Ch. 276..280: Breed Me, Daddy Alpha chapter 276-280

Breed Me. Daddy Alpha – Chapter 276

He didn’t say anything at first.

Just stood there. Burning holes through me with his gaze.

I felt his eyes raking over every inch of me like a burning searchlight – assessing, calculating, counting down to what felt like my final moments…

The silence was louder than anything he could have shouted.

I took a slow, shaky step back, but he followed, step for step, the air between us tightening like a noose. He didn’t need to move fast – his presence alone was enough to pin me to the wall.

“Coban,” I breathed, barely a whisper, trying to force calm into my voice. “I was going to come back. I didn’t mean-”

He moved.

I flinched instinctively, but he didn’t hit me. He didn’t yell again either. Instead, he reached out, gripped my chin between his fingers, and forced my gaze up to meet his.

–

His eyes were like flint hard, sparking with something dangerous and barely restrained. “What the hell did I tell you?” he growled, voice low and crackling. “What did I say about wandering off on your own?”

“I wasn’t wandering- you were gone and we…” I gasped, then regretted it immediately.

His grip on my jaw tightened in a vice like grip, as I became nothing more than a trembling rag–doll under his hold.

“Lying. Again.” He hissed the word like it tasted foul in his mouth. “You think I’m stupid again? Have you learned absolutely nothing so far?!”

“N–no! I just we were in Cara’s room before Leo found us and he told me that you-” I began pleading a story to him again, only to be cut short once more.

“Oh, Cara,” he muttered, as if her name was enough to set something loose in his brain.

She hadn’t done anything wrong in this…

His fingers dropped from my face, only to press into his temples as he turned his back to me, pacing once, twice across the room like a caged wolf longing for release.

I used the moment to glance around and winced once again at the true sight of the place.

It was far worse than I remembered.

“So you thought you’d trash my fucking room before going to sit with Cara in hers? Why? Is her room still in tact I take it, Margot?!” He spat the truth out right at me as I cringed.

Margot…

It was the first time he had opted to use my real name over the pet one, ‘Bella’.

The prettiness had evidently passed for him – since I now stood messy and unwashed before him.

“I let you off the hook pretty easy on your first day, did I not?!” he said, voice eerily calm now. “I kept you safe. Made sure you are. Didn’t touch you the way I could’ve on your first fucking night – did I MARGOT?!” He suddenly roared my name, as I lifted my arms.in fright.

“I was gone for one night and this is what I come back to? Better yet, I came back to find that you were out all alone, exploring the building hmm? Think you can tackle all those fucking nightmarish men on your own now eh? Fucking dumb bitch!” Coban continued to yell, before moving towards me, a fast banging the wall beside my face as I whimpered.

My mouth opened, but no words came out…

He stalked backwards to take a deep breath, one that didn’t work, before he only moved forward again, until we were toe to toe.

“Did you two have fun in here?” he snapped. “Like this is some fucking slumber party? WAKE UP PRINCESS, YOU’RE IN A FUCKING PRISON!” He snapped, as I prayed and prayed he wouldn’t completely snap–winding up killing me…

I shook my head violently. “No- I mean yes, but I didn’t mean to disrespect anything, I swear I was going to come back and clean it-”

“You don’t get to swear anything to me,” he snapped, shoving one of my shoulders back in to the wall. “You don’t get to make me promises anymore. You just do as you’re fucking told – no if, ands or buts.”

His breath was warm against my face, but there was no heat in his eyes. Only pure ice. Fury layered with something colder – disappointment, maybe.

Or worse… betrayal.

But I had only gone to breakfast? Nothing else had happened…

“We slept in, that’s why it’s a mess in here, I’m sorry.” I suddenly sob out the words, having never noticed that I had even started crying before now.

“We? So this was a real slumber fucking party?!” He snapped, before adding; “LOOK AT ME!” He thundered, as I blinked up at him through the fresh tears.

