A girl lounged across the velvet couch, her head resting on the leg of the young man beside her. She turned the pages of her book with absent focus, noise-blocking headphones snug against her ears. Her delicate features were framed by soft brown hair that brushed just above her shoulders, a strand occasionally slipping forward with each tilt of her head. Long lashes shadowed her cheeks as her eyes tracked the words. Draped in a champagne silk robe, she looked every bit the embodiment of luxury, though her posture spoke of complete ease rather than elegance.
The man whose leg she used as a pillow absently massaged her scalp, his large hand moving in soothing circles. Broad-shouldered and calm-eyed, he leaned back with a wireless earpiece glowing faintly in one ear, humming along to the melody only he could hear.
At the other end of the couch, her legs stretched across the lap of another young man. Taller and sharper in profile, his long fingers kneaded her foot absentmindedly, eyes fixed on the enormous television screen across the room. The flicker of colors danced across his face, but every so often his gaze slipped downward, softening into a tender smile that lingered before he returned to his show. This casual ritual between them had become so natural that none of them questioned it anymore, not that they wanted to.
The quiet broke when the kitchen door swung open. Their younger brother appeared, curls tousled, a plate of carefully chopped fruits in his hands. His grin was already forming when he spoke. "Rhea, I got you some..." he began, but the words died as the girl suddenly bolted upright.
The book snapped shut with a sharp thwack that cracked the room's calm, startling the two brothers sitting with her. She ripped the headphones off her ears and clutched them tight in one hand. "I fucking hate this book!" Rhea burst out, her voice ricocheting off the walls. She raised the headphones as if ready to hurl them, only to hesitate and toss them onto the cushion instead.
The brothers exchanged quick glances, startled but unsurprised. The one who had been massaging her head quietly pulled out his earpiece, while the one at her feet leaned forward with a raised brow.
Rhea sat there huffing, her brown hair slightly mussed from the earlier massage. Her expression was alive with indignation, lips parted as if she could not contain the fire in her chest. She pressed her fingertips to her temples, rubbing dramatically. "How can someone be so stupid and dense?" she groaned. "I swear, if I were there, I would've smacked him right in his clueless face. Idiot." Her scoff was loud and bitter. "Who in their right mind rejects their fated mate just because of hearsay? Ahhh, I'm so pissed."
The brother with the fruit plate sighed, set it carefully on the glass table, and came closer with a knowing smile. "Let me guess," he said gently, "another fictional fool?"
"Damn right he's a fool. A big one at that," she shot back, heat sparking in her eyes.
Her three brothers chuckled, warmth threading through the sound. They had long grown used to her dramatic book breakdowns. It was as common as her skipping meals for a cliffhanger, but it never stopped being amusing to watch her take every injustice so personally.
Rhea narrowed her gaze at them, sharp and accusing. "What's funny?"
"Nothing," they chorused almost in unison, raising their hands in mock surrender.
With a dramatic sigh, Rhea launched herself up and stormed out, the book clenched tight in her hand.
Her brothers followed after her like resigned bodyguards.
"Come on, Rhea, don't be like this. This isn't the first time you've read something like that. I don't know why you obsess over those tragic books and still complain every single time. It's not stopping you from buying another one with a suffering protagonist," the one massaging her hair earlier said.
She whipped around with a sharp glare. "You're not helping, Eddie."
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Eddie muttered, raising his hands. "But seriously, you made me drive across town just to get you that book..."
"You don't get it," she cut in, clutching the book against her silk-wrapped chest like it was both precious and cursed. "There's this thrill, knowing the protagonist will get her comeback after the suffering. I live for the face-slapping scenes. The justice. The power. But this one just goes and dies."
"Oh, that's terrible," the one who had been massaging her foot said flatly.
"Stop making fun of me, Jake," Rhea snapped, turning and climbing the stairs two at a time.
"I'm not making fun of you. I really feel terrible," Jake answered as they followed her.
She reached a pair of massive doors and shoved them open with unnecessary force. The hinges groaned, swinging wide to reveal a sprawling, cathedral-like room.
The library was immense, two stories high, with shelves climbing from floor to ceiling. A spiral iron staircase wound toward the second level, where even more rows of books stood in perfect order. Warm amber light spilled from antique chandeliers, casting a golden glow over the endless shelves.
"Want me to deal with those that killed your favorite character?" the youngest brother asked with a smirk, clearly amused with himself.
The other two tried not to chuckle as they followed her inside.
Rhea shook her head, lips twitching despite her anger. She strode toward the "O" section, where every spine was alphabetically aligned. She slid the book back into its place with the careful reverence of someone returning a cursed object to its resting ground.
Turning with her arms crossed and one eyebrow cocked, she smirked. "And how do you plan on doing that, Rick, hmm?"
Rick shrugged casually. "Well, I'll just burn the book or give it out since it's obviously stressing you out. Problem solved."
Rhea gasped as if he had struck her with a hardcover. She clutched her chest with both hands, eyes wide in mock horror. "You want to hurt my babies?"
"You just made it worse," Eddie muttered.
Rhea took two dramatic steps back, arms spread wide like a mother shielding her children. Her voice cut sharp, dripping with wounded pride. "Are you actually threatening to commit literary murder in my presence?"
Rick rolled his eyes, exasperated.
"He gave a second option," Jake said with a grin. "Giving it out."
"Don't you dare," Rhea snapped, narrowing her eyes. "Try it, and I'll ban you three from ever stepping foot inside my domain again."
"Why us too?" Jake protested. "It was Rick's idea." Eddie nodded firmly in agreement.
"Because neither of you stopped him from saying that," she retorted.
Her three brothers looked collectively exasperated.
"Okay, I'm sorry, all right," Rick said at last. "Now can you come back to the sitting room and eat the fruits I prepared for you?"
