---- Chapter 11 Becky's POV I forgot how to breathe. The male standing before me wasn't the docile, broken creature I'd spent months nursing-he was a force of nature. A predator. Broad-shouldered and impossibly tall, Alpha Michael held himself with the unmistakable dominance of an Alpha. His gaze was sharp, intelligent. Calculating. Not a trace of the dazed boy I had once pitied remained. That vacant stare was gone-replaced by a feral focus that made my skin prickle. "You... you're standing?" I choked out, barely recognizing my own voice. Alpha Michael tilted his head, his movements fluid, wolf-like. His eyes never left mine, ---- assessing, hunting. "And speaking," he replied, his tone as smooth as silk over steel. My heart thundered as I tried to make sense of the impossible. "You're not... disabled? You weren't... mentally impaired?" I demanded, my voice cracking under the weight of betrayal. "Then why-?" "Breathe, Becky," he said, holding up one large hand-firm, commanding, unmistakably Alpha. " There's an explanation." "An explanation?" I laughed, the sound bitter and broken. "I undressed you like a child. I bathed you thinking you were-" Aslow, wicked grin crept across his face, revealing the dangerous amusement in his amber eyes. "That day tested every ounce of my control," he murmured, voice deep with mischief. "I was ---- one second away from shifting." I went rigid. Alpha Michael stepped closer, his steps silent as a stalking wolf, his voice dropping into a husky murmur. "Thinking back... 1 don't know how I didn't just take you right then." My hand flew up on instinct, slapping him hard across the cheek. He didn't even blink. If anything, he seemed more entertained-his smirk deepened, eyes darkening like a storm gathering on the horizon. "You deceived me," I hissed, fury boiling up. "You watched me-" He moved. Fast. Blindingly fast. One moment I was shouting, the next I was in his arms, caged against his chest, his body radiating heat and strength. ---- I struggled, but he held me firm. Too close. Too warm. Too dangerous. His scent-intense and primal-hit me hard. Not just aftershave and coffee... but cedarwood, smoke, and something wild that made my wolf stir inside me. Heat coiled low in my belly, confusing and unwelcome. I despised this. The way my body betrayed me. The way my heart pounded as if it recognized something I didn't. "Let me go," I whispered, though even I could hear the weakness in my voice.