“Cara stayed here last night, we were both brought here after the fight broke out… Coban please…” I cried, not liking the close proximity between us.

He leaned closer until our foreheads touched.

“So you took full advantage of sleeping on my bed? Not just you, your little bitch of a friend too? Did I say you could do that?!” Coban whispered, as I closed my eyes and sniffled.

I shook my head miserably, every inch of me trembling under his shadow.

“I didn’t think- I was just- I don’t know!” I choked out, my voice small, broken, and entirely defeated. “We didn’t mean anything by it, I swear-

“You didn’t think?” he echoed, voice dark with mockery as he pushed back from me, a look of disgust taking over his face. “Well, maybe it’s time someone around here starts thinking for you…”

His hand moved suddenly, and I braced- but he didn’t hit me. No. Instead, his fingers tangled harshly into my hair at the crown of my head and yanked me forward, dragging my body off the wall and into his chest.

I gasped, fists pressed against him instinctively, but he didn’t care. He held me firm, his lips brushing my ear now, venomous and low.

“You think this place in here is a joke, Bella?” he hissed. “You think you can just go out on your own or play house while I’m gone?”

“I don’t,” I replied barely above a whisper. “I know where we are- I know what this is”

“You don’t. You don’t know anything yet.” His tone twisted – deepened into something colder, uglier. “But you’re going to learn. Starting now.”

He shoved me away – not violently, but with enough force to send me stumbling back, only just catching myself from falling again.

He was on a war path…

I looked up at him with wide, wet eyes.

His chest rose and fell like a storm tide, hands still clenched at his sides.

Then- he exhaled. Long and slow, like he was holding something back that was dying to be released. His expression cracked, just a little. The tightness around his mouth eased, if only a fraction.

“I’m going to go to the gym, and when I get back, this place is going to be spotless, do you hear me?” He started, deciding on his next step in this.

I nodded desperately, more so needing him to leave the room, to leave me alone in order to gather myself…

“I WANT WORDS!” He shot, as I blundered to respond verbally to him.

“Y–Yes, of course!” I bubbled, as he rolled his eyes at my sobbing.

“Be lucky that I haven’t beat the shit out of you like your Daddy used to Margot… don’t push me.” He sneered, the words sending a guttural hit straight to my heart.

With that last attack, he stormed by me, before he was gone…

Leaving me crumbling down in to a heap on the floor…

I couldn’t think.

Couldn’t breathe.

Breed Me. Daddy Alpha – Chapter 277

Time had passed – how much, I couldn’t say. Minutes, hours. It all blurred together after the storm of Coban had swept through the room, leaving behind a silence louder than his shouting.

My hands didn’t stop moving, even when my mind screamed at me to collapse again to cry more.

–

I folded the last shirt with trembling fingers, placing it gently into the box I’d used to serve as a makeshift laundry bin. The floor had been totally cleared, the sheets stripped off and redone three times before I felt it was perfect, each corner tucked in so sharply it could’ve drawn blood. I even smoothed over my own fluffy blanket three times, folding it on top of the bed as a sort of peace offering to him…

Praying deep down that he wouldn’t actually keep it for himself.

I’d so far managed to clean the stain of his rage from the space or tried my best to – hoping that a clean room would work for a clean mind, especially for Coban.

—

His tantrum still clung to the air, thick and poisonous, as I began to turn to look around, ensuring I hadn’t missed a single area.

When everything was done, and I couldn’t find another excuse to stay on my feet, I gave myself one small mercy.

The shower.

I had longed for one all day.

My teeth screaming at me mentally for a brush.

I peeled off my clothes and stepped under the stream like I was shedding the memory of everything he’d just said to me.

Be lucky that I haven’t beat the shit out of you like your daddy used to…

He had used what I had told him right back against me like the sharpest of weapons.

Throwing the private admission right back in my face…

The memory of his words was enough to make me tear up again, the water helping to rinse them off as though they were never actually there….

