Page 96 of The Alpha Under My Bed

They thought bringing her here would do something to me.

Like I would see her and fall to my knees. Like my instincts would override everything else. Like I would forget Ellie, forget everything, just because of some fucking scent match.

Julian wheezed a laugh.

“She’s right there,” he rasped. “She’s yours. She was always supposed to be yours.”

I blinked.

Then I laughed. Laughed so hard my ribs ached.

I crouched down, gripping his jaw, forcing him to look at me.

“You still don’t get it, do you?” I murmured.

His eyes widened.

Realization.

I leaned in, my voice dropping to a whisper.

“You were never strong enough to have her.”

His body locked up.

“You were never strong enough to have me either.”

His breath hitched.

I pressed my fingers into his mouth. Into his jaw.

And then—I wrenched it open.

The sound it made?

Fucking beautiful.

His body convulsed once, then went still, so I let him go.

Julian was dead. My pack was dead. Genevieve was still shaking. Frozen. Silent. Waiting to die.

Good.

I didn’t rush it. I let her feel every second of it, let the weight of what had just unfolded settle into her trembling bones. The thick, suffocating silence was broken only by the wet dripof blood hitting the floor—each drop a reminder of what had just been done. The bodies at my feet were cooling, their blood pooling beneath them.

She wasn’t stupid. She knew. Knew she wasn’t leaving this place alive.

But I wasn’t done with her. Not yet.

I tilted my head, letting my gaze slide over her, lingering as I scanned her the same way Julian must have when they first laid eyes on her. A pretty little omega. Delicate. Sweet. Soft in all the ways Ellie wasn’t.

But all I could see was wasted potential.

A thing bred to be worshiped, handed everything she’d ever wanted on a silver fucking platter. An omega who had never had to fight for anything. She had been given everything without ever earning it.

She wasn’t Ellie.

But Julian had still marked her.

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