Chapter 3

Callum was the first out and his angry shout brought our attention as he stood there naked "Our clothes have gone" he shouted to us.I groaned and left the water, Ronan by my side, Callum was right all our clothes had disappeared "who would have taken them, anyone passing here would have know who we are and left them there" Callum grumbled looking around."Look" Ronan points to the trees and I can see a t shirt hanging in the tree, we carefully rush over, finding every stone and hard bump on the ground with our bare feet.

Looking up all our clothes were in the tree above our heads, someone was playing with us."Lila!" growled Callum "it's got to be her, who else would do this to us?""Why would she, she doesn't know us" Ronan argued back but I agreed with Callum, and looking down, there in the dirt at the base of the tree was a tiny footprint "its her, look" I pointed it out to them."This means war" Callum growled starting to carefully climb the tree to retrieve our clothes, dropping ours down to us, so we could all get dressed.Once dressed I led the way to the cottage, our anger simmering at being caught out like that, but only Mrs. Holloway was home, smiling as she cheerfully gave us lemonade and told us about Lila's art project, unaware that she was giving us ammunition to get revenge.Watch out pixie we will get our own back.

*

Seraphina

The contest between the boys and I had been all summer long, I had pranked them and they had got me back, I had been trapped in a tree, pushed in the lake, locked in a barn, found kiddy wheels on my bike, and much more in retaliation for my pranks on them, the latest I knew would be driving Ronan mad, I had hacked his phone and had set it to chirp loudly every hour, I could see them laughing as I stood with his sisters at his brothers wedding to Lila.

Over the summer I had grown to love the estate and the family who owned it were as welcoming as they were unconventional, Three husbands and one wife as the head of the family and now the oldest triplets were marrying their fiancée Lila. The triplet Ashford sisters had welcomed me and had become good friends and were great allies in my prank war with their brothers.

I was constantly amazed by Miss Isla, she was small like me but had had three sets of triplets and was married to three men and still seemed sane.I heard the demented chirp again and looked at the boys again. Piper saw where I was looking "what did you do this time?" she asked watching her brothers, "nothing much" I said laughing at them. "Oh shit, here they come, bye" I laugh to the others, rushing away from them but they had me trapped, and soon I was surrounded by three large males."Make it stop" Ronan demands thrusting the phone at me.I grin up at him, my tiny frame a good foot smaller than his and his brothers "make what stop, I don't know what you are talking about" I lie."Seraphina!" Ronan growls moving closer, I step back into Callum and gasp as his hands rest on my shoulders, holding me trapped against him, my gasp making Miss Isla's eyes look our way, but she only grins at us.

Ronan holds his phone out to me silently and I take it, my fingers racing over the key pad before handing it back, then I am twisting out of Callums hands and racing away as they all watch me go.My stomach is in knots, and I sink down the bench hidden in the arbor, far enough form prying eyes to think about how I felt when Callum held me and they all surrounded me.

I shivered, I was sixteen and knew what I was feeling was attraction to Callum and maybe if it was just him, I could relax and see if it went anywhere, but it wasn't, I knew I liked all of them and that could only lead to bad decisions and heartache for me. School was starting soon and although we were going to the same college, we would be apart and at opposite ends of the campus for all our courses, I could avoid them, I could find friends and build myself a social life of my own and in time I wouldn't feel this pull to them.

Callum

I watched her race across the common room to her group of nerdy friends and growled to myself, as one of the guys pulled her in for a hug, making her laugh.

My fists clenched and I knew I should get out of there but I couldn't tear my eyes away from her.

I knew the moment she felt my stare, her whole body stiffened and went on alert, her eyes scanning the room till they locked with mine, holding her captive as she blushed red.

The connection was cut off by her friends moving in around her and I felt the loss, for two years she had been under my skin, mine and my brothers.

After the first summer of pranks and seeing her up close, she had retreated and avoided us, College had started and we had all thrown ourselves into our new courses, but she had not left our thoughts.

Two bags hitting the table beside me heralded the arrival of my brothers and they too followed my gaze to the group Lila was in the centre of.

"Shit, what's she doing with him?" Elias growled as Lila was once again drawn into a hug, seeming to be comfortable as he tucked her into his side.

"Fuck, let's get out of here, I can't watch this" Ronan pushed back and started for the door and with one last look at Lila we followed him.

Ronan was pacing by our car when we reached him and I could feel the tension in the air "fuck, fuck" he muttered as he prowled, his gaze flicking back the way we had come.

I watched him wondering when he would explode, we were all on edge, had been for the last three weeks since our birthday.

Mom had organised a evening party and invited everyone, including Lila in the earlier family part of the day, as she and Mom had been spending a lot of time together recently and we had watched her with our sisters and nephews and when she had gone home to change for the evening before returning in a figure hugging dress we had all realised we missed her when she wasn't near us.

We had tried to talk to her but she had avoided us or latched onto Mom or our sisters to avoid be alone with us, so our eyes had tracked her, as she had danced and moved around the room, her dress showing us every curve and heating our thoughts, teasing us.

I thought back to how that first summer had been, the pranks and laughter and wondered for the hundredth time why it changed, why she had retreated, had we frightened her?

"We need a plan" Elias said watching Ronan.

"To do what?' I asked leaning against the car next to him.

"We all want her, but do we want what the dads and Mom have?" he replied causing Ronan to stop and stare at him.

"And would she want all of us?" he finished.

"She hates us, she runs when she sees us coming, it doesn't matter what we want if she's not interested" I reply turning to face Elias, who shakes his head at me.

"You're wrong, she cares, if she didn't then she wouldn't be so evasive, we all know she can stick up for herself, we've all seen her chase away bullies and deal with anyone she wants to... except us, she hides from us, all of us" he explains and I think about his statement, he's right.

Ronan joins us "Okay, say you're right, what can we do about it, she's off to Uni at the end of the summer and so are we, but not together"

"We have the summer to show her we are interested, our brothers waited for Lila to finish Uni before they claimed her, we can do the same with Lila" Elias explained.

"And how do we stop someone else taking her when she's away from us" Ronan questioned and Elias smiled evilly "leave that to me, I have a few ideas".

"like wh...?" I started to ask but the sound of her laugh stopped me as she and her friends came out into the car park.

Her laugh died when she saw us all standing watching, her blush returning before she caught herself and muttered something to the guy next to her, his gaze found us before he pulled her into his arms, a smirk turning to a full grin on his face as he watched us stiffen, before leading her away to his car.

"Who the fuck is he?" Elias grated.

"Jasper Hartwell, he's on her photography course, his dad owns a couple of art galleries" I told them watching them leave.

"What do we know about him, are they together?" Ronan asked and I shook my head "I don't think so, and about him, nothing yet but we can soon find out, I'm helping Zane in the office tomorrow, so I can use our systems to check him out"

"Maybe we should talk to Zane about what they did with Lila, I have a feeling we are going to need all the help we can get" Elias suggested and I agreed.