Mated to alpha triplets at all-boys school Chapter 207

Gio pov

The door slams shut behind me with a loud clang. The cold stone walls of the cell swallow the sound, leaving me in silence. But that silence isn’t one you’d embrace; it’s suffocating. Each breath I release feels like it’s being violently ripped out of me.

I can barely stand. My body’s a wreck - bruised, bloodied, and aching in places I didn’t know it could hurt. I can’t say that I’m surprised, but the guards didn’t get to drag me close to the door that leads down to the cells before Kaiden caught up with us.

The fucker forced with guards to hold me down while he gave me a good beating, quick revenge for the last time I handed him his ass - the time when all this trouble started with me. One bad decision, one moment of weakness that I couldn’t hold myself together and here I am, enjoying the consequences.

I’m not sure if I regret it or not. Part of me wants to find him again, to finish what I started, but another part of me, the part that knows what kind of trouble this will bring, wants to crawl into a hole and disappear.

The door to my cell opens, but I don’t bother to look up. Whatever comes, comes, I don’t give a rat's ass anymore.

After a long moment of silence, I glance up to see a pair of familiar faces, guards I’ve known for years. As they look at me, their eyes are full of pity, but it’s not like that matters anymore. Pity doesn’t change anything.

“Gio,” Evan whispers, his voice low, cautious as if he’s approaching a scared wild animal, not a man he’d known for the better part of his life. “You okay?”

I let out a bitter laugh, my throat raw with emotions I don’t want to show. “Do I look okay?”

They exchange uncomfortable glances, and I can instantly feel the guilt ooze off them both. They know why I’m here. They know what happened, and they know how wrong it all is. But they can’t help me. None of them can. The king and Kaiden have all the power, and everyone else is too damn scared to do anything about it.

“We’re sorry, man,” Evan continues. “We all are. We know what they’re doing to you isn’t right. Hell, most of the pack agrees with you. But...”  He shakes his head and bites his lip, choosing to keep the words to himself.

“But what?” I snap, too tired to be patient, too angry to be kind. “But you’re too scared to do anything? You’re too scared to stand up to the king?”

He flinches, and the other guard, Marcus, steps forward. “It’s not that simple, Gio. You know as well as we do that the Council’s been watching us, watching everything. Even before you, before we, got involved in this mess. Things are changing. Big things, and we’re all walking on eggshells right now.”

I stare at them in absolute disbelief. “So, what, you’re just gonna let him get away with it? Let Kaiden get away with everything? He’s ruining the pack. He’s putting us all at risk. He’s ruining innocent lives.”

Marcus sighs, and I can feel the frustration ooze off him. He wants to do something, I can tell, but he’s bound by the same chains that hold me here. Fear of the king. Fear of Kaiden. Fear of what might happen if they speak up.

“We’re with you, Gio,” Marcus whispers. “Most of us are. The pack’s not blind. We see what’s happening. But the king’s got the Council breathing down our necks, and Kaiden’s... Kaiden’s got more support than anyone wants to admit. No one wants to be the first to challenge him.”

The words sting like salt in a wound. It’s true. Everyone’s too damn afraid to take action, too afraid to speak out. And that’s the part that hurts the most, the fact that they all know Kaiden is a threat, but not even one of them will risk their necks to stop him.

I turn away from them, my back pressed against the cold stone wall of the cell. It feels colder now. The walls are closing in, and I can feel the weight of my failure, my inability to protect Ashley, my inability to stop Kaiden from causing all this mess.

“Everyone’s scared,” I mutter, almost to myself. “Even the ones who see him for what he is.”

“Gio...” Evan whispers. “We’re sorry. We really are. But we’re all trapped, man.”

I can’t breathe. Can’t think. I want to scream, to tear this place apart. But what’s the point? Who would listen? Who could help?

“Don’t apologize to me,” I growl. “It’s not your fault. It’s the king. It’s Kaiden. And I should’ve done more. I should’ve stopped them. I should’ve-”

“None of us could have done more,” Marcus interrupts, his voice so stern, he almost sounds like my late father did whenever I misbehaved. “And you still can, Gio. You’re just not out yet.”

That catches my attention, so I turn back to face him. “What do you mean?”

Marcus leans in slightly, his eyes flicking to the door. “We can’t do much for you right now. But we can keep our eyes and ears open. We can help you get out, if you want. If you still think you can bring Kaiden down.”

I feel a glimmer of something return to me. Hope, maybe? Or is it just the desperate need to do something?

“I’m going to bring him down,” I say, my voice harder than I expect. “I’m going to bring them all down. And I’ll make sure Kaiden pays for everything he’s done to this pack. And after that’s over, I’ll make sure to return every awful thing he has done to his mate tenfold.”

They grin at me, as if finally, I’m becoming the person they want to see again, the same old Gio who stopped at nothing to get where he wanted to be.