TBMA [Complete ✔️]

32. Monster

Rosalie's P.O.V

I woke up to the scent of my mate mixed with bacon. Smiling, I turned over, only to be met with an empty side of the bed.

"Mate and bacon - sounds like a buffet table!" Rain purred, making me laugh.

I was in an amazing mood today, it seemed. I couldn't help it when I had had one of the best nights of sleep in my life and woke up to the smell of bacon, to the knowledge that I was home with my soulmate.

I stretched my arms, getting a few satisfying cracks in response before rolling out of bed, eager to get back to my mate.

As I was walking out of the room, I stopped in front of the mirror to check myself. Last night, Zane had put me in a large grey t-shirt, which I did not plan on returning to him, and a black pair of shorts he had tightly tied around my waist to keep them from slipping off.

Although it wasn't the cutest, the outfit was one of the most comfortable things I had ever worn. I may be biased because they were covered in his scent, but I didn't think I'd be able to sleep in my own clothes from now on.

Remembering my mark, I tugged at the shirt, making it fall down my shoulder, so I could look at it. It was so beautiful I could barely stop a gasp from leaving my lips, the meaning behind it making it even more special.

The mark contained two wolves' upper bodies as they howled at a crescent moon, half hidden by one of the wolves. At the end of them, their furs looked a lot like strings, tied at the end and binding them together. I caressed it, sparking it to life as it sent a shudder down my spine. I smiled, something, I noticed, I had been doing a lot lately, and went to the kitchen.

Zane was standing over a pan of sizzling bacon, listening to music with his headphones on. He was happily whistling along to the tune, perhaps not realizing that the entire room had become smoky.

I suppressed a giggle as I tiptoed to him and wrapped my arms around his torso, causing him to stifle before he relaxed into my embrace. He then took his headphones off and spun around, his lips meeting mine for our first kiss of the day.

Seeing how amazing it was to fall asleep next to him, and to wake up with him still here, to share a kiss as soon as we woke up, I could not wait to move in. I couldn't even imagine living in my own room in the Alpha suite that hasn't for a long time now, if ever, been my place.

"Good morning, Angel!" He said softly, pecking my lips again.

"Good morning, handsome!" I winked teasingly.

"Bacon doesn't burn that fast, does it?" He asked innocently as he sat me on the nearby counter and caged me in with his arms.

I swatted his hands away, glaring.

"Burn my bacon and I'll burn your body!" He raised his arms up in defense and went back to cooking.

"Surely it can't be that easy for you to threaten your own moon-given soulmate!" Zane tsked, shaking his head.

I tried to help him with breakfast to make up for my threat, as he'd put it, but he allowed no such thing. Instead, he made me stay put and watch as he placed the meat on a plate, prepared scrambled eggs and toast, then poured us both a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

Once everything was done, he finally allowed me to help set the table, and we both dug in like the hungry wolves we were.

"Do you want to take Zion and Rain on a run today? He's been dying to spend time with his mate again!" I wiped my mouth and set down my fork before glancing at him.

"I was actually hoping to speak to Knox today." Zane set his glass of orange juice down, nerves rolling off of him now that I could feel his emotions.

"You sure?" I nodded.

"I don't want to keep hiding. We're not doing anything wrong and I'm finally happy. I want to embrace it, to move in with you." His eyes lit up, pushing most of his nerves out of the way.

"I want that too." He smiled. "Though I'd also love to keep my jaw in the right place!" I rolled my eyes playfully.

"You seem to forget I'm a healer, he breaks it, I'll fix it in less than a minute!"

"Doesn't stop it from hurting!" He protested. "Seriously, though, do you want me to come?"

I thought it about for a bit.

"No, I got it. Knox may be angry at the world and he might, to most, be cruel, yes, but he's my brother and he would never hurt me. Like it or not, it is what it is and he has no say in our bond."

"Okay, let me know if you need me." I smiled and nodded again, picking my fork back up.

"We can go on a run after I'm done?" Zane's eyes suddenly shifted to those of his wolf's, excitement rolling off of him in waves.

"I'll see you later, Zion!" I giggled, making him give Zane control back as he pouted.

When we finished eating, I left Zane to clean up as I walked to my room. I needed a shower and as much as I wanted to stay and take one at the suite, reeking of my mate as soon as I walked inside his office wouldn't be a good idea.

I formulated a plan in my head, while I scrubbed at my skin, Zane's scent way harder to get rid of now that I carried his mark. Even after my skin had gone red, a faint amount still mixed with my own. As Alpha, Knox would notice immediately, but it was the best I could do.

My hands trembled with nerves as I shrugged on a simple beige hoody and leggings, so I could go straight outside and shift once I was finished talking to my brother. I had a reason to think I would need to blow off some steam.

I didn't even bother with makeup besides concealer, mascara, and lipgloss before I exited my room and walked to my brother's office.

In the short time it took me to reach the room, I had contemplated going back too many times. Thoughts of what I was going to say and do and some of the things he may say to me kept crossing my mind, making me even more nervous.

"You'll be okay, Angel!" Zane linked me, feeling my worry. I took the comfort he provided for a second before closing our link, wanting to have our conversation privately. After all, whatever Zane needed to hear, he would hear from me, and whatever he didn't, I'd shield him from.

Knox, besides the Omegas, was the only one back to work today. He didn't need to be, not with how many hours he and Zane had spent on paperwork this past week, but these papers and emails and whatever it was I would have to do in the future, seemed to be his addiction. Or a distraction from his problems - whatever worked.

