Trap of the King Alpha Triplet
Chapter 18 Traitor

Logan.

I leaned against the wall of Dad's study, arms crossed over my chest, watching as Leo paced back and forth like a caged animal. Luca, ever the calm one, lounged in an armchair, idly scrolling through his phone. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a claw.

Dad stood behind his massive oak desk, his face grim. "Boys, we have a situation," he began with his low alpha voice.

Leo stopped pacing, his golden eyes flashing. "What is it, Dad? Did you find out who helped that bastard rogue?" Dad nodded slowly, his jaw clenching. "It was Jasmine Delacroix."

One second of silence. The room exploded into chaos. Leo let out a furious growl, his eyes bleeding to alpha red. Luca shot up from his chair, phone forgotten. And me? I felt like I'd been sucker-punched in the gut. "How dare she?" Leo snarled, his fists clenching at his sides. "I'll tear her apart myself!"

I stepped forward, placing a calming hand on Leo's shoulder. "Hold up, bro. Let's hear the whole story first." Turning to Dad, I asked, "How did Jasmine even pull this off? And why?"

Dad sighed, running a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. "It seems Jasmine provided the rogue with money and an invisibility potion. She instructed him to... hurt Emily."

"An invisibility potion?" I frowned. "Those are kept under lock and key in the pack vault. How did she get her hands on one?"

"That's the concerning part," Dad replied. "We believe she may have used her father's spare key to access restricted areas of the pack house."

Leo's growl deepened, his wolf close to the surface. "So not only do we have a traitor in our midst, but she's the daughter of your Beta? This is fucking unacceptable!"

"I'm well aware of the gravity of the situation, Leo," Dad said. "Now, I need your input. How should we handle this?"

Leo, still bristling with anger, spoke first. "We need to make an example of her. She intentionally brought danger into our pack, endangered our mate. That's grounds for exile, at the very least."

I shook my head. "Hold on, Leo. We need to think this through." Turning to Dad, I explained, "Look, I know Jasmine. She's vain, short-sighted, and obsessed with becoming Luna. My guess? She couldn't handle the idea of Emily as our mate and did something incredibly stupid."

Luca nodded in agreement. "Logan's right. If we publicly punish Jasmine and her father, we're basically announcing our weakness to every other pack out there, that we got a stupid beta."

Dad looked at me. "What do you suggest, Logan?"

I ran a hand through my hair, thinking. "We need to handle this quietly. Punish Jasmine, sure, but keep it in-house. And her father needs to face consequences for his negligence with pack security."

"I agree," Dad said, nodding slowly. "I'll deal with this discreetly. But Emily needs to know what happened. I'll arrange for Jasmine and her father to apologize to her personally."

We all nodded in agreement, the tension in the room finally beginning to ease.

Dad's expression softened slightly as he looked at each of us in turn. "Now, how are things going with Emily? Are you boys treating your mate with the respect and love she deserves?"

I couldn't help but snort at that. "We're trying, Dad. But Emily's... complicated."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Understatement of the century, little brother."

Dad raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "I see. Well, I have a suggestion. As you know, I'll be marrying Olivia soon, and she'll be inaugurated as Luna. Perhaps that would be a good time to publicly announce Emily as your mate?"

I exchanged glances with my brothers. It wasn't a bad idea, but...

"We'd have to run that by Emily first," Luca pointed out. "Something tells me she wouldn't appreciate us springing that on her."

Dad nodded, a small smile playing at his lips. "Of course. Just think about it, boys. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other pack business to attend to."

As soon as the door closed behind Dad, the atmosphere in the room shifted. Leo flopped down on the couch, throwing an arm over his eyes. "Well, that was fun," he groaned.

I smirked, nudging his legs aside to sit down. "Aw, what's wrong, Leo? Scared of a little pack drama?"

He lifted his arm just enough to glare at me. "Fuck off, Logan. This is serious."

Luca chuckled, perching on the arm of the couch. "Everything's serious with you, bro. You need to learn how to chill."

I grinned, an idea forming. "Speaking of chilling... what are we going to do about our little mate situation?"

Leo sat up, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Emily's lost her wolf, at least temporarily," I explained, leaning back and crossing my arms behind my head. "We need to figure out how to take care of her."

Leo's expression softened slightly. "It's just temporary," he insisted. "And even if it's not... we'd still choose her. Wolf or no wolf."

I couldn't resist the opportunity to tease him. "Aw, look at our big bad alpha, going all soft for the little hybrid."

Luca snickered. "Better watch out, Leo. Your reputation as the pack's resident hardass is in serious jeopardy."

Leo growled, lunging across the couch to tackle me. We wrestled for a moment, laughing and cursing, before he pinned me down. "Take it back, you little shit," he demanded, though there was no real heat in his words. I grinned up at him, unrepentant. "Never. Besides, we all know Emily hates you the most. Remember when she told you to get lost in her sleep?"

Luca burst out laughing. "Oh man, I forgot about that! Your face was priceless, Leo."

Leo released me with a huff, flopping back onto the couch. "You're both assholes," he grumbled, but I could see the hint of a smile tugging at his lips.

I sat up, smoothing down my rumpled shirt. "Seriously though, we need to come up with a plan. Any ideas?"

Luca tapped his chin thoughtfully. "We could take her on a date? Show her we're not complete monsters?"

"Not a bad idea," I mused. "But where? It's not like we can take her to the movies or something. I don't think Emily would like the whole pack seeing us together in theatre."

Leo perked up suddenly. "What about our secret cabin? You know, the one where we used to go camping as kids?"

I raised an eyebrow, impressed. "Not bad, Leo. A few days away from everything might be just what Emily needs."

Luca nodded. "Plus, it'll give us a chance to fatten her up a bit. Girl's way too skinny."

I rolled my eyes. "Real smooth, Luca. I'm sure Emily will love being told she needs to gain weight."

Leo chuckled, reaching over to ruffle Luca's hair. "Don't worry, we'll make sure to phrase it more delicately. 'Emily, darling, please allow us to nourish your delicate frame with our manly cooking skills.""

We all burst out laughing at Leo's ridiculous impression. It felt good, the three of us joking around like this. It had been too long since we'd let ourselves relax and just be brothers.

"Alright, alright," I said. "So we're agreed? We'll take Emily to the cabin for a few days, try to show her we're not complete assholes, and maybe even convince her that being our mate isn't a fate worse than death?" "Sounds like a plan. But Logan... we need to be careful. No pressuring her, no alpha bullshit." Luca said as he looked at Leo. Leo just raised his eyebrow.

"Agreed. Emily's been through enough. We need to show her we can be what she needs, not what we think she should want." I shrugged.

Luca stood up, stretching languidly. "Well, this has been fun and all, but shouldn't we, I don't know, actually go see our mate? Make sure she hasn't set the hospital on fire or something?"

I laughed, getting to my feet. "Good point. Knowing Emily, she's probably already plotting her escape. Let's go make sure our little firecracker hasn't given Joe and Olivia a nervous breakdown."

We headed out of Dad's study, shifting to run. Moon help me, but I wanted Emily. We all did.