CHAPTER 102: CHAPTER 102

I woke up gasping, my heart hammering against my ribs as if it wanted to break free. For a few terrifying seconds, I didn’t know where I was.

My body trembled, sweat plastering my hair to my face, and the world spun before settling into the familiar sight of the omegas’ room cracked walls, two worn-out beds, the faint smell of herbs and laundry soap.

Joan’s voice sliced through my haze. "Ellie! You’re awake!"

I blinked, trying to focus. She was hovering above me, eyes wide with panic, while Elara stood near the foot of the bed clutching a damp cloth.

"What—what happened?" I croaked, my throat dry like sandpaper.

"You were screaming," Joan said, sitting beside me. "You scared the life out of us! You called his name-"

My stomach twisted painfully. "Whose name?"

Elara answered for her, voice flat. "The Alpha’s."

Everything inside me froze.

"I—what?"

Joan sighed, brushing my hair off my sweaty forehead. "You must’ve been having a nightmare. You kept saying, ’Don’t come closer,’ and then Moon help me you whispered his name like he was right here."

Her words stabbed straight through me. My heart skipped, then stuttered unevenly. The memory of the dream clung to me like smoke Alpha Zach standing over me, that same cold gaze softening in the silver light, his fingers brushing my cheek.

"You shouldn’t have left."

The voice echoed in my head again, low and smooth, and I almost flinched.

It had been a dream. Just a dream. But why did it feel real enough to burn?

Elara crossed her arms. "You need to rest. You look like a ghost that’s been dragged through hell."

"I’m fine," I muttered, but my hands betrayed me trembling violently against the blanket.

"Fine?" Joan raised an eyebrow. "You’ve had a fever for two days. You fainted after walking back from the Alpha’s quarter, Ellie. You should’ve seen your face — pale as bone."

Her words faded into the background as I stared at the floorboards. I could still feel it the heavy pull of his presence in my head. That strange, magnetic whisper that refused to leave.

Wildflower by the roadside.

I squeezed my eyes shut. No. I couldn’t think about that.

"Ellie," Joan said softly. "He didn’t... do anything to you, did he?"

My head snapped up. "What? No!"

But the heat crawling up my neck betrayed me. She noticed.

"Elara," Joan said, frowning, "remember what I said? I told you there was something strange between them. The way he looks at her—"

"Stop it." My voice came out sharper than I meant. "There’s nothing between us."

There couldn’t be.

I was just an omega. The lowest of the pack. A shadow. And he he was the Alpha. A man everyone called the Psycho Alpha for a reason. He didn’t need to touch someone to destroy them. One look was enough.

But then why could I still hear him? It wasn’t the fever. It wasn’t madness. It was something else something crawling beneath my skin, whispering things I shouldn’t hear.

"Inner voice: Does she even realize how fragile she looks?

Pathetic omega... and yet I can’t look away.

I jerked my head up, heart thudding. The voice was faint but unmistakable. His.

"Elie?" Joan’s voice snapped me back. "You okay?"

"I—yeah," I lied quickly, though my hands gripped the blanket until my knuckles turned white. "I just... need some air."

Joan frowned. "You’re not going anywhere like that. You can barely stand."

But I couldn’t stay there. Not with the whispers pressing against my mind.

"I’ll just sit by the window," I murmured.

They exchanged a worried glance, but Joan eventually sighed. "Fine. But no fainting again, understood?"

I nodded. She and Elara went back to their chores, leaving me by the small cracked window. I leaned against the cool frame, staring out at the pale sky.

The world outside was quiet too quiet. The pack house beyond looked distant, the Alpha’s quarters a looming shadow against the sunlight.

My gaze lingered there. Against my will.

At the time, I thought she was mad. Now, I wasn’t so sure.

A sharp knock startled me back to the present. Joan poked her head in. "Ellie, eat something. You’re shaking again."

I hadn’t realized it until she said it my whole body was trembling. Not from hunger. From fear. From something else I couldn’t name.

"I’m not hungry," I murmured.

She sighed, setting a bowl of soup on the table. "Then at least drink. The Alpha might come asking if you’re dead again, and I don’t want to be the one explaining why."

I froze. "He—he asked about me?"

Joan shrugged. "Yesterday. Sent one of his guards to check why you didn’t show up for work. Scared half the omegas senseless."

The spoon slipped from my fingers, clattering into the bowl.

"He... sent someone?" I repeated quietly.

"Yeah," Elara said from across the room. "Psycho Alpha must’ve missed his favorite servant."

They laughed lightly, but the sound barely registered. My heart wouldn’t stop racing.

He noticed? He actually noticed I was gone.

