Fated to the Alpha–And His Triplet Brothers

Chapter 14: The Rejection of the Alpha

~Hazel’s POV~

I wasn’t ready for what I saw.

The door creaked open just slightly but enough to unveil the unholy sight that slammed against my chest like a hammer to glass. There he was. My mate. The Alpha. The man I had walked miles barefoot and escaped my father’s mansion, tangled in sheets with my step-sister, Natasha, draped across him like she belonged.

And for a moment, I forgot why I came.

My breath caught so violently it hurt. My heart... it stung. Like a blade slid right between my ribs and twisted slowly. For a reason I didn’t understand, I wanted to scream. Not because I was surprised—no. I knew who he was. I knew who she was. But the ache came anyway. That disgusting, hollow ache that curled around my lungs and squeezed.

Natasha’s laugh snapped through the tension. Sharp. Poisoned. "And what are the ruins of the litter doing here?" she sneered, curling the sheet tighter around herself like she needed to protect something.

I didn’t flinch.

My fists clenched by my sides, nails cutting into my palm but my face remained still. If she thought words could bruise me, she hadn’t met the version of me that survived last night. I didn’t run out of the servant quarters and scale the side of the eastern wall for nothing. Ariel and I hadn’t risked our lives slipping past the guards and their scent markers just for me to turn back now. No.

I was here for business.

I didn’t care how warm their bed was or how damp the room smelled of lust. I came to reject him. To look into the eyes of the one who discarded me like trash... and throw him away, too.

The second Natasha left huffing, swaying her hips in that performative way of hers. I straightened my spine.

This was my moment. And I would not waste it. NovelFire

But then he moved.

"You must be brave," Cayden drawled, his voice lazy and amused, "to enter this place... alone."

And then he rose from the bed.

Naked. Completely. Naked.

Oh, moon goddess.

rose slowly, Slick and glistening, as if kissed by firelight—a black tattoo crawling from beneath his collarbone, coiling around his ribs like a serpent guarding secrets, then vanishing deep into the V of his abs. His long black hair clung to his face, damp and wild, framing eyes that burned like ruin. He looked like sin—a fallen god draped in darkness, wearing nothing

like a hummingbird caught in a cage. I forgot how to breathe. I forgot how to stand. My knees buckled slightly, but I locked them, refusing to give him

He was massive

then—my eyes dipped

I gasped.

He was hard. Already.

His body responded to me like I was still his. Like I

a step

hit the cold stone

nowhere left to

predator scenting blood. My insides were turning, and I

forward, so close I could feel the heat off his body. His full face right in front of me, Thick eyelashes, Full brow,

snapped me out

cheeks flamed with heat. My pride

as hard as

reject you," I

out. I didn’t open my eyes after I said it. I couldn’t. Not yet. I felt his

And then..

say?" he asked, voice dipped

I opened my eyes.

They had turned more red. Glowing.

didn’t shrink. Not this

closer, "I reject you. I will never be the Alpha’s discarded mate. I refuse to carry that title. You, Cayden Salvatore,

His breath hitched.

the war behind his eyes. His