Mated to the Triplet Alphas-Chapter 9: I Am Nothing

"How dare you! How dare you make light of my debt," I shouted. I suddenly found myself on my feet, balancing on the bed. I glared at Levi.

He jumped up too. "What are you so mad about? All I’m saying is that—"

"Do you know how many years of my life have already been wasted due to debt? It may be nothing to you but debt has been everything to me! When I wake up before the crack of dawn, when I wash the floors, when I sleep in a tiny room, when I’m flogged for the smallest mistake, I remember that debt because it has been my entire life."

Lucas and Liam turned their faces away from me, looking embarrassed.

"Not all of us are as privileged as you in life. You’ve never had to worry about money all your life! You can never understand my struggles!" I snapped.

Levi opened his mouth to answer me again but Lucas cut him off quickly. "Levi..." he said in a low, warning tone. "I think you need to stop talking now."

Liam grabbed my hand, trying to pull me back down. "Hazel, please, calm down."

I yanked my hand out of his grasp. "Don’t tell me to calm down!" I snapped, still fuming.

"Okay, I’m sorry. I won’t say that but I don’t want you to misunderstand what Levi is saying. He is just trying to say that we can help you pay off your debt. That’s all," he said soothingly.

I scoffed. "I have worked in your house as a maid for a decade. It never once occurred to you and your family that the money I owed was insignificant. It never occurred to you that it wouldn’t cost you anything to wipe it clean and let a young girl have a chance at life. But now you want to pay it off? It’s too late now."

"Is it so bad that we want to help you now? Or is it your pride getting in the way," Levi spoke up again.

I went silent, staring at him in shock. "Did you...did you just say pride? Look around you, Levi. What do I have to be proud of exactly? I have nothing. I am nothing. You and your family made sure of that."

Liam winced at my words. "Hazel, you’re not nothing."

I laughed scathingly. "Yes, I am. You knew the truth before too and that is why you treated me like trash. You’re just blinded by the mate bond now."

"That’s not true!" Lucas exclaimed, reaching for me again. "We were just assholes, that’s all. You’re not nothing."

"Don’t sweet talk me!" I cried, backing away from him. I felt like clawing my eyes out in pain. I couldn’t breathe. I needed to get away from them for a second. "I need some space. Don’t follow me!" I declared and bolted out of the room before they could stop me.

Tears streamed down my face, blinding me as I ran but I just kept going. I ran until my chest hurt and my legs felt like lead. I ran until I tripped over something hard and crashed into the floor.

Through tear-filled eyes, I looked back to see what tripped me up. It was a tree root. I looked around and realized that I’d run into the woods behind the Emberfang Packhouse unconsciously. It was the one place where I got to be alone and think.

Making my way to my favorite tree, I sat under it and rested my back on the trunk. A lot of thoughts ran through my mind. What was this situation I’d gotten myself into with the triplets?

No matter how much they denied it, the truth was that we had zero things in common. If they were the sun in the sky, I was a grain of sand on the ground. As if that wasn’t enough, the wedge between us was even wider due to their past treatment of me.

It made no sense to get attached to my own bullies. It would make me as dense as those girls who got Stockholm syndrome in the novels I hid to read in my room. I always rolled my eyes at them but now I was in the same boat.

A twig snapped in the distance. I jumped to my feet, alarmed. The woods were usually deserted so who or what could be coming? There was another sound of snapping twigs. I backed into the tree. A small whimper escaped my lips.

Suddenly, a huge shape broke out of the thick twigs. Two similar shapes followed. I gasped, watching with wide eyes as three identical wolves walked toward me with kingly grace. The moment I saw them, I knew that it was Lucas, Liam and Levi.

Their wolves had shiny black fur and piercing gold eyes. Their limbs were thick and strong, riddled with muscles. They began to circle around me, nudging me with their nose. I ran my fingers through their fur.

"Wow. You guys are beautiful," I muttered before I could stop myself. I immediately blushed. "I’ve never seen you shift before," I said quickly.

But they didn’t seem to mind the praise. In fact, they seemed to like it. They stepped back and began to shift back into human form. I watched with my mouth open, impressed by the fluidity with which they shifted.

Soon they were all standing in front of me in human form. Lucas stepped forward first. "Hazel, we are so sorry about what happened earlier."

"We talked about it after you left and we totally understand where you are coming from. You have every right to feel the way that you do. The way we treated you was horrible and you deserve to heal from that at your own pace," Liam added.

Levi stepped forward too. My lips immediately turned downward. He was the one who started this whole mess in the first place. He sheepishly looked down.

"I’m sorry, Hazel. I didn’t mean to be condescending. I promise to be conscious of my words and how they affect you henceforth."

Lucas placed a finger under my chin, lifting my head and looking deeply into my eyes. "We want you to know that you’re not nothing. You’re a beautiful, amazing human and you still have all the time in the world to become anything you want. We pledge to stand by your side and help you to accomplish all of it."

His words struck a chord in my heart. Tears gathered in my eyes. I could see that they were really trying so hard to right their wrongs. I couldn’t bring myself to stay mad at them. "Thank you for apologizing. I forgive you," I said finally.

Their faces instantly brightened. They pulled me into a giant bear hug. When they finally let me go, I sat under the tree and patted the floor beside me. At first, I thought they would refuse to sit on the floor but the three of them sat immediately.

We sat in silence for a few seconds, enjoying the calm. "Can I ask you a question?" I asked suddenly, breaking the silence. "I feel like I need to understand this if I’m going to heal and move on."

Liam gently held my hand. "You can ask us anything, Hazel," he said gently. Lucas and Liam smiled encouragingly.

I was silent for a few seconds, thinking about how to phrase my question. I took a deep breath.

"This is my question. Seeing how nice and sweet you are now, it’s hard to reconcile these people in front of me with the triplets who treated me so badly in the past. So I need to know, why exactly did you treat me so poorly back then?" I demanded.