Page 72 of Psycho Alphas: Part One

I… ached, seeing her still seated on the edge of the bed stiffly, as if she was too scared to lay down. Naturally, she was having a conversation with Bunny.

“What are we worried about?” she was asking, a nervous laugh slipping out as she tucked blankets around her legs. “We used to do this every night.”

She sat like that for a long time, frozen, not laying down or relaxing as she stroked Bunny slowly.

I wonder what Ace had thought of the way she was?

How wouldmostAlphas react to being around an Omega like her?

She was broken, so many times over, but she also had more power than even she knew. Most Alphas like Ace would be threatened by that.

“Never been with a cuddling Alpha before, anyway,” she muttered eventually. “But then last time…” She trailed off, hugging Bunny closer. “No, no.” Her voice cracked. “That’s not true, he’s nothing like you.”

I cocked my head, wondering if I’d heard that right through the feed.

There was a beat, and her expression screwed up, as if she might cry. Then she slipped from the bed and hurried to the door. She checked the rooms on the way up the hallway, peering into each, including my bedroom. Then she reached my office, which was a crack open.

I didn’t move, legs kicked up, and phone before me, but my gaze slid the slightest bit to my office door in time to catch movement, and—out of the corner of my vision—the briefest flash of a violet eye peering in.

Then she was gone, hurrying back down to her room.

“There, see?” she said to Bunny as she closed the door behind her and sagged against it. “No one else. They all left.” She let out another forced laugh. “What did we think, anyway? He cuddled us once, and now he’s gonna do it forever? That’s stupid. He’s rubbish.”

I frowned, my irrational hindbrain wanting to storm in there and prove to her wrong, stupid or not.

No.

That kind of insane urge was exactly why I couldn’t.

But what had she been looking for?

Another person?

Another… Omega?

Isthatwhat Ace had done to her?

I watched as she closed the curtains and bundled all the blankets into the middle of the bed before crawling in and huddling up in what—quite literally—resembled a nest.

SEVENTEEN

THISTLE

Sleep was restless in my makeshift nest that wasn’t a nest, but Bunny was here, and I would be okay.

I squeezed my eyes shut, shoving away the thought of nightmares that had woken me. I had a memory, one that I always recycled whenever I woke up with bad dreams.

It always worked to keep them away.

I’d never been worth much but once someonehadprotected me from nightmares, and it had been the best gift in the world, because now it served as a little flame in the dark that I could return to every time things were hard.

I poked around in the pouch at Bunny’s back, finding the hole that led to his stuffing.

A little digging, and I felt it, a tiny metal case that I’d stolen from abandoned rooms a long time ago, and tucked in here to keep forever.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, imagining the soft aroma of dark cream cardamom to light that little flame and keep me safe.

4 Years before—We’ve got a sister, Bunny!

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