Desired By Three Alphas; Fated To One

Nathan's POV

The door shut behind the boys, their small footsteps fading down the hall. Silence filled the suite, thick, and suffocating.

I turned and fixed my gaze on Hailee. For a moment, I thought the ground might give way beneath me. Ten years—ten years of searching, of torment, of nights when her face haunted me in every shadow—and now she stood in front of me. Alive. Real.

My chest tightened, my wolf howling inside me, desperate to lunge forward, to close the space between us, to pull her into my arms. God, I ached for it. To feel the warmth of her body pressed against mine, to bury my face in her hair, to remind myself she was more than just a ghost I chased in dreams.

She was more beautiful than I remembered. Time hadn't dimmed her—it had sharpened her, carved her into something that stole the air from my lungs. Her red hair spilled around her shoulders, richer and wilder than before. Her face—Moon above, her face—was the same soft curve of cheekbones, the same lips I had kissed a thousand times in memory, but her eyes… her eyes had changed. They were deeper now, heavier, carrying shadows I didn't remember. Pain. Secrets.

She had grown into a woman. Stronger. Wilder. And gods help me—still the most breathtaking thing I'd ever laid eyes on.

My hand twitched at my side. I wanted to touch her. To feel her. To make sure she wouldn't vanish again.

But then rage enveloped me. She had left me. Lied to me. Vanished for a decade and let me rot in the hell of missing her. She had broken me, and now she stood there like nothing had happened, like my suffering meant nothing.

Her lips parted first, trembling as she spoke, "Nathan… thank you for saving us." The sound of my name on her lips nearly undid me, but I forced steel into my veins, masking the emotion inside. My jaw clenched, my voice low and sharp as I cut her off.

"It's Alpha Nathan," I said coldly. "Not just Nathan."

Her eyes widened, and I saw it—the flicker of pain that crossed her face. Good. Let her feel it. Because I had drowned in it for ten long years.

Her face remained pale at my correction, but I forced myself not to care. I dragged in a breath, controlling the emotion inside me, and my thoughts shifted to the boys.

The triplets.

Hailee had kids? The thought alone made bile rise in my throat. She had disappeared for ten years only to resurface with sons at her side?

But one of them… Oscar. Even now, I couldn't shake it. The way his green eyes had locked on me, sharp and defiant, so much like my own. The way my wolf had gone still—silent, then restless—like it had recognized something my mind refused to name.

It wasn't just recognition. It was pull. A bond.

I swallowed hard, my chest tightening. No. I couldn't think like that. I wouldn't. Hailee had been married, she had vanished, she had built a life without me. To even wonder if— I cut the thought off, grinding my teeth, anger flaring hotter.

And yet, beneath the anger, beneath the denial, something deeper gnawed at me. A whisper I couldn't silence.

Mine.

My wolf rumbled inside me, not for Hailee this time, but for the boy. Oscar.

I forced my face to remain unreadable, my voice sharp when I finally spoke again. "Where have you been, Hailee? Who gave you those children?"

Her voice was low, almost steady, though I could see the tremor in her lips. "I was with my husband, Nathan. The boys… they're his."

The word husband cut through me like a blade. My chest constricted, my breath burning as I stared at her, searching her face for cracks in the lie.

"She is lying. Oscar is ours," my wolf whispered, low and certain.

Confusion twisted in my chest. Why only Oscar? Why not the others? If she had birthed them together, then logic said they were all the same. Triplets. One father. And yet—my beast howled only for him. Only for Oscar.

It didn't make sense. None of this did.

"Don't lie to me, Hailee," I growled, closing the distance between us in a single stride. My hand shot up, wrapping around her throat—not to crush, not to kill, but to hold her there, to force the truth from her lips. Her breath hitched, her hands instinctively grabbing at my wrist.

Her eyes glistened as she shook her head, whispering hoarsely, "I'm not lying… Nathan, I'm not. They're my late husband's sons."

Rage burned hot in my chest, but beneath it—doubt. Pain. "Then why," I hissed, my grip tightening just enough to make her gasp, "why does my wolf keep telling me Oscar is mine?!"

She shook her head.

"Don't lie to me, Hailee," I growled again, my voice breaking with more than anger. "Do not stand there and tell me this when my wolf is clawing at me. He says Oscar is mine. Do you hear me? Mine."

Her eyes widened, glistening with tears, her breath ragged under my grip. "You're wrong," she choked out. "Oscar is not yours. None of them are. Maybe—" her lips trembled as she forced the words out— "maybe your wolf just… craves a son. Maybe that's why. But he's not yours, Nathan. He's not."

My wolf roared in rage, thrashing inside me, screaming her words down. Lies. Oscar is yours.

I let go abruptly, stumbling back a step, my chest heaving. My hand shook as if it still remembered the warmth of her throat.

I stared at her, torn between the need to believe her and the primal certainty tearing through me. Why Oscar? Why only him? If they were born together, triplets, then logic demanded they shared the same father. But my wolf refused to claim the others. Only Oscar.

The confusion was unbearable. My head pounded. My heart ached. My wolf howled.

"Then tell me why," I whispered hoarsely, more to myself than her, my fists trembling at my sides. "Tell me why I feel it. Tell me why every part of me screams he's mine."