Who's My Triplet's Alpha Daddy? Novel

Book 3. Chapter 81 Dec 18, 2025 POV: Thalia The sound of shattering glass pulls me from sleep at . Not the gentle tinkle of a dropped wine glass but the violent explosion of something large-a window, maybe the sliding door downstairs-being destroyed with purpose. My hand shoots to the nightstand before conscious thought kicks in. The security system should be screaming. Should have woken us thirty seconds ago when someone crossed the property line. Silence. Dead air. Someone disabled it. I reach for Kieran through the mate bond before I even open my eyes.

Find him already moving, already in Alpha mode, his consciousness sharp and focused in ways that make my spine straighten. He's out of bed, pulling on jeans with practiced efficiency. "Stay here." His voice is barely a whisper. "I'll check-" "Fuck that." I'm already moving toward the safe hidden in my nightstand. Three seconds to input the code, two more to grab the Glock Kieran insisted I learn to use after the Luna ceremony. Like a gun's going to protect me from whatever just broke into our house at three in the morning. He doesn't argue.

Just nods once-we're past pretending I'm the delicate mate who needs protection-and moves toward the door with that predatory grace that means his wolf is right beneath the surface. "Kids," I breathe. Not a question. "I'll check. You cover the stairs." He pauses at the threshold. "Three heartbeats downstairs. Human. Fast-moving." My stomach drops. Three. Not one intruder, not some drunk pack member who got confused. Three humans moving with coordination through our house while our children sleep down the hall. Hunters. The word crystallizes with absolute certainty.

I feel Kieran's recognition echo through the bond-he's reached the same conclusion, probably thirty seconds before I did because his tactical brain processes threat assessment faster than anyone I've ever met. We split without discussion. He ghosts down the hallway toward the kids' rooms. I position myself at the top of the stairs, gun raised, every nerve ending screaming danger. The first hunter comes into view at the base of the staircase. Military-grade weapon-not a rifle, something smaller, more specialized.

Tactical vest, night vision goggles pushed up on his forehead, moving with the kind of efficiency that comes from training and repetition. Professional. This isn't some amateur operation. "Clear downstairs," he murmurs into a comm unit. "Moving to second floor." That's when Phoenix screams. Not startled surprise or nightmare distress. Pure, visceral terror that makes every maternal instinct I possess detonate like a bomb. My wolf surfaces before I can stop it-not fully shifting but right there, pushing against my skin, demanding I protect my cub. White fur ripples across my arms.

My eyes probably glow in the darkness. The gun in my hand suddenly feels inadequate, useless against the need to tear apart anyone who threatened my children. "Luna's upstairs," another voice calls from the living room. Not surprised, not panicked. They knew. They fucking knew we'd be here, knew the layout, probably have a whole goddamn tactical plan. I hear Orion's voice from his bedroom-that rapid-fire analytical tone he gets when he's problem-solving under pressure.

"The window locks from the inside, but if we use the desk chair as leverage we can-" "Orion, get away from the window!" Kieran's voice cuts through, sharp with command. Luna. Where's Luna? The mate bond flares and I feel Kieran's wolf surge. He's shifted in the hallway, protecting our children with teeth and claws because guns don't mean shit to an Alpha protecting his cubs. A second hunter appears at the base of the stairs. Spots me. Raises his weapon-dart gun, I register distantly, not bullets but something worse. I fire.

The Glock's recoil jolts through my arm but the shot goes wide because my hands are shaking and I'm a decent shot at the range but shooting at a human target in my home while my children scream is something else entirely. The hunter doesn't even flinch. Just adjusts his aim. Kieran's there before I process movement. Backs into the hallway where I'm standing, puts his massive wolf body between me and the stairs without looking. His hand-still human because he's only partially shifted, caught between forms-finds mine in the darkness. Squeezes once. Hard. I've got you.

Then he shifts completely and the mate bond flares so bright I gasp with the intensity. His wolf recognizes mine even in crisis, calls to it, demands it surface to fight beside him. This might be the last time I feel it. The thought crystallizes with awful clarity. Three professional hunters, military-grade weapons, moving through our house like they've done this before. Kieran lunging down the stairs toward the lead hunter, all Alpha fury and protective rage. The dart gun fires. The sound is softer than I expect-a compressed air hiss that shouldn't be terrifying but is.

The projectile catches Kieran mid-leap, buries itself in his shoulder with a wet thud that makes my stomach turn. He yelps. Not pain-something worse. Something that makes the mate bond stutter and dim like someone just turned down the volume. I watch him shift back to human mid-fall. Naked, gasping, hitting the hardwood floor with a crack that makes me physically flinch. His skin goes pale, lips blue, every muscle seizing. "Direct hit." The lead hunter grins like he just won a prize. "Told you the new formula works faster." The bond. I can barely feel it now.

Just this thin thread where there should be consuming fire, like someone wrapped it in cotton and shoved it underwater. Phoenix screams again. Luna's voice joins hers-high and terrified, probably drowning in the violence and fear flooding our house through her empathic abilities. Orion shouts something tactical, something about barricading the door, his brain still trying to logic his way out of a situation that doesn't follow any rules he knows. And Kieran. My mate. The father of my children. The man who promised forever.

Lies on our living room floor convulsing while three hunters move through our house like they own it. My wolf surfaces completely. White fur erupting across my skin, bones cracking as I shift faster than I ever have before. The gun clatters from hands that aren't hands anymore. The lead hunter's grin falters. "There's two of them?" Yeah, asshole. There's two of us. And you just made the fatal mistake of threatening my cubs. Archer