Joan’s eyes were wide, frozen in horror. Then she whispered the words that made my heart stop.
"He’s here."
I thought I’d misheard. "Who?"
But before I could finish, the door swung open.
Alpha Zach stepped inside.
The room went still. I could feel every heartbeat in the air, a hundred frightened chests rising and falling in sync. No one moved. No one even dared to breathe. The dormitory the ogas’ world of low ceilings and hand--down blankets wasn’t ant for creatures like him. He didn’t belong here.
And yet there he was. The morning light frad him in gold, outlining the broad shape of his shoulders, the dark sharpness of his coat. He didn’t look like soone walking into a room he looked like he was claiming it. Every inch of space bent around him.
Behind him, two guards lingered at the door, their heads bowed low. Even they looked terrified.
Joan stumbled backward. "Alpha," she stamred, voice trembling, "y-you shouldn’t— this is the ogas’ quarter—"
Her words broke off when he turned his head slightly, and that was all it took.
She dropped into a low bow, muttering a quick apology. The other ogas followed, one by one, until the room was full of lowered heads and shaking hands.
All except mine. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even blink. My body felt locked, trapped in that awful space between fear and disbelief. His gaze found imdiately.
Of course it did.
He didn’t look around, didn’t scan the room, didn’t hesitate his eyes went straight to as if he’d known exactly where I was before he entered.
I felt the weight of it, heavy and cold.
"Ellie," he said. My na, spoken in that deep voice, sounded like a sentence being passed.
The room seed to shrink.
No one had ever heard him call an oga by na before. Ogas were just oga. Replaceable. Disposable. Yet he said it as if the syllables belonged to him as if I belonged to him. He took a step forward. The floor creaked under his boots.
A few ogas gasped and scattered away, bumping into one another as they rushed toward the far wall. So ran out entirely, the door slamming behind them. Joan was trembling beside , her hand gripping the edge of the bed so tightly her knuckles went white.
He didn’t glance at any of them. His eyes stayed on .
I tried to stand, but my knees wouldn’t obey. The air was too thick, my body too light.
He stopped in front of . Close enough that I could see the faint shadow of stubble along his jaw, the way a small scar cut through the corner of his eyebrow. He wasn’t wearing his usual uniform coat only a dark shirt, sleeves rolled up, veins visible beneath skin that looked almost too human.
But there was nothing human about his presence.
"Are you well?" he asked quietly.
The words were simple, but the silence that followed them felt endless.
I opened my mouth, but no sound ca. My voice refused to exist.
He tilted his head slightly, waiting. The movent was gentle, almost kind, and that made it even worse. Because behind that calm tone, I could hear it the whisper. The sa voice that had haunted through the night.
"You look better when you’re afraid."
I flinched. My breath caught in my throat. The whisper wasn’t out loud it was inside again, brushing across my thoughts like silk over skin.
"Don’t shake so much, little oga. They’re watching."
My hands clenched in my lap. I tried to hide it, but I could feel the tremor spreading through .
He didn’t know I could hear it. I was sure of that. The way he stood there, calm and composed, eyes unblinking he believed the silence was his secret. But it wasn’t.
I could hear every word his mind whispered.
"I rember how light you were when I carried you."
My stomach twisted.
I wanted to scream, to cover my ears, to make the voice stop. But outside, the real Alpha Zach said nothing more. He just stood there, studying like he was waiting for a reaction I couldn’t give.
Finally, Joan try pleading on my behalf trembling
"Alpha, please forgive us. She’s still weak from yesterday. She-"
He raised a hand. Just slightly. And the entire room went silent again.
"I didn’t ask you," he said softly. His tone wasn’t angry. That made it worse.
His gaze shifted back to .
"Stand."
The command hit like a physical blow. My body moved before my mind could stop it. I rose shakily, gripping the bedpost to keep from falling.
He watched , eyes dark, unreadable.
"Good."
Then, for the first ti, sothing flickered across his expression not cruelty, not softness, but sothing like recognition.
He stepped closer, and the air between us crackled. I could see the faint outline of his breath in the cold morning light.
"You sll like fear."
The inner voice again quiet, smooth, taunting.
"I like it."
I froze. My heart slamd against my ribs so hard I thought it might burst.
He was standing so close now that I could feel the heat radiating off him. My lungs forgot how to breathe.
And then, just as suddenly as he’d appeared, he stepped back.
The tension snapped like a wire. I almost fell forward from the force of it.
He turned to Joan, his tone casual too casual. "Make sure she eats sothing. She looks like she hasn’t had a al since dawn."
Joan nodded frantically. "Yes, Alpha."
Without another word, he turned and walked toward the door. His guards fell into step behind him, relief flashing across their faces. But just before he crossed the threshold, he paused.
And I heard it again.
"You shouldn’t look at like that. It makes want to keep you."
My breath caught audibly. His head turned slightly, as if he’d heard gasp, though I knew he couldn’t have. Then he left. The door closed.
And the room exploded into whispers.
"Oh Moon above, "He really ca here, Did you see how he looked at her?" "She’s dood."
Joan grabbed my shoulders. "Ellie! What did he say to you?"
I stared at the door, still hearing the echo of his voice in my mind. My lips trembled, but no words ca. I couldn’t tell her. She wouldn’t believe she’d think I’d gone mad.
Because maybe I had.
But as the whispers swirled around and the ogas’ fear filled the air, I knew one thing for certain whatever had happened between us, whatever strange bond had ford the night he carried back, it wasn’t over.
