Chapter Twenty-Eight
Pulled Away
Caleb's POV
I stayed where I fell.
Not because I couldn't get up.
Because I didn't deserve to.
The forest slowly remembered how to breathe. Leaves rustled again. Night insects crept back into sound. Somewhere far off, a wolf howled—low, cautious, like it was testing whether the world was safe yet.
"Mine isn't, Or can't be, because of you Caleb. My world isn't anything,not without Hazel and Flora. We messed up."
Adam said, laying on his paws and resting his eyes.
My ribs screamed every time my lungs expanded. One eye was already swelling shut. Blood dripped from my mouth, warm and metallic, splashing dark against the dirt beneath my hands. I could taste bark. Earth. Shame.
Hazel was gone.
Not vanished—she hadn't run—but she had left.
And somehow, that felt worse. Final in a way explosions never were.
Adam stirred uneasily inside me. Not raging. Not demanding blood. Just… quiet. Curled in on himself like a wounded animal.
I deserved that silence.
I deserved every hit.
I pressed my forehead to the ground and breathed through the pain, letting it anchor me to something real. Every strike replayed in my mind—not as violence, but as truth delivered the only way Hazel knew how to survive.
She hadn't beaten me because she hated me.
She'd beaten me because she needed to know if I would fight back.
And I hadn't.
Not because I was weak.
But because if I raised my hands against her—if I even tried—I would never forgive myself.
I pushed myself upright slowly. My arms shook with the effort. The world tilted, stars blurring overhead, but I stayed conscious. Barely.
Lucien was still there.
I felt him before I saw him—the tension in the air, the way he always positioned himself like a shield even when he pretended not to. He hadn't followed Hazel.
He'd respected her boundary.
That alone told me how badly I'd failed her.
"She didn't kill you," Lucien said quietly.
I huffed a broken laugh that turned into a cough. Pain lanced through my side. "Disappointed?"
"Yes," he said flatly. Then his control snapped. "You're an ass, you know that? If Hazel hadn't beaten the shit out of you, I would've. I told you to tell her. Now she's mad at me? All you had to do was tell her. She's your damn mate."
He shook his head, jaw tight. "And you don't even know how lucky you are. You're not your grandfather."
I wiped blood from my mouth with the back of my hand and looked at him properly.
He looked wrecked.
"You were right," I said hoarsely. "I'm sorry."
Lucien didn't pretend not to know what I meant. "Sorry?" He scoffed and laughed, sharp and bitter.
"Yes. About everything." I dragged a hand through my hair, fingers coming away gritty with dirt and sweat. "About knowing. About choosing silence. About making you choose it too."
My throat closed.
"I stood next to her every day," I forced out, "laughed with her, fought with her, wanted her—while carrying a lie that shattered her."
Lucien exhaled slowly. "Your pity act won't help you this time, Caleb. You're my best friend. But I love Hazel. And I don't like that I hurt her. Especially because of you."
"I know." My voice cracked despite my effort to keep it steady. "I didn't want to risk losing her. I couldn't bear the thought. And now that it's real…"
I swallowed hard.
"I wish I had."
Silence stretched between us.
"She's going to hate me forever," I said quietly.
Lucien didn't argue.
Because there was nothing to defend.
Adam shifted then, finally lifting his head inside me.
"We failed her."
"Yes," I admitted silently. We did.
The bond between Hazel and me pulsed faintly—not severed, not rejected.
Just pulled tight.
Locked behind a door I no longer had the right to knock on.
I deserved that too.
I staggered to my feet and leaned against a tree, breathing through another wave of pain. Every inch of my body throbbed, but it was nothing compared to the hollow ache in my chest.
"She thought I meant the royals," I said suddenly.
Lucien's gaze sharpened. "What?"
"When I said I knew the truth," I explained. "I was going to tell her when I found you both. She thought I meant only the royals. That I still didn't know my grandfather was the middleman."
Lucien's silence answered for him.
I laughed under my breath. Bitter. "Fuck me."
"You were still processing," Lucien said after a moment. "That's why I'm still here. Because you're my Alpha too. But like Hazel—I need space."
He stepped back. "I'm heading to the pack. Hope you can make it right."
"I will," I snapped, then softened immediately. "I have to."
He turned to leave.
"She still plans to kill the royals, right?" I asked.
Adam answered instantly. Yes.
"And you agree."
Yes.
I nodded slowly. "So do I."
Lucien stopped.
Turned.
Looked at me like he was seeing something new.
"You're serious."
"I've never been more serious in my life." I closed my eyes, Hazel's scream echoing in my skull. "They destroyed her family. Mine too. They let Magnus operate because it benefited them."
I opened my eyes.
"They don't get to walk away from that."
Lucien studied me, then inclined his head once. "She won't believe you."
"I know," I said steadily. "And I don't expect her to."
A pause.
"But when the time comes," I added, "I'll stand where she can see me. Whether she wants me there or not."
"That might get you killed."
"I'm aware."
Adam straightened fully inside me.
This time, we fight for her.
Lucien stepped closer. "You should heal."
"I will." I pushed away from the tree. "But not tonight."
I turned toward the path Hazel had taken.
I wouldn't follow.
She'd made that clear.
But I memorized it anyway.
Every root. Every shadow.
Because whatever she was becoming—whatever she planned next—the world would feel it.
And next time she told me to fight—
I would.
Not against her.
For her.