Desired By Three Alphas; Fated To One novel Chapter 281

Hailee's POV

For a moment after the words left my lips, there was nothing.

No breath. No heartbeat. No sound.

Just silence.

Thick. Heavy. Crushing.

On the other end of the line, Callum didn't speak.

I didn't know whether he was shocked… relieved… or simply confirming that I was truly breaking myself for this choice.

My fingers trembled harder around the phone.

Then finally—after what felt like a whole lifetime—I heard him breathe.

A slow inhale. A slow exhale.

Then his voice came—quiet, steady… and oddly empty of victory.

"Hailee."

Just my name.

It shook something deep inside my chest.

He paused again, as if choosing his words carefully—like he knew speaking too quickly might reveal everything he was trying to hide.

"I'm coming over," he said at last.

My stomach twisted painfully.

"When?" My voice barely escaped.

"In two hours," he answered. "I need time to prepare the contract… bindings… and the transport for the antidote."

My breath hitched.

The room suddenly felt too small. Too silent. Too suffocating.

My heart squeezed until I thought it would burst.

Callum continued, his tone low, almost business-like—trying to stay detached.

"Once we are married," he said slowly, "and once you bear my mark… I will give you the antidote."

My blood ran cold.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out—not protest, not acceptance, not anger—just a broken, strangled sound trapped in my throat.

He didn't wait for me to speak.

"I'll be there in two hours," he repeated.

"Prepare yourself."

Then the line clicked.

He was gone.

I stared at the phone.

My hand began to shake.

Then my shoulders.

Then my entire body.

The phone slipped out of my fingers and hit the floor with a small thud.

I leaned forward until my forehead pressed against Nathan's chest as I sobbed uncontrollably.

"No… no, no…" I cried, my voice strangled. "Nathan… this wasn't supposed to happen… this isn't fair…"

My tears soaked into his shirt.

His chest barely rose.

Barely.

My heart screamed.

My wolf screamed.

Everything inside me screamed.

Peter knelt slowly beside me, placing a hand on my back.

"Hailee…" he whispered, voice thick.

I shook my head violently.

"I'm losing him…"

My voice cracked. "I'm losing my mate."

Peter's hand tightened.

"You did what you had to," he whispered. "You chose to save him."

But his voice wasn't steady. He was trembling too.

Because he knew the price I had just agreed to.

I was trading my future for Nathan's life. Trading my happiness. My freedom. My bond. My heart.

For him.

For the man lying unconscious in my arms.

My sobs grew harsher, choking me.

"I can't do this…"

"I don't want this…"

"I don't want him to die… I don't want to marry someone else… I don't want any of this…"

Peter pulled me into his arms and held me as I cried into his chest.

"It's okay," he whispered, even though we both knew it wasn't. "We'll get through this. Nathan will live. We'll figure the rest out later."

But his voice shook.

Because he didn't know that for sure.

Time felt like it was slipping away too fast. Like sand falling through my fingers no matter how tight I tried to hold it.

The healers moved around us like ghosts—quiet, tense, hopeless.

"Hailee…" one of them whispered. "You should get some air. You look faint."

I didn't move.

I only held Nathan's hand tighter.

"I'm not leaving him."

The healer nodded softly. "Then stay. Talk to him. He can still hear you."

I swallowed a sob.

I brushed his hair away from his forehead.

His skin was cold.

Too cold.

"Nathan…" I whispered, my voice shaking so badly I hardly recognized it.

"Please stay with me. Please don't give up. Don't let go. I'm here. I'm right here. I'm not leaving you."

His eyelids didn't move. His fingers didn't twitch. His lips didn't part.

He was slipping.

Every minute his heartbeat faded further—so slow now that it barely tapped against my palm.

Peter left the room again—talking to guards, sending scouts, trying desperately to work around the impossible.

I knew he wouldn't find anything. Not in twenty hours. Not in a week. Not in a lifetime.

Only Callum had the antidote.

Only Callum.

The thought made me choke.

I looked at the clock on the wall.

One hour gone.

One hour left before Callum arrived to claim me.

One hour before I signed away my future.

My throat closed.

"Nathan…"

I whispered brokenly.

"Come back to me."

I lowered my head, crying quietly against his shoulder, feeling his fading warmth slip under my fingertips.

Time passed.

Minute by minute.

Second by second.

My tears never stopped.

My heart never eased.

My body never moved.

Until—

A soft voice broke through my crying.

"Hailee."

Callum was there. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

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