#12 The Triplets of Emerald Forest

Godric

This was torture. Complete and utter torture.

“We should be upstairs.” I growled, kicking the door to Gabe’s office shut and plopping down on the sofa.

“We can’t.” Gabe sighed, looking up from his computer.

“She’s safer with us guarding her.” I let out a frustrated sigh.

Griffin was sitting on one of the chairs across from Gabe’s desk with his laptop perched on his knee.

“We’re right here. She’s safe.” Griff said without looking away from the screen.

“I hate this.” I grumbled.

“We all hate this, Ric.” Gabe sighed at me.

“You don’t seem so bothered. Griff maybe, but you’re just fine with her being here.” I snapped. Gabe’s eyes shot up and were black as they glared at me,

“How dare you question my dedication to our mate!” He snarled.

“That was pretty harsh, Ric.” Griff said, eyeing me cautiously. I sighed loudly and dropped my head,

“I’m just frustrated.”

“We’re all frustrated and we all care about her. We all want what’s best for her and to be with her. It’s just not possible right now.” Griff tried to reason with me.

“We all have different priorities, though.” I pointed out.

“But, the same goal.” Griff countered.

“Okay, okay.” I conceded the fight.

The three of us tried our best to stay busy while our mate slept upstairs. We had plenty to do between the pack business and our personal businesses. We each had different interests after grade school and gravitated towards different aspects of the family business.

Our family business already included several restaurants which I took a particular interest in. I went to culinary school and studied abroad in Europe for a year before returning home and taking over the restaurant franchise. I opened up several more places including a few fine dining options, one of which was located in downtown D.C. Whenever I could, I was the executive chief at that restaurant.

Gabriel took after our father and dove head first into the finances of the family business and the pack. He received his MBA in accounting and opened a corporate office in D.C. Our father did all of his business from the packgrounds and had his employees handle in person and international business on his behalf. Gabe had a different approach and was much more handson. He enjoyed traveling for the cooperation and handling business from the head office.

Griffin, as usual, was the wildcard. He took on a totally new interest that our family hadn’t gotten involved in yet; art. Our mother confessed that her brother, an uncle we never met, was an artist who owned art galleries in New York City and D.C. Griff went to NYU to study art, traveled the world for a second degree in art appreciation, and then opened a gallery in D.C. He also uses the Emerald finances to invest in art galleries and museums, pushing our family name to new heights.

A few hours later, the girls mindlinked us that Harlow was awake and, exactly as predicted, was freaked out and pissed off.

“We should go up there.” I said,

“That’s a horrible idea.” Gabe quickly shook his head.

We were still arguing when Nova and Matti entered Gabe’s office without so much as a single knock.

Nova was our youngest sibling at 24 years old. She’s a half human half werewolf who isn’t able to shift into her wolf, but is able to communicate with her. She took after our mother and went into forensic psychology and is currently working for the Stafford police department. Her mate, Alaska, was the brother of the Beta of the Red River pack in Maryland.

“What’s wrong?” Griff asked, immediately in a panic. They were supposed to be with our mate.

“She was getting overwhelmed by having all of us there. We thought Kori and Annie would have better luck with her.” Nova shrugged.

Matti walked over to Ambrose who was standing in the back of the office doing some paperwork. I looked away as they greeted each other.

“It’s not going well?” I asked and they both shook their heads with an expression that worried me.

“She’s pissed about the whole thing and isn’t calming down. Honestly, I can’t say I blame her.” Matti said, glaring at me.

“You three really fucked up. I don’t see how you thought this would end any differently.” Nova snapped, not pulling any punches.

She walked up to Gabe’s dry bar and poured herself a glass of wine.

“What else were we supposed to do, Nova?” Gabe glared at our sister.

“Literally anything else.” She stated.

“What’s done is done, no use arguing about it now.” Griff grumbled, surprising me since he was the one complaining about the plan from the very beginning.

“You’re going to have to do this at her pace. Whatever she wants, she gets.” Nova said,

“That’s a given.” Griff scoffed and Gabe narrowed his eyes on him.

I knew he was apprehensive about giving Harlow any sort of power and he was definitely against letting her be in charge in any shape or form. In his mind, he was the ultimate Alpha and he bowed to no one. Don’t get me wrong, I was a dominant fellow, but even I felt myself submitting to the fragile human upstairs.

“I’m being serious. You don’t get to see her until she wants you to see her.” Nova warned us.

“Now, that’s just ridiculous.” Gabe snorted without humor.

“No, Gabriel, it’s chivalrous.” Nova bit and Gabe rolled his eyes in response.

“She’ll never want to see us.” I sighed, dropping back against the sofa in defeat.

