Chapter 21 – Seeds of Doubt
The storm between them lingered long after the words had fallen silent.
Ethan didn't sleep. He couldn't. The weight of Adrian's confession—or excuse, depending on how one looked at it—pressed down on his chest like a boulder. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the words scrawled in the notebook: controlled pair bonding experiments.
Beside him, Adrian had gone still. He wasn't asleep either. Ethan could feel the sharp alertness radiating from his body, though his breathing was steady, controlled. It was the kind of composure that frightened Ethan—the stillness of a predator biding its time.
When the dawn light slipped past the curtains, Ethan slipped out of bed. He dressed quietly, every movement careful not to stir the man watching him from the shadows of the room.
"I'm going out," Ethan said, voice flat, avoiding Adrian's gaze.
Adrian didn't stop him. He only nodded once, slow, unreadable.
---
The city morning was brisk, buzzing with life. Ethan welcomed the noise, the distraction, anything to drown out the pounding in his chest. He wandered aimlessly until his legs carried him toward the one place he probably shouldn't go—Leon's office.
The rival Alpha greeted him like a cat who'd cornered its prey. Leaning against his desk, Leon's smirk was infuriatingly calm, his tailored suit pristine as though he hadn't spent half the night plotting chaos.
"Ethan," Leon drawled, as though they were old friends. "I didn't expect to see you so soon. Has the great Alpha Zhou already disappointed you?"
Ethan stiffened. "I didn't come here for games."
"Good," Leon replied, circling him like a shark. "Because what you need right now are truths. And I'm the only one willing to give them to you."
Ethan clenched his fists, trying to summon the strength not to be swayed. But Leon's voice was smooth, convincing, his every word sharpened to pierce doubt deeper into Ethan's heart.
"You've seen the files, haven't you?" Leon asked softly. "The Omega Project. The experiments."
Ethan's silence was answer enough.
Leon leaned closer, his breath brushing against Ethan's ear. "Then you know. Zhou isn't your savior, Ethan. He's the king of this rotten empire. Every Omega who's suffered? Every broken bond? It's all signed under his name."
Ethan flinched, Leon's words digging like claws.
"That's not what he told me," Ethan whispered.
Leon chuckled darkly. "Of course not. He'll spin you some tragic story about dismantling it from within. That's what predators do. They wrap lies around their prey until they can't tell the difference between teeth and tenderness."
Ethan's heart hammered. But what if Adrian was telling the truth?
Leon studied him, eyes glinting with something unreadable. Then his tone softened, almost pitying. "You deserve better, Ethan. Someone who sees you as more than a pawn. Someone who doesn't hide the truth from you."
The words lingered dangerously.
---
Back at the mansion, Adrian was waiting.
The moment Ethan stepped inside, Adrian's gaze locked onto him. Sharp. Heavy. Possessive.
"You went to him," Adrian said. It wasn't a question.
Ethan froze. "How did you—"
Adrian stepped forward, his presence suffocating. "Because Leon reeks on you." His voice was low, almost feral, as though the very idea of Leon near Ethan ignited something primal inside him.
Ethan's throat went dry. "You don't get to control who I see."
The words sliced between them, and Adrian flinched—not visibly, but Ethan saw it in the subtle tightening of his jaw.
"I don't want to control you," Adrian said carefully. "But Leon will use you against me. He'll poison you with half-truths."
"And what if they're not half-truths?" Ethan snapped, pain lacing his voice. "What if everything he said is right? That you're nothing but a ruthless Alpha feeding on Omega suffering?"
The silence that followed was brutal. Adrian's hand twitched at his side, as though he wanted to reach for Ethan but knew he couldn't—not now.
Finally, Adrian spoke, voice raw but steady. "Then all I can do is prove you wrong."
Ethan's chest tightened painfully. He wanted to believe. He wanted to trust. But the seeds of doubt had already taken root, and Leon had watered them with precision.
He turned away, unable to meet Adrian's gaze.
Adrian's hand finally lifted, hesitating before brushing against Ethan's shoulder. The touch was light, tentative—so unlike the ruthless Alpha everyone feared.
"Stay," Adrian whispered. Not as a command, but as a plea. "Even if you doubt me. Stay."
Ethan closed his eyes, his heart a battlefield of trust and betrayal.
For now, he stayed. But the cracks between them were widening.
And somewhere in the shadows, Leon smiled.