Lola groaned as she blinked her eyes open.
The sunlight touched her skin before she even opened her eyes. It was warm and soft, which felt like a gentle hand trying to wake her without words.
She didn't move at first.
Not because she didn't want to, but because her whole body felt too heavy and sore. Her thighs ached, her back hurt, and there was a deep, slow-burning pain between her legs that made her wince without meaning to.
She shifted just slightly, and the sheets stuck to her body, damp with sweat and maybe… other things. The scent of sex still remained faint in the air.
It took effort just to open her eyes.
The first welcome in the room was the ceiling above her; white and clean. She didn't know this room.
The bed was wide and soft, and the curtains let in golden strips of sunlight. The place looked like one of those rich inns she had only ever seen from outside.
But that wasn't the first strange thing.
The first strange thing was that she was alive, even if she had remembered dying.
She was on her knees.
Her hands had been tied behind her with rough rope that bit into her skin. The pack members were loud and cruel. But she didn't look at them, she only looked at Alpha Kade.
She didn't scream, neither did she cry. Instead, she looked for something in his eyes. Maybe mercy, regret, or anything. And there was nothing.
She loved him.
Ever since she was a girl, she had been chasing after him like a puppy. But fate is a cruel thing to a woman's heart.
When the bond awakened, Lola had rejoiced that the Moon Goddess had finally smiled upon her. And she was his fated mate.
But Kade had cursed the bond. He tried to reject her, though he couldn't. The Goddess made it so Lycanthropes like him couldn't deny fate.
He was trapped—with her, and he hated her for it.
His heart had always belonged to another.
Lola's dearest friend, Little Chen.
She was soft-spoken, with a sweet smile and the kind of grace that made people stare. She was half-witch, half-wolf. People said she had magic in her blood, and she suppose they were right.
Because she knew Kade was Lola's fated mate, yet, she didn't set boundaries. Yes, they had their sexual history together, but the more Lola watched Kade's eyes trail after her, the more she felt herself unravel.
Lola could see it happening, even when he tried to hide it. His eyes always followed her. And she… she played innocent. Lola wanted to believe she didn't know and she still cared for her.
But when Lola started to suspect Little used a spell on him, she didn't tell anyone. But just wanted to help free him, so maybe—just maybe—he would look at her the way she looked at him.
So she went to her house.
She broke into her cottage and searched her shelves, and her spellbooks. But Little caught her before she could leave.
Lola had confronted her, but she tried fighting her, even though she knew Lola was stronger. With just a push, Little broke her arm, as if that wasn't enough, when she noticed Alpha Kade came to check up on her as usual.
She stabbed herself with a broken glass right in front of Lola. She screamed that Lola tried to kill her because of Alpha Kade.
That night, she was thrown in the dungeon like a criminal. Three days later, she stood on the platform. And he watched them drag her up, never once turning away.
Lola adjusted the duvet around her chest.
She remembered the way his voice echoed when he said it:
"Lola of the Crimson Moon Pack, for false claims and attempted murder, you are sentenced to death by beheading."
She begged Kade not to do it. To just look at her—really look—and know she could never hurt anyone. That she had only ever wanted to protect him.
She searched his face like a fool. She had thought, maybe if she looked long enough, she'd find a sliver of doubt.
But nothing could change the fact that he hated her.
And she loved him.
And that had killed her.
"I'm alive," she whispered in a hoarse voice, like she hadn't spoken in years.
The Moon Goddess, in all her quiet mercy and mystery, had given Lola another chance. And not for revenge or justice.
But for balance; she called it the Seduction Trial.
The cursed bloodline of Alpha Kade; the very line that killed her.
They were triplets.
His grandsons.
The three sons were born under the black moon. Each one tied to the other by blood, by fate, and by a curse that made them impossible to control and dangerous to touch.
No one had ever seen all three at once. That was the first mystery.
Only one of them, Alexei Adkins, had made a name for himself in public. The face; an unnecessarily cold, brilliant, and sharp-tongued man. But the other two were nothing more than a rumor.
Some said they lived under different names in different parts of the world.
Some even believed the triplets took turns living as Alexei, playing games with people, and switching places. Basically wearing the same face.
If that was true, then she had already been with one of them last night. Maybe not Alexei, maybe his brother, or maybe both.
She didn't know.
That was what made it dangerous. And yet… that was also the plan.
She must:
1. Make all three brothers fall in love with her.
2. Make them give her something personal; heart, secret, gift, mark, blood, or life.
3. Never fall for any of them in return.
4. Never let them know the others exist in her life.
If she does, the trial will fail, and she will be erased forever.
If she's able to erase their existence then she'd be able to get a real body.
And the irony wasn't lost on her. She had once been killed for a love she never truly had. And now, she had returned to take love from three men who would never see her coming.
She hadn't known what body she would wake up in, or what world this was. But last night, when his hands were on her—whoever he was—he seemed certain she had a reason for being with him. She could tell by the way he looked at her that he didn't trust her.
He thought she was there to use him. Maybe for money or protection. He had no idea, but she had to give it to him, he was smart.
Lola pushed the duvet off her body as she tied the robe around herself.