Claimed By My Three Alphas
Chapter 175

QUINCY'S

POV

We've been back in the werewolf realm for a while now.

Sitting here, waiting in this chair, I may look calm on the outside, but I'm five seconds away from losing my mind.

We all are.

My leg bounces up and down, I'm trying my best to keep it together. The grand table is empty, keep for Asher and Levi sitting opposite me. The chair at the head of the massive furniture set is unoccupied. He wants to make us wait.

The prodigal sons returned, how pathetic. But I honestly don't have it in me to give two f***s.

She's in danger. She could be dead. My heart clenches.

I don't want to think back to this morning, I don't want to recall that kind of helplessness. She put her life at risk and what the hell were we doing? Basking in post-coital bliss? Snoring like a bunch of three-headed pigs.

Shes out there, somewhere. And he's making us wait.

I want to punch something.

"Where the hell is he?" Levi growls in a low tone. I'm not the only one worked up, I'm not the only one about to detonate

We'd searched the whole cabin for her, hell, wed even rummaged through the town square. She was gone.

It was hell.

And then we found the goddamn note. It fell out of a pile of clothes I'd picked up on the floor of her room. Leave as soon as you can.

Now, I tug at my hair, remembering what all that s**t felt like. Did we hesitate? Following her to the human realm? Trying to get her back?

Of course, we didn't. But it didn't f*****g matter. It was already too late.

A naive little girl.

"Where the hell is he for f***s sake?" I shout, getting to my feet.

"What if he isn't coming?" Asher asks, his voice, so quiet.

I've never seen him like this before. So... broken. His eyes are rimmed red and vacant, he's not looking at anything or anyone.

"He'll show his face." Levi answers, "The old bastard wouldn't miss the opportunity to gloat."

"We're running out of time," I say.

"We've run out of time," Asher says.

My eyes cut to him, "Don't say that s**t, the blood wasn't hers."

"How do you know?" He's still not looking at me, still not raising his voice. I hate to see him like this, but I'm not much better myself. The only difference is, I haven't lost hope.

Him on the other hand? He broke the moment we made it to her house in the human realm. He thinks we've already lost her.

I refuse to believe that. I refuse to consider that.

"Think, Ash," I tell him, leaning forward, "It was a message, for her. She was meant to see it. The blood wasn't hers."

He doesn't even react.

I begin pacing the gigantic dining room. Were here because we have no choice, for her, I'd do anything. And that includes getting down on both knees and begging my father for support. For defence. For her.

To save her.

The double doors swing open. Our old man walks through, alone. Guess he wants this meeting to be private, I'm grateful. The Killian I know would have preferred to make a spectacle.

He takes his time, walking through the grand room, pulling out his designated chair and taking a leisure seat. Looking like the King he is.

"Dad." Levi breaks the silence.

The man cuts his gaze to me standing off to the side, and I nod at him. His eyes then narrow at an unresponsive Asher.

"We're here because we need your help." That's it, no bullshit, Levi gets straight to the point.

The old man laughs, but there's no humour in it. "You're here because you need my help." He cuts his eyes at his oldest son.

You see, my brothers and I, we may be triplets, split from the same egg. But Dad and Levi? They looked like identical twins. Roguish features, harsh edges and that unnaturally blank hair. Watching them right now felt like staring at the future and present versions of one person.

"Yes," Levi answers even though Dad didn't voice it as a question. "Time is of the essence."

"And what is it that you need from me."

"An army," Levi tells him, fixing him with a hard stare, always one to never cower from the man that birthed him." Your defence. We need it all, and we need it now."

Dad throws his head back in a belly laugh, deep and insulting. It prickles my skin.

When hes through with his fit, he glares at his middle child,

"And what, boy? You have nothing to say to your dear old man?"

Asher doesn't even blink in confirmation that he'd heard him.

Levi lets his frustration show, "You don't understand, we're running out of time. Amery's life is in danger."

Dad can't hide his surprise, lifting his brows as he leans back in his seat, "I must have heard you wrong." He says," You mean to tell me you've come here, back here, after disobeying me. After tossing my cautions to the wind.

