Mated to alpha triplets at all-boys school Chapter 103

Ashley pov

Eventually, Kaiden realizes he has no say in the situation, so he follows Constantine’s commands, as the man puts it in himself ‘like a good, obedient bitch’.

The whole time, my back is turned to the crowd so I don’t see anything that’s happening. I’m honestly grateful I don’t have to watch Kaiden strip and sprint away from us.

It’s not that I’m uncomfortable about nudity, it’s a part of our nature, especially with shifting and everything, but the fact that Kaiden’s been scaring me about more intimate stuff, yeah, I don’t want to add a picture to his words.

“Are you okay?” Constantine asks once Kaiden is fully out of our view.

I let out a shaky breath, wrap my arms around myself and nod, looking down. I can’t find it in me to look into his eyes. Maybe the experience has shaken me a little more than I first assumed.

Like the godsent he clearly is, Constantine pulls me into a tight hug and holds me against his chest. His body radiates heat, so much heat, but I don’t mind it in slightest.

“Your niece has grown up,” one of the men chuckles and I instantly freeze. And I mean it - I freeze. Even my heart stops beating, I don’t breathe and my blood freezes over.

“That she has. A wonderful young woman, isn’t she?” Constantine chuckles and squeezes me just a little tighter, which instantly sends my whole body into the right gear.

“Your niece?” I almost shout. “What do you mean? What is going on?”

If I judge by the way my body is shaking now, I’m close to passing out, a panic attack or a fit of rage and I have no idea which one it will be. One of those three and I want none at all.

“Well, not exactly a niece by blood, but you’re the kid of my chosen brother, so I’ve always viewed you as my niece. All the bears have,” Constantine explains with such ease, it sounds like the words are the most natural thing he could have said.

Somehow, I manage to get out of his hold and look up. There’s a sense of kindness in his eyes that screams he isn’t lying and means every word.

Tears well up in my eyes, my bottom lip trembles, but I still manage to ask the one question that means so much to me. “You knew my parents?”

As soon as the words pass my lips, tears start streaming down my cheeks and all the men around me scramble to wipe them away, offering anything but their firstborn child in panic, all to calm me down.

“Enough!” Constantine roars to clear the way to me and get his men away from me.

Slowly, he steps closer and places his large palm on my cheek, a slight smile on his lips, a look of genuine concern crossing his features. “We used to be brothers. He saved me when no one else cared, he was there when I didn’t have anyone but desperately needed saving. He was my brother, my closest friend and the only family I used to know. And you, you were the apple of his eye. I didn’t understand his extreme love for you until I got to hold you for the first time. That day, I fell in love with you just like every man present here. We all are your weird uncles. Your family.”

Glancing around again, I blink at him. “But you don’t look like wolves.”

They all bark out a laugh and shake their heads. “No, we don’t because we’re not wolves,” Constantine explains and pulls me into another bone crushing hug. “We’re bears, I already mentioned that.”

Now, this whole mess makes more sense. I knew he’s a shifter, but couldn’t understand what kind because of how weird he looks. Yeah, I could see these men as bears who wander the woods.

“Wait,” I whisper and wait until he releases me. “But bears don’t travel in packs. Unlike wolves, you guys aren’t supposed like, I don’t know, live your lives solo? I don’t know much about your species, my apologies, but from what I’ve heard, you don’t like other bears much and prefer to live away from them.”

The whole crowd of men look weirdly impressed by my words and Constantine even more than the rest.

“That is correct,” one of them perks up. “But we met each other before you were born, so many years ago. We were brought together as a group when one helped the other to get out of bear traps or anything of sorts. Ever since, we’ve been a weird group and occasionally we meet up if one calls for the others. We met Constantine after he formed a friendship with your father.”

“Yes!” Another man jumps in. “Your father saved our Constantine from an illegal hunter and later after we all met, our big bad bear over here brought us to your family to introduce us to him. Then, he told us about the wolf cub his friend had and we had to meet you.”

“That day,” Constantine whispers with so much emotion in his voice, I almost want to cry. “Your mother, a wonderful woman, invited us all to join the celebration. She didn’t care about how rough or clumsy we were, she accepted us with her arms wide open. After she introduced us to you, I remember that moment like it happened just yesterday. She looked up at me with this beautiful smile and cupped my cheek, and then, she whispered how grateful she is to know so many loving and protective men will always be there to protect the best part of her. You, Ash, she was talking about you.”

“Why are you here only now? After all those years,” I scream at him.

I don’t mean to, but I’m so overtaken by emotions, by the hurt and the memories of the nightmare that I need to know why it took them so long to finally appear. If we had them on our side all this time, why didn’t they stop the king from killing my parents?