Chapter 19

Elara

For some reason, I couldn't find anything to wear in my closet full of clothes. Well, there were many options, but right now, none of them looked good enough. I pulled out a blue dress and the moment I tried it on, the fabric of it clung to my curves. It was beautiful, but it looked too formal, and I let out a groan, struggling with the zipper so I could take it off.

A knock came on the door, and it froze me in place, but I recovered quickly. I moved toward the door to pull it slightly open, and relief immediately filled me when I realized it was only Rose. I opened the door completely to let her in and her eyes widened when she saw the mess I had created around the room.

"Alpha Kai sent me to check on you. Do you need any help?" she asked as she eyed me carefully and I sighed heavily, moving back to the heap of clothes on the floor.

"I can't find anything to wear," I responded, moving to slump defeatedly on the chair in front of the dresser.

"With the way the Alphas look at you, I don't think they would mind even if you wore rags," she commented, and a blush crept up my neck.

"What do you mean?" I asked, and Rose approached me with a pair of jeans and a cotton shirt in her hands.

"Look in the mirror, Elara," Rose urged, and I turned to do as she asked, my reflection staring straight back at me.

"You're easily one of the most beautiful people I've ever met, and that's coming from me who has no romantic connection whatsoever to you. Can you imagine what the Alphas see when they look at you?" she said, and without waiting for an answer, she handed me the clothes before pulling out a hairbrush and helping me with my hair.

But her question stayed with me.

Rose added some oil to my hair, brushing it out thoroughly before pulling it into a single braid, just the way I liked to wear it.

"There you go. Perfect as always. You should hurry and dress now. You've been in here for a while, and the Alphas might come looking for you themselves," she said lightheartedly. I laughed.

"Thank you Rose," I said and she gave a playful bow before moving to head out of the room.

"Don't bother about these clothes. I'll clean up the mess soon as you leave," she reassured me, shutting the door behind her.

I changed into the clothes she had handed to me and was glad when I realized that I looked cute. I applied some gloss to my lips and with a final look in the mirror to confirm I looked fine, I stepped away from the dresser. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed a lightweight shawl before pulling open the door. But the moment I pulled open my door, I found Rhys standing there and the sight of him made my heart skip a beat.

Rhys was usually breathtaking, but there was something about him right now that made him even more attractive.

"Wow…you look amazing," he said as his eyes roamed through my body like they couldn't immediately decide where they wanted to settle. The action made me feel all warm inside.

"Were you waiting for me?" I finally asked, taking the hand that he offered.

"Yes. I wanted to make sure everything was fine and that you hadn't changed your mind," he confessed and I laughed.

"Why would I change my mind?" I asked, but he simply shrugged his shoulders, leading me toward the stairs.

Rowan and Kai were waiting at the bottom of the stairs, and they seemed to be discussing something important, but the discussion immediately ceased the moment I began descending the stairs. Both men stared at me with a wide-eyed look that was almost comical.

"You look radiant," Kai said at the same time that Rowan said, "You look breathtaking."

I giggled. "Thank you. You all look dashing too," I complimented them, and a playful chorus of appreciation went up in the air from all three Alphas.

Rhys let go of me so Kai and Rowan could take over and I took the hands that they offered, following them as they led me out of the house.

"Where are we headed?" I asked when we walked past the cars and just headed straight for the gate.

"We want to give you a tour of the pack first, and then we have a little surprise planned for later," Rowan responded, and my smile widened.

"I love surprises."

"Well, we hope you like this one," Kai said, winking at me when I raised my eyes to meet his, and I blushed.

As we walked, I marveled once more at the beautiful scenery of the pack lands. Lush forests gave way to rolling meadows. The streets were clean and everything looked properly taken care of and preserved. Every place that we visited also seemed to be bustling with life. Every corner we rounded was filled with cars, people, and activities. For the first time, it hit me how massive the pack actually was, and I realized that I had only experienced the pack as a passerby. Rowan, Rhys, and Kai took turns explaining most of the significant buildings to me.

