Fated to the Alpha–And His Triplet Brothers novel Chapter 21

Chapter 21: The Dream and the Dress

~Hazel’s POV~

"Come here..."

A voice rasped after me, low and twisted like something crawling up from beneath the earth.

I ran.

Faster than I ever had before, legs screaming, lungs burning, heart thudding loud in my ears. The air was thick and heavy I couldn’t tell if it was night or if darkness itself had swallowed me whole. I just knew I had to keep running.

I didn’t know where I was.

All I knew was that the voice guttural, broken, inhuman was behind me. Chasing.

My bare feet slapped against cold, damp earth. Tree branches scratched at my arms like fingers trying to pull me back. The scent of decay curled in my nose—wet leaves, moss, something else. Something rotting.

Then my ear caught a noise.

A cry.

A baby’s cry.

High-pitched, fragile... coming from the woods up ahead.

I faltered, breath hitching. My mind screamed at me to run the other way, but my feet turned toward the sound.

I was in a forest. But how? How did I leave Father’s house? I didn’t remember walking out the door. Didn’t remember anything at all.

Not that Father’s house wasn’t its own personal hell, but still... this place was different. Wilder. More dangerous.

I ran toward the baby’s cry, drawn by something I couldn’t explain. The shadow behind me was gaining. I could feel it. I didn’t look back.

"You’re an abomination," the voice hissed again, jagged and seething. "You are bringing more abomination. You’re destroying the balance of nature. You need to be taken down."

Abomination? What did that even mean? I was just... me. Ordinary. Forgotten. The rejected human girl in a cursed household.

How was I suddenly some kind of threat?

My thoughts were spinning, heart thundering as I pushed through thorned bushes and crooked trees. Then, suddenly I tripped.

I fell.

Right in front of a basket.

The baby’s cries pierced the silence, trembling and desperate. In the dimness, I could see the small silhouette of a child swaddled inside. My hand reached out instinctively—but a shadow loomed behind me.

I turned my head slowly.

A dark figure was walking forward. Taller than any man I’d ever seen. Not walking gliding. There was no face, only blackness, swirling and alive. In its hand, A stake. Sharpened and glinting. Like it had been waiting just for me.

My chest hurt. A sharp, aching pulse right over my heart. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t scream.

The baby cried louder, and then

Pain.

White-hot. Piercing. My entire world cracked in half as the stake drove through my heart.

And I screamed.

I jolted upright in bed, a strangled cry ripping from my throat. My hand flew to my chest, and for a terrifying second, I was sure the stake was still there. I could feel the throbbing ache deep in my sternum.

My fingers trembled as they touched the spot. I gasped.

There was... something. A small mark. Tiny, but there.

How? It was just a dream. A horrible, twisted dream. That’s all.

Wasn’t it?

My head was spinning when my door burst open.

"Happy wedding day!" Ariel’s voice chirped, far too cheerful for how haunted I felt. She shoved past the cluster of maids holding baskets of beauty creams, silks, perfumes, towels, and brushes. Ariel leapt on the bed and hugged me tightly. I blinked, still dazed.

The warmth of her arms around me helped anchor me back to the moment. The pain in my chest dulled slightly.

Should I tell her?

Maybe I was crazy.

Of course it was Caspian. Who else?

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