Page 85 of Stalked By the Alphas
Carter approaches cautiously. “Thank you,” he says quietly. “For coming. For talking to him.”
“Shut the fuck up. You don’t get to say anything to me,” I snarl and storm off back to the car. But I don’t want to get back in an enclosed space with them right now. I can’t. So I start walking.
And they let me go.
49
HAZEL
The night airis sticky and warm against my skin as I walk away from the bridge.
And then, I immediately regret it.
My heart rate kicks up a notch, and my breathing becomes heavier. My skin prickles, and I can feel someone watching me. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and I muffle a whimper behind my hand that I clap over my mouth.
This was a bad idea.
It’s a really stupid idea.
After being stalked and abducted and assaulted, why am I being an idiot and walking back to my house in the middle of the night? Anyone could be out here. I drop my hand and chew my bottom lip, looking back over my shoulder.
Am I really that stubborn?
With a huff, I realise, I am. I won’t go back to Carterand ask him for a ride. He can fuck off until he can’t fuck off no more.
My anger gets me moving again as I remember the confessions.
The sex… fuck. I close my eyes for a second and then force myself to open them. I can’t think about it. I can’t think about how amazing it felt to have a knot inside me, easing my heat. They can justify that I said I consented all they like, but it wasn’t really a consent. I thought they were a dream. I remember saying yes. I do, but that’s not the point. I didn’t know they were real. Did I? Somewhere deep down, I must’ve known it was real, I must’ve caught their scents and known it wasn’t just a figment of my imagination, but I was being blind and naïve. I know what it’s like to be in the throes of delirium, and you don’t know which way is up and which way is down. What they did was wrong, pure and simple. They violated me.
And I hate that.
I had sex for the first time in my adult life, and I didn’t even know it was real. That’s the part that really makes me angry. Yes, the breaking into my house is truly awful and taking advantage of me is unforgivable, but the part that really twists the screw is the sex.
The sound of a car engine approaching jolts me out of my spiralling thoughts. I tense, ready to bolt, but then I recognise Carter’s SUV. It pulls up beside me, and the passenger window slides down.
“Hazel, please get in the car,” Carter says from thedriver’s seat. “It’s not safe for you to be walking alone at night.”
Part of me wants to tell him to fuck off, that I don’t need their protection and that I don’t want to be anywhere near them. But the rational part of my brain knows he’s right. I shouldn’t cut my nose off to spite my face. With a frustrated sigh, I yank open the passenger door and climb in.
Zach and Noah are in the back. Zach has his eyes closed, his fists clenched in his lap. He looks like he is hanging by a thread. Noah looks like he would crack if someone said boo too loudly.
“We’ll take you home,” Carter says quietly as he pulls away from the kerb. “And then you never have to see us again.”
I nod stiffly, staring out the window. The silence stretches thick and uncomfortable.
“Hazel, I—” Carter starts.
“Don’t,” I snap. “I don’t want to hear it right now.”
He falls silent. I can feel Noah’s eyes on me, but I refuse to look at him.
When we finally pull up in front of my house, I’m out of the car before it fully stops. But something makes me pause before I slam the door shut.
“I’m glad you came for me tonight, but I never want to see any of you again.”
“We’re sorry,” Noah says. “Know that.”
I shake my head with a bitter laugh. “It makes no difference. You don’t even understand what you took from me.”
