*~Hazel’s POV~*
I walked toward the fire, my heart hammering in my chest.
The moment Cyrius saw me, he shot to his feet and ran. He pulled me into a deep, trembling hug, holding me like I was air and he hadn’t breathed in centuries.
He kissed my forehead, his breath warm against my skin.
"What?" he whispered, stepping back, eyes wide. "How? What are you doing here? How are you here?"
Before I could respond, Caspian and Cayden rushed over, surrounding me. All three of them stared at me like I was a ghost.
"How did you get here?" Caspian asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"It was a spell," I said. "Lilith cast it. She found the spell and performed it on me."
"Lilith?" Cayden echoed, stunned.
"Yes. She said this was where you were. I don’t know how she knew, but she said your bodies were dead—your souls stuck in the afterlife. I... I don’t understand the details, but she said you can be revived."
I turned in a slow circle, gesturing around the dreamlike wasteland. "This place—this isn’t the end. You don’t belong here. She sent me to bring you back."
I looked at them, my voice cracking. "Your mother and father are waiting. The pack is waiting. I am waiting. This time, they don’t want just one of their children. Or two. They want all three of you back. I want all three of you back."
The triplets turned to each other in silence. Caspian gave his brothers a nod before slowly stepping forward. He walked to me and gently wrapped his arms around me, resting his forehead against mine.
Then he kissed my cheek.
"We’re not going back."
My heart stopped.
"What?" I pulled away, blinking hard. "What do you mean you’re not going back?"
Caspian opened his mouth, but Cayden stepped in, placing a hand on my arm, gently signaling me to listen.
"What he means," Cayden said solemnly, "is... we’ve made a decision."
Caspian looked me dead in the eye. "Nature has demanded a sacrifice. Either it takes you and your babies... or it takes all supernatural creatures. That’s the price."
"No..." I whispered, shaking my head.
"But since we are Alpha Triplets," Caspian continued, "our bond is powerful enough to satisfy nature. It won’t take anyone else..if it takes us."
"No. No, you can’t be serious." My voice cracked, barely able to hold itself up. "You’re sacrificing yourselves... for me?"
"For you," Cayden said, stepping forward now. "For the babies. For the packs. For everyone."
Cyrius swallowed hard. "You don’t know how many times we’ve hurt you, Hazel. You don’t know how often you’ve cried for us. How many times we weren’t there to protect you?"
"You were there," I choked. "You are here. We can fix it. We can still fix all of this—together." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
But Cayden shook his head. "We’re fixing it the only way we can now."

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Fated to the Alpha–And His Triplet Brothers