The Triplet Alphas' Secret Mate-Chapter 87: Against Each Other

Scarlett’s POV

​I looked at the center of the field. Five circular wooden platforms had been raised. They weren’t stable; they were mounted on massive iron gears.

​"Each pair will stand back-to-back," the Elder continued. "The platforms will spin. You will be given ten silver-tipped arrows. You must hit the moving targets released from the treeline. If you fall off the platform, or if you miss more than three targets, you are finished."

​Ethan led me toward the third platform. He didn’t say a word, but his movements were stiff, his jaw tight. He was still reeling from the fact that I’d found him so quickly in the woods.

​"Back-to-back, Scarlett," he commanded, stepping onto the wood.

​I climbed up and pressed my spine against his. He was a pillar of heat. I could feel the steady thrum of his heart through his shoulder blades. My skin prickled where we touched.

​"Don’t lean away," he muttered. "If you shift your weight, we both go down. Trust my balance."

​"Trust is a heavy word, Alpha," I whispered back, my fingers tightening around the grip of my bow. "Maybe just focus on the targets."

​I looked to my left. Leo and Tessa were already in position. Leo was standing perfectly still, but his eyes were fixed on us.

​To my right, Leon and Elara were mounting their platform. Leon looked exhausted, but his focus had shifted. He wasn’t looking at me anymore; he was looking at the woods with a grim, determined stare. Elara stood behind him, her face a mask of quiet concentration. She reached out to steady herself by grabbing Leon’s belt, and he nodded once, anchoring his feet into the wood.

​"Begin!"

​The gears beneath us groaned, and the world began to spin.

​The movement was slow at first, then faster. The trees, the crowd, and the sky blurred into a dizzying circle of color. My stomach lurched. I felt Ethan’s weight shift, his heels digging in to keep us centered.

​"Targets! Mark!" Ethan shouted.

​From the woods, wooden discs were launched into the air. They flew fast, zig-zagging through the wind.

​"Three o’clock!" Ethan barked.

​I didn’t think. I drew an arrow, spun my torso slightly, and fired. The silver tip whistled through the air and shattered the disc into a cloud of splinters.

​"Six o’clock!" I shouted back as a target soared over his side. Thwack. Another disc exploded.

​We were a machine. Every time he leaned forward to aim low, I leaned back to balance him. When the platform jerked, his hand reached back blindly, his fingers brushing my hip to keep me from sliding.

​I glanced toward Leon and Elara. They were holding their own. The platform was spinning fast, but Leon was a rock. He timed his shots perfectly, his arrows splitting the air with a deadly hiss. Elara, though she looked pale, didn’t miss. She moved with him, her eyes sharp as she picked off the targets on her side.

​Across the field, I heard a loud crack. One of the warrior pairs had lost their balance and were flung into the dirt.

​"One pair out!" the Elder cried.

​The platform reached its top speed. Three targets were launched at once from different angles.

​"Now!" Ethan roared.

​I fired. Hit. He fired. Hit. I drew my last arrow, pivoted on my heel, and released it. It caught the final disc just as it was about to hit the ground.

​The gears ground to a halt. The world stopped spinning, leaving me breathless. Ethan turned around, his hands catching my shoulders to steady me.

​I looked over at the other platforms. The elite warriors were gone. But Leon and Elara were still standing. They had hit every mark. Leon was breathing hard, but he looked at Elara and gave her a small, respectful nod. She had proven she could keep up.

​Leo and Tessa were also flawless. They stepped off their platform with a terrifying ease.

​"Three pairs remain!" the Elder announced, his voice booming over the cheering pack. "The final trial is here... The three Alphas and their partners will face each other in the Combat Ring. Only the last pair wins."

​My heart stopped. This wasn’t just a contest anymore. This was a war.

​"The Combat Ring is next!" the Elder shouted. "Ethan and Scarlett. Leo and Tessa. Leon and Elara. Take your weapons!"

​Ethan didn’t say a word; he just stepped in front of me, his sword drawn. Leo and Leon moved like lightning. The three cousins crashed together in the center of the ring. They weren’t just fighting for a prize; they were fighting with a deep, ancient aggression that made the ground shake.

​"Scarlett, stay behind me!" Ethan barked, parrying a heavy blow from Leo.