Everyone else, including Zane, was supposed to get back to their duties tomorrow, and students the day after that. I wasn't excited to go back to school and be away from Zane all day, especially now that I was carrying his mark and gossip would start all over again, but I'd have to deal. I was in no way a coward, after all.

Finally, I built up the courage to knock on the door, Knox grumbling, "Come in," before the click of a keyboard was heard again.

Great, he was already in a mood!

"Can we talk?" I asked as I walked in, not waiting for him to tell me to sit down before I did.

"I'm busy." He stated.

"Knox! I need to speak to you, otherwise, I wouldn't have come. Just hear me out and I'll leave, so you can do your job!" I was already getting frustrated and I had only been in here for thirty seconds.

"You don't get to tell me what to do!" He glared at me, but at least, if it was any consolation, he finally looked my way.

"I'm not. Just, please!" I said, looking at him.

There was no reaction to my pleas. He didn't blink, his emotions didn't flicker in the slightest. It was as if I was talking to a rock. These one-sided conversations with him always hurt, it was one of the main reasons I had stopped trying to keep him in the loop about my life. I just couldn't help asking where my loving brother was, though it had been years.

Some small, idiotic part of me wished I didn't still believe that who he was as a pup was who he was hiding. It had been years and he had merely been a child. I had no reason to believe he wasn't just evil and cruel. But I did. I believed there was something more to him, something he wouldn't allow anyone, even himself, to see, even after all these years.

Memories of how he'd protected me when I was little, how he'd take the blame and take my punishments hit me like a ton of brick, causing me to sigh quietly.

"Well," he c****d an eyebrow, his lips set in an angry frown, "speak!" I nodded, picking at the skin of my nails.

"I accepted Zane," I said, my voice, luckily, coming out a lot more confident than I felt. He laughed, he laughed with the type of laugh that made your blood run cold, that haunted your nightmares.

"Okay." He nodded to himself. "I hope you've saved up for your funeral."

I let my nails pierce my skin to deal with his harsh words.

"That would be unnecessary." This time, I actually was confident in what I was saying. "Zane wouldn't hurt me! Ever!" Knox scoffed, making me, again, feel as if I was conversing with a wall. No matter what I said, no matter how much evidence I provided, he just didn't listen.

And I kept trying, regardless.

"Knox, he won't!"

"Keep telling yourself that. You're a goner either way." I balled my fists, my anger and annoyance becoming harder to control.

"Just because Esteban wasn't deserving of a mate doesn't mean I need to live my whole life alone buried between stacks of paper like you!" I was aware I had started raising my voice, but not even Rain seemed to care, the wolf counterpart usually finding it harder to go against their Alpha.

"My mate listens to me, asks for consent, makes me breakfast, and keeps me safe! That's more than what you've done for me in the past seven years!" My brother grabbed a stapler off his desk and threw it against the wall, his eyes constantly shifting between his' and those of his wolf.

"I have done everything that was expected of me and more! Hell, I'm the reason you're alive in the first place!" He shouted. I shook my head, tightening my fists until my hands hurt.

"I didn't come here to fight, but simply to let you know because I refuse to live in fear. I have no desire to keep trying to pull you out of whatever hole you have dug yourself into anymore, you can live as you like and I'll do the same, brother!" Knox growled, clenching his teeth at my tone.

"He may have been my Alpha, but he was never my father!" I declared. "Nothing he's done shaped who we, as, unfortunately, his children, are in our own lives." He sat back in his chair, arms folded across his chest.

"I'm sure that if you were willing, you'd be able to see it." No plan I had created even came to mind when I needed it. Zane's face, his warmth, and how safe I felt around him flashed in my mind and heart as I prepared what I was going to say.

"Not all love ends, not all stories have a horrible ending, and not all living beings need to be cruel. We choose who we are, our parents don't, and can't, do it for us. Our actions, our choices, our dreams, every second of every day, we make that decision for ourselves! I choose to be good! To love and to be loved without fear because what point does life have if not to be shared with those that live inside your soul?" I made my way closer to him and stood only a few inches apart.

"You chose to be different, you chose to help the pack, to bring it to where it is today, you chose to give gifts to orphans, you chose to be a wolf, not a monster. We had a father that didn't deserve the title, and he had a mate he didn't deserve, but his mistakes aren't ours, and his life, his burdens, shouldn't be ours either!" Knox was gripping an empty glass in his hands, clutching it so hard I feared it'd break and cut straight through his skin.

"You are not a monster, Knox! You may try to make everyone believe it all you want, and you may try to be one, but deep down, you know it's not who you really are!" He scoffed again, staring at me with the same frown he always wore as if it was painted on his lips.

"How are you so sure?" I shook my head, the faintest ghost of a smile curling on my face.

"Because I am. Because you, yourself, declared all you'd done for me. You didn't have to - but you did." I tried to reach for him, hoping, at the moment, that he'd give me just one hug after I'd missed them for seven years.

But he pulled away.

"If everyone, including you, seems to think I'm so good, perhaps I just need to remind you of the monster that lays within."

A/N

Hi, Treasures! Make sure you join my F-a-c-e-b-o-o-k group Teddy's Treasures for extra content and discussions! Does Knox have a plan on how he'd remind everyone of his inner monster or was he just bluffing?