I took my time after that, deciding I deserved it.

Washed my hair twice.

Scrubbed at my skin until it was red and raw and I wasn’t sure if it was dirt coming off or just layers of myself…

When I got out, I brushed my teeth for so long that the taste of mint turned bitter…

–

Eventually, with damp hair and a towel wrapped tightly around me, I stepped back into the room cleaner, lighter, but still hollowed out on the inside…

Until the darkness spread across it like a gaping black hole…

I saw him.

Coban.

Back again.

Standing in the centre of the room like he’d never even left.

Arms folded. Eyes unreadable. Sweat coating his naked torso once again – acting as a trophy of how hard he had obviously worked in the gym.

I froze mid–step when I spotted him, my body going cold despite the warmth clinging to my skin from the shower.

For a moment, neither of us said anything.

Just silence.

Again.

A silence that I dreaded being in now.

But this time, it wasn’t heavy with rage.

It was… quieter. Suspiciously so.

—

He looked around slowly at the tidied sheets, the box of clothes, the lack of chaos that had once cluttered the floor.

Then, finally, his eyes landed on me again.

Still damp. Barely dressed. Fragile before him.

And for the first time, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking….

Coban’s gaze didn’t drift. Didn’t flinch. He just watched me. Studied me like I was some creature in a lab- something under glass.

Something he was deciding the fate of

I swallowed, my throat tight and dry. “I didn’t hear you come in…” I whispered, barely above the hum of the bathroom fan still running from behind me.

He didn’t answer.

Instead, he tilted his head just slightly, eyes trailing down the length of me in a way that made heat rise to my face not from desire, but from sheer panic.

–

Like a predator deciding how deep to sink his teeth.

The tension snapped taut.

He took a step forward.

instinctively backed up, my heel knocking the corner of the door frame behind me. The towel slipped just a fraction, before I scrambled to fix it.

Coban stopped. His eyes locked on mine.

“You finally look clean,” he said with amusement. Voice low. Too low. “Better than you did before.”

I didn’t know how to respond. I didn’t even know if he wanted a response.

Another step towards me, all the while I was trapped, unable to go back any further than I already had…

“Is that all it takes?” he asked, quieter now.

“What?” I whisper, watching him stalk closer at a horrifyingly slow pace.

“Being a little rough with you? To break you down? I barely had to use any force…” He mocked, as my chest heaved up and down; panic surging.

“You had one night without me and you forgot how to behave? All of the things we worked on? The things we discussed?” Coban’s eyes were near black now, hollow and terrifying; testing me.

My mouth parted, the words trembling at the edge of my lips. “I didn’t forget. I can behave.”

He studied me for a long beat, closer now.

Before he suddenly made his move….

It was fast.

Quick.

The towel was yanked away from me before I could even react. One rough tug, and it was gone, leaving my skin and landing in his grip as a loud shriek left my lips… arms flailing up to cover myself as much as I could.

“You fucking scared of upsetting me now, Bella?!” He ground out, as I trembled.

“P–Please… don’t…” I begged, weak and helpless and hurt that he had turned on me so quickly after yesterday.

This wasn’t the same guy…

This was a monster!

“You need to very quickly understand that you’re mine in here. Not Cara’s. Not Leo’s. Mine!” He snapped, before he shoved the towel back at me in a fast push, as I scrambled to cover up my bare skin again.

He had humiliated me… broke me down to feeling as small as an ant… and for what?!

What did I do that was so damn bad?!

Sure, I messed up the room a little, but couldn’t he see that I fixed it?!

His face was quickly inches from mine as he moved in on me. Breath hot. Words venom.

“You think a shower washes away what you owe me?” My chest heaved at his words. I didn’t know if I was about to cry again or scream or shatter into a thousand pieces.

But then-

The door banged open.

A voice. “Coban!”

It was Leo.

His tone was sharp. Unafraid.

