Page 73 of The Alpha Under My Bed

The one I had filled for her.

She should be here. Wrapped in the comfort I built for her, surrounded by everything she loved, everything she needed.

But she wasn’t ready to enter it on her own yet.

She probably wouldn’t be until she fell for me.

Both of me.

I just had to wait.

And I was good at waiting.

I exhaled slowly, turning away from the empty space, from the ghost of her scent still clinging to the air. My body was tight, blood running too hot, tension thrumming in my veins with nowhere to go.

I needed to cool off.

By the time I stepped into my shower, steam had already thickened the air, curling in slow, suffocating tendrils. The water hit my shoulders like a hammer, scalding, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing was ever fucking enough.

I braced my hands against the tile, head bowed, breathing slow.

Ellie had been mine for years. In every way except the one that mattered.

But now?

Now, she was breaking.

I saw the cracks forming in her resolve, in her loyalty, in the little wall she had built between her and the alpha she still didn’t realize was me.

She came to me when she was lost. She crawled into my bed, curled into my touch, whispered my name when she thought she was alone.

And the fucked-up part?

She was only here—only falling apart in my arms—because of them.

Because of him.

Julian Cross.

My brother.

My jaw clenched, fingers pressing harder into the tiles.

It had always been so fucking easy for him. The golden alpha of Pack Cross, the favorite son. Strength, status, power—everything handed to him.

And when Ellie entered our orbit, sitting across from us at that pack dinner, full of hope, full of trust?

He took one look at her and decided she wasn’t worth it.

“She’s sweet,” he had said, his voice carefully measured, dripping with practiced sympathy. “But she’s not the omega for us.”

For us.

Like he spoke for all of them. Like his opinion dictated her fate.

And I had watched her—watched the way her shoulders stiffened, the way she ducked her head, forcing a too-bright smile like it didn’t gut her to be dismissed so easily.

She had no idea I was there.

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