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Page 53 of Stalked By the Alphas

52

HAZEL

The crash of books hitting the floor jolts me out of my shock. For a moment, I can only stare at Zach, my mind reeling. What is he doing here? Anger and confusion rise as I watch him scramble to pick up the fallen books.

“I’m so sorry,” he mumbles, his face flushed with embarrassment. “I’ll tidy this up.”

I find my voice at last. “What are you doing here?” I hiss, glancing towards the back of the shop where Delia is thankfully occupied with a customer.

Zach looks up at me, his grey eyes filled with anguish. “I... I needed to see you. To apologise properly. I know I shouldn’t be here, but I couldn’t...”

“You’re right, you shouldn’t be here,” I snap quietly, cutting him off. “You promised to leave me alone.”

He flinches at my tone, and a tiny part of me feels guilty. But I squash that feeling ruthlessly. I have nothing to feel guilty about .

“Hazel?” Delia calls out. “Is everything alright back there?”

I force my voice to remain calm. “Everything’s fine, Delia.”

Turning back to Zach, who’s still kneeling on the floor surrounded by fallen books, I glare at him. “You need to leave. Now.”

He stands, still clutching a few books to his chest like a shield. “Please, Hazel. Just give me five minutes. That’s all I’m asking.”

I want to scream at him, to push him out the door and never look back. But something in his expression gives me pause. He looks... broken. Desperate. I hesitate, torn between my anger and the ache I feel seeing Zach so distraught. Against my better judgement, I find myself nodding stiffly.

“Five minutes,” I say, my voice low and tight. “In the back office. And then you leave.”

Relief washes over Zach’s face as he nods eagerly. I lead him to the small office, closing the door behind us. The space suddenly feels too small, too intimate. Moving behind the desk, I try to put some distance between us, but it’s hard. His summer rain scent is potent, surrounding me, and my stomach clenches. I want to go to him, to hug him and tell him how glad I am that he is still here and that I can help ease his pain if he wants to talk about it… but I can’t.

“Talk,” I say curtly instead.

Zach takes a shaky breath. “Hazel, I... we... what we did was unforgivable. I know that. But I needed you to know how truly sorry we are. How sorry I am.”

“Sorry doesn’t change what happened,” I reply, my voice cold.

“I know,” he says, looking down, so forlorn, like a lost puppy that got kicked and left in a box on the side of the road. “God, I know. We violated your trust, your body, your home. We took something precious from you that we can never give back.”

His words hit me hard. So they figured out what I meant last night. I wondered if they would. Damn them.

“We thought we were protecting you,” he continues when I say nothing, his voice breaking. “We told ourselves we were doing what was best for you. But we were wrong. So terribly wrong.”

I can feel tears pricking at my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. “You had no right,” I whisper harshly. “You don’t get to decide what’s best for me. You don’t get to control my life.”

Zach nods, his eyes filled with remorse. “I know. We know. We were so wrong, Hazel. So incredibly wrong. We let our fears of losing you and our desires for you cloud our judgement. We convinced ourselves we were doing the right thing, but we were just being selfish.”

His words resonate with a painful truth. Part of me wants to soften, to forgive. But the anger and betrayal are still too raw.

“Do you have any idea what it’s like?” I ask, my voice trembling. “To find out that your first real sexual experience was... was...”

“Wasn’t real,” Zach whispers. “We took that from you. Your choice. We can never make that right.”

I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly feeling cold despite the warm day. “No, you can’t.”

Zach takes a step towards me, then stops himself. “Hazel, I... we... we love you. We’ve always loved you. But we went about it all wrong. We hurt you in ways we can never take back.”

“Love?” I laugh bitterly. “That’s not love, Zach. Love doesn’t manipulate. Love doesn’t control. Love doesn’t violate.”

Zach’s face crumples, and for a moment, I think he might cry. “What we did wasn’t love. It was obsession, possession. We were so afraid of losing you that we lost sight of what really mattered, and we destroyed everything.”

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to stem the tide of emotions that want to crush me. When I open them again, Zach moves around the side of the desk and drops to his knees, looking at me with such raw anguish that it takes my breath away.

