Fated to the Alpha–And His Triplet Brothers

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. NovelFire

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.

in front

see the small silhouette of a child swaddled inside.

turned my

walking forward. Taller than any man I’d ever seen. Not walking gliding. There was no face, only blackness, swirling

hurt. A sharp, aching pulse right over my heart. I couldn’t

baby cried louder, and

Pain.

My entire world cracked in half as the stake drove

And I screamed.

to my chest, and for a terrifying second, I

fingers trembled as they touched the

something. A small mark. Tiny, but

was just a dream. A horrible, twisted dream. That’s

Wasn’t it?

spinning when my

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,

back to the moment. The pain in my chest dulled

Should I tell her?

call me

Not even a shadow remained. My skin was smooth,

Maybe I was crazy.

asked, her eyes

my mouth, but the words wouldn’t come. I just shook my head. No point trying to explain

she said instead, clapping her hands. "Let’s

the good ones, not the nightmare I’d just woken from. A large porcelain tub stood at the center, filled with steaming lavender-scented water and scattered rose petals.

I stared, stunned.

a cracked basin, cold water, and a quick scrub if

is courtesy of Beta Caspian," one of the maids said with a small smile, as though she could read my

it was

I

told the maids to leave. It was too strange having someone else bathe me, and I needed space. Alone with the lavender and the silence, I breathed in deeply and tried to calm the pounding

the time they returned, I’d dried off and was wrapped in a towel. They helped me

I saw