Breathless Between Three Alphas

POV: Tessa

I let the sob break through my lips, sounding every bit the shattered, pathetic creature they expected a Beta to be.

"Oh, this is our best performance yet," Lyra, my wolf, purred in my mind. "Look at him. He's totally hooked. Keep trembling, babe, men like him eat that fragile act right up."

Grant’s hand tightened on my waist as I pretended to lose my balance, slipping off his lap with a soft, feigned gasp.

My eyes were wide, swimming with unshed, humiliating tears as I looked up at him.

Grant didn’t say a word.

His dark, unreadable gaze traced the line of my trembling jaw, his thumb lingering for a fraction of a second against my skin before I pulled away, hugging my arms around myself as if I were freezing.

Across the room, Chloe let out a soft, highly amused huff of laughter.

"Nice dress, Chloe," Lyra sneered mentally, eyeing the Alpha King's daughter. "Too bad daddy's money can't buy you a personality that doesn't suck."

Chloe didn't look angry, nor did she look rushed.

To her, my sudden emotional collapse and desperate cling to Grant were simply the natural, pathetic reactions of a Beta girl who had just realized her entire life was a joke.

She stood there, arms crossed over her high-fashion gown, enjoying every single second of my supposed humiliation.

"Leave her alone, Chloe," Spencer murmured smoothly, a cold, elegant smile playing on his lips. "She’s had quite enough shock for one evening."

"Oh, please," Chloe scoffed, flipping her platinum hair over her shoulder. "I'm just observing the local wildlife. Have fun with your new toy, gentlemen. Don't break her too fast"

With a flick of her wrist, she turned and strolled out of the VIP lounge, entirely confident that the game was already won.

Before I could slip out after her, the heavy oak doors banged open again.

Tyler strode into the room, his flushed face and rumpled collar a glaring testament to what he had been doing in the greenhouse.

Behind him, my cousin Mia scurried in, looking terrified yet sickeningly smug.

"Oh look," Lyra groaned loudly in my head. "The garbage took itself out and brought its cheap, discount sidekick."

Tyler’s eyes locked onto me, standing just a few feet away from Grant, Spencer, and Chase.

Because of the rigid social hierarchy of our pack, an ordinary Beta had no business sharing a room with elite Warriors and Alphas without permission.

Instead of feeling a shred of guilt for cheating on me, Tyler’s male ego flared up with violent, misplaced outrage at seeing me near other men.

"Tessa?" Tyler barked, his voice carrying the harsh, commanding cadence of a pack Warrior. "What the hell do you think you’re doing in here with them? Have you completely lost your mind? Standing here looking like a desperate stray—"

"Tyler," Mia chimed in, stepping forward with a sickeningly sweet, fake-innocent pout. "Don't be too hard on her. She just found out about us... I'm sure she's just acting out because she's jealous. A Beta girl could never hope to understand what a true Warrior needs anyway."

"If I could throw up in my own mouth, I would," Lyra gagged. "Please tell me we can rip her vocal cords out later."

I didn't flinch.

I didn't drop my head in shame.

I let my lower lip tremble just enough to sell the act, keeping my eyes fixed on Tyler like a wounded animal.

Tyler took a step closer, raising a hand as if he had the right to physically grab my arm and drag me away.

He didn't even get within three feet of me.

A heavy, suffocating wave of pure, unadulterated Alpha dominance slammed into the room like a physical wall.

It wasn't even a full suppression—just a casual, bored flick of power from Grant, who remained seated on the leather sofa.

Tyler’s knees buckled instantly.

The Warrior hit the hardwood floor with a sickening thud, the breath exploding out of his lungs as Grant’s pressure crushed down on his chest.

Tyler clawed at the air, his face turning a sickly shade of purple as he struggled to drag even a single molecule of oxygen into his throat.

"Ten points to the billionaire," Lyra cheered maliciously. "I could watch this trash choke all night."

Mia shrieked, stumbling backward until she tripped over her own heels and sprawled inelegantly on the floor next to him.

Spencer didn't even look down at them.

He took a slow sip of his bourbon, his voice dropping into a razor-sharp register.

"A Warrior forgetting his place in front of his superiors," Spencer purred, stepping over Tyler’s thrashing legs as if he were stepping over trash. "How utterly disgraceful. Pack law dictates that lesser ranks who disrespect a gathering of Alphas can have their status revoked entirely."

"Please..." Tyler wheezed, his eyes bulging as he stared up at Grant in abject terror.

Grant didn’t even glance at him.

His dark eyes were fixed entirely on me, watching how I reacted to the display of absolute power.

