"Smell what?" Soren asked. I heard him inhale, and he seemed to hum thoughtfully under his breath.

"It’s... Briar’s scent," Cassian said.

Crap.

"That’s nothing new," Soren replied. "We did bring her here. It’s only natural that her scent would be in the air."

I held my breath, too afraid to even let out a sound. My eyes met Jessie’s terrified ones, and I saw her body was trembling with fear.

Since we were already within hearing range, there was no way to conceal our presence from them.

While my scent could be vaguely excused, Jessie’s scent was a foreign presence that stuck out like a sore thumb. In fact, I bet that the only thing distracting them from detecting our scents earlier with their heightened sense of smell was the fact that they were too preoccupied with insulting Lucien’s existence to take note of any abnormalities in their surroundings.

Well. Now that their little rant session was over, there was no way they could miss the new foreign scent in their midst. With my terrible luck, they would even be able to identify the scent as one of their own pack members.

As if to prove me right, Cassian continued to exclaim. "That’s not what I’m talking about! There’s a new scent here. Don’t tell me you can’t smell it!"

"Now that you say it... It’s faint... but it’s also familiar. Could there be an intruder?" Soren asked, his voice growing serious.

"It doesn’t smell like a rogue," Cassian said. "I doubt that bastard found us already."

"But we didn’t tell anyone about this safehouse," Soren pointed out.

All three of them paused, and then I heard Rowan’s voice pronouncing my death sentence. "Did anyone assign guards outside Briar’s door?"

There was a pause before Rowan sighed. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Either way, rogue or not, Briar must be attempting to escape. We must find her at once."

There was no time like the present.

"Right. Time to go," I muttered under my breath.

I grabbed Jessie’s shaky, clammy hand with my own and dashed down the corridor as though hellhounds were on my heels― and in this case, they actually were.

While running back to my room seemed counterproductive, it was a better idea than running straight towards them.

It was difficult to keep perfectly silent with the way we raced down the halls. Our footsteps echoed, and soon enough, the triplets quickly picked up on the sound of our heels thudding against the wooden floor.

"I hear her!" Cassian roared. "There! It doesn’t sound like she’s alone. She has an accomplice!"

"We’re not going to make it," Jessie said, her eyes wide with panic. She looked like she was about to melt into a puddle at any given moment.

"Go there!" I harshly whispered, gesturing to the other corridor when we reached a fork in the road. Since escape was out of the question, I could only do this to ensure Jessie’s survival. "And go back to Shadowclaw! Don’t come back. It’s not safe for you here!"

"But what about you?" Jessie asked, harshly grabbing onto my wrist. "I can’t just leave you here."

My heart warmed a little at her words. "I’ll be fine. Just go!"

If the triplets caught her, who knows what they might do to her? Jessie was just an ordinary omega servant. She wasn’t even someone with a decent ranking in the pack to keep her safe. The Alphas could dispose of her so easily. They had also implied they would do so previously, and I had every trust that they would act on the threat if the occasion called for it.

Jessie didn’t need further convincing. She gave me one last look before sprinting down the opposite corridor. She turned a corner and quickly disappeared. I stayed to make sure she was gone and out of sight.

However, just that couple of seconds of delay was enough for the triplets to catch up with me. Soon enough, Cassian’s figure appeared at the end of the corridor. Rowan and Soren weren’t with him; they must’ve split up to find me quicker.

I met eyes with Cassian, and his eyes narrowed when they landed on my figure.

"You," he said with a growl.

That was all I needed to hear.

I turned before he could add another word, sprinting down the corridor. There were only so many twists and turns I could go down― the safehouse was larger than a small hut, but not a mansion by any means. Eventually, I met with a dead end.

I stared helplessly at the wall. There was a window to my left, and on my right was a door that led to who-knows-where. Maybe I could jump out? It didn’t seem like it would be a high fall. This window, unlike the one in my room, wasn’t barred with silver.

I could possibly survive if what Zeke told me was true. If my wolf was slowly awakening due to whatever reason, then it might also kickstart faster regeneration. Whatever injuries I sustained from jumping could also recover quickly.

However, just as I turned towards the window, the door to my right opened, and a hand popped out. It clasped onto my wrist and dragged me into the room before I had the chance to retaliate. The door slammed shut right after I entered. Then, I was harshly turned around, and my back was pressed against the door.

"Where did you think you’re going?" Soren said with a growl, his face just a hair’s breadth away from mine.

He held my wrists in a vice grip, holding both my hands above my head, preventing me from escaping.

"Where else?" I asked, staring at him with hatred. I tried to calm my frantically beating heart. It was racing a hundred miles an hour, fueled by adrenaline, fear, and also the annoying allure of the fated bond that still stubbornly clung between us. "Away from here. Away from the three of you."

Soren’s jaw clenched. I could see the muscles flexing with his movement as he searched my face for any semblance of a lie. However, he didn’t seem to find what he was searching for, and his eyebrows crumpled in disappointment for a split second before he schooled his expression once more.

"And where will you go?" Soren slowly said. "Back to Lucien?"

I pinched my lips and raised my chin. Soren coldly laughed.

"How well do you know him, Briar? Did you really think that he’s a saint?"

"Better than the likes of you, I presume, at the very least," I snapped. "I don’t have any desire to play games with you or your brothers. Don’t you have somewhere else to be right now? Isn’t Violet waiting for you in Shadowclaw? Won’t want to keep her wondering where her mates are."

I couldn’t help but allow a little bitterness to slip into my tone. I was bitter; there was no point hiding that fact.

"That’s none of your concern," Soren said, his tone low and dangerous. "What you should be concerned about is your so-called fourth mate."

"You seem so worried about him when everything that I just heard from you three only seems to further prove that he is a better person than all three of you combined!" I yelled, finally at my wits’ end.

Even Soren seemed surprised by my outburst, his eyes widening slightly.

"When I went missing, he came to look for me!" I said. "We didn’t even know that we were fated mates then, and yet, he dedicated his time to searching for me."

"You were eavesdropping," Soren said, frowning.

"It’s not called eavesdropping when you three were speaking loud enough for anyone passing by to hear," I snapped. "And it also doesn’t erase the truth."

"The truth of the matter is that he failed," Soren said pointedly. "He didn’t actually find you."

"And your father punished him for it, even though he isn’t even the reason why I went missing in the first place," I coldly retorted.

The air seemed to drop several degrees in temperature. Soren remained silent for once, the look in his eyes distant. For some reason, it caused my stomach to curl with unease.

"How sure are you?" he asked.

I frowned. "What?"

"I said," he repeated, slowly looking up to meet my eyes. Something about his gaze caused me to flinch. I could feel my blood turning into frost in my veins, and I resisted the urge to shiver in fear. "How sure are you about the fact that Lucien isn’t responsible for your kidnapping all those years ago?"

"You’re kidding," I said, shaking my head. "Are you seriously saying that?"

This was a new low. Now he was heavily implying that Lucien had something to do with my disappearance. I had expected the triplets to find all sorts of excuses to dissuade me from Lucien, but I hadn’t thought that they would pin the turning point of my life on him.

I said, "How can he be responsible? He was just a child back then―"

"And so were you," Soren pointed out. "To top it all off, you barely remember a thing. For all you know, he could be the reason why you disappeared from Shadowclaw all those years ago. He could be the reason why you currently live the life you have―"

"I don’t want to hear that from you," I hissed. "Not when you and your brothers are the reason why I am living like... like some sort of vermin in my own home!"