Help! Five Beast Alphas Want To Breed Me!!(BL)-Chapter 276: Something Is Off

Zethar;

"You always handle everything with force. Aggression won’t always help. In fact, one day, this aggression of yours will hurt someone you really care about!"

Father’s words keep repeating in my head, and that is the only reason I’m trying to keep my cool...the only reason I am reminding myself that all the people involved in this mess mean something to me, and I need to be careful about my approach.

I could just hold a blade to her throat and force her to tell me, but I don’t want to do anything that would stress Elian or bounce back on me.

So, I need to take the calmer approach. Zephan’s way.

After minutes of following her scent, I spot her sitting beneath the carved stone archway, completely bathed by the morning sun. Her hands are folded carefully in her lap, and her gaze is pinned to the ground, the way it always is when she’s not directly spoken to.

She’s so still she almost blends into the pillars... like she’s trying to make herself disappear. I know Alana has always been of a quiet nature, but this isn’t the usual silence. This is... a hidden tsunami of emotions.

Like dark, thunderous clouds gathered over her, but hidden from plain sight. What... is going on in her mind?

"Alana," I call, and her head snaps up, like my voice breaks her trance... not fully, though, but enough for her to acknowledge me.

She messily gathers herself as she stands, and then she leans forward with a bow so deep it borders on painful.

"Alpha Zethar," she greets, with her voice quiet and reverent, as I’ve grown to know it to be.

"Forgive me. I did not hear you coming." She adds, and I take a deep breath as I step closer to her.

"You didn’t," I note as I fold my arms loosely. She is right. She did not hear me coming because I didn’t want to.

I was half hoping and expecting to catch her in a conversation that would expose at least a bit of what is going on, so I was careful not to make a sound. Disappointing how that was a waste.

She looks up at me, and I know beating around the bush won’t get me answers. That has never been my o to approach to anything.

"Sit," I order, and she obeys immediately, lowering herself onto the stone again. She props her hands on her knees, and I watch how her back stays straight with the tension of someone who expects to be corrected at any moment.

I stay standing as I stare at her. I’m not going to sit beside her. I’m not going to crouch, reach out or pretend we’re equals. We’re not. And now more than ever, I need that burned into her mind.

Right now, I am her Alpha, and she is my subject.

"Tell me about the girl," I demand flatly, and she looks up at me.

"Asa," I add, not giving her the room to act like she doesn’t understand or know who I’m talking about.

My eyes drift down to her fingers, which instinctively tighten around her skirt. She keeps her gaze lowered, not once daring to meet mine, and this is all the proof I need that I’m right.

"Alana," I call, and she shuts her eyes.

"Repetitions irk me. You know that." I state, and she nods hurriedly as she struggles to swallow.

"Yes, Alpha, I know," she whispers, and I tilt my head, waiting for the answer to my first question.

"Asa is my cousin, Alpha." She replies, and my fists clench.

My instincts stretch. The word cousin lands too cleanly, too rehearsed... Too fucking neat for the chaotic loophole I feel us being dragged into.

"Explain," I demand, and she swallows again. A tiny movement, easy to miss, but not for me. Then she continues.

"We were sold... long ago. As children. To different brothels." She begins with her voice shivering slightly, but she forces it steady.

I watch as she forces composure into every word, and it takes A LOT for me not to grab her by her shoulders and force the truth out of her.

"I blocked out most things from my childhood... Including her. I did not remember her until I saw her on my trip here. However, when I found her on the road, she had escaped; she was frightened and exhausted... Running from a fate I was lucky to escape. I could not leave her. I believed..." She begins, but stops... as though making sure her phrasing is acceptable.

"I believed Master Elián and my Alphas would offer her safety. So I brought her." She says, and I bite the inside of my upper lip as my mind whirls.

Everything she’s saying sounds clean. Straight.

