My Sweet Childhood Hounds Are Rabid

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I was suffocating, caught in the velvet trap of my two childhood best friends and their relentless affections, when the mechanical hum first vibrated in my skull.

It called itself the System.

In a flat, synthetic tone, it informed me that the two boys whose devotion Id taken for granted were not lovesick puppies. They were rabid dogs, biding their time before they tore my life apart. And Kellan Caldwellthe icy, brilliant heir I had spent my entire life despisingwas the man who would actually destroy my family.

I had stared across the room at Kellan, watching the way the chandelier light caught the sharp, untouchable angles of his face, and suddenly, the inexplicable, magnetic hostility between us made terrifying sense.

Survival instinct took over. Following the System's directives, I made it my absolute mission to make Kellan's life a living hell. I undermined him, provoked him, and pushed him until his disgust for me hit a breaking point, culminating in his decision to leave the country for good.

I thought Id won. I thought I had neutralized the threat, and I was secretly reveling in my victory.

Until the System fell into a prolonged, agonizing silence, only to return with an apologetic glitch in its voice.

It had the data backward.

Kellan Caldwell was actually my future husband. And the two boys next door, the ones Id been agonizing over, the ones I trusted with my life? They weren't harmless collateral in my love life. They were predators, waiting in the tall grass to consume me whole.

The ballroom of the St. Regis was suffocatingly bright for Kellan's farewell gala.

Declan and Zane flanked me, as they always did. Declan was smiling his trademark, ruinous smile, holding a silver fork to my lips with a bite of red velvet cake. Zane stood just behind me, his heavy-lidded eyes lazily tracking the room as his fingers absentmindedly played with the ends of my hair.

The atmosphere was electric. Kellan was leaving for London. I should have been ecstatic.

Instead, the blood in my veins had turned to ice.

Are you out of your mind? I screamed at the System in my head. Can you be reliable for once in your miserable existence?

...I apologize, Host, the voice echoed, sounding entirely too calm for the bomb it had just dropped. But your childhood friends are exceptionally dangerous. You must remain vigilant.

Right now, the only thing I needed to be vigilant about was the voice in my head. Trusting it felt like a fool's errand.

Declan noticed the sudden, violent tension in my spine. His thumb grazed the corner of my mouth, catching a smudge of frosting. He brought it to his mouth, licking it off his own skin with a slow, deliberate gaze. "Not good?" he murmured.

"...Its delicious," I forced out, grinding my teeth into a smile.

Given the System's track record, I wasn't about to shove Declan away based on a single, glitchy warning. We had grown up together. We knew each others secrets, our scraped knees, our childhood terrors. Our intimacy was woven into the very fabric of my life.

Glasses clinked. Laughter drifted over the string quartet. Because Kellan was the sole heir to the Caldwell empire, half of Manhattans elite had crowded into the ballroom to see him off. My parents had dragged me here as a matter of obligation.

Kellan stood at the absolute center of the room. He held a crystal flute of champagne, his posture impossibly perfect, an aura of aristocratic detachment radiating from his tailored tuxedo.

My eyes lingered on him for a fraction of a second too long.

By the time I snapped back, Zane had already gathered my hair, his knuckles brushing the nape of my neck as he casually braided it.

I blinked. "What are you"

Declan chuckled, leaning in to help, his fingers brushing against Zane's. The phantom touches of their cold fingertips against my bare neck blurred together. I couldn't tell whose hand was whose.

A heavy, intimate silence settled over our little triangle.

I stood paralyzed, letting them weave my hair, my thoughts drifting. Ever since I realized that both of my oldest friends were in love with me, my life had become a delicate, uncomfortable tightrope walk.

Isn't that how it goes? Declan had once said, his eyes crinkling with warmth. The kids who grow up together, end up together.

But that was the problem. They both wanted me. How was I supposed to choose?

Declan had always been the golden boy, revolving around me like the sun. He was charismatic, universally adored. Yet on every holiday, no matter how many people vied for his attention, he would always end up sitting on the floor next to my chair, tugging at my earring and whispering, I only want to be where you are.

Zane, on the other hand, existed in a state of perpetual boredom. But when a group of older boys had cornered me in an alley behind our prep school, Zane had dismantled them with terrifying, silent efficiency. He had wiped the blood from his brow, wrapped a steady, bruising arm around my waist, and walked me home.

Choosing one meant severing the other. And breaking their hearts was the one thing I couldn't stomach.