It was only beginning.
And sowhere deep in my head, I heard him whisper one last ti faint, almost gentle:
"See you tonight, Ellie."
I clutched the edge of my shawl, hands trembling, and felt the walls of the pack house pressing in on . Every shadow seed alive, every floorboard a potential betrayer.
I had to see him. Not for curiosity, not for any fleeting hope of connection but to understand, to anticipate. He was a predator, and I was prey, yet there was sothing magnetic about him, sothing that demanded I know what he would do next.
Tiptoeing, I approached his quarters. My breaths were shallow, silent whispers in my own chest. I reached the door and paused. The Alpha’s quarters always slled faintly of leather and iron cold, calculated, and impossibly strong. My hand hovered over the handle.
And then I noticed it: the door was slightly ajar.
A chill ran down my spine. Slowly, almost too slowly, I pushed it open. Inside, he was there.
Sitting on the sofa. Waiting. Calm. Relaxed. Not a single trace of anger or tension in his posture, yet every inch of him radiated power controlled, lethal, and terrifying.
My feet froze. My lips parted, but no sound erged. He didn’t rise. He didn’t gesture. He just sat there, the soft moonlight from the windows catching the sharp angles of his face. His eyes, dark and unreadable, fixed on , though he didn’t speak. And yet I felt the weight of his gaze pressing into like a tangible force. I swallowed, my voice a whisper that didn’t leave my throat. "Alpha..."
He raised a brow, the faintest curl of amusent tugging at the corner of his lips.
And then I heard it the whisper, inside my mind, soft and taunting.
"You took your ti."
My stomach twisted. I pressed my back against the doorfra, trying to summon courage that felt like water slipping through my fingers. "I... I didn’t want to disturb you," I murmured.
"Disturb ?" The inner voice humd with amusent. "You’re already here. You’re always disturbing , Ellie."
I shivered, pressing my hands to my arms, as if that could create a shield. I hated that he knew this way that his presence alone could twist my insides into knots, make my hands shake and my knees weak.
"W-what what are you doing here?" I managed to whisper aloud.
He tilted his head slowly, gaze unwavering. He didn’t answer with words not yet. But the tension in the room tightened around , thick and suffocating.
"Waiting. For you."
It wasn’t a threat. Not exactly. But it was enough. Enough to make my body betray with a soft, involuntary shudder. I stepped forward, careful, each movent deliberate. He didn’t move. He simply watched. And that gaze that terrifying, unreadable, calculating gaze made my heart hamr so violently I thought it might break my ribs. I inched closer to the sofa, every nerve alert. I had prepared myself for a confrontation, for a scream, for a lash of anger. But he simply... existed there. Calm. Dangerous. Immovable.
"Why are you still trembling?" His inner voice taunted . "I can feel it from here, Ellie. Every fear, every heartbeat. Delicious."
My fingers curled into fists at my sides. I wanted to tell him to stop, to leave, to let breathe. But my voice failed. I swallowed, the lump in my throat growing heavier.
Finally, I stopped in front of him, close enough to see the faint lines of his jaw and the way the light hit the sharp angles of his cheekbones. I forced my gaze to et his.
He leaned back slightly, hands resting casually on his knees, as if he were lounging rather than sitting opposite soone who had invaded his space without permission.
"You’re shaking," he whispered inside my mind. "Do you want to stop noticing?"
I flinched, stepping back slightly. "I... I don’t want—" I choked on the words. "I don’t want trouble."
"Oh, Ellie," the voice murmured, low and silk-smooth, "trouble already found you. And it’s mine to play with."
I froze. Every instinct scread at to run, to flee back to the safety of the oga dormitory. But I couldn’t. Sothing inside dread, fascination, and a deep, icy terror anchored in place.
He leaned forward ever so slightly, just enough that I could feel the pull of his presence. Not close. Not near. But close enough that it occupied every inch of my awareness.
"You’re quiet today," he whispered in my mind. "No questions, no complaints I like this version of you."
I swallowed hard, forcing a nod I didn’t feel. My legs felt weak, ready to buckle at any second. The air between us was electric, a current that made my hair stand on end.
He didn’t rise from the sofa. Didn’t speak. Just waited. Watching. Waiting.
I dared a small step closer, inching toward the sofa. Every nerve in my body scread that I was walking into danger. And maybe I was.
"Careful," he murmured, and for a mont, the voice softened, almost gentle. "You might fall or worse, I might notice."
A shiver ran through . That one sentence soft, taunting, terrifying was enough to pin in place. I clenched my fists, staring at him, trying to rember that this was a man. A mortal man. But the presence he exuded the predator, the power, the control erased any rational thought.
I forced myself to kneel on the floor, folding my hands in front of like a servant, trying to shrink into nothingness. Every muscle in my body scread at to run, yet my mind was frozen.
"Good," his inner voice whispered. "You’re finally quiet. It suits you."
I pressed my lips together so tightly I thought they might split. I could feel the tremor still coursing through . I hated it, hated myself for letting him affect like this. And yet I couldn’t stop hearing him. Couldn’t stop feeling him.
Minutes stretched into hours though in reality it was only a few heartbeats. And still, he remained there, unmoving, observing. His guards waited silently by the door, distant and pale. Not daring to intervene. Not daring to breathe.
Finally, I managed to whisper, almost inaudibly, "Are you done?"
He tilted his head, faint amusent in his dark eyes, but still no words. Then his inner voice just for murmured, almost softly:
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