Episode 2 - The Alpha Who Wouldn’t Look Away

Elior hadn’t slept since the night Rian caught him in the forest.

He could still feel the Alpha’s hand wrapped around his wrist, steady and warm, keeping him from falling when the strange pulse of his power had nearly knocked him unconscious. He could still remember the way Rian whispered his name careful, almost reverent—before Elior pulled away and fled into the dark.

He shouldn’t have run.

But Rian Thorne had returned to the Silvercrest Pack with eyes sharp enough to see the lies Elior had been hiding his whole life.

And that terrified him.

Now, the morning after that unsettling encounter, Elior hid himself in the old greenhouse—his safest place, his quiet place—kneeling between rows of night-blooming flowers. The air here was always cool, always gentle, and for a moment he let himself breathe.

But the moment didn’t last.

Bootsteps approached steady, confident, impossible to mistake. Elior froze, fingers tightening around the stem of a white blossom.

Rian.

His scent reached Elior before his voice did: warm cedar, storm-washed air, and that unmistakable undertone of Alpha dominance. It curled around Elior’s senses, tugging at instincts he had spent years burying.

“Elior,” Rian said softly, as if speaking too loud would scare him away again.

Elior dipped his head, trying to keep calm. But Rian stepped closer, and the memory of his touch from the night before sparked down Elior’s spine.

“You disappeared before I could help you,” Rian murmured.

There was no accusation only concern.

Elior’s throat tightened. He didn’t dare turn around. Not when his pulse was betraying him, fluttering wildly. Not when his power had stirred in front of Rian last night, making the forest tremble with light.

Not when one more wrong breath could give his secret away.

Rian stepped until his shadow fell over Elior’s back.

“You’re trembling.”

Elior shook his head quickly. Denying it. Denying everything.

Rian knelt beside him anyway, lowering himself to Elior’s level. Elior stiffened at the proximity—Rian’s knee brushed his thigh, the Alpha’s heat soaking through him like sunlight.

“Look at me,” Rian whispered.

Elior didn’t.

Couldn’t.

So Rian did what he did the night before—gentle, patient, impossibly steady. He reached out and slid his hand under Elior’s chin, tilting it up just enough for their eyes to meet.

Elior’s breath caught.

Rian wasn’t glaring, demanding, or using Alpha pressure. His gaze was warm, steady, and unbearably close.

“You scared me,” Rian admitted.

His thumb brushed Elior’s jaw, the lightest stroke.

“You almost collapsed. And when I touched you… the world shook.”

Elior looked away instantly, but Rian didn’t let him. His hand remained—supportive, soft, grounding.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” the Alpha murmured.

“I’ll never force you. Just… let me in. A little.”

Elior’s lips parted, breath unsteady.

His hands trembled, the flower slipping from his fingers.

Rian caught it before it hit the floor.

When he held it out to Elior again, their fingers brushed.

The contact was barely a second skin against skin, warm and delicate but Elior’s chest tightened. Heat bloomed beneath his ribs, unfurling like the flowers they tended. His scent shifted, softening, warming, deepening.

Rian inhaled sharply.

“Elior…” His voice dropped into something rougher.

“You’re responding to me.”

Elior’s cheeks colored, but he didn’t pull away.

Instead, he did something he hadn’t done for anyone in years—

He leaned forward, just slightly, letting his forehead rest against Rian’s shoulder.

A silent request.

A silent confession.

Rian’s arms came around him before Elior could regret it—one hand cradling the back of his head, the other settling at his waist. The hold was protective, tender, almost reverent.

“You ran from me last night,” Rian whispered into Elior’s hair.

“But you’re not running now.”

Elior curled his fingers into Rian’s shirt—holding, clinging, maybe trusting. The warmth of the Alpha’s breath against his ear made a shiver ripple down his spine.

“Tell me what frightened you,” Rian murmured.

“Or just… stay like this. I’ll take whatever you give.”

Elior closed his eyes.

He stayed.

Pressed against Rian’s chest, wrapped in his heat, breathing in his scent.

And the greenhouse reacted again—petals trembling, the air flickering with faint light, responding to Elior’s secret as it brushed against the edges of his control.

Rian felt it.

Every pulse.

Every shift.

But instead of pulling away, he held Elior tighter.

“Whatever you’re hiding,” Rian whispered, voice low with awe,

“I swear I won’t turn away.”

Elior’s breath trembled.

Because he desperately wanted to believe him…

even as he feared the day Rian learned the truth.

- End of Episode 2 -

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