We passed by several people, and it hit me how close Kai, Rhys, and Rowan were with their pack. Silas ruled with an iron fist, and absolutely no one dared to look him in the eye, no matter what their rank was. For all of my life that was the way I thought every leader ruled their pack, but it was different here. We would sometimes pause to exchange greetings with other pack members, and although respect was evident in the exchange, but it was also obvious that the people did not fear their leaders.

I was introduced to several people as we walked, and although many had a look of shock cross their faces, especially since they introduced me as their mate, their initial surprise quickly melted into warm smiles and friendly greetings, making me feel a welcome.

"And this right here is the training school, and it has a huge training field at the back of it. This is where I spend most of my time, either training with the warriors or training new recruits," Rowan explained as we passed by a bustling training ground, the air filled with the sounds of sparring and growls.

"What a rare sight this is. Lyra, can you believe it? Kai, Rowan, and Rhys walking around on a workday. This must be a special occasion!" A burly-looking guy came walking in our direction as we passed by the training ground. He was almost twice the size of Kai, which was saying something, because the Alpha's size never failed to baffle me.

He had a smaller woman walking with him and they both approached us with very friendly smiles that were enough to put me at ease.

"Elara, meet Ekon and Lyra. They are two of our trusted warriors and the biggest pains in my butt," Rowan introduced, rolling his eyes as he spoke, but Ekon and Lyra took no offense as they began laughing at his words.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Elara. Rowan keeps talking about you, and we've been begging him to bring you around for a while now. He usually just ignores us," Lyra said, stepping forward to offer a handshake which I accepted. Ekon offered one too, and although his hand completely swallowed mine, his touch was very gentle.

"We hope Rowan will bring you around more. In case you need to kick some butt, I'm your guy." He wiggled his brows as he spoke, and it made me laugh.

"Uh, I'm very sure she wouldn't need your services," Rowan said, putting emphasis on the last word as we began moving again, and I waved goodbye to Ekon and Lyra, promising to let them know if I needed their services.

"You already have all three of us to kick butt for you. I don't think you need any more butt-kicking assistance," Kai commented playfully as we walked away, and I laughed at the little hint of jealousy in his tone.

"Well, you never know. Plus, it's good to have an extra pair of hands in a fight," I responded. Before any of them could comment again, a group of children came rushing toward us and the sound of their laughter echoed through the street. They were being led by some women, but their play seemed to be forgotten the moment they saw Kai, Rhys, and Rowan.

Shouts of "Alpha Kai", "Rhys", and "Rowan" went up in the air and to my surprise, each of the Alphas began lifting the children in the air in turns, joining in their excited chatter. It was enthralling and almost unbelievable to see them in this light and it made me feel so warm and safe inside seeing the gentle way in which they handled the pups.

"Hi," a little girl of no more than four said to me, breaking me away from the engaging sight of the Alphas. I looked down to see that there was a flower in her hand. It was identical to the one she had in her hair.

"You're very pretty," she complimented me, and it sounded like the most genuine thing I ever heard.

"Thank you very much. You're very pretty, too. I love your hair," I told her and she blushed at my words before offering me the single flower she had in her hand.

"This is for your hair," she said and I bent lower so she could put the flower into my braid.

"Thank you, pretty girl. I don't have anything to give you right now. Next time I will," I promised, and she smiled widely.

"Okay, pups, we need to move on now. You can disturb the Alphas another time," the women who had been walking with them urged, and they all waved us goodbye before leaving.

I looked up to see that each of the Alphas now had a flower tucked into their hair and the sight made me laugh.

"Well, don't you look like the prettiest princesses?" I teased, and the look of fake hurt that spread over their faces made me laugh even harder.

"Well, as you can see, this is the pack's school. It's Rhys' favorite place to hide out when he doesn't want to work," Kai explained, and Rhys pushed his shoulder playfully.