Within a flash, I was moved and shoved back in to the bathroom, door pulled shut on his end to lock me in, hiding me like a kid who had been caught stealing in a candy store!

I pressed my ear to the door, heart hammering and thankful Leo had stepped in to distract him for a moment…

“What the fuck is it now?” I heard him bark at his friend.

“There’s a situation in block C,” Leo said. “You’re needed. Now.”

A long pause, before low murmuring was heard, as I squinted to hear a thing.

The door was quickly pulled open again, as I almost fell through it from the force, before Coban stuck his neck inside – keeping me hidden.

“Put clothes on, and don’t leave this fucking room until I get back. I’m serious this time, Bella!” He warned, eyes flashing with a look of authority.

I nodded like a bobble head, as he sighed heavily, slamming the door back in my face…

Wow.

Breed Me. Daddy Alpha – Chapter 279

The last bundle of laundry landed with a soft thud inside of the machine damp towels this time brushing against the steel.

I reached back to grab a stray sock to toss in with it, my fingers brushing over Coban’s as he reached for it too.

We both stilled.

Just for a second.

I looked up, unsure if he’d jerk his hand away or smirk at the contact.

—

But instead, he stood rising to his full, imposing height rising to his full, imposing height — and did something I didn’t expect.

–

He offered me his hand.

Not gruffly. Not with impatience. Just… open.

Quiet.

I stared at it for a second too long, my legs still folded beneath me on the floor. Was this a trap? Some new twist in his sick game?

How could the man from earlier, so intimidating and aggressive, now be offering me his hand?!

But his eyes didn’t narrow like they usually did when he wanted me to be afraid of him. They just waited for me to accept the gesture.

So I reached out. Slipped my hand into his.

It was warm. Strong. Surprising?

He pulled me up with ease, not yanking not rough just firm enough to steady me.

“Thank you,” I muttered quickly, like if I said it too loud the moment might break.

He let go of my hand almost as soon as I’d found my balance, brushing it down the side of his pants before giving a slight nod toward the machines.

“Should take an hour,” he said plainly. “So we’ll come back for it.”

Then again, without being told he stepped to the side, motioning me toward the hallway. Like a silent invitation. Or maybe an unspoken test.

I nodded once and walked out, my feet quick across the tile.

But I didn’t get far.

A sudden impact hit me square in the chest as I rounded the doorway – a collision of limbs and soft fabric.

I stumbled back only for Coban’s hands to stable me from behind.

“Oh! Crap I’m so sorry!” I gasped, catching sight of a flurry of laundry tumbling everywhere. Socks, towels, some colourful shirts I didn’t recognise.

–

The girl small, slight, barely older than me bent down quickly, her arms flailing in an attempt to scoop everything up.

“I didn’t see you! I’m so sorry!” she blurted out, her voice thin and breathless. Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, her eyes flicking back down the hallway anxiously.

It’s not your fault, I didn’t see you either – here, let me help-” I dropped to my knees again, gathering the fallen pieces of clothing as fast as I could, shoving them into her outstretched arms.

“Thank you,” she murmured, sounding like the idea of being helped at all was foreign. Like kindness was a luxury she hadn’t learned to accept around here yet.

That’s when his voice snapped through the hall from behind me.

“Bella, get the fuck up! This isn’t your mess to fix!” He huffed, shocking me completely.

The gentleness was gone.

I froze.

The girl flinched hard from his tone, almost dropping the pile all over again.

I turned my head slowly to find Coban standing behind me, his face twisted with a familiar irritation I was slowly growing used to seeing.

But this time, it wasn’t directed at me, for once. It was aimed at her – or maybe the whole situation probably patience wearing thin due to the standing around?

The girl didn’t move, laying low, averting her gaze.

–

“Newman!” Coban suddenly barked out sharply, his voice echoing down the corridor like a gunshot as I suddenly realised a man with a shaved head and a what he was about to do,

Not even a moment later, a head poked out from one of the far rooms heavy build, his shirt wrinkled, his expression already annoyed. “Santo? What’s wrong? What’s she done now?”

