Page 77 of The Alpha Under My Bed

Like he had never doubted this would happen.

Like he had always known I’d break.

Like he had planned it.

I felt sick.

My nails dug into my palms, fingers trembling so violently that my knuckles screamed in protest. My throat clogged, thick with too many words, too many tangled emotions I couldn’t even begin to sort through.

The only thing that slipped past the storm was?—

“You lied to me.”

Mal didn’t flinch.

“I didn’t.”

My stomach twisted, and my vision bled into a haze, the edges darkening. “You let me think you were a beta.”

He tilted his head, that unreadable, infuriatingly patient look settling into his expression. He watched me like I was the one who was missing the point—like I was the one who hadn’t caught up to something he had already figured out.

“I never said I was a beta.”

A jagged breath ripped through my chest. “You didn’t correct me either.”

His lips parted, like he was going to say something—then he stopped.

He just watched me.

Waiting.

My body flushed hot, an uncomfortable mix of fury and something I refused to name. Shame, maybe. Or betrayal.

“You let me tell you things—things I never would have said to an alpha.” My voice cracked, thick with hurt. “You let me?—”

I choked on the words.

The worst part.

I loved him.

Not just as my best friend, not as the guy who always knew how to make me laugh, how to lift me up. But as Mal. The one who knew all my little quirks—the way I always needed to have tea before bed, the way I’d hum while I cooked, the way I never left the house without my phone, even though I hated being tied to it. The one who always made sure there was a pack of my favorite cookies tucked in his cabinets just in case. The one who memorized my order at every single restaurant we ever went to, the one who always reminded me to drink water before bed after a night out.

The one who drove four fucking hours to pick me up when I got stranded on the side of the highway at two in the morning because my car decided to die in the middle of nowhere.

I had loved him.

And now?

Now, I didn’t know who the fuck he was.

My knees buckled.

The bond squeezed tight, and the sound that escaped me was too close to a whimper. I hated it.

I hated that he moved before I could crash to the floor.

Hated the way his arms wrapped around me.

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