The Triplet Alphas' Curse: Rejected by the Wolfless Luna.

Chapter 185: Episode 185.

Aire shrugged. "Why not?"

Beta Rhys nearly choked. "Your Grace." He called police, yet firmly. As if to warn her about what she just said.

"It grows back."

Marsali looked delighted.

Eventually Beta Rhys let it be.

Marsali carefully trimmed one tiny section, then stared at it proudly. She trimmed the down tips of the hair.

Aire honestly couldn’t tell the difference, which seemed safer.

Marsali remained pleased with herself.

Aire considered that a victory. Marsali eventually settled beside her afterward, still holding the brush, and looking content.

Her expression softened.

The change was small, but noticeable.

"Aire?"

"Hm?"

Marsali looked down. She looked at anything, except Aire. "Thank you." She whispered

Aire frowned slightly. "For what?" Unles her memory fails her, she can’t remember doing something to be thanked for at the moment.

"For letting me stay here."

The room grew quiet.

Aire’s heart swelled. She suddenly felt so empathetic she could cry.

Marsali continued staring down. Thoughtfully, she admitted. "I like it here."

Aire watched her. Marsili suddenly looked younger, smaller, and lonelier. Her eyes glistened.

"Nobody has ever let me stay anywhere for very long before."

Aire’s chest hurt unexpectedly.

Marsali smiled again, but her eyes remained suspiciously bright, like she might cry anytime soon.

"And Beta Rhys lets me draw."

Rhys immediately looked offended. He hated how she kept on coming back to that, and making hhim look like the good guy, when he isn’t. "That is your main takeaway?" He glared softly.

"Yes."

The Beta groaned.

Marsali giggled softly, but the sadness remained underneath, and Aire saw it. She recognised the loneliness, the gratitude, the fear, and the desperate hope that this place could become home in Marsali’s eyes.

Aire knew that feeling all too well, as she had also spent the most of her life drowning in that cycle of rejection.

Slowly, Aire turned around.

Marsali looked surprised. "Your Grace?"

Aire held out both arms.

The child froze for a second, then moved fast the moment she recovered. Marsali practically launched herself forward.

Aire caught her immediately.

The little girl buried her face against her shoulder, and for several moments neither spoke.

Aire simply held her with one hand smoothing through her dark hair. The other wrapped securely around her back.

Marsili melted into the embrace.

Aire rested her cheek lightly against the top of Marsali’s head. "You belong here." She began. "You belong with me."

Marsali’s breath caught. She clung unto Aire tighter, as though afraid the words might disappear.

"They won’t send me away?" She asked, to confirm. "I heard about what happened, and I’m human."

Aire’s heart shattered quietly. "No." She replied instantly. "No one is sending you anywhere." She promised with certainty.

Marsali finally lifted her head.

Aire smiled softly, and wiped beneath one eye. Marsali laughed immediately, as if embarrassed.

Aire pulled her close again. This time Marsali hugged her back willingly, and completely.

The room remained quiet long after Aire pulled Marsali into her arms. The little girl had stopped trying to hide the tears in her eyes.

Aire could still feel them dampening the front of her gown. She rested her cheek lightly against the top of her head.

"You are safe here." She assured her.

Marsali nodded immediately. She believed Aire.

Aire felt the ache inside her chest growing stronger. The child should not have looked so relieved to hear something that simple.

Beta Rhys remained near the door.

The Beta’s expression never changed, but his eyes lingered briefly on Marsali before returning to the room.

Aire eventually leaned back enough to look down at her.

"You are crying."

Marsali immediately wiped her face. "I am not."

Aire raised an eyebrow, and Marsili sniffed.

Aire raised both eyebrows now.

Marsali looked deeply offended. "I wasn’t."

"You absolutely were."

"I wasn’t."

Aire smiled. "There are tears on my dress." She pointed out.

Marsali looked down.

Her expression turned horrified.

Aire laughed. The soft warm sound filled the room. Marsali stared, then smiled too.

A knock sounded against the door. Neither of them paid attention initially.

Beta Rhys already had.

The Beta straightened immediately when the door opened.

Alaric stepped inside. His eyes landed on Aire first, then Marsali, and then back to Aire. A strange expression crossed his face.

Aire was seated with Marsali remaining tucked against her side. One of Aire’s hands rested absently in the child’s hair.

The sight seemed to catch Alaric off guard.

Marsali looked between Aire and Alaric curiously.

Alaric sighed softly, and parted his lips. "I came to see how you were feeling."

Aire leaned back slightly. "I’m alive."

Alaric stared at her softly. "That wasn’t the question."

The tension he’d sensed through the bond earlier had eased considerably. Her color had returned, and the shadows beneath her eyes looked lighter.

Even her scent felt calmer now.

His gaze dropped briefly.

Marsali was still pressed against her side.

His protective instinct twisted unexpectedly inside him. He was protective towards Aire, because this is what she had always done.

She would see someone hurting, abandoned, or frightened. And somehow she always made room for them even when she herself was barely holding together.

The realization made his chest tighten.

Aire caught the look immediately. "Are you alright, Alaric?" she asked, concerned.

Alaric looked up.

However, before he could respond, the door opened again, cutting him off.

Nate entered, and the room changed instantly. Not because he said anything, but because Marsali reacted.

The little girl froze completely.

Marsali’s fingers tightened against her sleeve.

Nate’s eyes landed on Aire first. His eyes scanned her, if she was well. He listened to the bond, and finally relaxed when he felt her unbothered by anything.

Only afterward did he notice the child.

Recognition crossed his face. There was nothing more.

Marsali immediately slid away from Aire.

Aire frowned.

The little girl took three quick steps backward, then stopped directly beside Alaric, almost behind him.

The movement happened so naturally it took everyone a second to process it.

Alaric looked down.

Marsali immediately shifted further behind his shoulder.

The Alpha blinked, surprised.

Aire bit the inside of her cheek. She still remembers what Nate did to the child because of the poisoned drink, and surely, so does Marsili.

Nate looked at the child, then at Alaric, and then back at the child.

Marsali visibly refused to come out from behind him. Alaric had absolutely no idea what to do with that.

He stood there awkwardly, with his large frame. Somehow, he was serving as a shield for a child.

The image felt ridiculous.

Aire nearly smiled.

Nate finally understood. The memory surfaced immediately, and his jaw tightened faintly, but he wasn’t sorry about what he had done.

Marsali lowered her eyes the moment he looked at her.

Aire watched quietly.

Nate wasn’t cruel enough to be offended but he wasn’t particularly comforting either.

He simply looked at the child, then asked flatly, "Why are you here? Who said you can walk into this chamber?"

Marsali hid further.

Aire closed her eyes briefly.

Alaric looked heavenward.

Nate frowned when she didn’t respond. "Speak."

"Nate," Aire called him mildly, when she saw Marsali’s shoulder tremble. "She doesn’t feel alright." She added, when Nate met her eyes.

Nate sighed. He severed Marsali with a glare. "Child or not, I do not trust her."