The second he saw the girl on her knees, clutching her bundle of clothes like a shield, his expression shifted. Confusion. Then agitation for her.

I stood quickly. Too quickly.

My body moved before my brain could stop it, instincts flaring like a fire had been lit in my chest.

–

I turned to Coban – palms reaching out – pressing my hands flat against his sturdy chest.

–

It was bold. Maybe stupid of me? Definitely dangerous.

But I had to do something before he got that poor girl in to unnecessary trouble.

His attention snapped down to me instantly, eyes narrowing, lips parting like he wasn’t sure what to make of the contact I was giving him. I felt his muscles tense beneath my hands, rigid with surprise.

“Coban, please don’t, this was my fault,” I whispered urgently. “I bumped into her. She couldn’t even see where she was going – she had so much stuff in her arms. Don’t make her pay for that – she’s only trying her best.” I rant quickly, ensuring that the man awaiting Coban’s response couldn’t hear my words.

My voice was desperate but measured, pleading without groveling.

The girl was wobbling to stand up now, her eyes darting between us with something close to panic.

Coban stared down at me, and for a moment I didn’t know if I’d made a massive mistake. His gaze flicked down to my hands on him, then back to my face, then past me toward the other man.

He exhaled once sharp, controlled and then spoke…

–

“Don’t send your girl to the laundry carrying that much shit on her own,” he growled, glaring down the hallway at the guy known as Newman. “Look at the size of her compared to you?! What is it that you’re doing that’s so important you can’t fucking help walk ten steps with it? Is the pile too heavy for you to lift?”

My heart skipped.

What?

Did he just-?

Newman blinked as I turned to face him, clearly taken aback. “Uh–yeah–shit, yeah, I guess you’re right.” He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly looking more guilty than annoyed, and stepped fully out into the hallway. “Didn’t think it was that much. C’mere, Sarah, you should’ve just told me it was a struggle.”

–

The girl – Sarah stood straighter as he reached her, relieving her of the entire pile, it suddenly looking small in his much larger arms.

He even kicked open the laundry room door for her to go in…

She shot me a glance something thankful, almost stunned before she walked past.

–

A connection sparked in the air between us. A fleeting, quiet bond formed in the middle of this godforsaken place.

“Margot,” I whispered to her, tilting my head in a nod to introduce myself quickly.

She smiled faintly. “Sarah,” she returned, like it was a secret worth keeping.

And then she disappeared inside, her protector finally trailing in after her.

I turned back toward Coban slowly, unsure of what to say. But he didn’t gloat. He didn’t smirk. He didn’t even speak.

He just looked at me.

And for once, I didn’t feel like prey under his gaze.

I felt… something else.

Still unsure.

Still cautious.

But something had shifted.

–

“Don’t push it.” He muttered lowly, as my lips tugged out in to a small smile as I nodded once – sharing a mutual understanding not to address what he had just done for me.

I could be totally wrong, and maybe I’m just a total fool here, but if I was right… I’d say that Coban was seriously trying to make things up to me in his own, weird way,

Ultimately, showing me a side to him that I hadn’t yet seen before…

A man beneath the monster

Breed Me. Daddy Alpha – Chapter 278

Sure, I’d changed into the cleanest thing I could find a crisp white tee and my grey sweats that hung loosely on my hips, the neck of it growing damp thanks to my half–dry hair dripping water down my back.

—

I hadn’t wanted to sit on his bed again – hadn’t dared so I opted for the desk chair instead, legs folded up underneath me like a child waiting to be picked last in gym class.

Eventually, my eyes drifted over the array of books on the above shelf. A small, battered collection that seemed more decorative than personal. But still, there was one – a thick, weathered paperback with a cracked spine that caught my attention.

