Desired By Three Alphas; Fated To One-Chapter 281: Wedding

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." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

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."

I lifted my head weakly.

Peter was standing by the door again.

His expression told me everything before he said a single word.

"Callum is here."

I glanced at unconscious Nathan, hoping for a miracle to happen, but he was just the same—lifeless.

"He is at the throne room with a few of his people waiting for you. He also brought a priest for the marriage."

I swallowed hard as I drew back my tears. Slowly I stood on my feet and glanced one more time at Nathan… it hurt… it hurt so bad that when he wakes up he will realize I am no longer his… I belong to someone else… I wondered how he would react to it… Will he understand that I had to do it, or will he hate me forever. But one thing was certain: I'm not letting him die.

As I left the room, my legs felt like they didn't belong to me.

Like each step I took down the hallway was someone else's feet moving… someone else's life… someone else's nightmare.

Peter walked beside me, silent, tense, as if even breathing too loudly would shatter me completely.

When we reached the throne room, the guards opened the doors slowly.

Callum was there.

Standing beside the long wooden table.

Flanked by three of his people.

And one priest dressed in ceremonial white.

The moment his eyes met mine, something flickered inside him—pain… regret… guilt… desperation… all mixed together in a storm of emotions he couldn't hide.

"Hailee…" he whispered softly.

I didn't answer.

Because the only thing I felt looking at him…

Was hate.

A heavy, burning hate I never knew I was capable of feeling for someone who once held me through sleepless nights. Someone I once trusted. Someone who once kissed my tears away.

But now?

Now he was the reason my mate was dying.

The reason I was about to break a sacred bond.

I never thought I could hate Callum.

But I did.

Deeply.

"Let's get on with it," I said, my voice hollow.

Callum swallowed hard, as if my tone physically cut him.

He reached into a folder and pulled out a thick parchment.

"A contract," he said quietly. "For your protection… and mine."

I let out a humorless laugh.

"So you don't trust me."

His jaw tightened. "It's not that—"

"It is that," I said sharply. "Give it here."

He slowly handed me the contract.

My hands shook as I opened it.

It listed everything:

I agree to marry Alpha Callum.

I accept his mark.

I acknowledge our marriage is binding by law and pack customs.

I relinquish any mating bond with Alpha Nathan.

After the ceremony and marking, Callum will provide the antidote.

My heart cracked open.

My chest tightened with suffocating pain.

I could barely see the words through my tears.

"So I'm signing away my life," I whispered.

Callum closed his eyes. "You're saving your mate and our child."

"And destroying myself," I said.

He flinched.

But he didn't take the words back.

Because deep down, he knew they were true.

There was no time.

Nathan was dying.

I wiped my tears enough to see clearly… and signed.

The moment the pen left the paper, something inside me shattered so violently I nearly lost balance.

Peter grabbed my arm to steady me.

"Hailee," he whispered, voice shaking, "you don't have to—"

"I do."

I handed the contract to the priest.

"Let's finish this," I whispered.

The priest cleared his throat and opened his book.

We took our places before him.

Callum stood tall, but his hands were trembling. His breath unsteady. His eyes glassy.

I stood beside him, cold and empty.

The room felt too bright. Too loud. Too silent.

The priest spoke.

Long words. Sacred vows. Ancient recitations.

I barely heard them.

All I could think about was Nathan lying somewhere between life and death… waiting for a miracle.

"Hailee Stones," the priest said gently, "do you take Alpha Callum as your husband?"

My heart stopped.

Stopped completely.

Peter's head bowed.

The room fell into a suffocating hush.

Callum stared at me, eyes desperate… but guilty.

I took a deep, broken breath.

"I… do."

The words sliced through me.

The priest turned to Callum.

"Alpha Callum, do you take Hailee Stones as your wife?"

"I do," he whispered.

The priest closed the book softly.

"By the customs of our people, I declare you husband and wife."

I didn't move.

Couldn't breathe.

Couldn't feel my legs.

Callum picked up a simple silver ring and slid it slowly onto my finger.

His hand trembled the whole time.

I did the same.

My fingers shook so badly the ring nearly fell.

The priest stepped back.

"You may mark her—"

But before the words even finished echoing…

A voice echoed through the throne room—

A broken, breathless, desperate voice that made my entire soul snap in half.

"DON'T DO IT, HAILEE—!"

My heart stopped.

I turned.

And there he was.

Nathan.

Standing in the doorway.

Barely standing.