The Triplet Alphas' Regret

Since Cassian did technically speak up for me in front of Cedar, I decided to be magnanimous enough and not flip him off with both my hands.

"Yes, we’re going now," I said, rolling my eyes at him. "You were the one that held us up with all your lecturing."

"Lecturing―" Cassian repeated, sounding more irritable by the second. He took a step closer towards me, and I craned my head to stare at his face. "I do not―"

"Let us go," Healer Samuel raised his voice, sounding less like a healer and more like a kindergarten teacher corralling unruly children. He gently pushed my shoulder with one of his hands while the other all but dragged Cassian away from me. "We have wasted enough time as it is."

Cassian’s jaw snapped shut, and he shot me one last disgruntled glare before huffing. He pulled his arm away from Samuel’s hold and strode ahead, his footsteps stomping loudly against the floor tiles as if to telegraph his displeasure to everyone with ears.

I snorted in response. How immature of him! But I followed after him quickly, just so that he would have one less reason to nitpick me later.

All of us soon arrived in Cassian’s room, where the treatment was meant to take place. My nose wrinkled as his scent flooded my nostrils. Traitorously, I felt my heart beat faster as I took my place within his territory. It was as though my body knew it was meant to be here all along.

Well. I wouldn’t be here for long.

I scowled and crossed my arms, mirroring Cassian’s unhappy expression. The two of us were separated by at least three feet, and neither of us wanted to be the first one to make the first move.

Samuel let out a long sigh under his breath. Even without improved hearing, I could hear him grumble something that sounded like ’fucking idiots’.

"How do you expect to see any improvement if both of you are glaring at each other from such a distance?" He demanded. "Sit next to each other on the sofa."

With that, he gestured to the plush couches situated a short distance away by the window. Cassian and I exchanged a look, neither of us wanting to be the first to make a move. However, this short exchange only further deepened Samuel’s frown.

"Well?" he asked. "What are you waiting for? Time won’t wait for anyone, you know?" he snapped. "Unless both of you actually have plans to spend all day in this room together, then please, continue."

Instead of moving, this time, both of us merely looked away as though we were a pair of schoolchildren caught by the teachers. I could hear Samuel groan in displeasure.

"Fine," he said. "Take as long as you need. If neither of you care about dying to wolfsbane poisoning, who am I to care, right? I am but a humble healer who is far too underpaid for the bullshit I have to deal with. I’ll let Alpha Rowan and Soren know that they are going to be one brother short."

Hearing their names caused both of us to startle. I bit my lip. Even if I didn’t like Cassian, his death would lead to Rowan investigating the cause of it, which meant the wolfsbane stash would eventually come to light. Cassian had to recover, so that at least I could say that I made amends for being in Cassian’s proximity when he stupidly poisoned himself.

I made the first move, dragging my feet as though there were weights attached to my ankles. Cassian, seeing that I moved, followed suit with equal reluctance. Eventually, we ended up sitting on the sofa, our bodies a foot apart from each other as though touching the other party would cause us to contract a deadly disease.

"Must I spell out everything for you?" Samuel snapped, standing in front of us with his arms folded across his chest. "Hold hands. Hold feet. I don’t care what your hands touch as long as they are on the other person’s body. Get on with it."

His phrasing caused an expression of disgust to appear on my face. I didn’t want to touch him with my bare hands, and judging from Cassian’s expression, he was equally unwilling.

"That’s extremely crude, Sam," Cassian said, frowning. "As if I want to touch this rabid woman―"

"Then perish," Healer Samuel said, and the glare that he wore was so powerful that even Cassian shut up. The latter reeled back in shock, his lips pinched tightly together when met with Samuel’s deadly stare.

Grumbling under his breath, he slowly held out a hand for me to hold onto. "Fine! Hold it so we can get this over with! You should thank your lucky stars― do you know how many shewolves would want to be in your position?"

Instead of taking it immediately, I merely rolled my eyes at his words. I stared at the open palm of his hand, half-wondering if it was a trick. Maybe Cassian would smack my face with his hand the moment I made a move, the way children did when they were playing.

Cassian’s fingers twitched, and he growled out. "Hurry up! Do you want me to die?!"

"Don’t tempt me," I said. Unbidden, I reached out towards his hand. It felt so instinctive and easy, and I wondered why I was so stubborn before.

But just as my fingers were about to touch Cassian’s palm, I snapped out of it. My eyes widened with surprise. For a second, it felt as though I had been caught in a trance. My body moved without my intention to, drawn to Cassian just because he offered himself to me.

Shaking the shiver away, I turned and looked at Samuel.

"Are you sure we have to be in physical contact?" I asked, hoping and praying that Samuel would say no, and all three of us wouldn’t have to sit through this torturous suffering.

However, the icy deadpan that Samuel gave me was more than enough of an answer. I simply looked down morosely, begrudgingly slapping my hand onto Cassian’s. The sound of our skin making contact rang across the room, and Cassian winced slightly at the force I had placed into that slap.

"Ouch," he grumbled. "You’re just using this chance to hit me."

"Bear with it," I hissed. "It’s just a small slap. I thought you had been through enough battles that this should be nothing more than an ant’s bite for you."

"You put in more force than necessary on purpose," Cassian snapped.

"Am I supposed to stroke your hand and kiss your boo boos away, then?" I retorted.

Before Cassian could say anything, Samuel’s lips curled into a malicious grin.

"Actually, now that you’ve mentioned it," he said. "Do it."

Both Cassian and I whirled around to stare at him, slack-jawed.

"Excuse me?" Cassian squeaked, his voice cracking due to his surprise.

"You two are butting heads like an old married couple," Samuel said, waving his hand nonchalantly. "If kissing is what you two must do to shut the fuck up, then do it. Go on. And kissing would do wonders for his recovery, which means the both of you don’t have to torture yourselves for longer than necessary."

"You didn’t say that I had to kiss him," I said, exasperated. Likewise, Cassian looked equally as unwilling as I did.

If it were up to me, Cassian could suffer with the remaining bits of poison in his system for all I cared. I had already pulled him from the brink of death. Considering his poisoning was mostly his fault in the first place, I would like to believe I had already done more than enough.

This was all for Healer Samuel’s assistance; I had to remind myself. However, I was starting to wonder if his assistance was truly worth all the trouble I had to go through with Cassian. After all, as long as Cassian didn’t die, Rowan wouldn’t find out.

My eyes widened. That’s right. Rowan had strangely gotten overprotective of me ever since he marked me.

I pursed my lips. "If Rowan finds out―"

"Alpha Rowan will be none the wiser," Samuel said, cutting me off as if he already knew what was running through my mind. "If you don’t say," Samuel pointed to Cassian, "he doesn’t say, and I don’t say, how will Alpha Rowan know?"

I gritted my teeth. "This is absurd―!"

However, before I could fully launch into a complaint on why kissing Cassian went beyond my duties, Cassian suddenly let out a groan next to me. Samuel and I instantly kept quiet, whatever arguments we had prepared lodged right back down our throats as we looked at him in alarm.

Cassian was bowled over, his free hand clutching his stomach as though he was experiencing a horrific stomachache. His face seemed pale, and beads of sweat were already starting to gather across his forehead.

I hadn’t even realized that throughout our banter, my hand was still tightly interlocked with Cassian’s until I felt his nails elongating into claws due to his pain, digging into the back of my hand.

"Cassian?" I called out unsurely, watching with worry as he gritted his teeth. His breaths were heavy.

Watching his suffering, for some reason, made my chest curl and tighten as well. I felt a little suffocated.

All of a sudden, Cassian jerked forward, a mouthful of blood splurting forth from his lips.