Rhea huffed, ignoring him, and turned back to the endless shelves. Her fingers trailed across the neatly aligned spines as she browsed the lower section.
"That book was everywhere on social media," she muttered, her voice rising again as her rant reignited. "What I didn't expect was for the omega to go and die like that. And the alpha…ugh, he's so stupid. He doesn't deserve her. Stupid, stupid alpha. Why didn't the author give her a happy ending? And what's worse?" she continued, voice climbing in outrage, "She bears the same name as mine. Rhea. Can you believe that? It feels like I'm the one getting dragged through the mud."
Eddie leaned against one of the shelves, picking at his ear with his free hand as if her voice were background noise.
"Oh. Now I get it," Rick said, his tone smug. "I now strongly believe that book deserves to be burned. How dare they kill Rhea in it?"
Jake chuckled at the comment, but Rhea shook her head, choosing to ignore him.
"Nothing interesting down here," she muttered. With a grunt, she dragged the sliding ladder over. The wooden frame creaked as she climbed toward the upper level.
"Be careful with that ladder, Rhea," Eddie called, watching her ascend.
"I wish I could get inside that book and wreck that alpha and her bullies myself," Rhea continued, ignoring him completely as she scaled the shelves like a woman on a mission. "Just pop in there, claws out, and start flinging omegas into safety and alphas into walls."
Her brothers chuckled, Rick shaking his head as they watched her.
"I want to be there so bad…" she muttered, rummaging through a higher shelf. Then suddenly her eyes lit up. "Found it!" she yelled, raising a thick hardcover into the air like a sacred artifact.
The excitement jolted the ladder.
The frame wobbled beneath her feet.
"Rhea!" her brothers shouted.
Her arms flailed, trying to grab the shelf, but the ladder tilted further, the entire structure toppling with her clinging to it. A scream tore from her throat.
CRASH.
Books scattered. Wood splintered. Her body hit the ground with a sickening thud beneath the fallen ladder.
Rick, closest to her, had lunged but missed. He froze in shock.
"Rhea! Rhea!" Eddie and Jake dropped to their knees beside her, shoving the heavy ladder off with trembling hands. Her robe was bunched beneath her, hair spilling across the floor, blood soaking into the wood beneath her head.
Pain seared through every inch of her body. Her back screamed. Her limbs tingled. Her head throbbed. Her vision blurred, the world around her swimming like smoke.
Am I bleeding? she thought faintly. Her hand lifted, brushing something wet at her temple.
"Don't move!" Eddie barked, panic tightening his voice. He glanced at Rick, who was still frozen. "Call 999!"
That snapped Rick into motion. His fingers fumbled into his pocket, pulling out his phone and stabbing the emergency line.
"Hello? Yes...I need an ambulance. Right now. My sister…she fell. Head injury, she's bleeding. She's in pain, she's on the floor, she's barely responsive. We're at 101 East Whitestone Mansion. Library wing. Please hurry."
"Rhea, stay with me," Jake sobbed, trying to lift her.
"Don't move her!" Eddie barked again. "Don't touch her! She could've broken something."
Rhea's breathing was shallow, her ears buzzing. Pain spiked everywhere, her side, her back, her head pounding with each weak heartbeat. Colors bled together. Her brothers' voices echoed as if from the bottom of a long tunnel.
She blinked slowly, fighting to keep her eyes open.
Then Eddie leaned closer, cupping her face with shaking hands. His voice broke through the fog.
"Rhea...stay with me, okay? You're gonna be fine. You'll be okay, I promise."
And that was the last thing she heard before darkness swallowed her whole.
Rhea groaned.
Her head throbbed like someone had decided to host a metal concert directly inside her skull. Her limbs, every single one, felt impossibly heavy. Pain rolled over her in waves, not sharp but deep, like her muscles had been torn apart and glued back together wrongly.
What the hell was that? she thought, struggling to remember anything past the sudden ladder wobble. Did I fly from that godforsaken ladder?
She winced as a dull, throbbing pressure surged behind her eyes. She tried to lift her arm. Nothing moved.
And I'm still alive? Wow. Talk about being favored by the gods. I'm rich and favored… yepee.
A weak chuckle slipped past her lips, and immediately backfired. Pain stabbed through her ribs like her lungs were wrapped in thorns.
I'm really going to have serious words with big bro Eddie, she thought bitterly. What kind of wicked ladder did he get me? Is he trying to kill me? He's dead when I…
She froze. Something was… off.
Pain was expected. The aftermath of falling off a damn ladder... sure. But this? This was different.
Her skin tingled in strange places. Her limbs felt stretched wrong, as though her body had been molded into a shape that didn't belong to her. Her fingers, when they finally twitched, felt longer, bonier. Her legs trembled from the smallest movement. Her whole frame ached as if it had gone hungry for weeks… not that she was supposed to know what that felt like.
Why does my body feel like this? she thought, panic curling low in her stomach. Like it's not mine at all…
And the air… shouldn't it smell like disinfectant, like alcohol wipes and sterile sheets? Shouldn't there be the steady beep of a monitor by her bedside, that annoying but comforting reminder she was still alive?
Instead, her ears caught something else. A faraway noise, faint but clear, the squeak of sneakers against polished floors, a door slamming shut down the hall, voices overlapping like they were arguing but trying not to be overheard. She stiffened. Wait… I can hear that far?
And the smell…
Her nose wrinkled instantly. It was overwhelming, like a locker room left to ferment in midsummer heat. Sweat, damp fur, and something sour clung to the air, thick enough to coat her tongue and sit heavy in her throat.
Rhea's lashes fluttered open, and the sight above her made her breath hitch.
Where the hell am I?
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H A P P Y R E A D I N G ♡