"Get out," Grant said, his voice a low, gravelly command that vibrated in the floorboards. "Before I decide you don't deserve to breathe pack air at all."

Tyler didn't need to be told twice.

Gasping and weeping with humiliation, he scrambled to his feet, hauled a sobbing Mia up by the elbow, and practically threw themselves out of the room, fleeing down the hallway like beaten dogs.

The room fell silent once more.

I let out a ragged, shaky breath, burying my face in my hands for a second to hide the cold, calculating satisfaction burning in my eyes.

When I dropped my hands, my face was a mask of fragile, exhausted distress.

"I... I need some air," I whispered, my voice cracking on the edge of tears.

Without waiting for an answer, I turned and bolted out of the VIP lounge.

I didn't stop running until I reached the sprawling, deserted back gardens of the estate.

The cool night air hit my burning skin, but it wasn't enough to calm the storm inside my chest.

As I hurried past a carved stone terrace near the mansion's private alcove, the sound of a familiar, arrogant voice froze me in my tracks.

It was Chloe.

She was standing on the other side of the stone partition, speaking in a harsh, venomous whisper to an attendant on her phone.

"I don't care what my father says," Chloe hissed into the receiver, her tone dripping with deep-seated hatred. "That filthy Beta girl... she shouldn't even be breathing the same air as me. Every time I look at her, I am reminded of what that woman did."

I pressed my back against the cold stone, holding my breath.

"My own mother," Chloe spat, her voice shaking with long-buried rage. "The former Luna of this pack. She threw away her crown, she shattered the royal mating bond with my father, and she ran away into the filth of the human and Beta settlements just to live an ordinary life... and eventually gave birth to that bastard daughter."

My entire world tilted on its axis.

The former Luna?

"Hold up," Lyra paused, the venom draining from her voice, replaced by pure, arrogant shock. "So... the blonde trainwreck is our sister? Gross. But wait—that means we're royal blood, loser. My fur just got ten times more expensive."

My breath hitched in my throat, a cold shock piercing straight through my chest.

For the first time in my life, standing in the dark shadows of the garden, the horrifying truth crashed over me.

My mother was the royal Luna who had abandoned the throne, choosing a quiet life with a gentle Beta man—giving birth to me.

And Chloe had spent her entire life projecting her bitter abandonment directly onto me.

I wasn't just a random target of pack bullying. I was the living, breathing shadow of her greatest trauma.

Panic surged through my veins.

If Chloe turned around and saw me, the entire foundation of my ignorance would shatter.

Without making a sound, I turned and bolted away from the terrace.

Footsteps echoed behind me—heavy and fast.

Someone was following me.

Desperate to hide, I sprinted toward the edge of the estate's massive, illuminated infinity pool that overlooked the cliffside.

Unwilling to be cornered, I gripped the edge of the marble coping and slipped silently over the side, letting myself drop straight down into the deep end of the pool.

The water hit me like a wall of ice.

I swallowed a gasp, a small pocket of air escaping my lips in a string of silver bubbles as I sank into the dark, chlorinated depths.

I pressed my back against the tiled wall of the deep end, pulling my knees to my chest, letting the heavy folds of my silver silk dress wrap around my legs like a trap.

Footsteps paused right at the edge of the water above.

I strained my ears, listening to the rhythmic breathing echoing against the tile.

Splash.

A heavy shadow plunged into the water above me, creating a violent rush of current that nearly tore me away from the wall.

Before I could even process the movement, a pair of incredibly strong, unyielding arms locked around my waist.

The impact drove the last remaining air from my lungs.

I opened my eyes in the stinging water, my vision blurring in the moonlight filtering through the surface.

It was Chase.

His muscular chest pressed flush against mine, the heat radiating from his skin defying the freezing water.

In the dim, aquatic gloom, his feral, predatory eyes locked onto mine with terrifying intensity.

He didn't hesitate.

With one hand gripping my hip so hard it would leave bruises, he hauled me upward, crashing his mouth down onto mine in the middle of the dark, silent water.

"Oh, yes," Lyra purred wickedly in my head. "I told you the abs were worth it. Now shut up and kiss him back."

It wasn't a rescue.

It was an assault on my senses.

His lips parted mine with raw, untamed force, forcing air, heat, and a searing rush of oxygen directly into my lungs.

Along with the breath, a heavy wave of his aggressive cedarwood pheromones flooded my system, making my head spin.

My silver silk dress had completely soaked through, turning utterly translucent and plastering itself like a second skin over the curves of my body.

His large, calloused hand slid up my spine, tracing the soaked fabric of my back before curling tightly around the back of my neck, holding me completely captive in his arms beneath the surface.

His eyes never left mine in the water.

I was survived.