Fated to the Alpha–And His Triplet Brothers

Chapter 79: She’s awake!

**~ Hazel’s POV ~**

"Is she awake?"

"Hazel...?"

Voices. Familiar ones..muffled, cracking through the pounding in my skull like the aftermath of an explosion. Aurora’s silhouette hovered beside me, her hand carefully tipping a spoon toward my lips, whispering something I couldn’t quite catch.

Caspian’s hands were wrapped around mine, thumbs tracing soothing circles over my knuckles like he was holding onto a lifeline. Or maybe I was his.

My head throbbed. My chest ached.

My breath hitched, and my fingers trembled. I felt it. That pain. That... weight. The cold grip in my chest had loosened.

Wait...was that an emotion?

Did it come back?

Caspian’s grip on my hand tightened as his gaze met mine and his eyes shimmered. No, more than shimmered. They glowed with tears that clung to the corners, refusing to fall, but threatening with every breath.

"Oh my god," he whispered, a desperate grin cracking through his stunned face. "Hazel... it’s you. You’re back. It worked!"

Before I could even process it, he pulled me into his arms like he never wanted to let go again. His hold was warm, trembling, frantic.

Aurora exhaled a breath she must’ve been holding for days. Her shoulders dropped, eyes fluttering closed as if the entire war she’d been carrying eased in one moment.

And then everything came crashing back.

Like a tidal wave slamming into my soul.

The pain.

The sorrow.

The screams.

The bodies.

The blood.

The hurtful things they said.

The hurtful things I said.

The people I killed

It all came flooding back and it hurt. Oh god, it hurt so much. My chest heaved. My lungs burned. And then I whispered

Caspian’s name.

"Caspian," I choked, tears now freely falling. "I’m a monster."

pulled back, cupping my cheeks, eyes wide with fierce denial. "No. No,

I did those things! I let it take over..I hurt people—I.." my voice broke, breath hitched, and

need to

"Hazel... what are you

he hurt me. But they don’t know. He didn’t. My mother wiped his memory. But before she did... he loved me. Even if

Panic was crawling

My breath hitched. "I

his head gently, his hand reaching

wake up

held on to

he added, quieter this time, "As for

to ask. My

still he didn’t say a word. But he

He was the one who killed my father. Killing my father is still

But Ariel?

"No," I

tried to reach for me again, but I

in two steps and grabbed

face. "Why did you

He didn’t

even there. I slapped him hard. My hand stung from the force of

nothing. No expression. No guilt. No

I yelled. "She was a child! She didn’t even get to live! Why are you such a

word echoed

Monster.

out loud. And

I stumbled back.

Monster.

now. Bitter. Because

were just doing their jobs, trying

to my knees,

a monster," I whispered. "I’m also a

me again, but I

Cayden

a monster. All your life, Hazel. But now you know what it feels like. When your actions don’t feel like yours. When you can’t stop it, even though you want to. When you live with

looked up at him through blurry

without acting. When you carry the pain and the shame and can do nothing

me, and I couldn’t read him. Not anger. Not pain. Just...

from the pain. But me? I’ve always been awake. I’ve always remembered. I’ve always had to live with the

his

find the babies. And we need to alert the

with that, he walked out—leaving

words didn’t. They

sat there, frozen, replaying every syllable. Every

wrong about him

a monster that I never saw the war

Caspian’s arm gently and whispered something to him but it wasn’t really a whisper to me. It

privacy to breathe and sink into everything. She’s going through too much right now. She’s a paranoid mother who hasn’t even held her own babies..hasn’t fed

He didn’t want to leave—his whole body screamed to stay. But Aurora tugged at him again.