The Girl They Chose

Liora

The world came back to me slowly, like emerging from deep, dark water. My head was spinning, and I could barely focus on the three massive figures standing over me. The Alpha Triplets were so close I could feel the heat radiating from their bodies, smell their scent - something wild and dangerous that made my wolf want to submit completely.

"Please," I whispered, my voice cracking with terror. "Please don't hurt me."

My whole body was shaking so violently I could barely stay upright on my knees. The cobblestones were cold and hard beneath me, and I could feel every villager's eyes boring into my back.

Alpha Rowan, the one in the middle, crouched down until he was at my eye level. His golden eyes seemed to glow in the morning light, and when he spoke, his voice was surprisingly gentle.

"What is your name, little wolf?"

"L-Liora," I stammered, unable to meet his gaze. "Liora Thorne."

"Liora," he repeated, and the way he said my name made something flutter in my chest. "Do you understand what you are to us?"

I shook my head frantically. "I don't understand anything. I'm nobody. I'm cursed. I'm.."

"You are our mate," the scarred one - Alpha Damon said firmly. "The Moon Goddess has chosen you for us."

A gasp went through the crowd behind me, followed by angry murmurs.

"That's impossible!" Mr. Blackwood's voice cut through the noise. "She's cursed! She brings bad luck to everyone around her!"

"She's not worthy of the Alphas!" Mrs. Chen shouted. "She's weak and sickly!"

"Look at her!" another voice yelled. "She can barely stand! How could she be their mate?"

The third Alpha, the one with black hair who must be either Ronan or Riven let out a growl so terrifying that several people in the crowd whimpered.

"Silence," Alpha Rowan commanded, his voice carrying easily across the square. The entire crowd went dead quiet. "Guards, seize her."

"No!" The word tore from my throat before I could stop it. "Please, I haven't done anything wrong!"

Two massive guards stepped forward, their hands reaching for me. The sight of them sent me into complete panic.

"NO!" I screamed, the sound echoing off the buildings around us. "Don't touch me! Please!"

My scream seemed to break something loose in the crowd. People started shouting again, their voices overlapping in chaos.

"She's bringing her curse on all of us!" someone yelled.

"The Alphas will punish the whole village because of her!"

"She should have been thrown out years ago!"

Old Mr. Garrett pushed forward, his cane raised. "You can't take her! She'll poison you with her bad luck!"

That's when everything went wrong.

Alpha Ronan I could tell by the way the others looked at him moved faster than I'd ever seen anyone move. One moment Mr. Garrett was standing there with his cane raised, and the next he was on the ground, screaming and clutching his arm.

The bone-deep crack of his arm breaking echoed across the square.

"Anyone else want to tell us what we can and cannot do?" Alpha Ronan asked, his voice deadly calm.

The crowd went silent except for Mr. Garrett's whimpers of pain.

Alpha Riven - the third one - was trembling with rage. I could see his muscles rippling under his clothes, and his eyes were starting to glow brighter. He looked like he was barely holding himself back from shifting into his wolf form right there in the square.

"Brother," Alpha Damon said quietly, "control yourself."

"They dare to insult our mate," Alpha Riven snarled. "They call her cursed. Unworthy."

"And they will learn," Alpha Rowan said, standing up to his full height. "But not here. Not now."

He looked down at me, and despite everything, his expression softened slightly. "I'm sorry, little wolf. This will be frightening, but you belong with us now."

"I don't want to go," I whispered, tears streaming down my face. "Please, I just want to stay here."

"Here, where they treat you like dirt?" Alpha Damon asked, his scarred face twisted with anger. "Where they call you cursed and make you sleep in the streets?"

"It's all I know," I sobbed.

"Then it's time you learned something better," Alpha Rowan said firmly. He nodded to the guards. "Bind her hands. Gently."

"No, please!" I tried to scramble away, but there was nowhere to go. The guards caught me easily, their hands surprisingly gentle as they pulled my arms behind my back.

The rope around my wrists wasn't tight enough to hurt, but it was secure enough that I couldn't escape. I was trapped.

"Please don't do this," I begged, looking up at the three Alphas. "I'll do anything you want, but please don't take me away from here."

"What we want," Alpha Riven said, his voice rough with emotion, "is to take you somewhere safe. Somewhere you'll be treated like the precious gift you are."

"I'm not precious," I whispered. "I'm broken."

All three of them growled at that, the sound making every person in the square take a step back.

"Never," Alpha Damon said fiercely, "say that about yourself again."

They lifted me easily between them, carrying me toward a massive black carriage that must have arrived while I was unconscious. The horses pulling it were the largest I'd ever seen, their eyes glowing faintly in the morning light.

"Please," I whispered one more time as they placed me inside the carriage. "Please don't.."

But the world was spinning again, and the stress and fear were too much. My chest pain flared up worse than ever, and everything went black.

When I woke up, the carriage was moving. I could feel it swaying gently beneath me, hear the steady rhythm of hooves on the road. My wrists were bound with soft silk now instead of rope, and I was lying on the most comfortable cushions I'd ever felt.

But when I tried to sit up, I realized with horror that I was naked beneath a soft fur cloak.

My heart started racing again as I clutched the cloak tighter around myself. Where were my clothes? What had they done to me while I was unconscious?

And where were they taking me?