, untouched. I’d probably have to teach her.

I smirk at the thought, opening my eyes and looking down at her again, running my hands through her hair and imagining that they’re long, wavy brown locks. Her hair would probably feel like silk in my fingers, not the straw I feel now.

Heat rises in my cheeks as I groan, my body erupting into pleasure as I cum in her mouth, and she swallows greedily.

I sigh, stepping back and motioning for her to leave, and she does.

A strange thought creeps into my heart as I look at my empty bed. I might have let her stay if she were the girl from the dungeon.