Who's My Triplet's Alpha Daddy? Novel

Chapter 54 Dec 22, 2025 POV: Lysander Seattle hits different when you've been gone long enough to forget how the rain smells. Dad and I pull up to Kieran's house-the one he built for Thalia and the kids, the one that should make me feel like shit but doesn't anymore. That's new. The door opens before I can knock and suddenly I'm being tackled by three small humans with zero concept of personal space. "Uncle Lysander!" Phoenix hits me first, all Alpha strength and chaos energy. "You're back! Did you bring presents? Please say you brought presents." "I brought myself.

Does that count?" "No." She's already rifling through my bag like a tiny criminal. "That's a terrible present." Orion's next, more restrained but his grip on my leg suggests otherwise. "Did you solve the Henderson jurisdictional issue? I've been thinking about it and I have three potential solutions." "You're eight." "And?" He adjusts his glasses with that Kieran-level intensity. "Age is just a construct designed to limit intellectual exploration." Luna doesn't tackle me. Just wraps her arms around my waist and holds on like she's afraid I'll disappear again. I kneel down to her level.

"Hey, sweetheart. You okay?" She nods but doesn't let go. Her empathy probably picked up on every complicated emotion I've been drowning in for months. "He missed you." Thalia appears in the hallway, wiping her hands on a dish towel. "We all did." I stand up and something shifts. She's still beautiful-that hasn't changed. Still has that steel-spine energy that made me fall for her in the first place. But looking at her doesn't hurt anymore. She notices. I can tell by the way her head tilts, studying my face with those brown eyes that miss absolutely nothing.

"You look different," she says quietly. "Colorado does that to people." "That's not what I meant." We have lunch on the back patio because the kids demand it and Thalia's learned to pick her battles. Phoenix talks with her mouth full about training, Orion explains quantum mechanics using pasta as a visual aid, and Luna just watches me with those too-knowing eyes. "Are you staying?" she asks suddenly. "Like, staying staying?" "Just for the weekend, firecracker." Her face falls. Phoenix throws a piece of bread at her brother when he corrects her science.

"Stop being a know-it-all." "Stop being aggressively wrong about cellular biology." Thalia intervenes before it escalates into full warfare. "Outside. Now. Burn off some energy before you destroy my kitchen." They scatter like startled birds and suddenly it's just us. She pours lemonade into two glasses, hands me one, and gestures toward the yard where the kids are already arguing about something involving sticks and complicated rules only they understand. We sit in charged silence for a moment. Not uncomfortable, just heavy with everything unsaid.

"You have changed." She's watching me instead of the kids. "The way you look at me is different. Like you can actually see me now instead of just seeing what you wanted me to be." Fuck. She's right and I hate that she's right. "I was in love with a fantasy," I hear myself say. "The version of you I built in my head when we were kids. The one who needed saving." "I never needed saving." "I know that now." I take a sip of lemonade that's too sweet but somehow perfect. "You were always going to survive.

With or without me." She's quiet for a long moment, studying my face like she's reading a legal brief. "I wanted to choose you," she says finally. "Part of me really did. The steady warmth, the breathing space, all of it." She sets down her glass. "But the mate bond knew better than I did." "Yeah." The word comes out easier than it should. "It did." "Does it still hurt? Seeing us together?" I look at the house where my brother built a life with the woman I thought I loved. At the kids who call me uncle instead of dad. At the whole perfect picture that should destroy me.

"No." And it's the truth. "Not anymore." Her shoulders drop like she's been holding tension for months. "Good. That's good." Phoenix tackles Orion in what might be a hug or might be assault. Luna referees with the exhausted energy of someone managing chaos against their will. "I've been seeing someone," I say. Don't plan to say it, but suddenly it's out there. Thalia's eyebrows rise. "Yeah?" "Two someones, actually. Which is its own kind of disaster." I laugh but it comes out rough. "One's safe. Human. Works for me.

Makes everything easy." "And the other?" "Werewolf hunter's daughter." The words taste like confession. "Caroline Montgomery. Doesn't know I'm a wolf. Her family's firm is partnering with ours and her dad's been killing our kind for generations." The silence that follows could suffocate a small village. "Jesus, Lysander." Thalia's staring at me like I just announced I'm joining a cult. "That's-" "Monumentally stupid? Potentially suicidal? Pick your adjective." "I was going to say complicated." She's processing, lawyer brain working overtime. "Does she know? About you?" "No.

About the partnership, yeah. About being a wolf?" I shake my head. "She suspects something but she's too smart to ask questions she doesn't want answers to." "And you're in love with her." It's not a question but I answer anyway. "I don't know. Maybe. She's brilliant and funny and makes me want to be better instead of just comfortable." "But she hunts wolves." "Her father hunts wolves. She just-exists in that world. Knows about us, clearly has opinions, but I don't think she's pulling triggers herself." I drain my lemonade.

"I'm probably going to get myself killed figuring this out." Thalia laughs. Actually laughs, bright and genuine. "What?" "You. Mr. Safe Option. Mr. I'll-Never-Burn-Down-The-World-For-Anyone." She's grinning now. "Fell for a hunter's daughter who could destroy everything with one phone call to daddy." "Your point?" "My point is you're finally choosing fire instead of comfort." Her hand finds mine, squeezes once. "Good. About damn time." Luna appears at my elbow, grass stains on her knees and dirt on her face. "Are you happy, Uncle Lysander?" The question hits sideways.

Kids and their fucking emotional accuracy. "Getting there, sweetheart." "Good." She climbs into my lap despite being too old for it. "You deserve to be happy. Even if it's scary." Thalia meets my eyes over Luna's head and something passes between us. Understanding, maybe. Closure, definitely. "For what it's worth?" She stands, starts gathering glasses. "I think you should fight for her. The hunter's daughter. Not the safe option." "Even though it could end badly?" "Especially because it could end badly." She pauses at the door. "You spent years being my safe option.

Don't do that to yourself again." The kids drag me into their stick-based chaos and I let them. Later, when Kieran gets home and I have to face the life he built with my almost-love, it doesn't hurt. It just is. And maybe that's growth. Or maybe I'm just too distracted by my own disaster to care about old ones. Either way, I'm done being the safe option. Even if it kills me. Archer