River's POV
"Stay away from them," my brother Ryan had warned me the moment my eyes opened, heavy from sleep.
I found him leaning in the doorway, his 6"3 frame filling the space. His eyes turned toward me, and I pulled myself up in confusion.
"What the hell are you talking about?" I called with a yawn, pushing my red hair from my face—a stark difference from my brother's blonde.
"You know what I'm talking about. The Harper triplets. Stay away from them."
Now it came back to me: yesterday's party at the college, and Elina Harper—who had become my closest friend in a matter of weeks—had pushed me out of my bubble.
She was a beautiful girl with dark brunette hair who had come up to me, begging me to join their press club, and I did. That was history.
Elina was nice, and I loved her immediately. But what I didn't know was that she had three brothers… the same ones I hitched a ride with after the party yesterday.
And the same party where something happened between the triplets… and me. Something I didn't want to talk about, a memory I wouldn't let my brother Ryan ever find out about.
You see, the Harper triplets were my brother's greatest rivals—not just in family rank, but in hockey, the greatest games, and my family's legacy. His group of friends held a stark dislike for the triplets.
Not just because of hockey and hierarchy… but because they were also alphas.
The same as my brother. And from a tale as old as time, alphas from different packs do not like each other. Especially us.
Their boyish Playboy charms drove girls on campus insane, as they all latched onto the boys like hungry puppies. But recalling last night… was I any different?
Oh God, my head hurt from the hangover. And all the more from the laser stare my brother was giving me across the room.
Lie! Lie! lie! The voices tell me as I speak.
"I just know their sister, Elina. Nothing else. Okay? So just stop, Ryan. It's so early in the morning," I groaned.
My head was aching from the hangover. It was my first time drinking, but I think I'd gone overboard, having so much fun with Elina.
A part of me had known I felt eyes on me at the party.
So I showed off my dancing moves, swayed my hips, and rolled my ass for the boys who were hungry to touch me.
But I knew those predator eyes weren't just from any common wolf; they were from three dark gazes from alphas that wanted to consume me.
And so I took more alcohol.
I had taken more than I could handle, and I put myself in a deep trap. Biting at my lips that tingled… my lips felt faintly sore.
A blush spread through my cheeks as I recalled what I did last night and whose lips I was on.
I tried to shake the thought off, placing my most innocent smile toward Ryan, whose eyes softened just slightly.
"I'm just looking out for you, little sis."
Ryan has always been an overprotective big brother. He was already a senior and a prodigy of the Starlight hockey team at Crescent Ridge campus before he moved to another college and joined the Moonraiders. But time and time again, his team still struggled against the Blood Ravens.
"Be careful, okay?" he warned before closing my door. That's when I had the strength to stand up.
Running past my clothes spread out on the floor of the bedroom, I checked the mirror. A gasp escaped my lips when I saw my neck—the hickeys around it.
I recalled the images of me in the back seat of thier jeep, my legs held open by two of the alphas, their lips on me and one hot tongue between my legs.
That heat pooled within me again. I was so angry at myself for feeling it. I gritted out in annoyance, "Those bastards!"
But I knew they weren't the only ones to blame. I had done it, too. I had fallen into that trap because I brought up the stupid dare.
Just as I groaned and wailed over my regrets from last night, I heard the ding of my phone. I raced back to my room, searching for it through the pile on the floor.
As I raised it, a text from an unknown number rolled in. But the sentence held such arrogance I had a feeling who it was from: Dimitri.
My insides flipped as my heart lurched, just as I read the text: Don't forget, we won. Little Snow… we own you now. And I knew it then—I was fucked.
My panic was just the beginning. As the phone buzzed in my hand, I almost jumped, staring at the screen to see a familiar name: Elina.
Thankfully, I had saved her number during the club meeting before the party. I took a shaky breath, afraid of what she might say. What if she had found out from her brothers what happened between us?
I pressed the call button. The line clicked on, and I heard her voice.
"Oh my God, River, I've been trying to reach you for hours now." Elina's voice was light. I closed my eyes, trying to pretend everything was fine.
"Oh, sorry, I was just asleep, you know?"
"Okay… how did you get home last night?" she asked—because she had driven me there. Panic rose within me. Should I tell her I took a ride with her brothers? No. That was supposed to be a secret. I wouldn't let anyone know that I had met them at all.
And right now, I scolded myself for the fact I still didn't have a ride now that I was in college.
"No, I—I saw an old friend. A friend helped me with a ride," I said. I heard a sigh of relief from her.
"That's good. I'm glad they didn't get into any trouble." She had no idea what kind of trouble I'd gotten into, or that three alphas were trying to claim me—and those three alphas were her brothers!
I should have known not answering Dimitri's text would open a new hell. My phone dinged again.
Message: A photo has been sent.
My phone nearly fell from my grip as I opened it to see it was none other than… me.