–

I stepped up to grab it down…

I didn’t recognise the title, but something about it seemed almost… safe. Like it belonged to a different world, one where people worried about late library fees and chapter endings. Not violent outbursts and being humiliated naked in front of someone who the day before had opted to protect you.

I was staring at the back of it, lost in the blurb, imagining myself slipping between the pages and disappearing into its story… when I heard the door click open again.

My spine stiffened instinctively.

I turned my head slowly – as if hoping it might be someone else, maybe Leo again

It was obviously Coban.

He was back.

– but no.

He entered without a word, his shoulders tight and purposeful, eyes scanning the room with that same unreadable energy he’d left with. There was no sweat this time – no shirtless intimidation. He was dressed again, but not relaxed. Never relaxed.

He saw me.

Cleared his throat.

I tensed under the sound like it was a warning shot.

“Laundry needs done,” was all he said.

No greeting. No apology. No mention of what happened earlier. Like the towel scene had been some fever dream I’d imagined. Maybe I wished I had?

I nodded carefully, choosing my breath before I spoke. “Ok, I put it all in the box over there,” I murmured, keeping my tone soft- measured like someone handling a wild toddler.

—

I stood slowly, not wanting to seem reluctant, moving across the room toward the box I had repurposed earlier. But before I could reach it, his arm shot out stopping me with a firm hand to my hip.

“I’ll get it,” he said.

–

His voice wasn’t sharp. It wasn’t tender either. It was neutral – like a blade kept sheathed… for now.

“Just follow me.” He instructed, and I only nodded.

No questions. No resistance. Just follow him…

Was carrying the box for me his way of an apology? It was a pretty shit one if so!

He grabbed the box with one hand like it weighed nothing and moved toward the hallway, not even checking to see if I was behind him.

But of course I was.

My socked feet padded silently after him as we slipped out into the common area of our block – as he didn’t exit the room completely, only crossed over to the other side, kicking open a door I hadn’t noticed before.

It was quieter than usual in the block.

Where was everyone?

What time was it?

Did something bad happen again?

I didn’t dare to ask Coban what had happened in Block C, I didn’t even want to know…

Coban led me inside of the room, the positive scent of laundry detergent flooding my senses like a luxury spa retreat,

The laundry room wasn’t what I had expected. Did every cell block have one of these? I wondered.

It was a wide, industrial space with exposed pipes. Rows of four machines lined one wall, some ancient, some newer, and all of them working loudly.

Coban dropped the box beside one and turned to me, finally holding my gaze again.

“Separate it,” he said simply. “Lights, darks… you aren’t that dumb, are you?” He pauses in his explanation to ask.

“I can do it, don’t worry.” I spoke gently, taking on a forced calming tone, before I dropped down to my knees and started sorting through it, grateful for the task, even if my hands were shaking from having him towering over me again.

It was pretty easy, since mostly everything was white, black or grey.

For a while, there was only the sound of fabric shifting and machines turning. Then, I felt his presence settle down on to a chair in the corner behind me not hovering, not looming, but still there.

Watching every move I made.

“I wasn’t going to hurt you earlier,” he said suddenly, voice barely audible over the rumble of the dryers as I paused.

I froze, a pair of socks still clutched in my hand, debating whether or not I had heard him right.

“I didn’t actually hit you,” he added, as if that somehow redeemed everything else he had done…

Grabbing my jaw, grabbing my hair, pushing me, exposing me…

I didn’t know how to respond to him and so I just kept folding instead, humming once at his words.

“I scare you, don’t I?” he said next. Not a question but a fact.

I finally looked up, twisting around slightly to glance over my shoulder at him.

He was leaning forward, elbows rested on either of his knees only a few feet away, jaw tight.

“Tell the truth. You were scared.” He pushes on, as I blink, unsure of where this was going,

Don’t lie, remember the rules…

“Terrified.” I correct, suddenly mortified that I had even said it, tensing in the event that I could set him off…

His brows drew in at my words, before he huffed out a breath of air. “Well I don’t mean to,” he muttered after a moment. “That’s not the point.”

