Claimed By My Three Alphas
Chapter 166

AMERY'S POV

Its a small detached house, almost in the middle of nowhere.

There are other homes scattered through the large clearing, but they're broadly spaced out. There's so much privacy, it's almost like there are no neighbours.

The paint is chipped on the outside walls, a few splinters on the wooden steps leading to the front door. But other than that, it's relatively intact.

"It has three rooms." Asher says, "Honestly, I don't know how the hell theres no one living here. It's fully furnished like it was just up and abandoned out of the blue." "Maybe the occupants had to get away from something," I say.

"Or maybe you've gone and got us a house when the owners stepped out for breakfast." Levi shoots Asher a look.

"There's nothing in there." He says, "No groceries, no clothes. There's no electricity, but weve got running water.

It's a steal okay, and I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth."

"He's right." Quincy says, walking up the creaky steps, "It's been a long few days, I'm not in the spirit of questioning the first good thing that's come up in a while."

Once we walk through the front door, it groans in a way that tells me houses really do age.

"Yeah, it definitely hasn't been lived in for a while," Quincy remarks

The furniture is caked in dust, there's such a thick layer on the floor that we even leave distinct footprints.

Passing the foyer, we walk into the living room. It has a large brown sofa pressed up against the main wall, with two recliners on either side of it. A small flat-screen TV mounts the wall opposite it, and the edges of the screen webbed to the wall. A lot of the house is covered in cobwebs.

The carpeting in the hallway leading to the stairs is dusty and old. Something smells faintly of mould.

Quincy whistles as he enters the kitchen. He's already sorting through the cabinets when I trail in after him.

"There are groceries," he says, studying some type of canned food he's holding up in his hand, "Most of it's expired though."

"How are we gonna eat then?" I ask absently.

"Are you hungry?"

I startle, jumping at the sound of Levi's voice right behind. me. Pressing a hand to my chest, I turn to face him.

"You scared the hell out of me!"

He's watching me carefully, eyes dropping to the hand pressed over my chest.

"Are you?" He asks.

"What?"

"Do you want to eat something? Are you hungry?"

I stammer for a second, "Uh, I... I'm not... not right now, but I mean I could eat, eventually. Or even now I guess, but we just got here and there's no food and-"

"I could hunt," he says, watching me, "For you."

And I feel the butterflies take flight within me. I grit my teeth, hating how my heart hasn't yet understood that this is who he is.

Hot and cold.

Charming one minute, vile and horrible the next.

Like he has a personality disorder.

Or you were just naive enough to think he ever actually cared.

"That's not necessary." I tell him, proud, of how strong my voice carries, "I'm not going to eat when there's still so much to do, we have to make this place habitable to live in.

And Quincy and Asher need to eat too, When were ready, we can all go look for something to get us by."

"Fine." Levi says, "I'll hunt for all of us."

My eyes regard him carefully. He's still naked, still bloody, and still so damn unbothered.

*We don't need you to hunt for us, Levi. Were not handicapped."

A muscle pulses in his jaw. I can tell he wants to say something else, but thinking better of it, he simply turns on his heel and walks away.

"Asher said there's running water in here," Quincy yells after him, "Use it!"

***

An hour later, were all stalling in different corners of the dirty living room.

There's so much that needs to be said, and right now, the tension in the room is so thick it could be cut through with a blade.

"You know," I say, breaking the silence, "I still think there has to be a way out of this."

"Why do you think that Amery?" Asher's calmed down for the most part, but the same aggression bubbles up to the surface every time I tell him how I feel about this whole "Because there's always a loophole to these things." "No." Levi says, "This is the loophole." He's taken a shower, so all the blood has been washed off his skin. But there aren't any clothes in the house, he's tied a black linen from one of the beds around his waist at Asher's request. "What exactly did your mother tell you? I need to hear it word for word."

I look away from him, recalling everything Emelda told me last night, "She said the three of you were never meant to be born. Something about fate demanding balance. I was so confused, she told me that I was the key to everything and then she mentioned that I was running out of time."

"That's mostly what Gaia told us in the woods," Asher says.

He sighs, lifting his eyes to mine, "She was right Amery. We were never meant to be born."

"This... Gaia woman said that too? But how does she know? How do any of them know that any of this is even real?"

"Our mother," Quincy says, "She died, for us."

My eyes cut to Levi. I think back to that night in the cabin before everything went to s**t. He told me about his mom, and how much he loved her. At that moment, I saw how much it must have hurt him to lose her, and after all of it, I was so blinded by hurt, that I believed everything he said, everything I thought he felt was a lie.

But now I stare at him. Hes sitting on the arm of the sofa, elbows on his knees, shoulders tense. He's staring at the dirty carpet, so I can't see his eyes, but the sadness walts off him in thick waves. A muscle ticks in his jaw.

My heart clenches. I'd thrown it all in his face. Granted, I had just found out he was plotting to kill me, but still, he had his reasons.

Maybe he still does.

I have to force myself to tear my gaze away from him again.

"I need you guys to tell me the truth." I say, "I need to know everything you do. Were so deep in this mess, and there's no point in keeping secrets from each other anymore."

"Did you all always know about the prophecy?" I ask them, watching for their reactions.

Asher nods once, cupping his mouth with his hand.

"We should have told you," Quincy says.

"And why didn't you? What if I had let one of you mark me?

Were you always okay with knowing that if that happened, either two of you would die."

"I wasn't." Levi deadpans.

And I hate how much his answer affected me.

"Yeah," I say, turning to face him, "You just wanted me out of the picture."

"Yes."

I know this. I know this. But it hurts, God it hurts to hear.

He's still staring at the floor, my chin trembles as I watch him.

"Come on, man," Asher spits, "Really?"

"She said she doesn't want us to lie to her anymore," he says, lifting his head to stare at his brother. His expression is blank, void of any emotion, "I'm only being honest." "You're right." I say, turning to stare at Asher, "He's right. I don't want any more lies."

"Well, then you need to know that our birth defied fate. We were never supposed to exist. And so a curse was placed on us, I'm guessing to restore whatever so-called balance was lost." "I'm guessing when we die, everything becomes as it was." Asher chips into what Quincy just said.

"But why me? What do I have to do with all this?"

"That's what I don't understand." He says, tugging at his hair. "I just chalk it up to there needing to be a way to restore the balance."

"What exactly do you mean by your mom gave her life for you all? Weren't you already long alive before she passed away?"

"She was sick," Levi says.

Yeah," Asher whispers, "For as long as I've known her, shes always had some type of ailment, I never even knew what it.

"So the trade was killing her slowly." Quincy sighs, "F**k."

My heart aches for the boys.

They never even had a healthy mother to raise them, and now they ve been given a mate, one who'll be indefinitely responsible for even more loss.

"Tim sorry," I whisper. My voice breaks as I stare down at my hands. I'm so sorry you guys. This is so unfair."

"Yeah." Quincy agrees.

Levi rises to his feet, walking out of the living room without a backward glance.