Page 88 of The Alpha Under My Bed

That should have sent relief crashing through me, should have sparked some primal instinct to flee, to run—straight for the fucking door. But I couldn’t move.

My body felt like liquid. Heavy, slow, melting under the weight of something I couldn’t fight. My muscles were slack, unresponsive, like they had been drained of their will, sinking deeper into something dark and suffocating—something inescapable.

A sluggish, lethargic pulse throbbed through my veins, deep and unnatural, as though every beat was dragging me further under, pulling me into a pit where I couldn’t see, couldn’t think, couldn’t escape.

I wanted to scream, to fight, but the air felt thick, suffocating—like it was pushing me down, smothering me. My mind screamed at my body to act, but it just wasn’t listening. The fear that should have been razor-sharp was dulled, muted, like I was already sinking into some kind of void where nothing felt real anymore.

I cracked my eyes open, my vision swimming as my world tilted. Claudia sat a few feet away, legs crossed, watching me with sharp interest, her gaze lingering like I was some fascinating little experiment. She smiled, slow and satisfied, her manicured nails drumming lazily against the armrest.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Claudia sighed, leaning forward. Her perfume was suffocating, sickly sweet. “You’re fighting it, aren’t you?”

I bared my teeth, but even that felt sluggish. My body wasn’t mine. It was too hot, too slow, too fucking wrong. I forced my fingers to move, curling them into the slick vinyl beneath me. Pushed. Shoved. But my limbs felt like they were wrapped in chains, every movement too weak, too slow, too late.

Claudia’s eyes gleamed. “That’s good.”

I tried to tense, tried to summon even an ounce of strength to fight her, but the slow pulse in my core deepened, my thighs pressing together on instinct. A sick thrill flickered through Claudia’s expression.

No.

Oh, fuck no.

I forced my muscles to work, tried to push myself upright. My legs trembled, my breath hitched—but I moved. My body wasn’t completely lost to whatever the fuck she’d done to me. Not yet.

Claudia tsked, shaking her head like she was disappointed. “You’re stronger than I thought.” She leaned back in her chair,gaze flickering over me in appraisal. “You know, I was so sure I’d have to kill you when this was over.”

Ice slammed through me.

She smiled. “But look at you. I could make so much money off you.” She gestured vaguely, like she was picturing something. “An omega who can be forced into heat on command? That’s valuable, sweetheart.”

My stomach twisted violently. She forced me into heat.

White-hot panic lashed through me. Move. Move. Move.

My legs buckled, but I lunged—my body slow and weak, but not broken. I barely made it two steps before Claudia sighed?—

And something slammed into the back of my skull.

Stars exploded across my vision. Pain lanced through me. My knees hit the tile.

Darkness clawed at the edges of my mind, but I fought it, my body trembling, my breath ragged.

A shadow loomed over me. A hand gripped my hair, yanking my head back. My neck wrenched, and before I could blink, Claudia was crouching in front of me, her nails digging into my chin, forcing my dazed, blurry eyes to meet hers.

She smirked.

“Let’s begin.”

Twenty-Three

MALCOLM

Ellie was gone.

Not just out of reach. Fucking gone.

Her scent—fresh. She hadn’t been gone long. But beneath it, there was something else. Something sharp. A faint edge of stress, the ghost of fear. It wasn’t obvious. Wasn’t strong.

Which meant whoever took her knew what the fuck they were doing.

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