The Alpha Triplets And The Rogue
Chapter 24

Erica’s POV

We pull up to a small bakery and as soon as I try to open my door, Chris is already there opening it for me. He has a huge smile spread across his face.

Clearing my throat awkwardly, I manage to squeak out a quiet, “thank you.” Chris offers me his hand as I hop down from the SUV. I expect him to let go and link arms with me like Bryce did but he doesn’t. He keeps his hand tightly wrapped around my own.

The triplets stride into the bakery with me practically running at their side. My little legs can barely keep up with their pace. As soon as we enter the bakery the smell of fresh pastries fills my senses and my mouth begins to water. I have had nothing but cold leftovers for the past week.

I am so captivated by the smells and the sights of the delicious food spread out on the counters that I fail to notice that all of the chatter that consumed the bakery when we first walked in has settled down. Now there is nothing but complete silence. Hesitantly I glance around and realize that all eyes are on myself and the triplets. Several of the patrons are whispering to each other as if they have just gotten ahold of the biggest piece of gossip ever. I am also receiving death glares from many of the females in the bakery. It would appear that I have something that they all want. The triplets.

Ace winds his way through the crowd to find a table for us in the back of the bakery. I can tell that they come here often because there is a table that is reserved just for them. Ace slides into the booth and Chris gestures for me to slide in beside him. Chris and Bryce slide in the booth across from us and there isn’t a hint of jealousy between the three of them.

“So you three really figured out how to… share me without silly bets or fighting?” I say as I look over the menu.

“Yep,” Bryce says as he pulls my menu down so he can see my face. “Ace may get to sit beside you but Chris and I get to look at your pretty face the whole time, Little Fox.”

Setting the menu down I look at the three brothers and cross my arms over my chest. “Why have you all called me Little Fox for as long as I can remember?”

“You don’t remember?” Bryce says he chuckles a little.

“You were probably ten,” Chris butts in, “and we were watching the monthly lunar run from the balcony of the pack house.”

“I think we should skip this story,” Ace says with panic in his voice.

The three brothers share a look and I know that they must be communicating over their mind link. Bryce has an ashamed look on his face.

I think back to when I was ten, trying to remember when we were all watching the lunar run at the North Pack.

**Flashback**

“Wow look at that one,” Bryce says with a sense of awe in his voice. “It is huge.”

“That’s my dad,” I say proudly as I look at my father’s magnificent gray wolf.

The three brothers share an odd look between each other before they continue to ignore me and look out of the window.

“Which one is your mother,” Ace asks me with a smirk on his face.

“The pretty tan one,” I say pointing her out in the crowd. Her fur is much lighter than the other wolves and she is very easy to spot. Mesmerized by the way that her fur shimmers in the moonlight, I miss how the brothers are laughing at me.

“What?” I say with my hands crossed over my chest, when I realize that the brothers are laughing at me.

“It is just that she is a small wolf,” Bryce chuckles.

“I bet you will be a small wolf too,” Chris says with an evil smirk spread across his lips.

“Yeah,” Ace busts out in laughter. “I bet your wolf won’t be any bigger than a little fox.”

“My mother is a normal sized wolf,” I retort with tears filling my eyes. I look out of the window and notice that my mother is quite a bit smaller than the rest of the wolves out there but she is just as fast as the rest of them.

“Whatever you say, Little Fox,” Bryce says as he begins to laugh loudly.

“Don’t call me that!” I scream out.

“Little Fox, Little Fox, Little Fox,” the three brothers chant over and over.

My little bottom l*p pushes out in a pout and I place my hands on my h**s in anger. “I won’t be a little fox,” I fight back the tears that are threatening to fall. “I will be the best wolf you all have ever seen.”

“Whatever you say, Little Fox,” Chris says as he and the other two brothers leave the balcony and head back inside.

Resting my head on the railing of the balcony, I silently cry as I watch the wolves run together as a pack. I lift my eyes to the full moon and pray that the brothers are wrong.

**End Flashback**

I stare down at my hands that are twisting the hem of my skirt as I think about why the brother’s call me Little Fox. A tear drips from my cheek and falls on my hand. I didn’t even realize that I had started to cry.

“We weren’t very nice to you,” Ace says as he rests his hand on top of my own.

I lift my head and see three pairs of bright blue eyes looking at me thoughtfully. “We are really sorry,” Chris says remorsefully.

“I will never call you Little Fox ever again,” Bryce chimes in. “But to be honest, the meaning changed for me a long time ago.”

“What do you mean?” I ask in confusion.

“Well,” Bryce’s cheeks turn red as he begins to talk to me and I don’t think that I have ever seen him blush before. “I kept calling you Little Fox because I couldn’t call you what I wanted to call you.”

“And what was that?” I roll my eyes.

“Vixen,” Bryce says and his face blushes even harder. “Your very presence became a tease. You were always something that I wanted that I couldn’t have. I think I made that pretty clear last night when I… umm… anyway, I am sorry for calling you a fox.”

‘You have to give them a chance to make things right,’ Envy chimes in and I know that she is right.

“I forgive you all,” I say quietly. “And you can keep calling me your Little Fox. I don’t want to be called a vixen.”

The boys all chuckle nervously. “How about we order brunch,” Ace quickly changes the subject and flags down the waitress that is hovering around our table waiting for us to be ready.

“Hello Alphas,” she bats her long eyelashes at the three brothers before she scowls in my direction. “Will it be the normal for today?”

“Plus whatever our mate wants,” Chris says without even glancing at the pretty waitress.

“Mate?” The waitress’s face falls at the mere mention of the brothers having a mate.

“This is our mate, Erica” Bryce says with a huge smile on his face and I feel my face flush with embarrassment.

“Isn’t that nice,” the waitress says before leaving the table without taking my order.