"That's not even true. The pups love my company, and it would be mean to deny them of it. I mean, look at them. They are so cute. How could I ever say no to hanging out with them?" he asked, and Kai rolled his eyes at the same time that Rowan shook his head with a laugh.

"Well, this brings us to our next destination."

I recognized where we were going when we took the next turn. Rose had pointed it out to me on our market run. It was the mall.

I recognized the guard at the mall entrance instantly. She was one of the wolves whose sister ran a market stall at the local market, and I had met her on my last market trip. Her eyes lit up in recognition when she saw me, and she waved at me as I passed. It made me feel so giddy inside, knowing that she had acknowledged me. I couldn't help but compare life here to what it was like in Silas' pack. Where I had come from, everywhere we went, we were treated like literal devils, especially since we were always heavily guarded and most of the people nearby hated to make contact with us. Here, it felt like I had a brand-new life. It felt like I had a home now.

Rhys squeezed my hands as we walked into the mall, and I looked at the scene before me with wide eyes.

"Welcome to the biggest mall in the pack! Where do you want to go first?" Rhys asked excitedly and I could easily tell that this was another of his favorite places.

"You can pick whatever you want. Don't think too much about anything, and just buy as much as our hands can carry," Kai encouraged me. My jaw dropped and Rowan tipped my chin up.

"Anything. We mean it," he said softly, and the butterflies in my tummy fluttered.

"I like dresses," I said, and he nodded, taking my hands once more to lead me.

"Then we will get you a whole fucking shop's worth of them," Kai announced, and I couldn't help but laugh. I let him pull me into a store, and a woman immediately hurried over.

"Alpha Kai, Alpha Rhys, Alpha Rowan, what a pleasant surprise. I never thought I'd see the day you would grace my dress shop," she said excitedly.

"Well, you're in luck. This is our mate, Elara. And she is your customer for today," Rowan announced and the woman beamed at me, her eyes sparkling as she spoke.

"Hello, Elara. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Sonia, the owner of this store. What kind of dress are you looking to get?" she asked, and I shrugged, taking the hand that she offered to lead me into the store.

Sonia was very helpful, and after I had picked out some dresses, Kai, Rhys, and Rowan decided it would be fun if I modeled each one for them. Their reaction to each dress was always better than the last.

After a while, I concluded the process of buying dresses, and from there, the Alphas dragged me from shop to shop. They bought me everything from shoes, to lingerie, to jewelry, and even though my legs were hurting from all the walking around, I was too excited to complain.

"I think I have more than enough things now," I said at one point and they all laughed.

"Well, we have a final spot to take you," Rhys said, and they led me into a device store.

"We noticed you don't have a phone, and I'm not going to lie, I even judged you a little bit for it because, I mean, who doesn't have a phone in this day and age?" Rowan said playfully and I laughed along with them.

"Well, I wasn't allowed to own one, so it's not exactly my fault," I responded without thinking and it took a moment of silence to realize what I had said.

Each of the Alphas had a questioning look on their face, and it made my heart sink to the bottom of my stomach at my slip.

"W-well, I mean, you know, I-I never really needed one because I don't have a lot of people to communicate with," I stuttered painfully in an attempt to redeem myself.

"Well, you're in luck. Now you have us to communicate with now and I'm a great texter, so you'll have fun talking to me," Rowan said as he pulled me gently into the device store.

"You mean an annoying texter?" Kai responded, and Rowan flipped him off, which made Kai laugh. Although it seemed like my slip-up flew right over Kai's and Rowan's heads, I noticed how Rhys remained quiet and how he kept sneaking glances at me.

There was a pained look in his gaze that was strangely familiar, but I couldn't quite put a finger on it.

Eventually, we finished our shopping spree, and once we were outside there was a car waiting for us. Kai explained that he had asked for it to be brought here so we didn't have to lug the shopping bags to our next destination.

