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Turning to his side so he can be eye to eye with me, he sets his dark gaze on me.

“I’m sure you do,” he murmurs. “Tell me who it was so I can gift him the same treatment.”

I know he means it, and the shackles around my heart release a little.

“Dr. Kind is one of the cruelest people I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet,” I say, my voice breaking. Fuck. I hope I don’t cry.

I hate crying.

“Hey,” he says, his thumb running over my cheek. I lean into his touch, loving the connection. “You tell me what you can. Don’t try to control your voice, and if you cry, I’ll hold you through it. I can take anything you have to say to me. Want to know why?”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because you’re mine, and in my arms. I no longer care about societal niceties, or what people think. If I want to burn the world down, there’s nothing to stop me from doing it.”

Holy shit.

It’s easy to get lost in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, I tell him everything. The dream, the nights where I used to tread water for hours instead of sleeping, and how electricity was used against me. Tears spill over as I cry, my voice a mess.

My voice teacher would be cringing right now.

“Cowardly twats,” he growls. “Dr. Kind is going to meet his end. It may not be anytime soon, but someday.”

“Anyone hungry?” Riley asks, his steps getting closer. I brush away my tears while Cooper’s lips purse because I’m hidingagain. My nose is seriously stopped up and congested and I know I look a mess.

However, my stomach rumbles audibly and his expression becomes amused instead.

“I think I am actually,” I say, pushing myself up and turning to face Riley.

His smile drops as he falls to his knees in front of me.

“I should have made dessert too for whatever is wrong,” he mutters.

“I don’t know if chocolate will fix it, but it can’t hurt,” I tease him.

His hands ghost over my thighs, as if to remind himself that I’m here with him.

“Okay,” he murmurs. “How do you feel about molten chocolate cake?”

“Um, marry me?” I ask, smirking.

“Are you proposing to my boyfriend already, Little Queen?” Ethan calls from the kitchen as I laugh.

“He said the magic words!” I yell back.

Riley smirks as he smoothly stands, holding out his hand.

“You’re going to be the best kind of trouble, aren’t you?” he asks.

Cooper stands up behind me as I giggle, kissing my neck and tickling me with the scruff on his face.

“I think she’s going to keep us on our toes,” he says as we walk toward the kitchen.

Sitting at the island because Cooper pretty much lifts me up to put me there, I watch as the three alphas that are mine work together. Plates, cutlery, platters of food and bread, everything is placed together in quick order as I watch in awe.

Cooper presses tissue into my hand as I sniffle from the after effects of crying, and I nod in thanks. Slipping away to blow my nose outside of the kitchen, I wince as I find that it’s more than the tissue can handle.

“The bathroom is down to your right,” Cooper calls out.