​"No!" I shouted. I wasn’t a doll to be protected. I gripped my spear, the wood smooth and familiar in my hands.

​I saw my opening. Tessa, Leo’s partner, was trying to circle around to hit Ethan’s blind side. She was fast, moving with the silent grace of a hunter. I lunged. The tip of my spear whistled through the air, forcing her to skip back.

​"You’re fighting me, Tessa!" I hissed.

​Tessa didn’t waste breath on words. She swung a short mace, aiming for my ribs. I spun the spear, blocking the heavy hit with the shaft. The vibration rattled my teeth, but I didn’t buckle. I stepped into her space, swept her legs with the blunt end of the spear, and as she stumbled, I jammed the butt of the weapon into her stomach. She went down hard, gasping for air outside the chalk line.

​"Tessa is out!" the Elder cried.

​I looked over at the males. The fight was brutal. Leon was fighting like a man who had nothing left to lose. He moved with a raw, desperate power. While Leo was distracted by Ethan, Leon delivered a punishing kick to Leo’s chest and followed up with a hilt-smash to his temple. Leo crumpled, sliding out of the ring.

​"Leo is out!"

​It was down to the four of us. Ethan and I vs. Leon and Elara.

​The cousins went at each other again. It was like watching two storms collide. But I saw the moment Leon lost. His eyes flickered toward me for a split second—a moment of distraction, a flash of that raw pain he’d been carrying all day. Ethan didn’t miss it. He stepped inside Leon’s guard and threw him out of the circle with a roar of dominance.

​Now, it was just me and Elara.

​The crowd went silent. If she beat me, she would take the prize with Ethan. The thought made my blood boil.

​Elara stepped forward, holding a long, thin blade. Her face wasn’t quiet or kind anymore. Her eyes were wide, burning with a hidden rage I didn’t understand. She lunged at me with a speed I didn’t know she had.

​Slash.

​I felt a sharp, stinging pain across my bicep. I looked down. My shirt was torn, and blood was beginning to soak the dark fabric. She had sliced me.

​"Focus, Scarlett," she whispered, her voice like a snake’s hiss.

​My wolf, Zoe, growled deep in my mind. The pain didn’t make me weak; it made me furious. I swung my spear in a wide arc. Elara tried to dodge, but I was faster. The edge of my spear sliced deep into her thigh. Her leggings tore, and a deep red line opened up on her skin.

​She gasped, stumbling back. I saw Ethan’s head snap toward us. He didn’t look happy. He looked worried—not for me, but for her. I didn’t care.

​"Focus on your win, Ethan!" I yelled, though we had already won the male side.

​Elara became even more aggressive. She was fighting like her life depended on it. She lunged again, her blade aimed directly for my face. It was a deliberate strike meant to disfigure my face.

​I dropped to one knee, the blade whistling over my head. Before she could recover, I lunged forward with my spear. The blade caught her across the chest, carving a long, shallow line on her shoulders. It wasn’t deep enough to kill, but it was enough to end the fight.

​Elara let out a choked sob and fell to the dirt, her blood staining the grass.

​"Scarlett! Stop!" Ethan’s voice barked out, full of a command that felt like a slap to my face.

​I stood over her, breathing hard, my spear dripping. I expected him to come to me, to check my bleeding arm, to celebrate our win.

​Instead, Ethan shoved me aside.

​He didn’t just walk to her; he ran. He dropped to his knees in the dirt and pulled Elara into his lap, his hands trembling as he tried to cover the wound on her chest.

​"Healers! Get over here now!" Ethan screamed, his voice breaking. He looked up at me, his eyes full of a dark, burning anger. "What is wrong with you? Why did you go so deep?"

​I stared at him, my heart turning to ice. My arm was bleeding. I had won the festival for him. But he was holding his secret lover as if she were the only thing that mattered in the world.

​"She tried to slice my face, Ethan," I said, my voice cold and steady despite the shaking in my hands. "It was done out of defense."

​"Fuck off!" he roared, pulling her closer to his heart.

​The pack watched in a stunned silence. I was standing alone in the circle, while Ethan was cradling a girl who wasn’t his fiancée or partner.

​My gaze drifted to the prize resting on the elder’s table.

A few minutes ago, it had meant everything.

Now... it meant nothing.

With a heartbroken heart and bleeding arm, I turned my back and walked out of the field.