Bride Of The Feared Alpha

Ryan was making that terrible burnt coffee he insisted on every Sunday morning, the kind that stayed bitter no matter how much sugar you dumped into it. I was sitting on the kitchen counter, watching him commit the same crime against coffee he'd committed for the last three years.

"Ryan, that smells horrible."

"It's fine," he said, without looking up.

"It is not fine. It smells like something died in the filter."

"You're being dramatic."

"I'm being accurate. There's a difference."

I leaned over to steal the mug from his hand, but he shifted it just out of reach without even looking at me. Still stirring. Still completely unbothered. I was halfway off the counter, stretching for it, when something wrapped around my waist from behind and pulled me back.

The kitchen disappeared.

I woke up.

For three long seconds, I just stared at the ceiling. Wrong ceiling. Wrong room. Then I felt the arm, an entire arm draped over my waist, attached to a man still asleep behind me.

I want to be very clear that I did not scream.

I didn't move. I barely breathed. I lay perfectly still while my brain conducted a frantic review of the previous night and came up with almost nothing useful. A crowded bar. Music. A laugh that definitely wasn't Ryan's. Then blank.

I, Melissa, twenty-two years old, who had never once spent the night with any man, including the boyfriend of three years who had been endlessly patient and never once pressured me, had apparently spent the night with a complete stranger.

Fantastic. Excellent. What a spectacular way to start a Thursday.

I lifted his arm off me with the precision of someone defusing a bomb. When he shifted, I froze, counting silently to five until he settled again. My dress lay crumpled on the floor. I slipped it on, found my heels beside the door, my bag on the chair, and crossed the room like every floorboard was waiting to betray me. I eased the handle down, opened the door, and slipped into the hallway.

I never looked at his face.

That was a deliberate decision, and I still stand by it. If I didn't know what he looked like, then this could stay one terrible morning instead of becoming an entire disaster.

The elevator ride down lasted twelve floors, twelve floors of staring at my reflection in the mirrored doors while giving myself the sternest lecture of my life.

Okay. You're going home. You're taking a shower. Then you're finding Ryan and telling him exactly what happened, because you don't keep something like this from someone you love. He deserves the truth. It'll be awful. It'll probably ruin everything. But you're telling him today, not tomorrow. Today.

I'd rehearsed the entire speech before the cab even reached my house.

Ryan's message arrived before I could send mine.

Babe!! Shares hit an all-time record overnight. Best first anniversary gift the company could've asked for honestly lol. Got you something for tonight, check your door. Come looking gorgeous, yeah? Big night.

I read it twice.

Ryan was the one thing in my life that had ever truly felt like mine. Not something expected of me. Not something handed to me. Just mine. And I had possibly set fire to it. That felt like a lot for nine in the morning.

The venue buzzed with conversation. Ryan's company had just smashed its one-year record, and everyone wanted to be close to that kind of success. For twenty minutes I smiled until my cheeks hurt while being introduced to people whose names evaporated the second they said them. Someone's wife complimented my dress. Someone's business partner asked what I did.

"I'm finishing my degree."

He nodded with the polite smile people wear when they've already stopped listening.

Then I saw Jade. She stood across the room in a red dress I'd never seen before, laughing at something a man in a grey suit had said. I frowned. What was she doing here? Jade had never cared about Ryan's work events, never knew his colleagues, never asked about the company. She laughed again and rested a hand lightly on the man's arm, and nothing about the picture made sense.

She caught me looking. Smiled. Looked away.

I immediately told myself I was imagining things. Guilt had a funny way of making every shadow look suspicious.

The lights dimmed just after nine. Ryan stepped onto the small stage, and conversations faded until the room settled into silence.

"Tonight is a big night."

He smiled at the crowd, then said he had a personal announcement, something more important to him than any business milestone. My heart lurched. Years ago, lying on the sofa with takeout containers balanced on our laps, we'd made ridiculous promises about the future. Ryan had laughed and said the day his company's shares hit a record was the day he'd finally propose. I hadn't thought about that promise all evening, and now it was the only thing I could think about.

I glanced across the room. Jade wasn't there anymore.

A smile tugged at my mouth before I could stop it. He's doing it. He's actually doing it. I straightened without realising. Waited.

Ryan extended his hand.

Jade stepped onto the stage.

My sister. She slipped her hand into his, and Ryan looked at her the way he used to look at me. Then he lifted her hand for the room to see.

"This," he said, smiling at her, "is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with."