To be fair, nothing sounds out of place. But I can’t help the way my spine crawls. I can’t fucking help the unease bubbling just beneath the surface of my mind, and it’s infuriating!!

"Mm," I reply as I study her.

"Convenient," I add, and her breath shudders.

"Alpha?" She calls like my doubt hurts her, but I do not give a hoot about how she feels when my instincts are going haywire!

"You forgot a cousin. You find her on the road. Alone. Weak. Escaped." I repeat to her as my gaze sharpens.

"And you bring her here... to live with us, just before you suddenly decide to return to Gravemaw," I add, and her hands tremble.

"I’m only doing as Master Elián commanded," she says quickly. "He said... he wishes me to return to Alpha Koda. I can not question my master’s wishes." She replies, and I scoff.

Of course, she can’t. She’s loyal to Elián with a kind of devotion that borders on worship. That’s never been in question.

But loyalty doesn’t erase lies.

"And the girl?" I press.

"Why leave her behind instead of keeping her with you, if she’s truly your blood?" I push, and her shoulders stiffen. It’s tiny. But I see it.

"She... she wishes to work. To build an honest life here. She said she does not want to be a burden." She replies, and then, quieter, she adds...

"This is what’s best for all of us..."

There’s something wrong with the way she says it... like the sentence was lifted from somewhere else and stitched into her throat. It makes my skin crawl.

"Look at me," I order, and her head rises a fraction. Not fully... Not enough to meet my eyes. But enough to let me know she heard... and tried to obey.

"Alana," I call, tone colder this time as I watch her.

"You remember the night I took you out of that place?" I demand, and she shuts her eyes and nods.

"Yes, Alpha." She replies with... regret... In her voice?

"I remember. I am forever grateful. You saved my life." She adds with her voice cracking, and I watch her bow deeply again.

"I saved you," I correct, "because I saw a good heart. Because I saw someone who wouldn’t hurt others... even when survival demanded it." I note, and her breath hitches — not loud, but enough.

I’ve never told her why I saved her, but if I have to tell her now, so she can understand the magnitude of the situation? Then fine. So be it.

I lean in slightly, lowering my voice to something that cuts instead of echoes.

"If what you are doing now... even unintentionally... harms Elián..." I begin, but pause to let her feel the weight.

"I will not forgive you."

Her entire body goes still. Perfectly, frighteningly still.

For a moment — a single heartbeat — her expression shifts.

Just slightly.

Something flickers behind her eyes. Guilt... Fear...Conflict.

Then, just as fast, it’s gone... Wiped away like a smudged sweep off a window.

She bows again, forehead nearly touching her knees this time.

"Alpha Zethar... I would never hurt Master Elián. Everything I have said is the truth." She says, and I stare at her in silence.

This isn’t the Alana I know... Something strange is going on. Something else is controlling the edges of her story.

Something she can’t name.

...Or won’t.

I exhale slowly through my nose, and ice travels down my nerves. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

There is something wrong here. But without proof, all I have is instinct. And instinct is not enough to confront her with.

Not yet.

"Very well," I say.

"Rise," I order, and she stands quickly, hands clasped, head bowed so low her ears almost touch her shoulders.

"I ask one more thing," I continue.

"When Elián sends you off to Gravemaw... do you intend to obey?"

"Yes, Alpha," she whispers.

"I exist to serve my master. His will is absolute."

A hollow answer. Too hollow.

I open my mouth... ready to push further, to probe the soft corners of whatever is puppeting her... but she suddenly bows again, fast, too fast.

"Forgive me, Alpha Zethar," she says with a shaky breath.

"I must return. Master Elián may need me." She says, and before I can stop her... before I can even ask the question forming at the back of my tongue, she turns and rushes away.

I watch her until she disappears down the marble corridor, and every instinct in me rises, sharp and cold.

Something is wrong.

With Alana, with the story, with the girl she brought into this house.

I don’t know what it is...

But now I’m sure of one thing.

Alana is not acting of her own will.