The roar of applause and music melted into static as Caleb stood alone in the shadowed corner of the ballroom. His hands still trembled from the encounter. Every nerve was frayed, raw, electric. The lights, the diamonds, the perfume in the air — everything felt disjointed. Like he was underwater. Like he was drowning in air that wasn't his.
He shouldn't have followed the balcony. Shouldn't have stepped outside alone. Shouldn't have let someone like him get close—
"Caleb."
His name sliced through his thoughts.
Caleb looked up sharply—just in time to see Lucian Thorne striding toward him.
The Alpha didn't stop. Didn't pause. Didn't breathe.
He grabbed Caleb by the wrist and pulled him brutal and fast into the nearest hallway. The music muffled behind the closing door. The corridor's silence echoed violent tension.
Lucian's eyes—blue, merciless, burning with controlled fury—bored into him.
"What were you doing with him?"
Caleb blinked, still recovering from the sudden movement. "He—he saved me—"
Lucian slammed a hand against the wall, inches from Caleb's head. Caleb flinched. Lucian's jaw flexed.
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not!" Caleb's voice broke. "Someone pushed me. I—it wasn't just a fall, I swear—"
Lucian's gaze sharpened, for the first time something like concern flickering—then vanishing as quickly as it appeared.
"I don't care how you almost died," Lucian snapped, stepping back just enough to look down on him with colder detachment. "What I care about is you being touched."
Caleb stared at him, confused, heart pounding in his chest. "W-what?"
"That Alpha. His hands were on you," Lucian said, as if the words were poison. "I saw."
Caleb's mouth opened, closed. Hope — ridiculous, fragile hope — flickered like a match in a storm.
Did he… care?
Did he protect him?
Lucian's next words extinguished that match instantly.
"The Omega was distraught," he growled. "You had him worried."
Everything inside Caleb stilled.
"…The Omega?" he repeated.
Lucian stepped past him, looking down the corridor toward the ballroom doors. "He was crying. I had to pull him aside because he saw you being manhandled and thought you were in danger."
Manhandled?
Caleb's breath caught.
Lucian meant Elias.
Not him.
Not Caleb.
The jealousy suddenly made sense. The fury. The urgency. It wasn't for his sake.
It was for Elias's.
A hollow pit opened in Caleb's chest.
"He—he was worried about me?" Caleb asked, voice paper-thin.
Lucian turned then, as if seeing Caleb for the first time.
"No," he said. "He was upset about the scene you caused."
The pit widened.
Your existence here is already enough of an inconvenience…
Caleb didn't even realize he was holding his breath until the ache in his lungs forced him to gasp.
"I didn't… mean for that to happen," he whispered.
Lucian looked away, voice cold again. "I don't expect you to mean anything. I expect you not to embarrass him. Or me."
The words stabbed deeper than any blade.
The Omega brother. His emotions. His distress. His appearance in public. That was what mattered.
Not Caleb's safety. Not his terror on the balcony. Not the fact that someone tried to shove him off.
Only what it looked like.
Only how it would affect him.
The loud double doors swung open behind them. A servant bowed deeply.
"Master Lucian," he said quietly. "Master Elias is asking for you. He appears… shaken."
Lucian nodded once and started toward the ballroom.
Caleb stood frozen in the hall.
The Alpha didn't look back.
Not until the last second, at the threshold of the door. Then Lucian turned his head just slightly… not enough to meet Caleb's eyes, but enough to offer a final warning.
"Stay away from other Alphas unless you want trouble."
The door shut behind him.
Caleb's fingers curled into his palms.
There it was.
Possession.
Not protection.
He wasn't being cared for. He was being controlled. Managed. Kept in line like a tool — like a threat to someone more important.
The corridor suddenly felt too small. Too dark. Too stripped of air.
He turned away from the ballroom, walking as fast as his feet could carry him.
He didn't know where he was going.
He just knew he couldn't stay where someone else's heartbreak mattered more than his pain.
Behind him, in the glittering ballroom, Elias was no doubt being comforted. The Omega was being swaddled in concern and sympathy. Not a single person would ask how Caleb was doing.
Not even the man who had dragged him out in anger.
Because in this marriage, Caleb wasn't a spouse.
He was a stain.
A shadow.
A pawn.
And worse — he was starting to believe it.