Liam's POV
I stood on the balcony, my knuckles tightening as I gripped the stone railing. Below me, Scarlett was a small, trembling figure kneeling under the merciless afternoon sun. My wolf was pacing in my head, a low, constant snarl vibrating in my chest. "She is ours," he howled. "She is burning. Set her free!"
I ignored him, but the pain was clawing at my throat.
Yes, Scarlett was my mate. I had known the day she turned eighteen, two years ago—barely hours after I had dropped my hand to signal her parents' execution. It was the cruelest joke the Moon Goddess ever played.
I had spent years dreaming of the day I would finally be able to claim her. Before the betrayal, I had planned to pull Leon and Leo aside on her eighteenth birthday and finally confess that I wanted her. I was going to ask for their blessing to court her, to make her my Luna.
But then the tragedy happened. Her parents plotted my mother's death and betrayed our pack. The love I once felt had turned into a poisoned well of shame.
How could I admit that the girl I had sworn to break was the only person I was fated to love? If my brothers knew, they would look at me with the same disgust we reserved for rogues. I refused to be a laughingstock. I refused to be the Alpha who mated with a traitor—a traitor that filled my thoughts every blessed day.
My plan was simple: wait until she turned twenty and realized the bond, then reject her so harshly she would never dare speak of it. It was cruel, but it was the only way.
I watched her palms hit the scorched gravel as she nearly collapsed. A sharp, stinging pain shot through my heart; that was the mate bond's physical response to her distress. I had run into the yard the moment my wolf felt her being flogged, my blood boiling with the need to rip the guard's head off. But I had to stay back. I had to play the part of the cold Alpha. If I showed mercy, the pack would whisper. They would say the "Traitor's Daughter" had bewitched me.
"What has the bitch done this time?"
Leo's voice dragged me out of my thoughts. He stepped up beside me, folding his arms across his chest as he stared at Scarlett, his expression cold and unreadable.
Between the two of us, I honestly don't know who hates her more.
Leo doesn't just dislike her—he seems to enjoy her suffering. Sometimes, the way he tortures her makes me wonder if he even remembers that there was a time he used to worship the ground she walked on.
Not wanting to raise suspicion, I wiped the concern from my face and replaced it with a nonchalant one.
"She was caught stealing the kitchen purse," I replied smoothly. It was a lie. I knew Scarlett wasn't a thief; she was too proud for that. But I needed a reason to justify why she was out there.
"I'm not surprised," Leon added, joining us on the other side. "I caught her sneaking books from the library this morning. Once a rogue, always a rogue."
I exhaled a heavy sigh, watching her head drop lower. She was sobbing silently. Every hitch of her shoulders felt like a serrated blade across my own lungs.
Fuck this mate bond.
"Damn it!" Leo grunted suddenly. He looked genuinely agitated, his jaw tight.
"You alright, bro?" I asked. We were triplets, a single soul split into three. We shared everything—women, secrets, battles. Except this. I was the one keeping a secret now, and the weight of it was suffocating.
"She looks like she would collapse soon," Leon commented, sounding somewhat worried, or maybe it was just me misunderstanding.
Leo scoffed. "She won't die…"
I forced a smirk back, pretending I didn't feel the bond tightening around my heart like a noose. We stood there, watching the girl we once fought each other for going through such torture. If a seer had told me years ago that we would stand by and let tears fall down Scarlett's cheeks without lifting a finger, I would have called them mad. From the moment she walked into our lives, we adored her. We protected her. We worshipped her.
Sometimes I wished I could be nicer to her… but doing that felt like I was betraying my late mother.
Suddenly, her body went limp. She hit the gravel, her face flat on the ground, and didn't move.
"Something is wrong…" Leon said, sounding panicked, or perhaps I misheard again.
But I didn't pay attention. The world went silent. The suffocating pressure in my chest spiked into a blinding pain.
"She's not breathing!" my wolf roared. "GO TO HER!"
My legs moved before I could give them permission.
"Liam?" Leo called out, his voice laced with confusion as I jumped over the two-story balcony railing and hit the ground running.
I reached her unconscious form, the heat radiating off the stones and burning through my boots.
"Get up," I growled, kneeling beside her.
No response. Her skin was deathly pale where the sun hadn't turned it raw.
I grabbed her arm and flipped her onto her back. Her lips were cracked and blue, her breathing so shallow I had to lean in to hear it. A terrifying, dark emotion flooded my chest as the thought of her dying made me unable to breathe.
Panicked, I scooped her up in my arms.
"Liam, what the hell are you doing?" Leo's voice was sharp with suspicion as he and Leon caught up.
I turned to them, my body trembling, and for a split second I couldn't hide my unease… but I forced the coldness back into my voice. "She's no use to us dead," I snapped. "If she dies today, who else will we have to punish tomorrow? We aren't finished with her yet."
Leon furrowed his brow and shrugged, but Leo narrowed his eyes. He was looking at the way I was holding her—too close, too protective.
I didn't wait for his questions. I turned and walked toward the infirmary, her head resting against my shoulder.
For the first time in my life, I wasn't feeling rage or hatred. I was feeling something I had sworn never to feel again.