Page 19 of The Alpha Under My Bed (The Chosen #1)

Nineteen

MALCOLM

Ellie was still asleep, curled deep in her nest, her breathing soft and steady. Peaceful. Oblivious. Just how I needed her to be.

I watched her for a moment longer than I should have, my fingers flexing at my side. My mark on her neck had darkened overnight, deep and fresh, sealing my claim into her skin—even if she didn’t know it yet.

A slow exhale left my lips.

I had time.

I just had to be patient.

Leaving her wrapped in the blankets, I stepped into the hallway, pulling out her phone as I shut the bedroom door behind me.

The screen was flooded with notifications.

Most of them from her boss—Claudia.

Claudia: Ellie, I need you in today.

Claudia: Where are you?

Claudia: Ellie, you’re on the schedule. You don’t get to disappear.

Claudia: Ellie, answer me.

Claudia: This isn’t funny. We have orders that need to be filled.

I scrolled through the messages, my jaw flexing.

Too many texts. Too demanding. Too fucking entitled.

Ellie worked herself raw for that boutique. And Claudia? She acted like Ellie was just a resource to be drained.

She doesn’t get to own her.

Not when Ellie was mine.

I tapped out a message.

Ellie: I quit.

Before I could even wait for a response, I blocked the number.

No more fucking distractions.

Sliding the phone into my pocket, I moved into the kitchen, the cool tiles beneath my feet grounding me. I grabbed my own phone, dialing a number I knew like the back of my hand. The line clicked, and a familiar voice answered.

“Took you long enough.”

I didn’t bother with the pleasantries. “I need you to keep an eye on someone.”

A brief pause, then a low hum of consideration. “Always business with you, huh?”

“Claudia. Perfume boutique. Oakhaven.” I leaned against the counter, my fingers digging into the edge, trying to alleviate the tension in my jaw. “She’s been pushing Ellie too hard. Acting entitled to her time. I want to know why.”

The silence stretched, thick with thought. Then?—

“You think she’s a problem?”

“I think she might be.”

A low whistle echoed through the line. “Fuck, man. You sound just like him.”

I froze. My grip on the phone tightened, my pulse quickening.

“Like who?”

A pause. Then, a dark chuckle. “Julian.”

The name hit me like a gut punch, a sharp, jagged thing that burrowed deep, scraping against something old—something I’d buried a long time ago. I exhaled slowly, forcing the tension out of my shoulders. “If you bring up my brother again, I’ll rip your tongue out and mail it back to you.”

A dry laugh filtered through the phone. “Yeah, yeah. Point taken.”

I rolled my shoulders, pushing the ghosts of my past back into the grave where they belonged. Ellie was all that mattered now. I’d cut everything else away—piece by piece—until there was nothing left but her.

“You’re really not coming back, huh?”

My fingers froze on the phone. “What?”

“I mean, you haven’t been home in years, Mal. Thought you’d have crawled back by now.”

“I have nothing to go back for.”

The silence that followed was thick, heavy. Then?—

“Well, they found her.”

The air in the room turned heavy, suffocating. My jaw tightened, a pulse of tension seizing my chest.

“Found who?” I asked, even though I already fucking knew.

“Your scent match.”

I laughed. Actually laughed.

The sound felt foreign, bitter.

Because it was so fucking ridiculous.

Like I gave a shit.

I could hear the hesitation, the uncertainty in their voice. “You don’t even want to know who she is?”

“No.”

A pause. “Mal?—”

“I said no.”

Silence.

I exhaled, forcing the conversation back on track, shoving the knot in my chest down where it belonged. “Just watch Claudia. Call me if you find anything.”

Before they could say another word, I ended the call.

Ellie was all that mattered now.

I’d cut away everything else, piece by piece, until there was nothing left but her.

The phone still felt warm in my hand as I dragged a palm down my face, forcing my breath to steady, to return to calm. My fingers brushed over my pocket instinctively, grazing the key I kept there—the key to the apartment next door.

The one I had filled for her.

She should be here. Wrapped in the comfort I built for her, surrounded by everything she loved, everything she needed.

But she wasn’t ready to enter it on her own yet.

She probably wouldn’t be until she fell for me.