You've come here, to my kingdom, for my army, for the sake of that traitorous rat? That abomination?"

"You don't know what you're saying." I tell him, "None of that bullshit is true, they're rumours I'm surprised you were naive enough to believe."

"Is that right?" He mocks, "Rumors." He fixes Levi with a hard glare, "And you? What has become of you? Swear to end her one moment, die to protect her the next. You let her weaken you. I wouldn't have expected that from any of my sons, least of all you." Levi's jaw works, and I can tell he's trying to control his temper, "Things have changed."

"How so? Enlighten me."

"There's no time for that!" His fists slam on the mahogany table. "We need to save her, and we need to do it fast. She's been captured and we don't know where she is, or what they could be doing to her." "We need to leave immediately after," he continues, "The sooner the better."

"You must take me for a fool." Dad seethes, baring his teeth as he leans forward, "You waltz in demanding favours like it's your right like I would ever be willing to risk my resources for the sake of that girl."

"You don't understand." I say, stepping forward and choosing a different approach before I consider wringing his neck with my bare hands, "If she dies, we all do. She's the key to the prophecy."

He waves a dismissive hand at me, "Nonsense."

"What do you mean 'nonsense?" I growl, "Do you have any idea what the hell is going on? Our very lives reside on Amery's existence, or do you not care about that?"

I wouldn't put it past him.

"I can take care of all that." he says, "I know a powerful seer, she is worth all the witches in the realm."

"Don't be daft, Dad. You can't change fate, your wife tried to do that and look where we are now."

His expression shifts at Levi's mention of Mom, and I already feel the response before he says it.

"Get out." He says, "You're wasting your time here. Leave."

Slowly, ever so, Asher rises to his feet. He's staring at nothing in particular. And then in the blink of an eye, his arm shoots out, swiping at the centre of the table. Metal and glass go flying across the wood, wine spilling on the rich surface and broken pieces of glassware hitting the floors and surrounding chairs

His chest heaves, like hes just run a marathon.

Dad rises to his feet, a look of absolute fury crossing his features, "What do you think you're doing, boy?"

"She could be dead!" He growls, every word slipping past his lips slowly and laced with venom, "Dead! Her life could be forfeit! We are clueless about where she is, or what the hell has happened to her, and we've come to ask for your help," he turns to stare at the old man now, "And you turn us away?"

"Pathetic." Dad grates, " You're quaking at the seams because of some rotten female that's of no good to you.

You threw all this away," he gestures at the grand room," Everything I had to offer you, everything I had planned for you, for the sake of a little weakling that never even knew she was of our kind. I raised you all to become strong men, and standing before me now are three weak little boys."

He lunges then, lightning fast, Asher tries to close the distance between himself and my father, but Levi holds him back, pressing against his chest and pushing him away

"Look at you." Dad tucks his chin at his son, shaking his head in disappointment

"Please."

1 almost don't believe it.

I almost don't believe the plea I hear slipping from Levi's mouth. But he says it again.

"Please. We're begging you, to help us."

Levi never begs.

Dad shakes his head slowly, slinking back into this chair,"

Leave."

I'd say it was a mortifying experience, but weve been through worse. We woke up this morning and realized we let the love of our lives slip right under our noses. "What do we do now?" I ask my brothers.

Were outside our father's territory, having just walked out the gate after his refusal. The only thing we'd gained from walking into those doors was leaving with a responsive Asher. An angry Asher. I'd take that over broken any day.

"The seer." He says.

"Where the hell are we supposed to find his seer?" Levi questions his brother like he's daft, "We never even knew he had one."

"I'm not talking about his," Asher says.

Silence.

And then it clicks.

The old woman in the middle of the forest.

"You bloody f*****g génius, where was that idea this whole time?" I shoot him a glare.

Levi looks thoughtful, "She can help us find her. She can help us with a lot more."

I glance at the bright orange sky, the sun is setting.

It's almost nightfall.

You must act fast, before the next full moon.

I turn to my brothers, "Let's go.