Page 34 of My Unhinged Alphas
“I know exactly what I’m saying,” I reply lightly. “You’re intense. You’re mysterious. You keep staring at me like I’m either about to combust or solve a riddle. It’s… compelling.”
“It’s not compelling.”
“It is a little compelling.”
“You don’t see me,” he says.
“I’m looking directly at you.”
“You’re looking at a mask.”
“And you’re hiding behind it.”
His shoulders go rigid. “You think this is a game,” he says, anger threading through the calm. “You think because you can make a joke out of it, it isn’t real.”
“I don’t think that,” I say, more quietly now.
“You don’t know what I look like.”
“I’ve got a decent imagination.”
His jaw tightens beneath the black fabric. “You think I’m… what?” he pushes. “Attractive? Safe? Interesting?”
“I think you’re standing between me and a locked door instead of tying me to a chair,” I say. “Which is a strong start.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
The light is fully in the room now, washing over the concrete and catching in his hair. He looks almost unreal in it. Too controlled. Too contained.
“You don’t understand,” he says again, sharper this time. “You don’t get to decide something like that without seeing.”
“Seeing what?” I challenge softly. “What are you so convinced is disqualifying?”
Something in him snaps. It’s not loud. It’s not explosive. It’s like a wire pulled too tight.
He rips the mask off. The motion is abrupt, almost violent, and the black fabric drops to the floor between us.
For a split second, my brain registers symmetry. Then it registers the rest.
The right side of his face is exactly what I expected—sharp cheekbone, beardless jaw, striking blue eye.
The left?—
Burned.
The skin is tight and uneven, pulled slightly toward his temple. The scar drags down his cheek, disappearing beneath the collar of his shirt. It isn’t fresh. It’s healed. But it’s permanent. Impossible to miss.
He’s breathing harder now. “Still?” he demands.
There’s anger there. But underneath it?—
Fear.
“Do you still find me attractive?” he asks, voice rough. “Or were you flirting with the mask?”
The room feels smaller suddenly. Quieter.
