Toughening Me Up Cost Them Their Mate

I used to be the most envied female on the continent.

I had three mates. Kael, the werewolf Alpha who ruled the northern forests. Dorian, the vampire lord who commanded the night. Seth, an elven ranger whose aim never missed.

They used to treat me like something precious. They wouldn't even let a thorn touch my feet.

Once I said I wanted to see snow. Kael ran for days through the dead of winter, all the way to the far north, just to bring back Frostbloom.

Another time I complained the night air was too cold. Dorian wrapped me in his Nightfall Cloak, the one that could stop a blade.

And every morning, Seth played his harp under my window and sang to me in the oldest language his people knew.

I thought that kind of devotion would last forever.

Then Ayla showed up. A half-elf.

She wasn't like me. Not spoiled, not difficult. When danger came, she pulled a knife and fought. When she got hurt, she bandaged herself and didn't say a word about it.

At first, Kael and the others only took her in because it was the right thing to do. She had nowhere else to go.

Then things started to change.

"Elara, you can't keep acting like this."

It was the first time Kael had ever talked to me like that. Like I was a nuisance.

That day, my Fang Necklace broke. Kael had pulled that fang from his own mouth when he asked me to be his mate.

I ran to find him, close to tears. He was holding Ayla's hand, carefully. Licking a small cut on her finger.

He heard me coming and frowned.

"It's just a necklace. String it back together. Ayla cut her hand gathering herbs for us. Can you not make everything about you?"

I stood there, frozen. Tears filled my eyes.

Before, if I so much as frowned, he'd panic and hold me for an hour trying to make it right.

I looked at Dorian, sitting nearby, hoping for something different.

He was holding a cup of Blood Wine. It smelled rich and sweet. He'd spent two weeks brewing it for me, using rare magic herbs, to build up my blood.

I walked over and reached for it. I just wanted proof that they still loved me.

Dorian shifted, just slightly, and moved the cup out of my reach.

"This one's for Ayla." His voice was flat, like it should have been obvious. "She lost too much blood. She needs it more than you do. You're perfectly healthy. Stop trying to take things that aren't yours."

Take?

He'd promised me that wine himself. Now wanting it made me a thief?

I bit my lip and turned to Seth.

He wasn't looking at me. He was carving something out of wood, focused.

I recognized the wood. Spiritwood. He'd once said he would carve me a charm out of it.

Now the shape taking form under his knife was Ayla's face.

"Seth." My voice shook. "Are you angry at me too?"

He stopped carving and sighed.

"We're not angry, Elara. We just want you to be more like Ayla. More independent. More grown-up. You wouldn't last a day without us, would you?"

That stung more than anything else they'd said.

They'd forgotten something. They were the ones who made me this way, piece by piece. They were the ones who told me I only had to hide behind them and be carefree.

"So you all think I'm difficult. Useless." I stared at them. "That's it, isn't it?"

Ayla stood up right on cue, looking at me with an apologetic face.

"Elara, don't be upset. This is my fault. I shouldn't have troubled them. I'll go."

"Sit down." Kael grabbed her hand and pulled her back. Then he turned that cold look on me.

"Are you done? If you can't learn to treat people with respect, there's nothing left to say."

He shoved me aside and walked back to her.

I stumbled and landed hard on the floor.

No one helped me up.

The three of them gathered around Ayla, murmuring, comforting her.

I sat there and watched their backs. Something inside me started to crack, piece by piece.