The Ex-wife they Claimed: Their Heat, Her Fire

The room reeked of sex, sweat, and dominance.

Red lights covered the room, spilling against the silk black sheets of the bed that were all tangled up now, and three men lounged like Kings in the aftermath of it.

The Blackwell Triplets.

Ajax, the eldest leaned against his wall, his pants barely hanging to his waist. He was powerfully muscular, and tattoos curled up his arms and neck like smoke. His hair was a tousled mess, and his molten silver gaze was like steel.

Jayden, the middle one, wiped blood from his lip with the back of his hand and smirked, already lighting a cigarette.

And Elliot, the youngest of the triplets was sprawled lazily on the couch with his shirt hanging open, his wolfish grin daring anyone to speak first.

On the bed, the woman they'd just finished with was still sprawled naked on the bed. She was a high-ranking wolf from the WinterMoon Pack and was still gasping from exhaustion and awe minutes after they were done.

Her body twitched every now and then, and she could barely get on her feet.

"Get up," Ajax finally said, his voice almost as powerful as his build, with a side dish of lethality, "You've had your fun,"

The woman blinked, still dazed, "I... Alpha Ajax, I thought-"

"You thought wrong," Jayden's tone cut through her sharply. He didn't even spare her a glance and continued, "You were never here for that. You were a distraction. You came to experience what other women have been gossiping about, and you got exactly that. Nothing more,"

Elliot gave her a lazy smile, dark amusement in his voice like he enjoyed watching she-wolves break at their mercy, "Don't look so heartbroken, sweetheart. You'll still walk straight, eventually."

She managed to stand up, picked her clothes from the floor and fled the room in silence and shame.

For a long moment, only the faint sizzle of Jayden's cigarette filled the space, and of course, their brooding dominance and the tension it came with.

Then the door opened again and this time, their Beta, Carter walked in

He bowed in submission the moment he softly closed the door behind him.

"That's all the women for today, Alphas," He stated.

"You may leave," Elliott dismissed.

"But there's news," He said.

"What news?" Jayden half-growled.

"They've agreed," He announced, "The CEO of Lunaris Biotech is coming. Tomorrow morning,"

Three sets of silver eyes lifted in unison.

Ajax's jaw flexed, and he pushed off the wall, "The Elusive CEO...,"

Jayden puffed out some smoke and leaned back in his chair, "The human genius with a secret identity and a company that came out of nowhere five years ago, and has been roaring with success ever since," His tone turned sardonic, "Tell me that doesn't smell suspicious,"

"It doesn't matter what it smells like," Elliot said, "What matters is what they have,"

Carter nodded once, "Lunaris Biotech's R&D division filed a confidential patent three weeks ago. A serum coded as AX-23. Initial reports suggest it could counteract the poison you were dosed with,"

The room turned still, and the tension grew. Jayden stubbed out his cigarette, something dangerous flashing in his eyes, "How accurate are we talking?"

"Eighty percent, maybe more. But it's experimental. And I've learnt that the CEO is not selling. At least, not publicly,"

Ajax's eyes darkened too, "Then we'll give this CEO a reason to,"

The silence stretched before Elliot chuckled like he was unbothered, "So that's why we're playing the partnership card. You think we can somehow...charm it out of them,"

"Charm, manipulate, dominate," Jayden's grin returned, "We'll use everything till one works,"

"There's something...else," Carter added hesitantly.

Damian's gaze snapped at him, "Speak."

"The doctor ran another analysis. The poison's evolving faster than predicted. You've got twelve days left, at most,"

Jayden's smirk faltered and Elliot straightened on the couch, the first flicker of tension breaking through his unbothered facade.

"Unless-" Carter continued.

"Unless we find our mate," Elliott finished for him, "Yeah, we know. Then it resets to thirty," He scoffed, "Great. Buy one, get fifteen days free,"

"We've fucked our way through half the city, and none of them even twitched the bond," Jayden said with a frown.

The shift in the aura of the room was immediately and suffocating as Ajax began walking, hands buried inside his pockets, "It doesn't matter. We'll keep moving till we find her,"

"Assuming we live long enough to," Jayden muttered under his breath.

Elliot snorted, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, "Oh, don't get soft on me now, brother. We've been through worse,"

"Not like this," Jayden shot back. "Not from inside our veins,"

Ajax stopped pacing and turned toward them, his eyes like glaciers, "We all know how it started."

Carter looked uneasy, glancing between them, "The feast," he said quietly.

Jayden gave a harsh humorless laugh, "Yeah. The goddamn celebration feast for our victory over the Ironclaw border dispute. A night meant to honor us," He ran a hand through his hair, "Now I can't even smell roasted venison without thinking of blood,"

"It wasn't the food," Elliot said, "It was the wine. The imported crimson batch from the eastern vineyards. Same one gifted to every guest,"

Ajax's jaw tightened with anger, "Except only ours was poisoned."

The silence that followed was like the calm before a storm.

Ajax leaned back against the edge of a table, voice still controlled but vibrating with threat now, "The toxin wasn't immediate. It was designed to slowly dismantling our wolf DNA while keeping us functional. To everyone else, we looked fine. Strong. Untouchable. But inside..." He gestured vaguely toward his chest, "We are Rotting,"

Carter shifted, then added uneasily, "The labs also confirmed the molecular base matches a venom strain that isn't related to any existing Pack. He suggested it might have hailed from..."

The three brothers exchanged a look, and Jayden's eyes narrowed. "From where?"

"We don't know yet," Carter admitted. "We've been tracing the source, but whoever created it covered their tracks well."

"So we don't know who did it." Ajax's eyes were almost black.

"Not yet."

"And we don't know why."

Elliot leaned back, his earlier amusement completely gone. "Then we find out." He said.

Jayden nodded slowly, his fingers tightening around the cigarette between them, "Whoever made this knew exactly what they were doing."

"The doctor said the poison is rapidly adapting to your immune system," Carter continued. "That kind of biochemical manipulation isn't something feral wolves do. Someone's funding this. Someone smart."

"An underground genius who knows exactly how to kill Alphas. Sounds like a bedtime story," Jayden snorted.

"No," Elliot said with a humourless grin, "It sounds like someone who's been studying us,"

"Then we study them back. We find their chemist, their labs, their allies. We burn it all down,"

Ajax turned toward the city lights spilling in through the tall windows, his reflection like a dark shadow against the golden lights outside. He was a bit calmer now, "But for now, we have to get that antidote from Lunaris Biotech. It won't be easy taking down an unknown enemy when we are weak,"

"First the cure..., then the problem," Elliott said.

"And we are getting that cure...," Ajax's eyes turned crimson for a moment, "No matter what it takes,"