“I know we don’t deserve your forgiveness,” he continues, reaching for my hands tentatively. “But I needed you to know how sorry we are. How sorry I am. And that if you ever decide you want us in your life again, in any capacity, we’ll be here, and we will do things differently this time.”

Part of me wants to scratch his eyes out, to shove him away from me and to tell him to get out and never come back. But another part, a part I’m trying desperately to ignore, aches to comfort him. To tell him that maybe, someday, we can find a way past this.

Instead, I take a deep breath and pull my hands back. “Your five minutes are up, Zach. You need to leave now.”

He nods, shoulders slumping in defeat. “I understand. Thank you for listening, Hazel. I’m so, so sorry.”

As Zach stands up, I feel a pang in my chest. Despite everything, seeing him so broken hurts. But I can’t let that sway me. I’ve been hurt enough.

“Just go,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. “Please.”

Zach nods, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. He turns to leave but pauses at the door. “Hazel, I?—”

“Don’t,” I cut him off. “Just don’t.”

He gives me one last tormented look before slipping out of the office.

My legs feel weak, and I sink into the chair behind the desk. My mind is reeling from the encounter. Zach’s apology, his obvious remorse, the pain in his eyes - it all swirls in my head, mixing with my own conflicted emotions.

His scent still lingers in the air, and I let out the purr, which was so desperate to come out earlier. It reverberates around my office, and I curse myself as I stand up and lunge towards the door. “Zach! Wait!”

He pauses halfway through the shop door but doesn’t look back .

“Zach,” I say again, my voice cracking with a thousand different emotions, some I can’t even name. I shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t be standing here, calling to him. My omega side has reared her head, and I hate that. But I also can’t ignore it. As much as I want to be independent from this biology I was handed, I can’t. And maybe me trying to be this way, separate from the omega, is what pushed the alphas into doing what they did. Maybe if I had accepted who I was, what I was, maybe things would’ve been so much different. Who can tell? Am I blaming myself for this betrayal? No. Not really. But I’m also not innocent. As Zach turns slowly to face me, memories flash through my mind. Memories I see now in a whole different light. The way they made it obvious that they cared about me and how I shut them down, thinking they were joking or just being flirty. Time after time after time.

I remember when Carter said he loved me on my 18th birthday, and I laughed it off as a joke. The hurt that passed over his face that I dismissed is clear to me in my mind’s eye now. Or when Noah wrote me that song, and I told him it was sweet, but he shouldn’t waste his talent on silly love songs for me. The way his face fell. And Zach... sweet Zach, who offered to see me through my first heat if I was comfortable with him being there, and I shook my head, determined that I didn’t need an alpha or a real knot.

Am I to blame for their deceit, their actions? No, but I let my independence, my need to be different from other omegas, my stubbornness not to see what was in front of my face the whole time push them away when I can see they tried.

Fuck .

When Zach’s soulful grey eyes meet mine, I realise what I was denying myself all along. What I didn’t even dare to acknowledge because of all the hurtful words, the judgement and snobbery from their parents.

“Hazel?” he murmurs.

It brings me back to the present, and I shake my head, turning on my heel, my throat thick with a longing that I have pushed away all this time. If I give in now, what does that make me? The exact thing I never wanted to be.

Stalking back into my office, I try to slam the door, but Zach’s hand slaps against it, stopping it forcefully and sending it bouncing back against the wall. My breath hitches, and I take a step back, shaking uncontrollably as his scent spikes, causing mine to do the same. His nostrils flare, staring at me with such love and longing that I choke back another purr.

He moves into the office and closes the door. Then, in two giant strides, he is in front of me, his hands cupping my face as he towers over me before claiming my lips in a kiss that buckles my knees. I tear at his shirt, clawing at him to get closer to me. I stop thinking and let the omega take over, just to see what happens.

He growls softly when he finds me eager in his arms. It sends goosebumps over my skin. His cock is pressed against me, hard and ready, and I gasp when he shoves me against the wall, his hands dropping to the dress to bunch it up around my hips.

“Zach,” I moan weakly.

“Do you want me to stop?”