The thought should’ve terrified me and it did. But beneath the fear, something warm and confusing twisted in my chest. I hated that feeling.

That night, the fever came back.

I tossed and turned, tangled in the sheets, my skin clammy and hot. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him standing in the dark, watching me silently.

No matter how far I tried to run in the dream, he was always there, his voice wrapping around me like smoke.

You think you can hide from me, little omega?

You hear me even when you don’t want to. That’s how deep I’ve sunk into you.

I woke with a strangled cry, drenched in sweat. Joan and Elara were fast asleep, their breathing steady. The room was dark except for the moonlight spilling through the window.

I sat up slowly, clutching my chest. My heart wouldn’t calm down.

My eyes darted to the door. It was still closed. No footsteps. No scent. Just his voice inside.

"Inner Voice: You shouldn’t have left like that.

My vision blurred. "You’re not real."

The fever had been burning through me for two days.

It crawled beneath my skin like invisible fire, twisting through my veins, leaving me drenched in sweat and shaking under the threadbare blanket. Every breath felt heavy, as if the air itself had turned to smoke.

Joan kept pressing cool cloths to my forehead, while Elara fanned me with a piece of cardboard that had once been a biscuit box. Their voices were a blur, fading in and out through the haze that swallowed my mind.

"She’s getting worse," Elara whispered. "Maybe we should tell the Alpha."

"Are you crazy?" Joan hissed. "You want her dead? The Beta reports to him. If Alpha Zach finds out she’s been missing from his quarters—"

The name alone made my fever spike. I flinched, even in half-consciousness. The psycho Alpha.

Every omega in the pack had a story about him. They whispered them when the moon was high and the hallways were dark how he tore through enemies with his bare hands, how no one dared look into his eyes for too long.

And now, I was the unlucky one who brought his meals.

Except lately... it hadn’t been just meals.

His words haunted me even more than his presence.

His whispers the ones only I could hear.

"A wildflower by the roadside..."

That voice still echoed through my mind whenever I closed my eyes. It was both cruel and kind, cold and tender. It confused me. It terrified me. And it drew me in like gravity I couldn’t fight.

Joan was saying something again, but I couldn’t focus. My body shivered, and I turned, mumbling under my breath. "Don’t... don’t call me that..."

"Elie?" Joan leaned closer, worry clouding her face.

But it wasn’t Joan I saw.

Through the fog of fever, the air shifted darker, heavier. The scent hit me first woodsmoke, rain, and something sharper underneath. Power.

I opened my eyes fully, and the world tilted.

He was standing at the door.

Alpha Zach. Every omega in the room froze. The air went still, the kind of stillness that came before storms. No one moved. Then, in a flurry of skirts and whispers, Joan and Elara bolted. They didn’t even glance back. The door slammed behind them, leaving me alone feverish, trembling with the man crazy psycho. My mouth went dry.

I tried to sit up, but the effort made my head spin. "A–Alpha..." I croaked, the word breaking on my tongue.

He didn’t speak right away. He just stood there, watching me with those dark, unreadable eyes. His presence filled the tiny room like a shadow come alive.

His gaze swept over me the damp hair sticking to my face, the trembling hands clutching the blanket, the pale skin glistening with sweat. For a second, I thought I saw something flicker in his expression. Concern? No. Impossible.

Then his voice came, deep and low, curling through the silence.

"You didn’t come today."

I swallowed hard. "I—I was sick..."

His lips twitched — not a smile, but something close. "So I see."

My heart hammered painfully. "I’m sorry, Alpha. I didn’t mean to—"

"Enough." His tone cut through my apology like a blade. But there wasn’t anger in it. It was... restrained. Measured.

He took a slow step forward, and the wooden floor creaked beneath his boots. I gripped the blanket tighter, every nerve in my body screaming to run.

He stopped beside my bed. His height cast a long shadow across my face. He looked down at me not with disgust, not even with curiosity this time but something deeper. Something that made my throat tighten. Then, without a word, he knelt. I froze completely.

The Alpha- the psycho Alpha was kneeling by my bedside.

He reached out a hand, fingers brushing my cheek. His skin was warm warmer than it should’ve been and it sent a shiver racing through me.

"You’re burning," he murmured.

The words were quiet. Almost gentle. I wanted to pull away. I should have. But the moment his touch met my skin, the fevered chaos in my body seemed to still. The pain dulled. My breathing eased.

It was terrifying. And yet I didn’t move. His inner voice slipped through, soft and dangerous, only for me to hear.

"Inner Voice: She looks fragile like this. Too fragile. One touch and she might vanish.

I bit down on my lip, trying not to react, but I couldn’t stop the trembling.