I wanted it.
And I was terrified of it.
Knox stood, rounding the table, his arm nearly brushing mine. I instinctively flinched inward, until I realized he was just reaching to clear away my plate, not touch me. Suddenly, I was embarrassed that I had acted that way. Shame crept in.
“Can I have your drinking glass? I’m going to get you some more water. Omegas needs to stay hydrated," he said, ignoring my sharp flinch.
I passed it to him, keeping my eyes down. His fingers brushed mine in the transfer, quick and unintentional, but the contact was enough to draw a panicked sound from my lips.
"Sorry," he muttered, "I didn't mean to touch you."
But then he paused, turning to look at me.
"Does it really hurt?" he asked.
The question caught me off guard.What did he mean?My head tilted slightly.
“When we touch you,” Knox clarified, “even a little… you seem... pained.”
I said nothing.
Knox was observant. Far more so than his brother. Despite being twins, they had very little in common beyond their striking appearance. Both were massive, broad-shouldered like all alphas, and built for dominance. Handsome in a severe way, with square jaws and sharp noses carved into perpetually stern faces.
Adorned with matching blonde hair, so pale it gleamed like silver, and glacial blue eyes that cut straight through you. Silas wore his buzzed tight along the sides, the longer length on top brushed back into sharp, aggressive peaks. A thin scar split his brow, cutting through the thick hair and giving him a permanently angry look.
Knox, by contrast, wore his hair long, pulled back into a loose bun that hung low, with strands that escaped to frame his face. Where Silas looked honed and dangerous, Knox looked controlled and commanding.
Their personalities reflected that divide.
Silas was sharp and cunning. When he smiled, it was cold. When he laughed, it was shallow and humorless. His eyes narrowed the moment his patience was tested, and his fists curled instinctively, as if violence were something he constantly had to hold back.
Knox was not patient,not really, but he tolerated waiting better than his twin brother. Where Silas strained against it, Knox settled into it, using the time rather than resenting it.While he waited, he watched. Not in a way meant to intimidate, but with a quiet, relentless focus.
His gaze tracked everything with analytical precision. Every shift of my weight. Every flick of my eyes. Every hesitation before a movement. He cataloged expressions like evidence, piecing together patterns and meaning where most would see nothing at all.
Just like me.
He noticed my every action, and I had the unsettling feeling that I was revealing things unintentionally.
Even now, he studied me, waiting for my response to his question.
I did my best to stay still beneath his rapt attention.
Both men frightened me in their own way. While their presence had grown less heavy over the past few days, it was never invisible. They dominated the surrounding air too completely, the way all alphas did, filling the space with raw power and authority.
Silas strode into the room, tenseas always. Something had shifted since he saw my reflection in the bathroom mirror. He was angrier now, if that was even possible.Did he want something from me? Was he upset that I had turned my body away from his view?
An object clattered onto the table. Silas had dropped a box directly in front of me.
My body reacted before my mind could catch up. I flinched hard, curling inward as my hands flew up to shield my head and protect anything vulnerable.
My reaction seemed to anger both men more.
Especially Silas.
He let out a low growl, dragging a hand through his cropped hair as he turned away, shoulders tight with restrained frustration.
“Lena,” he said, aggressively. Knox shot him a look, so he stopped, exhaled, then tried again, a bit calmer. “You don’t have to do that.”
