#12 The Triplets of Emerald Forest
Chapter 5

Gabriel

When we pulled up in front of Harlow’s address, I was appalled. It was clear right away that the area wasn’t safe and the apartment building was no place for a Luna to be living.

“What is this?” Griff’s face looked like how I felt.

“No place for our mate.” Ric’s eyes hadn’t returned to normal since we first caught our mate’s scent. He was going to be trouble, I was sure of it.

“I don’t sense her. She hasn’t been here recently.” I said, sniffing the air as we walked towards the front door of the building.

“Where did she go?” Ric growled.

“How should I know?” He was putting me in a worse mood than I already was.

“We’ll just have to wait for her to come home.” Griff suggested, plopping down on the front step.

I couldn’t help but laugh at his appearance. He looked like a high school boyfriend thrown out by his girlfriend’s overprotective father.

“What could you possibly replace funny?” Ric snapped.

“We’re three strong, ruthless, brutal Alphas who nearly every pack on the east coast wants an alliance with and we’re sitting outside of a human apartment complex like a couple of common suitors.” I snorted. Ric and Griff exchanged a look before they too were laughing.

“Okay, it’s mildly amusing.” Ric agreed, his eyes lightening slightly.

“She’s going to be a handful, you both know that, right?” I said,

“She’ll be worth it.” Ric replied without hesitation. Griff nodded in complete agreement.

“We’re going to have a long way to go with her though if we go through with this.” Griff said, looking skeptical of our plan, still.

“We have to go through with this and we’ll make it up to her.” I said,

“Callie, Ambrose, Cam, set up a perimeter while we wait for our mate to come home.” I mindlinked the Betas who all responded quickly and obediently.

“Do you still want me there, boss?” Called asked.

“No, we’ve got this.” I replied.

I was no longer capable of sharing my mate, even for a moment, with someone else. We needed to get her and finish this as quickly as possible.

“Tell me honestly, Gabe, do you still feel like our mate is nothing more than just your business partner?” Griff asked me curiously.

“I never thought of her as only my business partner, I just believe that is her main function.” I shrugged, “I just want her to be able to handle whatever task we need of our Luna without guidance or complaint.”

“A yes sir kind of Luna?” Griff tried not to sound disgusted but his expression gave him away, like it so often did.

“Try not to look so judgy.” I scoffed.

“I’m not!” Griff said defensively and I cocked an eyebrow at him, “I’m just….constipated.” He lied.

“Constipated? The whole wide world of excuses and you go with constipation?” Ric snorted and Griff just shrugged in response.

“Anyway, she’ll have you for all the emotional shit and Ric to baby her.” I added.

“I won’t baby her!” Ric narrowed his eyes angrily.

“No, you just don’t want her to leave the packhouse, eat, sleep, breathe, or move without your presence.” I quoted him but it may have been a bit of a dramatization.

“That’s not exactly true.” Ric mumbled.

“We should be a team, not three separate relationships.” Griff argued but I shook my head,

“See, I disagree. I think we should be three separate relationships just like how we’re three separate men and Alphas.” I said,

“Okay, yes, that’s true. But, we should also be one coherent team as well.” Griff said,

“You two are a bunch of girls.” Ric huffed and then looked around, “Where is she?” He slammed his fist into the metal set of mailboxes that stood out front.

“Dude, it’s literally been ten minutes.” I sighed. Ric growled and stomped away,

“I’m going for a walk.” He declared.

A few hours later and the sun was beginning to rise. At this point, I was actually beginning to worry and Ric had gone on about thirty-seven walks. Griffin hadn’t left the front step. Just when I was about to send the Betas out on a search mission, a small blue car pulled into one of the street parking spaces and the smell of hot chocolate wafted through the air.

“Mate!” Griff jumped up, sniffing the air and his eyes went black.

“Mine!” Ric was chomping at the bit and I had to grab a hold of his shoulders to keep him from pouncing on her.

“We have to be subtle about this. I’ll stay outside and you two go inside, follow her to her apartment. Maybe we can get her inside and talk with her.” I suggested, looking towards Griff and hoping that I was at least satisfying his needs a bit.

“I agree.” Griff looked at me in appreciation.

“Fine.” Ric looked pissed, per usual.

Ric and Griffin stood off to the side while I walked a little ways down the sidewalk, intently watching the shadowy figure that was our mate. She walked towards the apartment building and immediately stiffened, feeling on edge. I was instantly proud of her instincts. She looked around and, when she saw me, rushed inside the building. Griff and Ric sank in behind her. A few seconds later, I followed. Griff was still in the lobby but Ric was nowhere to be seen.

“He went up stairs.” Griffin answered my unasked question.

“Come on, let’s follow behind.” I pushed him towards the stairwell.

By the time we reached the top, we found that Ric had clearly gotten impatient and stopped Harlow in the hallway instead of in her apartment like we originally planned. I sighed, this wasn’t going to end well.

Of course, I was right. Harlow started screaming and there was nothing left to do but sedate her. I covered her mouth and Ric stabbed her with the needle. Griffin was in front of her face, whispering things that were supposed to sound comforting but, honestly, just seemed creepy when you consider that they’re coming from a stranger. She started crying and I was surprised to replace that my heart broke for the tiny fragile human in my arms.

Her body collapsed and I scooped her up in my arms. I didn’t even bother looking at my brothers before I hurried off down the steps. One of them must’ve mindlinked the Betas because they were already at the cars, ready to go. I settled Harlow into the back seat and Griffin greedily sat beside her. I growled at him.

“You always drive.” Griff snapped and I couldn’t argue.

He was right, I did always drive and Griff always got stuck in the back seat. Ric mumbled something about karma being a bitch as he climbed into the passenger seat. I got in the driver’s side and all of our Betas piled into the second SUV. We both took off back towards our pack, desperate to have our Luna home, safe and sound.