“Then what is the point?” I asked quietly, before I could stop myself, drawn in to his weak attempt at an apology.

His eyes flared – not with anger, but with something else.

Conflicted? Wounded, even? Nah…

“To keep you in line,” he said. “To keep you alive.”

Alive.

As if I weren’t already halfway dead in here with him.

“You… you made me feel like nothing,” I said, the words slipping out with a tremble. “You pulled the towel off of me like I was just some object you could humiliate. Like I wasn’t even a person.” I swallowed,

unsure of where the words were flowing from.

Certainly not from my brain…

His stare dropped to the floor, almost shameful. “You needed to remember what this place is. That it’s not a game. Not a slumber party.”

“And do you need to be the monster for that?” I asked, softer now, blinking hard against the sting of tears.

He looked at me again.

“No,” he said finally.

Silence again.

But something shifted in it this time. It wasn’t rage. It wasn’t cruelty.

It was… something else.

“I wanted to show you how easy it would be for one of those other guys to take your sanity… to take your purity… especially when I’m not around, like last night or this morning.” He explained, his tone hushed as he eyed the door for passer byers, but nobody came.

I blinked at him. “I didn’t like it.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and admitted, as he nodded once.

“That was my point.” He stated, offering a dark glimpse in to how his thoughts operated.

Neither of us said anything else…

Instead, he stood and reached for the clothes beside me – surprisingly helping me to load them into the machine.

A peace offering? Perhaps…

Breed Me. Daddy Alpha – Chapter 280

The walk back to our room was short and quiet, as I couldn’t hide the little smile on my face after Sarah had managed to get off the hook…

When I stepped inside, the change hit me again immediately. The room was clean. Impossibly so. That I almost didn’t believe I had managed to fix its earlier state so well.

The sheets were straightened, the floor spotless, even our shoes neatly laid along the wall in a small neat order.

It looked totally untouched. Unlived in.

Like a reset.

Playing my first night here out to me all over again…

It felt like what had happened only hours before was already being erased from existence, overwritten by the next chapter in whatever twisted game this was. As though Coban hadn’t ripped all of my dignity away in this very room…

I stepped in first, hearing the soft click of the door behind me as it swung slowly back on its hinges — still remaining open only slightly.

My back stayed to him. I didn’t dare turn around yet.

Because I was better off waiting.

Waiting for him to speak. To command me. To take control of the next part of our day. To bark another one of his sharp instructions, as if this weird bubble we’d been floating in for the last hour was over now.

But nothing came.

Not until I felt it.

His hand.

It wrapped firm and sudden around my upper arm, fingers pressing into the fabric of my sweatshirt sleeve and right through to the skin. My entire body tensed like a live wire. My breath lodging in my throat in a soft gasp.

Shit!

So it had pissed him off?

I’d pushed my luck too far with Sarah!

He was angry at me again?!

The thing about Coban’s anger was that you never saw it coming until it was already roaring, already storming through you. He didn’t warm up he just exploded. And I didn’t know if I had the stomach to be his target again tonight.

–

My mind raced as he turned me around to face him, as if I weighed nothing, bringing our bodies close- too close the air between us instantly running low of oxygen.

–

His eyes studied me with a slow burn. Half–lidded, intense, calculated. He wasn’t looking at me like prey this time.

No

–

it was worse.

He was studying me.

“You think I’m weak for you now?” His voice was low.

Dangerous.

A question, but not really.

A challenge more like!

I shook my head immediately, pulse jumping.

“Cobán, please don’t do this again…” I whispered, voice strained, too familiar with the shadows that could fall across his face. “Please…”

But then he smiled.

A real smile.

Like the one I’d seen on his face whenever he was laughing with Leo.

Teeth flashing down at me like white knives under the soft lighting.

God, he was handsome.