My breath catches in my throat. I don’t even want to say yes. I just want to do what comes naturally. I don’t want to think too much about what I’m doing or the implications of fucking him in my office when I’ve been celibate, or so I’d thought, for so long.

Even that thought doesn’t stop me from dragging him closer by his shirt and cupping the back of his neck to deepen the kiss.

The growl from his chest vibrates through me, and it sends a gush of slick straight to my pussy. He inhales deeply, and I purr wildly, losing myself in this moment—this one moment where I’m not thinking about anything except what the omega wants.

It’s freeing.

Completely liberating and I will hate myself later for giving in, but right now, I don’t even care.

Zach pushes my knickers aside and fumbles with his pants. He pulls his cock out and presses it to me, lifting me easily. “Hazel…”

“Do it,” I demand and the shock on his face at my tone almost makes him stop.

Almost.

In the next second, he drives into me with one thrust, impaling me on his hard dick that I coat with enough slick to make a slurping noise as he buries himself even deeper with a groan of such need, such craving.

The feeling of Zach inside me is exquisite. My body responds instantly, clenching around him as waves of pleasure wash over me. For a moment, I forget everything - the betrayal, the hurt, the anger. All I can focus on is the perfect sensation of being filled so completely.

Zach’s forehead rests against mine as he starts to move, slow, deep thrusts that make me gasp. “Hazel,” he breathes, his voice reverent. “God, I love you so much.”

“Zach,” I pant and tighten my legs around his waist.

He groans and slams into me, forcefully, possessively, and it speaks to the omega inside me.

A purr escapes me, which starts deep down in my soul, and I let it out, seeing how his eyes darken with desire when he hears it.

“Fuck, Hazel. I’m so sorry?—”

I place my fingers over his lips. “Shh. Just feel, Zach.”

His gaze floods with love, and we stare deeply into each other’s eyes as he fucks me steadily against the wall in my office, in my bookshop with Delia and customers right outside.

Somehow, that makes it even more exciting.

My clit twitches, and my pussy clenches around him. He growls, low and deep, gripping my hips as he pounds into me, faster now. Harder.

I gasp as my climax hits me, and I tremble in his arms, my pussy squeezing his cock tightly. I’ve never felt anything like it before, and I want more. I want to feel this again. This is how it should be. Not forced, not with a vibrator, not in the middle of my heat when I don’t know it’s real.

This.

This right here is how it should be.

Tears fill my eyes as everything I’ve lost crashes down on me, but I don’t stop. I can’t stop moving over Zach’s cock, chasing another orgasm. It’s like my brain has left my body, and all that’s left is my soul, demanding more. So much more.

“Hazel,” Zach croaks and stiffens in my arms. He shoots his load and knots me, stretching my pussy enough to take my breath away. This isn’t a full knot, but fuck, it feels like it was made just for me. My clit pulsates madly at the sensation, and I come again, covering him with slick.

The reality of what we’ve just done crashes over me as Zach’s knot begins to deflate. My legs are shaky as he gently lowers me to the ground, his hands lingering on my hips as if he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he lets go completely.

“Hazel, I—” he starts, but I cut him off.

“Don’t,” I say, my voice hoarse. “Just... don’t say anything.”

I smooth down my dress with trembling hands, avoiding Zach’s gaze. What have I done? After everything that’s happened, how could I let myself give in like this?

“We should talk about this,” Zach says softly .

I shake my head vehemently. “There’s nothing to talk about. This was a mistake.”

The hurt that flashes across his face makes my chest ache, but I push that feeling aside. I can’t let myself be swayed by his pain, not when I’m still grappling with my own.

“It didn’t feel like a mistake,” he whispers.

“That’s the problem,” I snap, anger rising to mask my confusion and vulnerability. “It felt too good. Too right. But that doesn’t change anything, Zach. It doesn’t erase what you all did. Don’t you see? This is how it was meant to be. Not what you took from me, but this.”

He flinches at my words but doesn’t argue. “I know. Thank you, Hazel, for giving me this. It means the world to me.”

He turns and strides out of the office before I can take my next breath. Staring after him, feeling his cum sliding down my inner thighs, I close my eyes. “Damn you, Zach Thorpe. Why did you have to say that?”