The Bully Alpha's Fake Alpha Mate (BL)-Chapter 22: Possession

ASHER

I’d been trying to leave for the past hour.

Ms. Chen kept finding excuses to make me stay, my vitals needed another check, I should wait for the doctor’s official discharge, I needed to eat something before I could go. I knew what she was really doing, she was stalling, waiting for him, and sure enough, the door burst open like someone had kicked it, and Reed Jackson filled the doorway.

He looked... different, his usual calculated composure was cracked around the edges. His dark hair was disheveled like he’d been running his hands through it, his shirt was wrinkled, and there was something wild in his eyes as they locked onto me. Something that made my pulse spike and my carefully constructed walls tremble.

For a long moment, we just stared at each other.

I broke first. "What are you doing here?"

My voice came out hoarse, rough from disuse and the breathing tube they’d had down my throat for the first day. It hurt to talk, but I forced the words out anyway because I needed to know, I needed to understand why Reed Jackson, of all people, kept showing up when I least expected it.

"Checking on my handiwork," he said, his voice cold as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

The casual cruelty in those words hit me like a physical blow. Right, of course. This was still Reed, the Alpha who’d planned my first beating, who’d made my life hell from day one, and who saw me as nothing more than entertainment.

"Well, congratulations," I said bitterly, gesturing to my bandaged body. "You almost killed me, yet again. Feel proud?"

Something flickered across his face, too fast for me to identify before his expression hardened again. "I didn’t plan this one out this time around but you survived, that’s more than most people can say after crossing me."

"Is that what this is about? Your ego?" I laughed, and it hurt my ribs, but I didn’t care. The anger felt good, felt clean compared to the confusion that had been eating at me since I’d woken up. "You hired rogues to attack me because I stood up to you on my first day? And then you sent your Alphas to torture me yet again." I yelled out.

"I hired them to teach you a lesson, and I didn’t sent those Alphas to you"

"What lesson? That you’re a psychopath?" I asked, and Reed stepped closer, and I instinctively pressed back against the pillows, hating myself for the reaction. He crowded into my space, one hand braced on the bed beside my hip, leaning in until I could smell him—l, pine and something darker, something that made my suppressant-hazed instincts go haywire.

"The lesson," he said quietly, dangerously, "is that you don’t belong here. You’re weak, a liability, and sooner or later, someone’s going to figure out whatever you’re hiding."

My blood turned to ice. I forced my face into careful blankness, even as my heart hammered against my ribs. "I’m not hiding anything."

"Liar." He roared.

The word hung between us, heavy with certainty. Reed’s eyes searched my face like he could read every secret written there. Like he could see past the suppressants and the carefully crafted persona to the truth underneath.

"Tell me the truth, Asher," he said, his voice dropping even lower. "Who are you really?"

"None of your fucking business." I answered.

"Everything about you is my business now." He leaned in closer, and I could feel the heat radiating off his body, I could see the flecks of gold in his green eyes. "You made it my business when you challenged me. When you survived. When you refuse to break, and when you do things to me that makes me do unspeakable things, like saving your ass again. You are my business now, Asher Graham. "

My breath caught. There was something in his voice, something hungry and possessive that sent warning signals firing through my brain even as a traitorous part of me responded to it.

"Then I guess you’ll just have to keep wondering," I said, forcing steel into my voice despite the fear in my chest. "Because I’m not telling you shit."

Reed’s eyes darkened, his pupils dilating, and for a moment I thought he was going to—what? Hit me? Kiss me? Both seemed equally possible and equally terrifying.

Instead, he straightened up, putting distance between us. The loss of his closeness felt like a physical thing, and I hated that I noticed.

"Fine. Keep your secrets," he said, his voice ice. "But know this, I will figure out what you’re hiding, and when I do, you’ll wish you’d been honest with me."

He turned to leave, and the words burst out of me before I could stop them.

"Reed."

He paused but didn’t turn around. Just stood there, a wall of tension in an expensive shirt, waiting.

"Why did you save me?" I asked quietly. The question had been eating at me since I’d woken up, since Ms. Chen had told me what happened on that rooftop. "If you hate me so much, why not just let them kill me?"

