Page 128 of My Unhinged Alphas

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“You,” I say, more quietly now, “then Havoc. Then Knox. Which is, honestly, deeply inconvenient for me.”

That gets a soft exhale out of him. Not amusement exactly. Something rougher. “In that order?” he says.

I turn my head fast enough that the pillow shifts under me. “Did you really just ask that?”

“Yes.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“And yet,” he says, “you’re answering.”

I hate that he’s right.

The darkness makes him bolder too, I think. Or maybe just more honest.

I pull the blanket higher. “I don’t know what that says about me.”

His reply comes immediately. “It says you’re human.”

I blink at that. “That’s a very generous read.”

“No,” he says. “It isn’t.”

I let the silence sit between us for a second, then ask, “What does it say about you?”

He takes a long time. Long enough that I think he might not answer at all.

Then: “That I’ve wanted things I shouldn’t.”

The words move through the dark slowly. Heavy. Certain.

I ask, “Is that how you think of me?”

Another pause.

Then, “No.”

I wait.

He knows I’m waiting.

Finally he says, “That’s how I think of wanting you.”

The room feels smaller after that.

I stop breathing for a second.

I swallow. “There’s a difference?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

He shifts onto his back again, staring up into the dark. “You’re not wrong because I want you.”

My chest tightens unexpectedly. “Then why do you sound like you’re confessing to murder?”

A humorless breath leaves him. “Because with me, those things have never lived very far apart.”

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