Page 100 of The Alpha Under My Bed

A door loomed ahead. Not locked. Just shut.

I shoved it open?—

And there she was. Ellie was strapped to a chair.

Her head lolled to the side, breath shallow, skin damp with sweat. Fucked up. Drugged. Her scent was wrong—too thin, too faint, like her body was too exhausted to produce anything more. But she was still alive.

And Claudia was standing over her.

The moment my eyes locked onto her, something in me snapped.

Claudia had a syringe in her grip, fingers trembling, pupils blown wide—not from fear, but from the thrill. She was too wrapped up in her obsession to even notice me, still staring at Ellie, lips parted, gaze fixated like she was looking at her next fix. The realization hit slowly, like dripping venom, her breath catching as her gaze finally flicked to the door.

Her lips parted. Her pupils shrank. The blood drained from her face.

She knew me.

Had known me for years.

And she had never been afraid of me.

Until now.

The syringe slipped from her grip, shattering against the concrete. Her whole body locked up, her eyes darting over me like her brain couldn’t process what the fuck she was seeing.

“Mal?” she rasped.

Not Mal.

Not the beta best friend.

Not the safe one.

I stepped into the light, slow, measured, letting her take in all of me.

The blood smeared across my skin. The cuts across my knuckles. The dark, unshakable weight of my scent pressing down on her like a physical force.

Her breathing hitched.

Her pupils dilated.

“You’re—” She stopped. Swallowed. Her fingers clenched at her sides like she was trying to ground herself. “You were?—”

“Beta?” I supplied. My lips twitched. “Yeah. That’s what you all thought, wasn’t it?”

Her knees almost buckled.

This was new for her. Claudia—the smug, self-absorbed, manipulative bitch who had spent years treating me like nothing but a shadow next to Ellie. The pathetic beta best friend. The one she didn’t need to watch. The one she never took seriously.

Now?

Now she was terrified.

“You—” Her breath caught, her voice shaking, her throat working like she was trying not to throw up. “You—You’re an alpha?”

I smiled. Slow. Sharp. Bloody.

Her scent spiked with fear.

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