Chapter 3
1391 Words
Chapter 3
Sophia POV
He walked away without saying anything. I barely slept.
The red light from my lamp still glowed faintly when the sun broke through the grime-streaked glass of my bedroom window. I hadn’t moved from the corner of my bed. My knees were hugged to my chest. The laptop was closed, the mask shoved under my pillow, but none of that could erase what had already happened.
Dylan had seen me.
Cherry.
Me.
And he hadn’t said a single word. Not last night. Not as I sat frozen, waiting for the mockery, the threats, the storm I knew would come crashing down. But it didn’t. He had just… watched. Silent. Intense. Then walked away without a sound.
Which was somehow worse.
Much worse.
So when I came downstairs the next morning, moving cautiously, breath held tight in my chest, I wasn’t expecting what I found.
Dylan was in the kitchen, whistling. He had two mugs of coffee on the counter, and when he saw me, he smiled.
Smiled.
“Morning, Sophia,” he said, his voice as smooth as melted sugar. “I made yours just the way you like it, little milk, no sugar.”
I froze in the doorway. Alex and John weren’t home. Their jackets were gone. The house was quiet, empty.
Too empty, I reached for my backpack out of instinct before remembering it was Saturday. No school, no escape.
Dylan tilted his head slightly. “Are you okay? "You look a little pale.” His voice was light, teasing, even affectionate.
My skin crawled.
“Fine,” I said quickly, eyes flicking toward the back door.
He noticed.
“Don’t worry. "They won’t be back for a while, I made sure of it.” He took a slow sip of coffee and leaned back against the counter like we were just two people chatting on a lazy weekend morning.
But there was something behind his eyes. A gleam, like he knew something i didn’t want him to know. My stomach twisted.
“I’m going back to my room,” I muttered.
He moved before I could, fast blocking the hallway.
“You’re not going to run, are you?” he asked softly. I mean, Cherry doesn’t run. Cherry performs.”
My blood turned to ice. I didn’t respond. My lips parted, but nothing came out. Dylan smiled wide. Not cruel. Not mocking, just… knowing.
Then he reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out his phone. One swipe, and he turned the screen toward me, and there I was.
Me.
Not Sophia. Not the invisible Omega.
Cherry.
Live, Smiling, whispering sweet and naughty words into the camera. Masked but unmistakable, the angle… It was my stream. My room from last night.
My heart crashed against my ribs like it wanted to escape.
“I….I don’t know what that is….” I started.
“Stop,” he said. Gently. Almost kindly. “Don’t lie to me, not anymore.”
He stepped closer. “I knew something was off about you. Always so quiet. Always so hidden. But you’re not just some pathetic little Omega, are you?”
I shook my head, trembling. “Dylan….please…..”
“I’m AlphaDominant.”
The name slammed into me like a punch. My eyes snapped to his.
“No,” I whispered. “No, you’re lying.”
He leaned in, slowly, like a wolf circling a rabbit.
“I was your biggest tipper last week. I asked you to wear that red hoodie. You did. I told you to say my name. You whispered it like it was sacred.”
My knees nearly buckled.
He was him.
The one who made my heart race in the chat. The one who always knew just what to say. The one I... sometimes let myself dream about.
He had been watching me this whole time.
Both as Dylan.
And as AlphaDominant.
I backed away until my spine hit the wall. “You can’t tell anyone.”
He raised a brow. “I already did.”
Time stopped.
“What?” My voice cracked.
“They’ll be home any minute. I figured this wasn’t just my little secret to keep. Alex and John deserve to know who we’ve been living with. Don’t you think so?”
“No….no, you can’t….”
He stepped closer, his voice dropping. “You thought you could hide this forever? Pretend to be some sweet little ghost in the hallway, and then transform at night into every Alpha’s fantasy?”
His hand brushed my cheek. I flinched. But he didn’t pull away.
“You want to be touched, Sophia. You want to be wanted. But you were too scared to ask for it in real life.”
Tears welled up in my eyes.
“I didn’t mean for you to see…”
“But I did,” he whispered. “And I can’t unsee it. You don’t get to take Cherry back.”
His hand was still there, against my face, burning like a brand. For a second, for one terrifying, electric second, I didn’t move. Didn’t speak.
Our breath tangled in the space between us. His fingers splayed against my cheek, his thumb brushing just beneath my eye, almost tender. Too tender. His eyes dropped to my mouth.
I hated how my body reacted. How it wanted the thing it was supposed to fear.
The warmth of his palm, the heat radiating between us, made my knees wobble. I hated the thrum in my chest, the flutter low in my belly, the way my lips parted of their own accord.
He noticed.
Of course, he noticed.
Dylan always noticed the things he wasn’t supposed to.
His voice dropped, rougher now, coated in something dark and possessive. “You were made for this, Sophia. You just didn’t know it yet.”
My pulse pounded in my ears. I tried to pull away, but he didn’t let me. His grip wasn’t cruel, but it was firm, controlling, unyielding.
“You think I haven’t seen it?” he whispered, tilting his head slightly. The way your body lights up when someone finally sees you. The way you ache for it”
My heart slammed against my ribs, furious and frightened.
“I don’t…” My voice cracked, betrayed me. “I don’t want this.”
“Liar.” His breath ghosted across my lips. “Your scent changed the second I walked in last night.”
I gasped, the air catching sharply in my lungs. Shame slammed into me like a tidal wave. My wolf stirred uneasily beneath my skin, confused, conflicted, cornered.
“You’re disgusting,” I whispered, but even that trembled. He smiled, slow, wicked, like a predator who’s already won.
“Maybe,” he said. “But you didn’t tell me to stop.”
I hated him. I hated him so much I couldn’t stop shaking. And yet, somehow, I still wasn’t pulling away. That terrified me more than anything else.
And then, voices.
The front door opened. Alex’s laugh echoed in the hall. John’s footsteps followed. The moment shattered. I pushed Dylan away and tried to bolt toward the stairs.
Too late.
“Dylan?” Alex called. “You said it was important, what’s going on?”
Dylan turned calmly, hands in his pockets, like he hadn’t just torn my world apart.
“Boys,” he said. “We need to have a talk.”
Alex appeared first, then John. Both stopped when they saw me. Saw the look on my face, saw the closeness.
“What the hell is this?” Alex asked slowly. Dylan’s voice was ice and fire. “She’s Cherry.”
A pause, Silence, Thick and Loud.
Then Alex blinked. “Cherry? As in the Cherry?”
John frowned. “What is he talking about…”
“I saw her last night, Mask or not, I’d recognize that voice everywhere. She’s been streaming under our roof. All this time.”
Alex’s jaw clenched, John looked like he couldn’t even process it, And me? I wanted the floor to swallow me whole.
No one said anything for a long time. Then Dylan added quietly, “She’s been lying to all of us.”
Now they all stared at me.
I wasn’t cherry anymore.
I was caught
And I was completely… at their mercy.
- Writer
