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Get the APPThe Alpha and His Chosen Family
Chapter 5 Lines She Refused to Cross
plan to co
t... h
ms, tea gone cold in her hand, thoughts sharp-edged from too litt
li
an beyond the glass deserved more focus than the people moving behind him. The light from outside cut across t
e was avoidi
g in her
doing
The words were already out, and there was no pulling them back into her mouth. For a second she almost wished h
rt. As if he'd been waiting for this
t?" he ask
nearly u
ena hated it on principle, because she recognized it-recognized the way someon
herself, anger pushing her forward like a tide. "That. Watching fro
listening. He didn't shift his weight or tighten his posture like someone caught doing somet
ssuming-"
anything," she c
er as much as they se
n she "felt" him the way people claimed intuition in a vague, airy way. She meant something literal and immediatened. A flicker passed behind his eyes
efore she said something she couldn't take back. Her fingers tightened aro
, quieter now but no less intense
ened, almost
herself together by force. "I've been here before. With someone who knew things they wouldn't
idn't in
ade it
ould be dismissal
aming, and someone keeps holding back," she said, voice r
st her cardigan was absurdly loud in the tension between them. Lena didn't step as
e stre
rustration spilling into anger now, raw and unfiltered, "but when you p
aking. She didn't
t to stand there acting like restraint is some kind of virtue when it's just-"
sed his ey
ation. Not i
ke restraint pu
smooth. It was strained-deliberate-held together by will alone. Like a man holdi
ght," he s
opped h
d braced for denial. For deflection. For a ha
he gave h
he continued. "And you're
undered in her
s if he were choosing words with care-placing each one
low, "I misjudged how much someone c
nded heavily
t t
one
ist
g bells still echoing in her chest. She'd had enough experience to recognize rehearsed re
e saw wasn'
was
deep and didn't
to take its place. The shift left her unstea
w that part of me recognizes you, and part of me wants to push you as f
eadily. No heat. No per
an be,"
of it stol
dn't argue her into calm. It simply made r
Her fingers loosened on the crushed tea cup. S
ot the watching-from-a-distance thing. If you're in
contained movement that someho
, but it wasn't explosive anymore. It had shifted into so
something that unsettled her mo
't foll
her back. No sudden attempt to fix it, s
at didn't feel
like r
far more
ect meant he
hatever this was between them w
al enough
ad just dr
see whether he
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