“She will.” Matti spoke up from where she was tucked under Ambrose’s arm. I was suddenly very jealous of their easy interaction, “Kori and Annie did.” She added with a shrug.

As if they heard their names, the girls entered our office. Annie drug Cambridge in with her and the two mates were holding onto each other’s hands like they were each other’s gravity.

“She’s not giving in at all. We’re going to have Amanda prepare her some dinner.” Kori sighed, looking frustrated.

“She’s taking it even harder than we did. Then again, we weren’t kidnapped.” Annie added, glaring at me.

“Alright, we get it!” I growled, throwing my head back and shooting daggers at the ceiling.

“Don’t you remember your reaction, Annie?” Kori laughed and Annie started blushing.

“I sure do. I had to move into that pack for three months before you trusted me enough to come home with me.” Cambridge chuckled.

“Yeah, I was down a Beta.” I pretended to sound annoyed. Back then, I really was, but mostly because I was jealous he had found his mate before me.

“You shouted at me the first moment we met! I was waiting your table at the diner and you just started growling mine.” Annie laughed.

“Well you are.” Cambridge pulled her closer to him and grinned unapologetically, “I told you right from the beginning that you were my mate and I was a werewolf, and you believed me.”

“I grew up five miles from a werewolf pack, so I knew you had to be telling the truth after some of the strange stuff I saw and all the legends.” Annie shrugged.

“So, you think we shouldn’t wait to tell her?” I asked Annie curiously. Before she could answer, Kori spoke up,

“Waylon was different, he didn’t tell me for months, remember? He kept visiting the store I worked at in the city. I thought he was a stalker at first until he started getting sweet on me. He wined and dined me for a few weeks before telling me his secret.”

“Right. He was a mess for like two months before he finally told you and then it was another few weeks before you agreed to move here. He was exhausted, running back and forth between here and D.C.” Griffin said, remembering back to three months ago when Kori finally moved into the packhouse.

“I think, either way, there’s a freak out period. For Kori, it was before she knew everything and, for me, it was after. I don’t know if there’s really a right way to do it. For me, I felt overwhelmed and panicked after Cam told me and definitely scared.” Annie admits and Cambridge nuzzles her neck, probably upset that she was ever afraid of him.

“And I felt put off before I knew the secret because I didn’t understand why he was so obsessed with me. I mean, no one needs to go to CVS every single day,” Kori chuckled, “So I thought he was a stalker or murderer or something. After he told me, I almost felt relieved because it wasn’t any of that and we had already built a connection so I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.”

“Well, she already thinks we’re kidnappers.” I mumbled.

“Alphas! She tried to run away.” Waylon mind linked the three of us. Our heads snapped up and our eyes were wide as we looked at each other.

“Where is she?” Gabe linked back.

“I stopped her at the elevator doors and got her back inside her room. I locked her in this time.” Waylon sounded guilty.

“You did what you had to do, Waylon.” Griff sighed.

“How did she make it to the elevator?” I was more pissed at Waylon’s lack of guarding abilities. He was supposed to be outside her door.

“I had to piss, man, I was gone for like ten seconds.” Waylon said defensively. I growled at him through the link,

“Don’t let it happen again. Mindlink for backup next time. We have 3 goddamn Betas down here!” I shouted.

“Yes, Alpha.” Waylon grumbled.

“We’ll be up soon with dinner, baby.” Kori butted into the link while shooting daggers at me.

I shut off the link and ignored her.

“This is what I was afraid of. We’re the only ones who can guard her properly.” I snarled.

“Relax. We’ll send up a Beta with Waylon and they can rotate out.” Gabe said, nodding towards Ambrose and Cambridge.

They kissed their mates goodbye and left the office to find Callie, who was likely with her mate, Deale.

“This isn’t going to be her only escape attempt.” I mumbled.

“We can have a code put on the elevator or a key so she can’t use it.” Gabe said and Griff looked at him in horror.

“Or we could just throw her in the jailhouse.” He said bitterly.

“What? No?” Gabe looked offended.

“Well you’re basically turning what is supposed to be our oasis, our home, into her prison.” Griff growled.

“What do you suggest?” Gabe snapped.

“No, I agree with Gabe. We need to keep her locked down for now.” I interrupted their argument.

Griff looked between the two of us, clearly pissed off. He jumped up from the chair and stomped out of the office.

“I’ll call the company who put the elevator in and see what can be done.” Gabe said, picking up his phone.

“What Griff doesn’t understand is that it’s just temporary. Eventually she’ll have whatever freedom she wants.” I said, speaking over my guilt.

“She’ll be fine.” Gabe nodded but I could see that he was wrestling with the same guilt that I was.