It was so frustrating.

I couldn’t deny it, he was honestly the epitome of the most gorgeous man I had ever seen, and I hated myself for knowing it.

No it was infuriating, the way that man could tear through my nerves like a storm one minute, and then look like that the next. No one that good–looking should be allowed to be that terrifying. Or that unpredictable.

“Calm down… I’m not mad… not this time,” he said, voice lighter now, almost amused. “Just… more entertained, I guess.”

He tilted his head slightly, regarding me the way a lion might study a deer that had the audacity to bite it back.

–

Then, without warning, he lifted one heavy foot and kicked the door shut behind him the slam reverberating through the concrete walls like a gunshot.

I jumped in his grip.

“A–Amused?” I stuttered, mouth suddenly dry, head spinning with the whiplash of it all.

Where was this going now? I couldn’t seem to catch up…

Why did it feel like something unspoken had cracked open in that hallway, and now – now he was pulling it into the room with us?

He nodded once, slowly.

“The way you put your hands on me back there,” he murmured, inching closer, his breath brushing against my cheek. “That was bold of you, Bella.”

His words slithered through the air and wrapped around my ribcage. My lips parted. I didn’t know what to say. What to think.

Was he… complimenting me?

“Think you’ve found a soft spot in me now?” he went on, voice lower. Quieter. Cruel and seductive all at once. ‘Learned how to tame the beast, did you?”

I didn’t respond because I couldn’t.

I was at a total loss for words.

–

Because my stomach was flipping, twisting violently at the heat in his voice at the heat I should not have felt from it in return.

His hand on my bicep softened, sliding up to my shoulder. Then, slowly, he leaned down – his mouth near my neck, his nose grazing the edge of my jawline.

I sucked in a sharp breath.

What the hell was happening?

What was he doing?!

He inhaled once deeply like he was drinking in my scent, memorising it. And then I felt it.

—

His lips.

–

Soft. Warm. Gentle in the most dangerous way imaginable.

—

He pressed them lightly to my neck, kissing – no, tasting the skin there. Once. Twice. Then a third time, slower now, lips parting just enough for the sting of a suck to ripple through me.

My eyes fluttered closed.

No.

No, no, no.

This wasn’t happening.

I couldn’t want this.

Could I?

But my body wasn’t listening. My brain screamed at me to shove him away – to call him a monster, a manipulative psychopath. But all I could feel was the way my heartbeat surged like a tidal wave in my chest. The way the heat from his mouth melted into my skin like it belonged there.

I should have pushed him off of me.

But Instead, I stood still held prisoner by the chaos in my own mind.

–

His mouth drifted up, grazing just beneath my ear. His voice was like velvet soaked in poison when he whispered, “You like this, don’t you?”

‘No,‘ I breathed. But my voice trembled with a lie even I could hear.

His hands shifted then one slipping around my waist, the other lifting to cradle my jaw, guiding my face up toward his.

–

“You think I’m bipolar, hmm Bella?” he murmured, as if reading the very word from the front of my mind. “Maybe I am? Or maybe… I’m just someone who likes to keep you guessing.”

He pressed his forehead to mine, the intimacy so sudden it made my eyes sting.

“I’m not weak for you, Bella, let’s get that straight,” he said. “Im not weak for anyone. But maybe you’ve made me… curious… maybe I just need a taste of you to get it out of my system, hm?”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I didn’t even know what he meant by it.

But I knew one thing – this wasn’t the same Coban who shoved me, screamed at me, wanted to see me cower beneath him earlier today.

This one was softer.

But no less dangerous. I couldn’t be fooled.

Maybe this version of him was actually worse…

Because this one didn’t want to scare me…

He wanted me willing. To comply. To need him.

And I didn’t know what scared me more – his rage or this… twisted tenderness.

The man beneath the monster.

The monster pretending to be a man?

Or the fact that I couldn’t tell the difference between my own emotions anymore either…