The male Alpha releases a sound of displeasure before clearing his throat and looking at me again. “I hear you’ve been unwell.”
Understatement,I want to say.
But I don’t want to antagonize him or Baroness Clarice.
Their Alpha presence is… suppressing. Intense. Demanding submission.
Very unlike Krolic, Catum, and Craze. While I could sense their domineering personas, they never made me feel like Ineeded to supplicate or beg for their favor. I obeyed them to please them.
With Baroness Clarice and Doctor Tav… my obedience would be derived from fear.
Except, I don’t quite fear them.
It’s a strange feeling, one I don’t fully understand.
And I’m not ready to embrace it.
Not until I understand what is happening.
So, instead, I clear my throat and say, “I’m not sure what happened, but I’ve been asleep for a while.” That feels truthful—I’ve definitely been asleep for some time. Which explains the grogginess, headache, and general feeling of dead weight.
But I’m hoping they also assume I’m buying Baroness Clarice’s story about me missing my ceremony.
I didn’t miss it. My mate-circle is real.
The dress must be a replica. That’s the only explanation I’ll accept.
Because life without Catum, Krolic, and Craze… just no. I won’t even entertain that. Not after spending time with them and receiving a taste of what we could be together. I need more. I need them. I need the potential for our future.
Doctor Tav doesn’t immediately say anything, instead reaching around me to pick up the tea. He gives it a sniff, and his nose visibly crinkles. “What is this?” he demands, his gaze going to Baroness Clarice.
She simply looks at him. “Tea.”
His expression hardens. “Remake it.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me, Heart.Remake it.”
I flinch, the nameHeartserving as a bolt to my heart, one that causes my pulse to race.Krolic’s sister.
Is that… is that even possible?
Why would she be here?
Maybe I misunderstood.
“Sorry, little one,” Doctor Tav says, his hand grabbing mine and sending a cold blast through my veins. I nearly shiver in response, his touch so wrong that I can barely think straight. “I didn’t mean to growl.”
Growl?I repeat to myself.Oh.
He thinks my pulse is racing from his snarl, not from hearingHeart.
Did I even hear that correctly?
“Remake the tea,” he says again without looking at me.
“I don’tmaketea,” Baroness Clarice—Heart?—snaps before taking the tray and stalking off toward the stairs. “And I don’t submit to you, either.”
