Page 88 of Stalked By the Alphas
We’ve left you alone, but we will be close by. Always.
The words send a chill down my spine. Is that meant to be comforting or threatening? Aftereverything that’s happened, I’m not sure I can tell the difference anymore.
I groan and drop my head into my hands. Why can’t I just hate them and be done with it? Why does a part of me still care?
A soft knock at the door startles me. “Hazel?” Delia calls. “There’s someone here to see you.”
My heart leaps into my throat. Have they come here? After promising to leave me alone?
“They said they ordered a book online.”
“Oh, okay,” I say. The disappointment that hits me is harder than the relief.Why am I so fucked up?“I’ll be out in a minute.”
Inhaling deeply, I pull myself together. The alphas and their shit have a place, and it isn’t here at my place of business. They can wait. My livelihood can’t.
51
ZACH
I stare blanklyout the window of Carter’s SUV as we drive away from Hazel’s village. Her final words echo in my mind.You don’t even understand what you took from me.
The pain in her voice, the disgust in her eyes - it’s almost more than I can bear. I close my eyes, clenching my fists in my lap as I try to keep myself together. But I can feel myself unravelling, spiralling back down into that dark place I was in on the bridge last night.
“Zach?” Noah’s gentle voice breaks through the fog in my mind. “How are you doing?”
I laugh bitterly. “How do you think I’m doing? The woman we love hates us, and she has every right to.”
Carter’s hands tighten on the steering wheel. “We knew this was a possibility when we decided to come clean.”
“Knowing it and experiencing it are two very different things,” I snap.
Noah places a calming hand on my arm. “I know it hurts, but we have to respect her wishes. We owe her that much.”
I nod stiffly, knowing he’s right but hating it all the same. The urge to go back, to beg Hazel for forgiveness, to explain ourselves better, is almost overwhelming. But we’ve done enough damage.
“What do you think she meant by you don’t even understand what you took from me?” I ask quietly, trying to focus on the words, the meaning behind it.
Silence.
I turn to face Noah, who is looking out of the window, clearly avoiding my stare. “What do you know?”
“Nothing. Iknownothing. I have speculations, and they are… not good.”
“Spit it out,” Carter growls from the front as he pulls up in the car park of the hotel a few miles from the village. We can still be close to Hazel but not in her face.
“I think… we… did something really bad,” he says slowly. “I think that she hasn’t had sex with anyone since her abuse.”
My breath catches in my throat, and I choke back the sob of utter misery that floods over me, making me wish I was still on that railing so I could end my worthless life once and for all.
“No,” Carter says, shaking his head. “No.”
“No?” Noah counters. “I think, yes.”
“He’s right,” I croak. The realisation of what we’ve done hits me like a tidal wave of anguish andtorment. I feel sick to my stomach, bile rising in my throat.
“Oh God,” Carter whispers, his face pale. “We... we were her first...”
“And we took that from her,” I finish, my voice breaking. “Without her even knowing it was real.”
