Fated to the Alpha–And His Triplet Brothers

Chapter 7: A Fall before the claim

Hazel’s POV.

I ran.

I ran like my life depended on it because it did. My legs were burning, and my lungs were heaving with every breath I took. Sweat dripped down my forehead and stung my eyes. I didn’t dare stop. Not when the thundering footsteps behind me were getting closer with every second.

"No... no, they can’t catch me...

I can’t die now," I muttered, almost like a chant.

I darted around a corner of the High House, my heart slamming against my chest so loud it was all I could hear. The marble floors under my bare feet were slick, cold, unforgiving. I reached a hallway that led to a massive glass window at the end. The moonlight poured in, soft and silver, but it wasn’t comforting. It was a spotlight and I was the prey.

I yanked on the nearest door handle. Locked. Tried the next one. Also locked. Panic spiked in my chest as my hands scrambled over the last knob. Nothing.

A voice split the silence behind me.

"Hazel!!"

My father’s roar echoed through the hall like thunder, raw and venomous. "I’ll kill you, you bastard!" he screamed.

I froze, eyes darting toward the window. There was no escape that way. We were at least four stories up. And even if I survived the fall, the chaos below wasn’t exactly a pillow landing. The mating games were happening beneath us wolves in partial or full form, ripping and wrestling to claim what’s theirs. Dropping into that would be suicide.

Still, that was the only direction that didn’t end in a blade to my throat.

My heart pounded louder, faster. I clutched my dress tightly, trying to muffle the sound of my panic. But it was useless. With their senses, they’d hear it, smell it..feel it.

"Darling, she’s here!" my stepmother Selene’s shrill voice rang out, slicing through the air like a knife.

And then... they arrived. My father, Selene, and two guards stood at the other end of the hallway. My father held a knife..long, curved, and dripping with past sins.

"No," I whispered, stepping back.

He started walking toward me, slowly, savoring the moment like the sadist he was.

"After all I did to hide your shameful little

step he took crushed what little hope I had left.

back at the

a stupid

Reckless.

Fatal.

it was

I climbed up. My fingers

"You low-life human? Go ahead! Save

beside him. "Such a dramatic end for such a

die like that," I spat. I sighed, Closed my eyes, and then

The ground spun wildly below me, and

Crash.

the ground. Not a person. Something softer,

Trash.

blinked up at the night sky from the confines of

Wait... alive?

out. No blood spurting. Just a dull throb in my head and the horrible

back alley of the High House was dimly lit and strangely quiet. Not many people wandered here, but I could still hear the growls and cries from the

caught me a mere human they wouldn’t hesitate. I was meat to them. A way to power

dumpster, trying to ignore the fact that my hair now smelled like week-old chicken. I didn’t get far before I collided

"Ah!"

face in front of

Natasha.

Of all the people.

"You?!" she screeched. Her disappointment was thick in the air. She probably thought I was one of the Salvatore brothers her possible

no. Just

She grabbed my wrist.

"There you are—"