Chapter : Gone Cold

Alec caught Roo before he hit the floor.

His tiny, trembling body collapsed into his arms, his silver-blond hair spilling over his face, his breathing uneven.

"Roo?" Alec's voice was hoarse, panicked. His fingers brushed over Roo's cheek, feeling how cold he'd gone.

No response.

"What the hell did you do to him?"

Lucien didn't flinch as Ace snarled.

"He remembered."

The words were quiet.

But they carried the weight of an entire past the triplets didn't know existed.

Alexander's fury was lethal.

His claws extended, black as night, his canines flashing as he took a step forward. "You think we'll just believe you? That we'll let you walk in here, spill whatever bullshit you want, and take our mate?"

"Your mate?" Lucien's lips twisted into something bitter. His violet eyes burned as they shifted to Roo's unconscious form. "You don't even know who he is."

Ace's heart slammed.

Because—

Alec stiffened.

Alexander's fists clenched.

Deep inside them, their wolves hesitated.

A crack in their absolute certainty.

They had felt the wrongness in Roo before.

The emptiness in his memories.

The fragmented pieces that never fully made sense.

But they had ignored it.

They had ignored it because the bond—the pull, the way Roo belonged to them—was absolute.

Wasn't it?

Lucien tilted his head, watching them with knowing eyes. "You don't know, do you?"

His gaze flickered down to Roo.

"He doesn't know either."

The words felt like a curse.

Ace's chest ached. His fingers curled into Roo's sleeve, holding on. "You're lying."

"Am I?" Lucien's voice was haunted. "Then why does he look like he's breaking?"

Alec's jaw clenched.

Alexander felt his own pulse shaking.

Because Roo…

Even unconscious, his face was twisted in pain.

Like something inside him was fighting to surface.

"You don't belong here." Alexander's voice was dangerous. "I don't care what story you spin. He is ours. He has always been ours. Nothing will change that."

"You sound scared, Alpha."

Lucien's lips curled.

"Scared that you're wrong."

The words were a gunshot.

The air shifted.

The triplets' wolves snapped.

"Get out."

The growl was low, guttural, final.

Lucien exhaled, something dark in his gaze.

"I will. But this isn't over."

He took a single step back, his violet eyes locking onto Roo's fragile form.

"You can keep him for now."

His lips curled slightly.

"But he will remember everything soon. And when he does…"

His gaze flicked back to the triplets.

"We'll see who he chooses."

Silence.

Lucien turned.

And he walked away.

The doors shut behind him.

The moment he was gone, the triplets felt it.

The absolute, bone-chilling fear curling in their chests.

Ace's hands shook as he held Roo close, his heart pounding in his throat.

Alexander clenched his fists so tightly his claws pierced his palm.

Alec's golden eyes burned as he pressed his forehead to Roo's, his grip tightening.

They couldn't lose him.

They wouldn't lose him.

No matter what the truth was.

Even if they had to rewrite fate itself.

Warmth.

That was the first thing Roo felt.

Not just any warmth—familiar warmth.

A scent that made his chest ache, a heat surrounding him on all sides, as if he were being shielded from the world.

But his head pounded.

A dull, throbbing pain at the back of his skull, his body heavy, his limbs too weak to move.

He struggled to open his eyes.

The first thing he saw—

Golden eyes.

Alec's gaze was already on him, his face too close, too desperate. His breath hitched. "Roo…"

Roo blinked slowly. His lips parted, voice raspy, too dry. "Alec…?"

And then—

A crushing weight pressed against him.

Ace had buried his face into the crook of Roo's neck, his arms tight, almost bruising. Alexander was holding onto his wrist, firm, grounding.

They were touching him as if he might disappear.

His chest tightened.

Something was… off.

There was a feeling crawling beneath his skin. Faint. Unfamiliar, yet…

His head throbbed.

Roo winced. Alec was there in an instant, fingers brushing through his tangled silver-blond hair. "Does it hurt? Where?"

Ace's growl rumbled against his neck. "I'll kill that bastard Lucien."

Lucien?

The name sent a pulse of coldness down his spine.

And suddenly—

His vision blurred.

It wasn't the room around him anymore.

It was—

Flashes. Fragments.

Shackles. A dark room, shadows flickering. The sound of a voice whispering in his ear.

"You must never forget—"

Pain. White-hot, a collar biting into his throat, claws pressing against his skin.

A scent that wasn't his, hands that weren't his own.

A life that wasn't his.

Roo's breath hitched.

"Roo?"

Alec's voice dragged him back.

The images shattered like glass.

Roo was gasping, fingers trembling, nails digging into Alexander's wrist.

"What's wrong?"

He looked up—Ace's dark eyes were on him, his expression tense, unreadable. Alec's brows were furrowed, and Alexander was watching him with that sharp, all-seeing gaze.

They knew.

They knew something was wrong.

But he—

He didn't know what it was.

"I…" Roo's voice wavered. His head throbbed. "I think I… saw something."

The triplets stiffened.

"What did you see?" Alexander's voice was low, carefully controlled.

Roo tried to remember.

But the second he reached for it—

Nothing.

It slipped through his fingers like smoke.

His chest tightened.

"I… I don't know."

The triplets exchanged a glance.

Alec's jaw clenched. "It's because of Lucien."

Ace's grip on him tightened. "Don't think about him." His voice was hoarse, almost desperate. "Don't let him inside your head."

Roo swallowed.

He wanted to agree.

But something inside him—

Something deep, hidden, buried—

Was whispering.

You already know.

You just haven't remembered yet.

The silence stretched.

Not a peaceful one.

A silence that pressed into his ribs, thick, suffocating.

Roo's fingers twitched against the sheets. He wasn't cold—far from it. Alec's warmth was on one side, Ace's breath against his neck, Alexander's weight pinning him in place.

And yet—

He felt like he was somewhere else.

Someone else.

His heart pounded. His body ached, but it wasn't the pain that unsettled him.

It was the feeling that something inside him had shifted.

Something he couldn't reach.

Alec's fingers brushed his cheek. "Tell us what you're thinking."

Roo exhaled slowly. "I don't know."

It was the truth.

But it wasn't the whole truth.

Ace's arms tightened around him, like a vice. "Then don't think about it." His voice was low, almost a growl. "You're safe now."

Safe.

The word didn't sit right.

Because the feeling inside him—the crawling, unsettling sensation—whispered otherwise.

His fingers trembled.

And then—

He felt it.

A burning sting on his wrist.

His breath hitched.

Slowly, he turned his head—

His wrist, bare under the dim light, was unmarked.

But the pain was real.

As if something was there.

Something he couldn't see.

A scar that wasn't there before.

The triplets noticed.

Alexander's golden eyes sharpened. "What is it?"

Roo hesitated.

Because how was he supposed to explain something he couldn't even understand?

His lips parted—

But before he could speak—

The pain was gone.

Like it was never there to begin with.

Roo's blood ran cold.

Alec and Ace were already looking at him like he might break.

But Alexander—

Alexander wasn't looking at him.

He was looking at his wrist.

Like he could see something Roo couldn't.

Like he already knew.