The silence stretched so long I didn’t think he was going to answer. Then his shoulders shifted, and when he spoke, his voice was carefully emotionless.

"Because you’re mine to torment, and I don’t share."

Before I could process that, before I could figure out what the hell that meant, he turned back around. His eyes locked onto mine with an intensity that pinned me to the bed more effectively than any restraint.

He moved back toward me, slow and deliberate, and I couldn’t make myself look away. I couldn’t make myself tell him to stop. He leaned in close, one hand bracing on the bed again, the other coming up to grip the railing near my head. Caging me in.

This close, his scent was overwhelming. It cut through the suppressants like they were nothing, making my head spin and my body respond in ways I desperately tried to suppress. Alpha, strong, and dangerous.

"I’m going to find out everything there is to know about you, Asher Graham," Reed murmured, his breath ghosting across my cheek. "Every secret, every lie, every truth you’re trying so hard to hide, and when I do—" his eyes dropped to my lips, then back up, "—it will determine what happens next."

My heart was racing so fast I was sure he could hear it. I could probably smell the spike of adrenaline and fear and something else I refused to name.

"But in the meantime," he continued, his voice dropping to something dark and promising, "you should heal fast because I’m not done with you yet, not even close."

His hand came up, and I flinched automatically, but he didn’t hit me. Instead, his fingers ghosted along my jaw with impossible gentleness, careful of the bruises, the butterfly bandages, all the evidence of what his inaction had allowed to happen.

"Those Alphas who touched you?" His voice had gone deadly quiet. "They’re being dealt with. No one puts their hands on what’s mine and walks away unscathed."

"I’m not yours," I whispered, but even I could hear how weak it sounded.

Reed’s smile was sharp enough to cut.

"Keep telling yourself that, princess." The word hit me like a slap.

"I’m not—"

"Don’t." His thumb pressed gently against my split lip, silencing me. "Don’t lie to yourself when we both know the truth. In the meantime, no soul will dare hurt what’s mine again, I’m protecting my investment." He pulled back finally, and I could breathe again. "Get well, Asher. Heal fast because when you’re back on your feet—" his smile was all predator, "—we’re going to have a very long conversation about truth and consequences."

He straightened up, adjusting his shirt like we’d just had a pleasant chat about the weather instead of... whatever the hell that was. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Oh, and Asher?" He paused at the door, looking back over his shoulder. "Don’t even think about running or hiding like you always do because I’ll find you, and I promise you won’t like what happens when I do."

Then he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him with a finality that felt like a trap snapping closed.

I sat there in the too-quiet infirmary room, my heart still racing, my skin still tingling where he’d touched me, my mind spinning with implications I didn’t want to examine too closely.

Reed Jackson had called me his, and the most terrifying part? Some twisted, broken part of me had wanted to believe him.

I touched my jaw where his fingers had been, felt the ghost of his touch still burning against my skin. The smell of him lingered in the air, pine and possession and promises I didn’t understand.

You’re mine to torment, and I don’t share. I’d come to Stone Claw Academy to hide, to survive, to make it through one year without anyone discovering the truth, but Reed Callahan had seen through me from day one, he had known I was hiding something, and now he was circling like a wolf who’d caught the scent of wounded prey.

The question was: what did he plan to do when he finally caught me? And why did part of me want to find out?

I fell back against the pillows, exhausted and confused and terrified and something else I refused to name. My body ached. My ribs protested with every breath. The bruises throbbed in time with my heartbeat but all I could think about was the way Reed had looked at me like I was a puzzle he was determined to solve. Like I was something he wanted to possess.

Heal fast, he’d said. I’m not done with you yet. Goddess help me, I believed him, and I had no idea if that should terrify me or thrill me.

Maybe both.

Probably both.

I closed my eyes and tried not to think about his eyes and dangerous smiles and the way my name sounded in Reed’s mouth.

I tried not to wonder what would happen when he finally uncovered all my secrets, I tried not to acknowledge the small, reckless part of me that wanted to see where this dangerous game would lead. I failed on all counts.