Mated to the Triplet Alphas-Chapter 29: Secrets Unfold

“Y-You do?” I spat incredulously. “How long have you known?”

He couldn’t meet my eyes. He sighed. “I found out a few months ago before our birthday. I found out totally by accident. I’m sorry for not telling you earlier, Hazel.”

I could only stare at him in shock. “I can’t believe this,” I muttered. “You knew! You, of all people, knew how much it affected me. How much it bothered me!”

He looked pained. “I’m sorry, Hazel.”

I took a deep breath. “Let me ask you this. If I didn’t ask, would you have ever thought of telling me?” I asked.

He went silent. He looked away, avoiding my eyes. And that’s when I knew. He would never have told me. His betrayal rang in my head like an alarm.

“Hazel, can I just—” he started to say.

I cut him off. “Who else knows?” I demanded.

“Hazel...” he muttered, wincing.

“I asked you a question. Answer me. Who else knows?” I repeated sharply.

“I don’t think it’s my place to—”

I gave him a sharp look. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Lucas knows,” he finally sighed.

My heart shattered. So they’d both known all along and didn’t tell me. They’d watched me flounder around and struggle and yet kept the answers that could give me peace to themselves.

Liam reached for me. I backed away, raising my hand warningly. He took the hint. His hand froze in the air and then dropped back to his side.

A look of pain entered his eyes but I didn’t care. He was the one who’d betrayed my trust. I was the one who had the right to feel hurt.

“What do you want to know?” He asked quietly.

“Everything,” I said flatly.

He nodded. “Once again, let me just preface this by saying that I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you this sooner. I guess I just didn’t know how to bring it up.”

My eyes narrowed to slits. My lips turned down in a frown. I wasn’t buying it. All I heard were excuses.

He sighed. “Okay, this is what I found out. Before my mother found her mate, she was dating someone else,” he started.

I frowned deeply. “Why are you telling me all that? I’m not interested in your mother’s love life!”

“Patience, Hazel,” he said. “You’ll soon see why it’s important to start there. They were very much in love with each other. I’m sure they even planned to get married—until he found his mate.”

I rolled my eyes, completely uninterested. It happened all the time between wolves. The mate bond superseded all other romantic relationships. It wasn’t a big deal.

“To my mother, it was a big deal,” he clarified as if reading my mind. “She was heartbroken when they broke things off. She was devastated by what she considered to be his ‘betrayal’. Even when she found her mate and married him, she never completely got over him. She was still bitter.”

Even though I started to find myself intrigued by this story, I knew I needed actual answers. I folded my hands and raised a brow. “So what does all that have to do with me?”

He paused and stared at the ground as if silently considering his next words. Finally, he looked up and met my eyes. “Hazel...that man my mother dated before meeting my father was David Bailey.”

The name rang in my head. I gasped. “D-David Bailey?”

He nodded. “Yes, Hazel. Your father. Your father was my mother’s first love.”

I stumbled backward. He caught my arm to keep me from collapsing. I pushed his hand away from me, choosing to hold the island instead. He looked hurt. I didn’t care.

“My f-father,” I muttered. Try as I might, I couldn’t remember much about him at all. To find out now that he was with someone like Luna Evelyn...I didn’t know what to think or how to react.

“Are you okay, Hazel? Do you need a glass of water?” He asked.

I shook my head. “No, I’m fine,” I said. “So is that how this debt that he owes her came about? Was it during their relationship?” I asked.

He suddenly looked uncomfortable.

“What is it?” I asked, my stomach sinking already. Whatever was coming next, I was not going to like it.

“Actually, Hazel...there was never any debt to begin with,” he muttered so low, I barely picked up the words.

I gasped. “I-I don’t—W-What do you—That is impossible,” I sputtered.

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Hazel, but the debt was just a cover.”

You know how they say your life can flash before your eyes in a second? At that moment, it did. All the years that I’d spent groveling and slaving away to pay my parents’ debt came racing through my mind.

Was he telling me now that I never actually needed to do any of that in the first place? That all my suffering was for nothing?

The only thing that made me hold on through those years was the thought that I was somehow protecting my parent’s legacy. At least if I could do this for them...then I could protect their memory.

That was all a lie?

It felt like my world had shattered right before my eyes. Could anything ever be the same anymore?

“Hazel, you look pale. I think you need to sit down,” Liam said worriedly.

I shook my head firmly even though I had to hold onto the island just to keep myself upright. “I want to hear everything,” I whispered.

He looked concerned but must have seen the resolute look in my eyes because he finally nodded.

“One day, you just showed up on our doorstep as a toddler. In your hand, you were clutching an envelope addressed to my mother from your father. The letter asked her to take care of you because there were some powerful and dangerous enemies after him and your mother,” he said.

It was all starting to sound like an action movie. I didn’t know if I could believe it. But his eyes said that he was telling the truth.

“They wanted to keep you safe, Hazel. And the only way he knew how was to send you into our pack, under my mother’s wing where nobody could hurt you,” he said.

I scoffed. “Nothing but her,” I countered.

He winced. “He probably knew that she would be mean to you but he also knew that she would keep you safe because of the love that was once between them.”

“He threw me into the lion’s den,” I whispered, seeing my father in a new light from that moment. The grand pictures of him I’d built up in my mind came crashing down now.

“He didn’t have a choice, Hazel,” Liam said quickly. “Your father and mother were into some illegal activities with gang ties. Apparently, things went south and they incurred some powerful enemies. They would have killed you. They knew they needed to hide you in the last place anyone would ever think to check—in the house of his ex-girlfriend.”

I couldn’t argue with that. It sounded like a good plan even if it annoyed me to the high heavens.

“My mother may have been bitter towards your dad but she still had a soft spot for him in her heart. He knew she would protect you from his enemies no matter what. My parents often argue over your place in the pack. I can’t imagine it’s easy for my father to see his mate’s ex’s child in his house. But my mother always insisted that you stay with us despite my father’s reluctance.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t take that information just yet. It was one thing to learn that the debt was fake. It was another thing to have Liam trying to humanize Luna Evelyn to me.

My head was spinning. It was too much to take in at once. I opened my mouth to speak but words failed me. I suddenly felt so weak, like I’d just run a marathon. My knees started to give out which made me stumble back a few steps.

“No, wait, Hazel! Don’t leave yet. Let’s talk about this,” Liam cried.

I heaved heavily, shaking my head.

“Don’t touch me,” I hissed, trying to calm down my breathing.

Seeing me move further away, Liam’s hand thrust out towards me.

At that moment, he forgot his strength. His hand slammed into my chest, pushing me backward rather than drawing me closer.

I fell in slow motion. My head slammed into the edge of the island. Pain exploded in my head, causing me to wince and cry out. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

“Shit. Hazel—”

Before Liam could touch me again, someone stood in between us, his arms cradling me tightly and protectively before I could fully crash to the floor.

“Don’t touch her!”