Chapter 175: Mate bond
*~Caspian’s POV~*
I was shocked to my very bones when I saw my brother standing there...his body cloaked in darkness, wings still fading, and Hazel by his side, clinging to him as if she could not see the nightmare standing in front of us.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. My heart pounded furiously as Hazel broke free from his embrace, and Cayden’s eyes finally locked with mine.
"What is this?" I demanded, my voice rough, trembling with disbelief. "Cayden, what is this? How... when...how did you become all of this? Who are you?"
"Caspian..." he muttered, his voice unsteady. "Trust me, I don’t know what this is. I don’t understand it either."
I scoffed, rage tightening my throat. "You don’t know? You just sprouted black wings like a demon horns starting to push through your skull and you expect me to believe you don’t know? What kind of power is this? Because it sure as hell isn’t the power of a normal wolf!"
He flinched, his eyes pleading. "I swear to you, I don’t know. I’m as shocked as you are. If I had known about this, don’t you think I would have used it to protect us? To find Hazel when she was missing? I didn’t ask for this...it just... it just suddenly activated."
"Activated?" I repeated bitterly, my voice laced with venom. "You killed a Crescent Alpha in less than a minute right before my eyes, and you want me to think this is nothing?"
Hazel tried to step forward, her voice soft. "Caspian, listen"
"Don’t." I cut her off with a raised hand. My eyes never left Cayden. "Are you seriously supporting him right now? Pretending not to see what’s standing right in front of us? Hazel...do you know about this?"
Her lips parted, trembling. "I don’t. I swear I don’t."
"Then why are you pretending?" I snapped.
"Because he’s still Cayden!" she shot back. "And he just killed a Crescent Alpha. We should be grateful...not tearing each other apart!"
"I’m not tearing him apart!" I roared, my voice breaking with frustration. "I just want the truth!" My chest heaved as I pointed straight at my brother. "You made this monster our Alpha. You could have told me all of this...you should have told me. Instead, you hid it from me."
"I didn’t hide it!" Cayden’s voice cracked with desperation. "I never knew it existed!"
"Bullshit!" I barked. The word echoed like a whipcrack. "How did you become Alpha at sixteen, Cayden? Tell me. You used this exact same power...this darkness...to make Father see you, to make the Elders bow to you, to make everyone believe you were worthy. You used this power to empower both me and Cyrius when we were nothing but shadows beside you. And now you want to stand here and tell me you didn’t know?"
His face twisted, pain flickering through his expression. "Yes..I knew I wasn’t a normal wolf. Yes I felt something dark inside of me. But I never knew what it was. I’ve never seen myself like this before." He glanced down at himself, disgust flashing in his eyes. "This... this isn’t what I wanted."
I shook my head, my chest burning with betrayal. "No. This is bullshit."
"Sorry, I’m out of here."
I turned to leave, fury boiling through me. My chest was tight, my head pounding—I couldn’t stand another second of this madness. But then Lilith’s voice rang out, low and deliberate.
"It is me."
I froze in my tracks. Slowly, I turned back to face her. "What?"
Her eyes darkened, guilt shimmering in them. "It is me. I am behind the facts. Cayden... he is not a normal wolf."
The air stilled. Even Cayden’s face twisted in shock, his jaw clenched as if he was just hearing the words for the first time. Hazel’s lips parted, confusion trembling in her eyes. Silence swallowed us whole, thick and suffocating, until Lilith finally spoke again.
"The night I gave birth to Hazel—the very same night you triplets were born—I went to the high house. Your mother had just delivered the three of you. You were newborns, swaddled in her arms. I went to your room, full of grief and vengeance. And in that moment... I killed Cayden."
The words crashed over me like ice. My body stiffened. Hazel gasped. Cayden staggered a step back.
"But then," Lilith continued, her voice trembling, "I woke him up. I revived him with dark magic. I expected the magic to make him a Crescent. But it didn’t. He came back... different. A wolf, yes, but not ordinary. I thought he’d burn out, or that the magic would devour him. Instead... he became Alpha. Even then, I could still sense the traces of dark power in him, faint but undeniable. He has carried it in his veins ever since."
