Chapter 4 Marked By My Triplets Step Brothers

Serena

My fingers were still trembling.

The cold from the gate seeped into my bones as I stared at them—Rhys, Callum, and Dominic. My triplet stepbrothers. The boys who made my life miserable since I stepped into this cursed palace. The ones who spiked my drink, made me the laughingstock of the wedding, and then had the audacity to stop me from leaving.

And now this?

"You're our mate, little rabbit," Callum said again, his voice so low, so serious, it didn’t feel real.

I laughed. Bitter, broken. "Nice prank. You already humiliated me today. Isn’t that enough?"

But none of them were laughing.

Dominic stepped forward, slowly, gently picking up my suitcase that had slipped from my hands. "We didn’t mean to push you this far. We were just trying to... deal."

"Deal with what? Me?" I snapped.

Rhys shook his head. "No. With this. The bond. The pull. The... connection."

I blinked. My brain still wasn’t catching up. The cold air, the chaos of the wedding, the pain from Vivian’s words—it all swirled in my chest like a storm.

"You don’t believe us?" Dominic said softly, eyes searching mine. "Then let us show you."

Before I could even answer, they stepped forward. Together.

Surrounding me.

One on my left. One on my right. One behind me. Their heat, their scent, their presence—it pressed in from all sides. My breath caught.

And then they touched me.

Rhys’s fingers brushed my arm. Callum’s hand gently pressed against my lower back. Dominic’s palm found mine.

That’s when it hit.

A surge of heat. Electricity. A jolt that wasn’t pain—but it wasn’t comfort either. It was... something else.

My knees buckled slightly. I gasped. The world spun.

My soul screamed.

"What... what was that?" I whispered, stepping back, heart pounding so loud I could hear it in my ears.

"You felt it too," Rhys said.

I stared at them, horrified. "No. No, this can’t be. I’m your sister."

"Step," Callum corrected quietly. "You’re not blood."

"It doesn’t matter," I hissed. "What if my father finds out? What if Vivian—?"

"Then we hide it," Dominic said. "For now. Until we figure it out."

"But we can’t lie to ourselves," Rhys added, his eyes darker now. Intense. Almost glowing in the moonlight.

"We didn’t choose this," Callum whispered. "But we can’t deny it either."

I shook my head. "You don’t even like me. You ignored me. Mocked me. You made me feel like I didn’t belong."

Rhys’s expression softened. "We did all that because... we didn’t know how else to handle it."

"We felt the bond the moment you stepped into our pack," Callum said. "We thought pushing you away would make it go away."

"It didn’t," Dominic finished.

I stared at them.

They looked so different now. Not cold. Not cruel.

Just... vulnerable.

"So you bullied me like some high school prank just to hide your feelings?"

"We’re sorry," Rhys said. "We messed up. Bad. But you can’t leave. Not now."

Something inside me stirred.

I looked at Dominic—his jaw clenched like he was trying to hold back everything. Callum’s eyes shimmered, almost glassy. Rhys had stepped back, giving me space, like he didn’t trust himself.

But the bond. The bond kept pulling us closer.

I took a shaky breath.

"I don’t know what’s happening to me," I whispered. "But... when you touched me, I felt it. Something."

Callum stepped closer. Gently. "That’s the mate bond."

I looked down at my hands. My skin still tingled where they touched.

"I thought mates were supposed to be... one person. Not three."

Rhys shrugged. "Maybe we’re the exception."

Dominic looked at the stars. "We always were."

The night pressed around us. Wind rustled through the trees. And in that moment, something changed. Not just in the air. But in me.

I wasn’t scared.

I was drawn to them.

One by one, they moved. Leading me deeper into the woods. I should’ve turned back. I should’ve screamed. But I didn’t.

Their hands found mine again. My shoulders. My waist.

The heat returned. The pulse of the bond throbbed like a second heartbeat in my chest.

They weren’t cold anymore. They were fire.

And I was melting.

We walked until we reached a quiet space, moonlight filtering through the leaves. The grass was soft. The world was silent except for our breaths.

They didn’t touch me at first. Just looked.

Then Callum stepped forward. Brushed a strand of hair from my face.

"You’re beautiful," he said. Simple. Honest.

Rhys took my hand. "We didn’t want this to happen like this. But maybe... this is fate."

Dominic knelt in front of me, eyes locked with mine. "Tell us to stop, and we will. Right now."

I opened my mouth.

But no words came.

Because I didn’t want them to stop.

I wanted to understand.

And deep down... I wanted them.

That night, under the moon, I stopped running.

They kissed me—one by one. And it didn’t feel wrong. It felt like home.

We laid in the grass, bodies tangled, hearts pounding. Their lips found my neck. Their hands traced my skin.

The bond roared between us.

And then—

I felt it.

The bite.

Not painful. But final.

“We’ll make you ours tonight,” Rhys growled, his breath hot against my skin.

I barely had time to react before my back hit a tree, and hands—so many hands—were on me. Gentle. Rough. Needing. Claiming.

Clothes hit the forest floor like falling petals. Their kisses were fire. Their touches lit something deep inside of me—something that moaned and begged and wanted everything they did to me.

I gasped when Rhys bit down on the curve of my neck, not breaking skin, but close enough. Callum’s lips brushed my jaw, his hand cradling the back of my head like I was something delicate. Dominic’s fingers laced with mine, grounding me as my knees buckled.

“This isn’t a game anymore,” Callum whispered. “You’re not just our step-sister, Serena.”

“You’re our mate,” Dominic said.

“Our everything,” Rhys added.

And I felt it.

The bond—raw and real—wrapping around my heart, my soul, like vines made of fire and silk. It hurt and healed at the same time.

I couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t resist.

I gave in to the night, to them. To the burning that only they could put out.

And as the moon disappeared behind the clouds, I became theirs—in every way.