CHAPTER 43: CHAPTER 43

I had never thought a day would come when I would actually beg Elizabeth to beg on my behalf. Normally, when she barges into the psycho Alpha’s moods, I hide behind her skirts like a terrified mouse and whisper silent prayers that she won’t accidentally make things worse for me. But this time, it was different. Elizabeth wasn’t begging for herself. She was begging for me.

"Alpha Zach," she said with that careful voice that always sounded like someone trying to carry a pot of boiling soup across a tightrope. "Elie has been through a lot these past days. If you allow her to stay with her fellow omegas in the quarters, just for a day, it will help her recover faster. A change of environment... a little comfort. You want her healthy, don’t you?"

I swear my heart stopped at those words. Comfort? Recovery? Did she think Zach even knew what those words meant? I was already preparing to say my last prayers, imagining him flipping the table and strangling us both for daring to make such a request.

But to my absolute shock, he leaned back in his chair, folded his arms, and tilted his head at me like I was some disobedient pet who had just been given a break it didn’t deserve. His silence stretched, long and heavy, until my knees went weak. Then, with the most casual shrug, he said, "Fine. One day. But if she so much as breathes wrong, I’ll skin every omega alive."

My mouth opened, then shut, then opened again, but no sound came out. Elizabeth squeezed my hand as if to remind me I hadn’t just imagined it. He had agreed. He had actually agreed. I wanted to jump, scream, and dance like a child who just found out her chores were canceled, but of course, in Zach’s presence, my soul stayed glued to my bones. Still, inside my head, I was spinning and throwing confetti. I was going home. Well, not home exactly but back to the omega quarters, back to Joan, Elara, and the rest of the girls who probably thought I had been swallowed alive. When Elizabeth walked me to the quarters, my steps were so light I could’ve floated. For once, the air didn’t taste like fear and blood. For once, I didn’t feel Zach’s burning eyes piercing my skull. The moment I pushed the wooden door open, voices broke out.

"Elie!"

"Moon above, it’s really you!"

"Elie, look at you! You’re alive!"

Joan practically tackled me first, wrapping her arms around me so tight my ribs protested. Elara came next, followed by two other girls, and soon I was suffocating in a pile of omega bodies. Normally, I would panic at being trapped, but this time, I laughed. Yes, laughed. Loud, ridiculous laughter spilled out of me because I had missed them so much, missed the warmth of people who didn’t look at me like they wanted to crush me for fun.

"You don’t know how much I’ve missed you all," I whispered when I finally caught my breath.

"You’ve changed," Elara said softly, brushing my hair back. "You look tired. Thinner."

I smiled weakly, refusing to tell her that "tired" was an understatement. Living under Zach’s roof was like being trapped in a snake pit with one hungry python who thought my existence was its personal toy. Still, I told them stories small, censored versions of my days. I didn’t dare speak too freely, but even the little I shared was enough to make their jaws drop.

"You’re the psycho Alpha’s personal omega now," Joan whispered in awe and horror, her eyes darting to the door as if saying his name might summon him. I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "Don’t remind me. I’d rather be anyone else’s personal anything. At this point, I’d even accept being the cook’s dish washer."

They laughed, but it was a nervous kind of laughter, the kind you let out when you’re trying to lighten a nightmare.

Still, being with them felt like sunlight on my skin. For the first time in forever, I felt human. Night came faster than I wanted, and exhaustion pulled at me, but I was happy. Really happy. I curled up on the small thin mattress I had once called mine, listening to the soft breathing of Joan and Elara beside me.

Everything was perfect. Until it wasn’t. The door creaked open. At first, I thought it was one of the omegas going out for water. But then, the heavy scent hit us before his shadow even stretched across the room. The psycho Alpha had entered. Every single girl in that room froze mid-breath. Even the candle flame seemed to stutter, terrified. I sat up so fast my head spun. Alpha Zach stepped inside like he owned not just the quarters but the air itself. His presence was suffocating, thick, and crushing. His eyes scanned the room, burning holes through everyone.

"Out," he said, his voice flat.

Not loud. Not angry. Just flat. But that one word carried enough weight to make every omega scramble.

Joan hesitated, glancing at me as if to ask, Should we leave you?

Before I could even blink, Alpha Zach’s lips curved into the faintest, most terrifying smile. "Do I need to repeat myself? If you don’t move, I’ll strangle every one of you before dawn."