Cayden’s voice finally broke through, guttural and enraged. "You... killed me? You’re saying all of this...this monster I’ve become is your fault? You cursed me. You made me feel like a stranger in my own body. You made me into this!"
His growl reverberated through the air, his fists clenched tight.
But Lilith wasn’t finished. Her gaze swung to me. "And that’s not all. You asked what Jonathan meant earlier about Hazel not being your true mate. He was right."
My stomach dropped, my blood turning to ice. "What are you saying?" I hissed.
Lilith’s face tightened. "Hazel was never meant to be yours. She was never meant for any of you triplets. She was... his. Cayden’s mate. Originally, I was bound to him, but when I broke our bond, when I got pregnant with Marcus’ child nature rebelled. It tried to fix what I had undone. It made my daughter look exactly like me. Another version of myself, born for him. For Cayden. But I could not allow that. I used magic. I shifted her bond. I bound her to you triplets instead. The bond between Hazel and you, it is not natural. It is not fate. It is forged by dark magic."
Her words cut sharper than any blade. My chest tightened, my throat closing up.
"So Hazel... is not my mate?" My voice cracked, broken. "All of this... our bond... everything I have felt... it was all a lie?"
Hazel’s eyes brimmed with tears, her lips trembling as she shook her head....
The bond between us... is only dark magic.
"I highly doubt that," Lilith said, her voice steady but desperate. "If the universe never approved of the mate bond, it would have broken much earlier. Jonathan would have found his way back to her fast—but he didn’t. That means nature approved of the relationship."
She tried to convince us, to spin her truth as absolute, but I felt my insides twist.
"Bullshit!" Cayden snarled.
Before any of us could react, he lunged at her, his hand clamping around her throat. Lilith gasped, her legs kicking weakly as he lifted her off the ground.
"Cayden, what are you doing?!" I shouted, rushing forward. Hazel’s cry pierced the air. "Cayden, stop!"
But his grip only tightened. His face was carved with rage, veins darkening across his skin.
"You stole everything from me," he growled. "My childhood. My life. My soul. Because of you, Cyrus is dead!"
"No—" Hazel sobbed, reaching forward.
"Yes!" Cayden’s voice cracked, broken and furious. "Cyrus never envied me. Never. Until you poisoned it all! Until you cursed me with this darkness! He would have been here with us. Alive. Normal. We would’ve had a normal life if it weren’t for you!"
With a roar, he flung her against a tree. Lilith crumpled, coughing blood, before Cayden stormed toward her again, his hand outstretched to finish it.
"Cayden, please don’t!" Hazel screamed, rushing to block him. "Don’t kill my mother! I just found her. I’ve only just met her! Please, Cayden, I never had a normal family either. I was mocked, called weak, human—by everyone. Even you. You called me weak. But here I am, still choosing to let everything go."
Her voice trembled but carried strength. She reached for him, placing herself between them.
"Please, let it go. Don’t take her away from me."
Cayden’s breath rasped, his jaw clenched as his eyes flickered between Hazel and Lilith. "I’m sorry, Hazel," he whispered hoarsely. "Unlike you, I don’t have any humanity left. That’s why you’re better than me. Turn your back. Don’t watch me do this."
"No!" Hazel’s voice broke, but she held her ground. "You are not a monster. You’ve carried the weight of everyone’s fear your whole life, and still—you protect them. Still—you became Alpha. You are stronger than your darkness, Cayden. You are a good person. If no one else has told you that, then hear it from me. You’re a good man. Please... don’t do this."
Her words cut through the madness like a blade. Slowly, Cayden’s chest rose and fell. His hand lowered, trembling, until he finally released Lilith. She collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, and I exhaled sharply—the air I hadn’t even realized I was holding.
But Cayden didn’t stop moving.
He turned, his steps heavy, toward Hazel. My stomach twisted with dread. The deadly fire in his eyes made me tense, ready to leap in front of her, though I knew if I did it would only prove to him that I saw him as a monster. And truthfully... I did.
Hazel, however, didn’t flinch.
"You’re a good person," she whispered again, her voice breaking. "Better than all of this. And I’m happy you’re the father of my children."
Her tears streamed as Cayden reached her. But instead of hurting her, he collapsed into her arms, pulling her into a crushing embrace, burying his face in her neck. Hazel held him tight, crying into his chest.