Desired By Three Alphas; Fated To One - Chapter 258
Chapter 258: Reject
Callum’s POV
The moment Nathan’s message hit me, I froze.
Hailee is pregnant.
Come to my pack immediately.
It’s yours.
For a full minute, I didn’t move.
Didn’t breathe.
Didn’t blink.
My wolf went wild, howling, scratching, pacing like a caged animal finally hearing freedom calling its name.
Our pup.
My wolf growled, fierce and hungry. OURS.
My hands shook.
I left everything behind, my council meeting, my unfinished breakfast, and ran straight to the car.
I drove fast, like the world was on fire behind me.
Hailee.
Pregnant.
My baby.
My stomach twisted.
Three weeks ago…
The night I could never forget.
A thousand thoughts piled in my head.
What was she feeling?
Was she scared?
Would she regret it?
But no matter how loud the doubts screamed, one truth hit harder:
My pup was inside her.
My child.
My second chance at being a father…
And maybe, if I didn’t mess this up, my second chance at Hailee.
I reached the full moon pack house, and the guards shifted nervously but stepped aside immediately.
“Alpha Callum,” one said. “Alpha Nathan is expecting you. He’s inside.”
I nodded sharply and walked out of the car. I smelled it before I even entered the mansion.
Her scent.
Sweet. Floral. Warm.
Mixed with…
Pain.
Fear.
Heartbreak.
And something else.
Something small.
New.
Faint.
A tiny heartbeat.
My pup.
My throat tightened painfully.
I hadn’t even seen her yet, but I already felt like I was falling apart. Like I was going to hear something that would break me. I can’t explain it. But deep inside me, I felt it.
Inside the mansion, the tension was thick enough to choke on.
Guards whispered. Maids froze mid-step. Every single person watched me like I was the answer to a question they were terrified to ask.
I ignored them all.
My mind was only on one thing.
Hailee.
And the tiny heartbeat inside her.
I followed her scent down the hallway until a familiar figure stepped out from a room at the end.
Nathan.
He looked pale. Weak. His shirt was loose, fresh bandages peeking through the fabric. Sweat clung to his hairline. But his eyes…
His eyes were dead.
Empty.
He had aged years in a single morning.
When our gazes met, something silent passed between us. Not anger. Not rivalry.
Pain.
His and mine.
I stopped a few feet away. “Where is she?”
Nathan swallowed hard, his jaw clenching. “She’s here. She’ll come out in a moment.”
I stepped closer. “Is she alright? She fainted. What happened? Is the baby”.
He cut in sharply, but not angrily.
Just exhausted.
“Hailee is stable. The healer has examined her.”
I exhaled, a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. My wolf pressed against my skin, restless, desperate to see her.
Nathan looked at me long and hard.
His next words were quiet.
“She needs you now.”
My throat tightened.
He meant it.
There was no jealousy in his voice.
Just surrender. Painful, raw surrender. Like he has already accepted the fate that he has lost her to me, and there was no need trying to fight it.
Before I could respond, the door behind him opened and Hailee stepped out.
Her eyes were red from crying, her face pale, her hands trembling slightly as she held the door frame. She looked at me… then quickly looked away, her breath stuttering.
My heart cracked open.
“Hailee…” I whispered, taking one step toward her. “How are you? Is the baby okay? Did something happen? Do you feel sick? Should I…”
She lifted a hand weakly, stopping me.
“I’m fine,” she whispered.
But she didn’t look fine.
She looked broken.
Shaken.
Like someone who had just lost something she didn’t know she still wanted.
Her eyes drifted, accidentally, to Nathan.
And gods…
The look in her eyes was unmistakable.
Regret.
Longing.
Pain.
Nathan looked away instantly, his jaw tight.
I stopped breathing.
Hailee turned back to me with trembling lips. “Callum… we need to talk.”
Nathan stepped aside immediately. “I’ll give you two space.”
He walked past me slowly, one hand pressed to his side. He didn’t look back. Not once.
The moment he disappeared around the corner, Hailee wrapped her arms around herself and looked at me with eyes that made the floor tilt under my feet.
She inhaled shakily.
“You already know about the pregnancy,” she whispered.
I nodded. “Nathan told me. I came as fast as I could.”
Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment, and her voice shook.
“The healer said the pregnancy is complicated. That I fainted because my body is struggling.”
A fierce growl rumbled in my chest.
“Is the baby safe?” My voice cracked. “Hailee, tell me. Is our pup okay?”
She blinked hard, tears forming. “Yes. But… only if I do what the healer says.”
I moved closer, unable to stop myself. “Tell me what you need. I’ll do anything. Anything you ask.”
She looked up at me.
And her next words sliced straight through me.
“I have to bear your mark but I will not carry your mark.”
Silence hit us like a punch.
My wolf went still.
Cold.
Stunned.
Her voice trembled, but she didn’t look away.
“I won’t take your mark, Callum. Not now. Not ever.”
I froze.
Confused.
My heart pounding.
“Hailee… what are you saying?”
She swallowed hard, tears spilling again.
“I will have this baby, I won’t take your mark. I won’t bind myself to you.”
The ground under me shifted.
I stepped closer slowly, carefully, afraid she might fall.
“But Hailee,” I whispered, “your life is in danger without the father’s mark. The baby’s life is at risk. Why would you?”
Her voice broke as she forced out the truth.
“Because I don’t love you.”
My heart cracked so loudly I almost heard it.
And then she whispered, even softer,
“I love Nathan.”
Her words didn’t just hurt.
They detonated inside my chest.
“Because I don’t love you.”
For a second, everything went silent.
Utterly, painfully silent.
It felt like someone had ripped open my ribs and poured ice straight into my heart.
I stood there, staring at her, unable to breathe, unable to blink, unable to think.
She looked down, tears sliding down her cheeks.
“I don’t want to keep lying to myself,” she whispered. “Or to you. This baby… wasn’t planned. It wasn’t expected. But it’s not a mistake.”
Her hand trembled as she touched her stomach.
My pup.
My child.
“And I’ll love this child,” she continued softly. “But I will not take your mark.”
My throat tightened painfully.
“Hailee…”
My voice barely came out.
“You’re saying you love him?”
She didn’t answer with words.
She didn’t have to.
The silence told me everything.
My wolf whimpered, actually whimpered, like he had been kicked in the chest.
I took one slow step forward, my breathing uneven.
“You’re… choosing him?” I whispered.
She closed her eyes as another tear fell. “Yes.”
Something inside me snapped.
“Why?”
My voice cracked, rising with raw, unfiltered pain.
“What does Nathan have that I don’t?”
She lifted her head slowly. Her eyes were red, wet, broken, but steady.
“History,” she whispered. “Love. A bond I never stopped feeling.”
The words hit like knives.
I clenched my jaw, anger, and heartbreak twisting together.
“I love you too,” I growled, the desperation I’d been holding back spilling out. “Hailee, I love you. I’m willing to give you everything. More than him. More than anyone.”
She shook her head weakly. “Love isn’t something you force, Callum.”
I felt something hot build behind my eyes, rage, grief, helplessness.
“You’re willing to risk the life of our child,” I snapped. “Just because you’re too afraid to choose me?”
Her eyes widened, wounded.
“That’s not fair.”
“No?” I took a step closer, chest heaving. “You’re refusing my mark even though the healer said you need it to survive the pregnancy. You would rather die than bond with me.”
“I didn’t say that”
“You didn’t have to!” I shouted, my pain spilling over. “You just did.”
I dragged a shaky hand through my hair, my vision blurring. I have never felt this kind of pain before; hearing such words coming from a woman you love was something unbearable.
I took a step forward. “I would protect you,” I whispered hoarsely. “I would die for you. I would raise this child with you. I would give you everything.”
I swallowed hard.
“But you… you’re still choosing him.”
She didn’t deny it.
And that silence…
That silence hurt worse than the truth.
Hailee took a tiny step back, her voice barely a breath.
“Callum… I’m sorry.”
Sorry.
That single word nearly broke me.
I felt something crack inside my chest, loud, sharp and painful.
I stared at her, my heart bleeding behind my ribs, my wolf howling in agony and anger.
“So you’re willing to risk our baby’s life… because you love him more. Can you listen to yourself?”
Her lips parted.
Her breath hitched.
She looked at me like she wanted to speak,
But no words came out.