Both of me.

I just had to wait.

And I was good at waiting.

I exhaled slowly, turning away from the empty space, from the ghost of her scent still clinging to the air. My body was tight, blood running too hot, tension thrumming in my veins with nowhere to go.

I needed to cool off.

By the time I stepped into my shower, steam had already thickened the air, curling in slow, suffocating tendrils. The water hit my shoulders like a hammer, scalding, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing was ever fucking enough.

I braced my hands against the tile, head bowed, breathing slow.

Ellie had been mine for years. In every way except the one that mattered.

But now?

Now, she was breaking.

I saw the cracks forming in her resolve, in her loyalty, in the little wall she had built between her and the alpha she still didn’t realize was me.

She came to me when she was lost. She crawled into my bed, curled into my touch, whispered my name when she thought she was alone.

And the fucked-up part?

She was only here—only falling apart in my arms—because of them.

Because of him.

Julian Cross.

My brother.

My jaw clenched, fingers pressing harder into the tiles.

It had always been so fucking easy for him. The golden alpha of Pack Cross, the favorite son. Strength, status, power—everything handed to him.

And when Ellie entered our orbit, sitting across from us at that pack dinner, full of hope, full of trust?

He took one look at her and decided she wasn’t worth it.

“She’s sweet,” he had said, his voice carefully measured, dripping with practiced sympathy. “But she’s not the omega for us.”

For us.

Like he spoke for all of them. Like his opinion dictated her fate.

And I had watched her—watched the way her shoulders stiffened, the way she ducked her head, forcing a too-bright smile like it didn’t gut her to be dismissed so easily.

She had no idea I was there.

No idea I was part of Pack Cross.

I had been absent most of the time—not by choice, but by circumstance. The spare, the afterthought, the one nobody considered when it came to choosing the pack’s mate.

And when Ellie was rejected?

She left without ever knowing I had been sitting there, silent and seething, watching my brother throw away the best fucking thing that had ever happened to me.

That was my breaking point.

That was the moment I decided:

I would never let another alpha touch her again.

They didn’t want her? Fine.

That meant she was mine.

I took a slow, deliberate breath, the heat in my blood far stronger than the water pounding against my back.

And now?

Now they had the audacity to find our scent match.

My scent match.

Like I gave a shit.

Like fate meant a fucking thing to me when I had already chosen.

When Julian realized who Ellie belonged to now?

Oh. Oh, it was going to be beautiful.

My fingers twitched against the tile, my breathing slow and steady.

I could wait.

I could be patient.

Because I had already won.

I was just about to turn off the shower when?—

Pounding.

Frantic.

My stomach dropped.

I barely managed to wrap the towel around my waist before I was moving, crossing the room in four quick strides, ripping open the door before my brain could catch up.

And there she was.

Ellie.

My Ellie.

She was a wreck.

Tear-streaked cheeks, swollen lips from biting them raw, glasses missing, eyes wide and ruined with something I recognized far too well.

Panic.

Grief.

Desperation.

She was barefoot, swallowed by one of my shirts, its fabric hanging off her frame like a second skin. She clutched her arms around herself, as if the act alone could somehow hold her together, keep her from unraveling completely.

And then?—

“I don’t want to lose you.”

The words broke from her, jagged and raw.

Her voice—fragile, trembling—hung on the edge of a collapse, as though every syllable could splinter her apart.

I didn’t have time to process what she’d said before she moved, fast and desperate, throwing herself at me. Her body collided with mine, knocking the air from my lungs, her presence consuming every ounce of space between us.

Her arms locked around my neck, clutching me like I was the only thing keeping her from falling apart.

I caught her on instinct, hands firm on her waist, steadying her as she buried her face against my throat, her whole body trembling like she was unraveling from the inside out.

And then?—

Her teeth.

Sinking into my throat.

Right over the same spot on me where I had left my mark on her during her heat.

My vision tunneled.

My whole body locked up, blood roaring in my ears as my instincts snapped like a rubber band stretched too fucking tight.

She—

She bit me.

She sealed the bond.

The one-sided claim I had left on her was now permanent.

Two-sided.

Unbreakable.

Mine.