Mated to alpha triplets at all-boys school Chapter 85

Ashley pov

After the run-in with Kaiden, I don’t feel like I’m safe and well hidden around here anymore, so as the days start moving forward, slowly passing by, I put all my focus on training.

If I want to beat that fucker, I need to get stronger. Maybe I’m overdoing it, overworking myself to the bone, but there are things I have to do in order to survive.

Sure, I might sound too over the top right now, but I kind of feel like I’m stuck in a life or death situation. It’s either I get out unharmed, or Kaiden figures everything out and drags me to his pack to create a breeding machine out of me.

The last thing I want is to bear children for that monster. Not only the whole process sounds like the most disgusting thing I could imagine, but also, if there were any children, they would be half mine and I would rather die than allow the poor souls suffer or, worse, turn into a mini version of him.

So far, today feels like the worst day of all the training. My body is aching, I can feel every muscle in my body because of the pain, even the smallest ones, and I’m pretty sure I feel organs I haven’t felt before too.

When the Professor finally calls in the next group for sparring, I groan and drag my ass to the benches. The moment I plop down, I realize I won’t be able to stand up again without any help - that’s how much pain I feel right now.

Before I can drown in my self-destructive misery, someone taps on my shoulder. Looking over it, I’m hit with a wave of different emotions - happiness, but most of all, regret and shame. It’s Anno.

“Hey there, stranger,” he greets me with a gentle smile on his lips. Then, reluctantly, he gestures towards the seat next to me and clears his throat, “mind if I sit down? If the seat isn’t taken, of course.”

I seriously feel so guilty for having forgotten my best friend for so long that for a second, I wonder if I should let him join me at all. It’s not that I don’t want him near, it’s that I’ve been such a shitty friend that maybe, he’s better off without someone like me dragging him down.

And yet, despite that thought, I find myself grinning from ear to ear and eagerly offering him to sit down. As soon as he does, I attack Anno with loads of questions about how he’s been doing, how’s Rose, how are the classes doing and much more.

“Calm down, crazy, you’re supposed to breathe to survive, remember? You can spit out questions after you start breathing again,” Anno laughs at me.

I join in the laughter, letting myself believe that nothing has changed and we’re still the best friends ever. We’re probably not, too much has changed, but a girl can dream, right?

“Also, I’ve been doing okay. Mainly busy with classes and Rose went on a holiday. How are you? And how is your crazy situation playing out these days? I assume the triplets are still on your side.”

“Why are you asking me questions about them?” I retort and try to shift in my seat, yet can’t really do more than let out a hiss of pain.

Anno chuckles and shakes his head. He then pulls a bottle of some weird liquid out of his bag and slides off his seat to sit on the floor. “Because they’re glaring daggers at me. If looks could kill, I’d probably be six feet under about a year ago.”

“We didn’t know each other a year ago,” I answer without thinking.

“Beyond the point,” he laughs again and opens the bottle in his hands. “I got this magical stuff from the nurse the other day. Got beat up pretty bad during the mandatory training and this shit works like a damn spell. Trust me, it’ll get you back on your feet in no time.”

“You really don’t have to do that,” I try to protest as Anno focuses on rubbing the weird lotion on my legs. A wave of intense shame washes over me - here he is, my best friend, once again doing everything in his power to help me while I’ve been doing nothing but ignoring him.

I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve Anno and his care.

“Stop,” he hisses in a low and threatening tone.

My eyebrows shoot so high, I’m sure they hit my hairline. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Yeah, you didn’t, but you did at the same time too. You don’t have to say the words out loud for me to know what you’re thinking, Ash. I understand. You’ve been busy. And I don’t blame you. Just think about how much shit you have on your plate right now, especially with the prince being here and still dealing with your crazy ass roommates.”

Before I can speak up, Anno starts telling me more about his classes and the recent drama he has heard about happening in school.

In the meantime, I just watch my best friend and think about how he must be feeling these days. Sure, I need to avoid and escape the prince, but Anno, he’s literally in the same boat as I am.

He’s hiding from Kaiden too. I’m sure he doesn’t want to go back to that forsaken territory either.

The only issue is that Anno often refuses to lay out all of his cards. He isn’t one to speak about his emotions, experiences and fears just because he can. Anno, while he comes across as someone genuine and truly happy, I know that deep down he has some seriously twisted secrets hidden.

“Ash, are you listening?” Anno grumbles as he plops back on the bench. “I said I’m done with the lotion and don’t mind letting you take the bottle home.”

Ignoring his words, I turn my body to face Anno and take his hand in mine, “how are you holding up?”

“I’m okay. And you?” He instantly slaps me with the same question, clearly to distract me.

“And what do you think?” I let out a bitter laugh. “I barely got away from him, the last thing I want is to be discovered and dragged back there against my will.”

Anno nods and closes his eyes. Maybe I’m just seeing things, but there’s a tiny shift in his expression. It’s so brief and weird that honestly, I must really be seeing things.