Mated to alpha triplets at all-boys school Chapter 253

Kaiden pov

After the little stunt I created with father’s warriors, I lock myself in the room and keep out of everyone’s reach. Even when father sends his servants to ask if I’m hungry, I ignore them and send them away. 

By nightfall, I’m too restless, too crazed to settle in. I need to run off the steam or at least get a chance to clear my thoughts. As I walk out of my bedroom and then the building, no one bothers me. I head straight to the forest that feels suffocating tonight, the air thick and heavy, clinging to my skin like I’m wrapped in chains. 

The moonlight filters through the trees so weakly it barely illuminates the path ahead, but I don’t need the light. I know exactly where I’m going. My heart pounds like a war drum and my anger bubbles just beneath the surface of my skin. 

Each step sends waves of fury rippling through me, my thoughts clouded by one name: Ashley.

I’ve had enough of waiting. Enough of sitting on the sidelines, letting everyone else stumble around in the dark while she’s out there, probably laughing at the chaos she’s left behind. My mate. My unwilling, ungrateful, missing mate.

She really thinks she can hide from me? From me? I grit my teeth, my fists clenching at my sides. Not anymore, fuck that.

Tonight, I’ll find her. I’ll drag her back here if I have to. I’ll remind her who she belongs to - whether she likes it or not. The pack border looms ahead, the edge of everything I’ve ever known. The line I’ve never dared to cross before, not without permission. But tonight, I don’t care about rules, about tradition, about anything except finding her.

I pick up my pace, my power thrumming just beneath my skin. It’s intoxicating, this feeling, this strength. Every step I take feels like the ground trembles beneath me, the world is literally bending to my will.

Finally, I reach the border, the invisible line separating my pack’s territory from the rest of the world. I can almost feel it, like a faint buzz in the air. Without hesitation, I step forward.

Or at least, I try to. My foot hits something - something solid, unmoving, invisible. I stagger back, frowning. “What in the hell?” I mutter, shaking off the surprise.

I try again, harder this time, but it’s like slamming into a brick wall. My body bounces back, the impact sending a jolt through me. Rage flares hot and fast, and I lash out, kicking at the empty space. My boot connects with nothing, but the wall remains, unmoving, mocking me. “Let me through!” I roar, my voice echoes through the trees.

I punch the air in front of me, power surges through my veins as I throw everything I have at the invisible barrier. The ground shakes, leaves scatter, but the wall doesn’t budge. “Let me through, damn it!”

I keep hitting, keep kicking, keep screaming until my knuckles are raw, bloodied and my throat hoarse. The wall doesn’t break. It doesn’t even crack. I can’t cross it. I’m trapped.

A growl rumbles deep in my chest, and I slam my fists against the barrier one last time, leaning into it with all my weight. It’s no use.

“What’s the matter, little prince?” The voice is smooth, laced with amusement, and it freezes me in place. 

Slowly, I turn, my eyes narrowing as a figure steps out of the shadows. She’s tall, draped in dark, flowing robes that seem to shift and shimmer in the moonlight. Her eyes glint with a cruel sort of humor, and her lips curl into a mocking smile. The witch.

“You,” I snarl, my fists clenching at my sides, my blood drops to the ground like a fucking curse.

“Me,” she says, her tone light, almost playful. She tilts her head, studying me like I’m some sort of amusing pet. “What’s wrong, Your Highness? Having trouble leaving the territory, are you?”

“Did you do this?” I demand.

She laughs, the sound sharp and cutting, freezing my senses. “Of course I did. Did you really think I’d let you run wild with all that borrowed power of yours? No, no, no. A leash was necessary, my dear prince.”

My blood boils, and I take a step toward her, my power crackling in the air around me. “Take it down. Now. Do it now or help me Goddess… Fuck you and your ideas. The power is mine, you sold it, you took the payment, so you have no right to keep me captive here.”

Her smile widens, and she raises a single brow. “Or what? You’ll try to hurt me? Oh, please. By all means, give it your best shot. I could use a good laugh.”

I hesitate, my jaw tightening. She’s taunting me, and we both know it. “Why?” I grind out. “Why trap me here?”

“Because you’re predictable,” she says simply, folding her arms in front of her chest. “You’re a prince playing at being a God, and it’s all so... pathetic. You think power is enough to make you strong? That it’ll make people fear you? Respect you? Love you?”

“Shut up,” I shout, my voice shaking with rage.

She steps closer, her eyes narrowing. “But here’s the truth, Kaiden. Even with all that magic coursing through your veins, you’re still weak. Still nothing more than a desperate little boy, lashing out because the world didn’t bow to you the way you thought it would.”

I lunge at her, but the barrier stops me dead in my tracks. I slam into it, my breath leaving me in a rush, and she laughs again, a cruel, mocking sound. 

“You can’t even control it, can you?” She says, shaking her head. “The power you begged me for is slipping through your fingers like sand, and you don’t even realize it. Every time you use it, Kaiden, you lose another piece of yourself. Your humanity, your reason - gone. And for what?”

“Shut up!” I roar, slamming my fists against the invisible wall, amazed to see my floor stain it.

She doesn’t stop. She steps closer, her smile fading into something colder. “And here’s the best part,” she says, her voice dropping to a whisper. “No matter how much power you steal, no matter how strong you think you’ve become, she’ll still never choose you.”

Her words hit harder than any blow. I stagger back, my chest heaving, my heart pounding so hard it hurts.

“You don’t know anything,” I spit, my voice raw.

“Oh, I know plenty,” she says, her smile returning. “I know you’re clinging to the idea of her because it’s the only thing keeping you from falling apart completely. But it won’t work. She doesn’t want you, Kaiden. She used to want you, she was desperate for the acknowledgement, but you were too blind to see and threw it all in her face. You discarded her like trash. And deep down, you know it.”

My hands tremble and my vision blurs with fury, and something else - something I refuse to name. “Take down the barrier,” I demand again, my voice barely more than a growl.

“No,” she says simply.

The word is a death knell, final and absolute. She steps back into the shadows, her mocking laughter echoing through the trees. “Good luck, little prince,” she calls over her shoulder. “You’ll need it.”

And then she’s gone, leaving me alone with nothing but the pounding of my heart and the crushing weight of my failure. I fall to my knees, my hands digging into the dirt as I gasp for air, the anger burning me from the inside out. She’s wrong. I will find Ashley and I will bring her back. I will prove to everyone including the witch that I am not weak, I’m far from it.