ANMELDENThe dilemma paralyzed him. He couldn’t bring himself to confront the frail, exhausted woman resting against the pillows, not when she was fighting just to stay anchored to this world. But he couldn't carry the poison of this secret alone either.With a heavy, dragging heart, Asher leaned down, pressed a soft, lingering kiss to his mother’s pale forehead, and whispered that he would step outside for a moment. Uncle Leo, sensing the unspoken turmoil raging behind the young man's eyes, quietly followed him out into the dimly lit hallway, letting the heavy door click shut behind them.They walked a few paces away from the room, the distant hum of the hospital fading into the background. Asher stared down at his shoes, his fingers trembling, before he finally forced himself to look up at the older man."Uncle Leo..." Asher started, his voice barely rising above a broken whisper. "There... there was something I actually wanted to talk to you about. Honestly, I’ve just been so worried sick a
The sterile smell of antiseptic and old paper hit Asher the moment the automated doors slid shut behind him, wrapping around him like a familiar, suffocating shroud. The hospital corridor was quiet save for the distant squeak of rubber-soled shoes and the low hum of fluorescent lights. His hands were buried deep in his jacket pockets, fingers clenched into tight fists as he walked toward Room 412, every step heavier than the last.He hadn't slept properly in days. The confrontation with Julian, the terrifying revelation about the suppressants, and the crushing weight of Killian Cross's silent war against his future had left him hollowed out. But none of that compared to the cold knot of dread twisting in his stomach now.Before he reached his mother’s door, Dr. Vance stepped out of the adjacent chart room. His grim expression made Asher’s breath catch."Asher," Dr. Vance said, stopping a few feet away. "I’m glad you’re here. We need to talk about your mother’s condition."Asher felt t
Julian held his intense gaze a fraction of a second longer, as if silently giving himself one final chance to turn back and change his mind, before he finally let out a long, shuddering breath and stepped fully back into the room."Is it true, Asher?" Julian asked, his voice dropping to a low, intense register, vibrating with an emotion he could barely contain. "Are you... actually an Omega?"Before Asher could even draw a breath to defend himself, Julian pressed on, his eyes darkening with the intoxicating memory of that night. "Because the other day... your condition, the way you looked, and the scent coming off your skin—it was entirely too seductive. It drove me completely out of my mind, Asher. I couldn't think straight for hours."Asher froze, all the color draining entirely from his face as if he had been physically struck. For a fraction of a second, he looked utterly trapped, like a cornered animal caught helplessly in a hunter's snare. The deep,
Asher set the phone down face-first on the cold mahogany table, as if not looking at the glowing screen could somehow magically undo the harsh words already burned deep into his memory. It didn't work. Funny how funding disappears when a firm's biggest partner makes a phone call. The mocking sentence kept circling back through his mind, sharper and more vicious every single time, like something small, jagged, and venomous caught between his ribs that refused to work itself loose no matter how many times he tried to draw a steady breath past it.Julian stood motionless by the floor-to-ceiling window with his hands buried deep in his pockets, staring blankly out into the dark, tangled garden, though Asher could easily tell that the older man's mind wasn't really on the view. The heavy silence stretched across the room for so long that Asher actually started counting the ticking seconds without even meaning to, slipping right back into the childho
The email arrived on a Tuesday morning, buried between two lecture reminders, and it took Asher three full readings before the words actually registered.We regret to inform you that your placement in the Hargrove & Wells Summer Internship Program has been rescinded due to a reallocation of sponsored positions.Asher stared at the screen in the library's main hall, his stomach twisting into a cold, familiar knot. Hargrove & Wells was the single most prestigious defense firm in the city—the internship his mother had prayed over for two years, the placement that would have guaranteed his career the moment he graduated. He had earned that spot with the highest interview scores in his cohort."They can't just rescind it," Ethan said, leaning over his shoulder to read the email a second time, his voice climbing with disbelief. "You worked for that spot, Ash. That's not how these programs work.""It is when the firm's biggest client happens to be Cross
Three days after the Showcase, Asher's phone buzzed with a message from an unfamiliar number.Your mother has been transferred to Cross Regional Medical Center, Private Wing 4. Full coverage, effective immediately. — K.C.Asher stared at the screen for a long moment, relief and unease warring violently in his chest. It should have felt like victory. Instead, it felt like a leash being fastened quietly around his mother's hospital bed, one link at a time, disguised as generosity."He didn't just pay her bills," Asher said flatly, showing the message to Julian across the kitchen table of the mansion. "He moved her into his own family's hospital. Now she's inside his walls too."Julian's jaw tightened as he read it, his blue eyes darkening. "That's not generosity, kid. That's leverage with better sheets."Asher didn't have time to respond before his phone buzzed again—this time from Ethan.*He's here. On campus. Asking where you are