I watched as they arranged all my shopping bags in the trunk, and it was at that moment, that I felt it. It was a feeling of being watched. I recognized it immediately because it was a part of my training. A shiver climbed up my spine, and I made a quick sweep of the parking lot with my eyes, but nothing seemed to be out of place.

"Are you okay?" Rhys asked, and I turned my attention toward him. The clouds in his expression were gone, and they were back to showing me the softness that I was now getting used to.

I nodded my head quickly, not wanting to ruin the rest of the date with my paranoia. He offered me his hand, pulling the door open for me so I could get in.

The sun began its descent, casting a warm orange glow on the path to our next destination. After driving for a while, we finally arrived at a secluded clearing overlooking a breathtaking vista.

Rowan opened the door for me, and the sight in front of me made me catch my breath and caused a gasp to escape my lips. A picnic basket lay nestled beneath a willow tree, its branches draping the area in a dappled shade. A white linen cloth adorned the ground, and three plush cushions rested upon it.

Rhys gestured toward the spread. "We hope you like it."

"It's beautiful," I confessed, walking toward the picnic while wondering when they had managed to set all of this up.

The basket overflowed with an assortment of food: fresh fruit, local cheese, fragrant bread, and delicately carved slices of roasted meat.

"This is one of my favorite spots," Kai said as we settled in, and I hummed in awe.

We settled on the cushions, and the three of them worked together, setting out the picnic spread with ease. It was a simple gesture, but it spoke volumes and resonated with me. I realized that I wanted to get used to this. I wanted to completely let go of my past and all the horrors that I suffered at Silas' hands. I loved the feeling of being around Kai, Rhys, and Rowan. I enjoyed how giddy I always felt.

The next hour unfolded in a tapestry of conversation and laughter. We had conversations surrounding the simplest, but most fun topics, and I learned a little more about the three of them. Kai surprised me with his deep appreciation for music and his talent for mimicking animal calls. Rowan regaled me with tales of daring hunts and hilarious pack pranks, and Rhys and I spoke about our love for books and exchanged knowledge on the books we had both read. It was so beautiful that I didn't want the day to end.

"Elara," Rhys began, his voice low and rumbling, a stark contrast to the cheerful chatter of earlier. "There's something we were hoping to discuss with you."

My heart skipped a beat at his words, and I wondered if they were about to reference my slip-up at the mall. "What is it?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

"You see," Rowan started, his hand hovering near mine, "the mating bond…it's not always a simple binary. Yes, it can form the deepest bond between two wolves, but sometimes it might not be enough, especially in a situation like ours…" he faltered, searching for the right word.

Kai stepped in, his voice as steady as a rock. "What we're trying to say is, a polyamorous bond like this one—it's rare, but it exists. The three of us…we feel a connection to you, an undeniable pull. But beyond that, beyond our bond, we want something more with you. We want to build a relationship that goes beyond just the mate bond," he concluded.

My mind reeled from their words. Yet, as their words echoed in the quiet clearing, a strange sense of decision settled within me. The connection I felt with each of them was unique and undeniable. And I knew that I wanted to explore it too.

"You don't have to give an answer right now, you can think about it and be sure that it's something you want," Rhys urged, but I shook my head.

"I want to build a relationship with you three too, but all of this is new to me."

"Trust me, it's new to all of us too. Didn't ever think I'd have to share a mate with these two," Kai said playfully, and I giggled, especially when Rhys and Rowan both flipped him off.

"We'll make it work. Don't worry," Rowan added, pulling me closer to him to place a kiss on my lips.

We continued to watch the sunset, the silence punctuated only by the chirping of crickets and the rustle of leaves in the wind. As the last rays of sunlight dipped below the horizon, I felt it again. This time even more fiercely than before, and it sent a raging fear through me.

It was different in the parking lot because I knew just anyone could have been looking my way, but here in this secluded clearing with just the four of us, it definitely meant we had been followed.

And just to my right, I saw it. There was someone watching us from the shadows. The sight of it made my blood run cold.