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“I won’t judge if you’re worried. Tahlia, I—talking to you is the best part of my day, and you can confide in me.”

Tahlia let out a sharp bite of laughter, so bitter my insides twisted. Her limbs stiffened, like she pulled a shield around herself.

“You say that, Lloyd, but you don’t know the real me. I can barely leave my bedroom, let alone the apartment. I hate myself so much, I’m terrified about people seeing the real me.”

“Tahlia.” Horror washed over me as she spewed out her true thoughts.

A poisonous waterfall. Even without seeing it, I knew her face was twisted in a sneer. Could feel it in the lash of her tongue through the screen. I rubbed my burning cheeks.

“Talking to you is the highlight of my day, too. A stranger who pays to see me half-naked. That’s how sad I am, Lloyd. Why do you pretend? I know you don’t really give a shit about me. You’re just biding your time to ask the questions you really want to know.”

“Like what?”

“Have you taken an alpha’s knot? What sounds do I make when I come? How about what my slick tastes like?” Tahlia’s fists strangled the covers.

“N-no. No, Tahlia. That’s not—fuck,” I cursed as I ran a hand through my hair.

Her body was rigid with tension. My mind scrambled with the right words to say, but she continued.

“I’m just waiting for you to prove me right. But you keep being sweet and it’s fucking with my head. It makes me want you.”

Her nails dug into her pajamas, and the silence lengthened between us like a gulf. An ache throbbed in my chest and I knew it was the absence of her bond. I sought solace in my ribs.

She wanted me? I stared into the screen, where Tahlia’s chest heaved with a rough exhale.

I’d got everything in my life by taking a chances.

“Tahlia, I want to know the secrets that keep you up at two in the morning. I want to know what sounds you make when I hand you a bowl of homemade mousse. My specialty, by the way. All I want to know is you, Tahlia.”

She slapped her hands on her thighs, making a noise of disbelief.

“I grew up in The Barracks, and I was there when the HLA attacked Starhaven. I was part of the Designated trapped in by the human rebels. Do you remember how hard it was to getaid supplies dropped? Six weeks and I almost starved. Now, if I don’t have food on me, I panic.” I groped at my bedside table and pulled out the stash of snacks stored there. They slipped through my fingers as I continued. “You think you’re the only mess? I spend so much time trying to hide all the broken parts of me, there isn’t room for anything else. You want to know the truth? I’m not an al—”

“Stop.” Tahlia’s voice was hoarse. “I-I’m sorry I said it all. Forget it.”

I’m not an alpha.

My lie sat on my chest like a weight. My Designation hadn’t bothered me until I was in a pack full of alphas. It was like being chosen last for a sports team. Now, a white lie had grown into something that twisted my stomach.

“We are always hardest on ourselves, Tahlia. But when I say I want to get to know you, I mean it. I know this sounds crazy, but there is an undeniable connection between us.”

Her fingers tugged at the collar of her tee. A sliver of her smooth neck peeked out. “You make me feel safe. Is that weird? It’s scary.”

“Tahlia.” I wanted to pull her through the screen. “I wish I could see you in person.”

I knew Walden would kick my ass before he ever let it happen. Tahlia gave that husky laugh, wet with emotion, and a shiver ran through me at the delectable sound.

“Lloyd…” she sighed.

“I know, I know, stranger danger. Pretend I didn’t say that,” I hurried to say.

“I-I feel it too.” Her fingers swirled on the bedspread. Swirled. Swirled. Like a whirlpool I was trapped in. “I get butterflies when I see you’ve messaged me. There was an alpha I kind of dated in the past and I never felt like this. There was an edge offear with him. But with you, this is—” She paused as if fighting for the right words.

Now was the moment to tell her the truth. But I couldn’t make the words come out as she knocked down a small section of her carefully built walls to let me see the real her.

“Is Lloyd your real name?” Tahlia asked.

I hesitated before replying. If someone searched on the internet for Lloyd and Starhaven, they would find a picture of me with the rest of the Baylark Pack. I’d given her more than a few identifying details about me. But I felt the same way Tahlia did. The sharp, unforgiving edge of loneliness softened.