Page 79 of Stalked By the Alphas
“I’m not talking about forcing anything,” I snap. “But we can’t just give up either. We need to find a way to make her understand.”
“Understand what?” Carter asks bitterly. “That we’ve been controlling her life for years? That we broke into her house during her heat?”
I flinch at the reminder. That particular decision weighs heavily on all of us now after what we saw in the school cellar.
“We did it to protect her,” I argue weakly. “To keep her safe for us.”
“Did we?” Noah asks quietly. “Or did we do it for ourselves?”
His words hang in the air like a noxious gas. We all fall silent, grappling with our decisions.
Finally, Carter speaks up. “We need to take a step back. Give Hazel space, like we said. But we also need to take a hard look at ourselves and our motivations.”
I nod reluctantly. As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right.
“So what now?” I ask.
“Now, we wait,” Noah says. “And we hope that Hazel will give us a chance to explain everything properly. In the meantime, we need to respect her boundaries.”
“And if she never wants to see us again?” I press.
Carter’s jaw clenches. “We’ve done enough damage. If Hazel decides she wants nothing to do with us, we have to accept that.”
I open my mouth to argue, but Noah cuts me off. “He’s right, Zach. We can’t keep pushing. That’s what got us into this mess in the first place.”
I clench my fists, frustration and anger warring inside me. Part of me wants to storm over to Hazel’s house right now and make her listen. But I know that would only make things worse.
“Fine,” I growl. “But I’m not giving up on her. On us.”
Carter sighs. “None of us are. But we need to do this the right way this time. No more manipulation. No more lies.”
Deep down, I know we’ve ruined any chance we had with Hazel. The thought makes my chest ache.
“I need some air,” I mutter, heading for the door. Neither Carter nor Noah try to stop me as I leave.
Outside, I take deep breaths of the warm night air, trying to calm the storm of emotions inside me. I want to go to Hazel’s house, but the thought of what will greet me when I get there rips my soul into tiny pieces. Instead, I get in my car, and I drive. I keep going until I see the bridge that passes over the motorway. Parking up, I start walking. This isn’t the life I want to live. It never was. My fucked up brain, my shredded soul, has ruined whatever future I could’ve had. Walking up the footpath to the bridge, I only stop when I get to the middle. I stare down at the traffic passing, the headlights bright in the dark. The noise as the cars and trucks go past is just white noise compared to the roaring of the blood in my ears. Taking a deep breath, I haul myself onto the railing, and I sit, my legs hanging over the side, staring down until I feel nothing but numb.
47
NOAH
The tensionin the room is stifling after Zach storms out. Carter and I exchange worried glances, both of us unsure how to proceed. We know Zach’s temper and his impulsiveness. There’s no telling what he might do in this state. Hell, in two seconds, he could turn around and walk back in for all we know.
“Should we go after him?” I ask, already moving towards the door, not willing to take the chance.
Carter shakes his head. “No. He needs time to cool off. We all do.”
I nod reluctantly, sinking back onto the couch. The silence stretches between us, heavy with unspoken thoughts and regrets.
“We really fucked up,” I say quietly, voicing what we’re both thinking.
Carter runs a hand over his face, looking more exhausted than I’ve ever seen him. “Yeah. We did.”
“How did we let it get this far?” I wonder aloud. “When did we cross the line from protection to... this?”
Carter’s laugh is hollow. “I think we crossed that line a long time ago, Noah. We were just too blind to see it.”
The truth of his words hits me hard. We’ve been so focused on our end goal, on having Hazel, that we lost sight of everything else. Including her feelings, her autonomy.
