The Omega They Tried Hard to Destroy.

Chapter5

Amelia’s POV.

Sleep didn't come. It never did when I was in a new place. New places meant rules. New punishment.

New ways to fail without knowing I had failed. So I stayed awake. I curled slightly in the edge of the bed like if I moved too far, something would notice. That something would decide I didn't belong here either.

And then I would be out in the blink of an eye.

+

The room was silent. Too silent. I heard no footsteps in the hallway. No shouting and I also had not gotten No threat of being called out at random, for something I didn't do or should have done and forgot.

That alone felt dangerous. I wasn't used to peace. Peace always meant something was about to break.

A soft knock came. My body stiffened instantly. Before I could answer, the door opened slightly. A tray slid in. Food. I stared at it. Carefully.

Like it might disappear if I blinked.

“Eat it,” a voice said calmly from the doorway. Alpha Kaden. I hadn't heard him approach. Of course I hadn't.

I sat up slowly. “I'm not hungry,” I said automatically.

A pause and then—

“You said that yesterday.”

My fingers tightened in the bedsheet. “I'm fine.”

Another lie. He stepped into the room fully now. He didn't look like he belonged anywhere.

Clean, controlled and still. But his eyes didn't miss anything, especially not me.

“You didn't eat yesterday.” He said. I looked down, silence.

“That wasn't a question.” He added. I swallowed.

“I forget sometimes.” That wasn't true either. I didn't forget, I avoided.

Something flickered across his face. Gone quickly before I understood what it was.

“You don't forget to eat.” He said. “You were trained.”

My chest tightened. Trained. Not raised, not even cared for. Like a mistake that learned how to survive itself.

He placed the tray on the table near the bed. Then he didn't move. Just wtached. Waiting.

“I'm not here to hurt you.” He said finally. I almost laughed, but it came out as a breath instead.

Because I had heard that before, always before every hurt.

“I don't believe you.” I whispered. The words weren't bold. Just honest.

His gaze didn't change.”That's fine.” He said.

That confused me. People usually got angry when I didn't believe them. Or worse, they gave me reasons not to believe them.

“You'll eat anyway.” He added.

I shook my head slightly. “I can't.”

His eyes narrowed just slightly.

“Can't?”

My fingers curled into the bedsheet again. “It feels wrong."

Silence, longer this time, then he stepped closer. Not enough to crowd me but enough that I felt it.

His presence pressed into the space around me like gravity. “Who taught you that?” He asked quietly.

My throat tightened. No answer came, because there wasn't one person.

It was everyone…

Alpha Kaden didn't push further, he just exhaled slowly, like he was recalculating something.

Then—

“Start small.” He said.

I blinked. “What?”

“One bite.”

I stared at him. That wasn't an order. It wasn't a demand like my father always did.

It was… strange.

Slowly, I reached for the food, my hands shook slightly as I picked up a piece. I hesistated but then took a bite.

Nothing happened. No punishment, no pain and no anger.

It was just… food.

Warm, real, food. My eyes flickered up without thinking, he was still watching but not the way others did. He didn't look at me like I was a problem.

No, he just stared at me like I was something he was trying to understand.

“Good.” he said simply. That single word did something strange to my chest. I didn't know what to do with it.

So I looked away. The door opened suddenly again. Too suddenly.

Ethan.

He leaned casually against the frame, eyes scanning the room. “Oh.” He said lightly, “Breakfast date already?”

My stomach tightened immediately, Kaden didn't turn.

“Leave.”

Ethan ignored him. His eyes landed on me instead. Smiling, too easily.

“So you're the famous Amelia.” He said. I didn't respond. My grip tightened on the spoon.

“She doesn't talk much,” Kaden said flatly. Ethan chuckled.

“Or she just doesn't like you yet.”

Something in the air shifted. Kaden’s posture changed. Barely noticeable, but I felt it.

“Ethan,” Kaden said quietly. A warning. Ethan raised his hands slightly.

“Relax,” he said. “I just wanted to see what she looks like.”

His gaze lingered on me a second too long, then—

A smile that didn't match his eyes.

“Interesting choice,” he murmured.

Kaden stepped slightly forward. Blocking my view again. Completely this time. “Out.”

Ethan signed dramatically. “Fine.”

He pushed off the doorframe but before leaving, he looked at me once more. Just once and then that look—

I didn't like it. Not at all.

Then he was gone.

Silence returned, heavier than before. Kaden didn't move immediately.

Then he returned slightly.

“You'll avoid him.” He said. I hesistated.

“He seems nice…” the words came out before I could stop them.

A pause, but then Alpha Kaden laughed once. Short and cold. Not amused.

“No.” He said, “He doesn't.”

My stomach tightened. I looked down. “I don't understand.”

He stepped closer just slightly. Enough that I felt his voice lower.

“You don't need to understand yet.” he said, “Just listen.” then he decided to leave. At the door, he stopped, without looking back, he commanded.

“Finish the food.”

Then he was gone. I sat there for a long time, staring at the tray.

Something inside me shifted slowly. Small, instead and unfamiliar.

For the first time in years, no one took the food away from me. But somewhere in the silence after he left—

I couldn't shake the feeling I wasn't being fed.

I was being watched.