The omegas nearly tripped over themselves in their rush to escape. The room emptied in seconds, leaving me alone on my trembling mattress.

My heart hammered in my chest, so loud I was sure he could hear it. He shut the door behind him. The sound echoed like a death knell.

Then, with the most casual air, he looked at me and said, "I will sleep here tonight."

I blinked. "W-what?"

He tilted his head. "You heard me. You won’t run. You won’t hide. I’ll keep my eye on you. This way, you won’t escape."

My throat tightened, words clogging inside it. I wanted to scream that I had no intention of escaping that I was too terrified to even dream of it. But my lips wouldn’t move.

He moved across the room, his boots striking the floor with slow, deliberate taps, like the ticking of a clock counting down to my doom.

I shook so hard the mattress creaked under me. When he reached my side, he lowered himself onto the thin bed with a sigh, as if this was the most natural thing in the world.

"Move," he ordered.

I scooted to the very edge, practically dangling off the bed, my hands gripping the blanket like it could save me.

He stretched out, one arm behind his head, eyes closing in contentment. Just like that, the most dangerous wolf in existence was lying on a mattress meant for a fragile omega. I thought maybe he would fall asleep quickly. But no. Of course not. Because then came his inner voice.

"Elie’s heart is racing."

I nearly jumped out of my skin. His lips hadn’t moved, but I knew he was speaking. That strange, mocking inner voice he sometimes used, the one that twisted every ounce of fear I had into a joke.

"She’s shaking. Poor little Elie. She thinks if she stays quiet enough, I won’t notice."

I buried my face into the blanket, praying to vanish.

"Inner Voice: She’s too scared to breathe. If she does, she thinks I will pounce."

He chuckled. Low. Dark. Teasing.

I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing desperately for Joan and Elara to barge in and rescue me but of course, they wouldn’t dare. No one dared.

So I lay there, stiff as a corpse, listening to him laugh softly at my terror until the sound finally faded into silence. The silence was worse. Because I knew he wasn’t sleeping. I knew he was listening to my heart, my breaths, every little twitch of my body.

And I couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t even dream.

That night, I realized something terrifying.

Standing at the edge of the mattress, clutching the blanket like a lifeline, watching the psycho Alpha sprawl across the thin bed like it was his royal throne. My whole body trembled. Every cell begged me to stay awake, to stay alert, because this was Alpha Zach. My nightmare wrapped in human skin. But my traitorous body betrayed me.

One second, I was upright, promising myself I’d stay on guard all night. The next, my head dipped forward, my knees gave out, and Darkness. When I woke, it was to the horrifying realization that I wasn’t standing anymore. I wasn’t even on the edge of the bed.

I was in it. Correction: I was in bed with Alpha Zach.

And not just "in bed." I was wrapped up, cocooned, locked in his iron grip like some oversized teddy bear he had no intention of letting go. His arm was slung around my waist, pinning me tight against his chest. His legs tangled with mine, heavy and possessive. His chin rested lightly on the top of my head, and oh, moon help me he was snoring. Softly. Gently. Like some overgrown wolf cub, content and at peace. Meanwhile, I was wide awake, eyes bulging into the dark, my entire body stiff as a board.

How had this happened? I tried to replay the night in my mind. I remembered standing, trembling, swearing I’d never sleep. Then blackness. Which meant oh no. He must have seen me collapse. He must have actually picked me up picked me up like I was some fragile thing and laid me down beside him. And then, the monster had the audacity, the sheer nerve, to hold me like I belonged there. Panic clawed at my chest. My breathing came in short, shallow gasps, careful not to wake him. I dared not even twitch. Because if he woke up and found me panicking in his arms, what would he do?

Snap my neck? Mock me? Tease me until I cried? Or worse smile that cold smile that meant he was enjoying himself.

"Don’t move," whispered my brain. "Don’t even breathe too loudly."

But of course, being me, I immediately started thinking of escape. Could I wriggle free? Slowly, carefully, without disturbing him? I tried. I shifted the tiniest fraction of an inch, thinking maybe I could slide out from under his arm. Bad idea. His grip tightened instantly. Like a vice. Like chains snapping closed. I squeaked. Out loud. A pathetic, high-pitched squeak that sounded like a terrified mouse. He didn’t wake. He just snuggled me closer. Snuggled. The psycho Alpha Zach snuggling. I nearly fainted on the spot.