Chapter 12

                                    

                                          
“I’d like to go back to my dorm, please,” the words spill from my lips, shaky and uncertain. The weight of everything that’s happened presses down on me, suffocating, too much to process at once.
Damon sips his coffee, quiet, while Lucian stares off into space. It’s Adrian who nods, rising from his seat. I force a smile and follow him, our steps falling into an almost awkward rhythm. There’s an unspoken tension between us, like we’re both aware of the giant elephant in the room but neither of us dares to address it. As we reach the bedroom, I realize it’s Damon’s, not Adrian’s. Each brother has their room. They may be werewolves—my mates—but at least they aren’t the kind of triplets who share everything. Except, well... me.
I quickly slip back into my dress from last night, the fabric now wrinkled and somehow foreign. Adrian, without a word, hands me his varsity jacket. His scent lingers on the material, a strange mix of comfort and confusion swirling in my head as we head to the car. The silence between us feels like something palpable, something that could be cut through, but neither of us dares to break it. My mind is still reeling from the revelations of the morning—the brothers, the mate bond, the supernatural world now crashing into mine.
“I can feel you overthinking,” Adrian says, his voice breaking the tension as his eyes stay fixed on the road.
“I’m not overthinking,” I mutter, defensively. “I’m overwhelmed, okay? This is… too much. Werewolves? Soulmates? Out of all the crazy things I could’ve imagined, this is nowhere on the list.”
Adrian chuckles softly, the sound grounding me a little. “I get it. It’s a lot to digest. Trust me, this wasn’t how we planned on telling you.”
I glance at him, noticing the gentleness in his voice, a stark contrast to the chaos I feel inside. His hand finds mine, a reassuring squeeze that has me relaxing if only a little.
“So, how did you plan to tell me?” I ask, trying to tease a smile out of the situation. “Maybe I’ll pretend to have amnesia so you can try again.”
He smiles back, that playful glint in his eyes I’m starting to like. “Well, we thought we’d wait until you trusted us completely. Then we’d take you to our ancestral castle, give you the grand tour—meet our parents, take a walk through our family’s forest. There’s this waterfall I wanted to show you…”
His voice trails off, his eyes taking on a faraway look. “We’d tell you the story of our ancestors, of how we’re all connected. And then, when the time felt right, we’d reveal the truth. I bet you’d love to see our other form. Not to brag, but we have the largest hide in our bloodline.”
He smirks, kissing the back of my hand. I can’t help but smile back.
“I would’ve liked that,” I admit, genuinely.
“Well, we can still do it,” he says, his voice hopeful. “Once you’ve had time to process everything, maybe we can try again—do it right this time. And who knows? Maybe we’ll get that happy ending I imagined for us.”
I don’t miss the vulnerability in his words, and it stirs something in me, something I wasn’t expecting to feel. “I’ll think about it,” I say softly, my promise hanging between us as he pulls up in front of my dorm. 
The kiss I plant on his lips is brief but lingering, enough to make his eyes soften before he gets out and opens the car door for me. The gesture feels old-fashioned but somehow fitting. I watch him drive away, the truth he’s left me with hanging over me like a storm cloud.
Back in my dorm, the room is blessedly empty. Lily, my roommate, is nowhere to be found, and for once, I’m grateful for the solitude. 
Werewolves.