While I had been drowning in my indecision, the System had first appeared, whispering its toxic rationality:

They are destined to be your lapdogs. Why rush? They will be pathologically loyal to you. You couldn't shake them off if you tried. Your priority is Kellan.

My lapdogs? Pathologically loyal? I had thought, rubbing my chin. Well, if they're never going to leave... what's the harm in leaning on them?

And so, my hesitation had melted into entitlement. I used their devotion. I let them handle my messes. And slowly, I had become entirely desensitized to their suffocating, physical proximity.

Now, I had bullied Kellan right out of the country. I was about to graduate and take my place in my family's firm. Everything was falling perfectly into place.

And now this voice was telling me the data was backwards?!

I cursed the System in my head until my mental voice went hoarse. The machine stayed dead silent, cowering in my cortex.

Exhausted from the internal screaming, I collapsed onto a velvet sofa in the corner. Zane had been summoned by his father, and Declan hovered, clearly wanting to stay.

I waved him off. "I'm exhausted. I just need to close my eyes for ten minutes."

Declan hesitated, his gaze sweeping over my face. "Alright."

The moment I closed my eyes, I slipped into a restless, suffocating sleep.

In the dream, there was a heavy blindfold over my eyes. I was drowning in darkness. My limbs felt like lead, weighed down by the invisible drag of chains. I reached out, stumbling forward, gasping for air.

Suddenly, an arm hooked around my waist, yanking me flush against a hard chest.

I froze, paralyzed by a primal, instinctive terror. The hand on my waist didn't stop; it mapped the curve of my hip, trailing upward with brutal, unapologetic ownership.

Another hand landed on the back of my neck, the grip intimate but steeped in a dark, violent threat.

A whimpering sound tore from my throat, and I jerked awake.

The massive crystal chandelier above the ballroom blinded me. I was drenched in a cold sweat, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. I hadn't seen a single face in the dream, but the sensation of being utterly, permanently caged clung to my skin like a second layer of sweat.

It took me minutes to regulate my breathing. The dampness of my silk gown against my back made my skin crawl. I texted our family driver to bring in the spare dress I kept in the car, grabbed it from him in the lobby, and slipped away to the VIP lounges to change.

The lounge was cavernous and draped in shadows. I clutched the garment bag, reaching for the handle of the private dressing room.

The door opened from the inside before I could touch it.

I froze in the doorway. "Kellan..."

He swept a glacial glance over me and stepped past me, heading for the exit.

"Kellan, wait!" I called out.

He didn't break his stride.

Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"Let go," he said, the sheer impatience in his voice cutting like glass.

"The door wasn't locked," I stammered, my hand dropping to my side. "I didn't know you were in there."

"The lock is broken." Kellan lowered his dark eyes to mine, his expression utterly unreadable. "Was there something else?"

The System's words crashed into my mind. Future husband.

Impossible.

I curled my fingers into my palms, forcing a neutral mask onto my face. I cleared my throat. "Just... safe travels. I hope London treats you well."

The words actually made him stop. He lifted his gaze, his dark eyes slowly, meticulously dragging over my face, searching for the trap. A cynical, paper-thin smile touched his lips. "What new game is this? Figured out a way to humiliate me before I make it to the airport?"

Before I could defend myself, his hand snapped up, his long fingers gripping my chin. The sheer, terrifying strength in his hold made my breath hitch.

"You're being paranoid," I said through gritted teeth. "I just came to change my dress."

"Miraculous," Kellan drawled, his thumb pressing lightly against my jaw. "Your two guard dogs actually let you out of their sight."

"They're not dogs" I started, the defensive reflex kicking in.

But the words died in my throat as familiar voices drifted in from the corridor outside.

"I swear to God, every gala, some woman miraculously spills cabernet on your shirt."

A low, dismissive scoff.

"Whatever. It's not like you ever give them the time of day... Did you see where she went?"

"Wasn't she sleeping on the sofa?"

The handle to the main lounge door clicked.

Panic, pure and irrational, hijacked my brain. I shoved Kellan backward, right back into the darkened, cramped space of the dressing room, pulling the door shut behind us just as Declan and Zane walked into the lounge.

Through the thin wood, their voices were crystal clear.

"She should be thrilled tonight," Declan said. "Kellan's finally leaving. Why does she look so miserable?"

"She spent entirely too much time looking at him today," Zane replied.

A heavy, oppressive silence followed.

Then, Declan let out a soft, mocking laugh. "Well, she's always been volatile. We're used to it, aren't we?"

"Her easy days are numbered," Zane said. His voice was a lazy drawl, but the words carried the chilling finality of a judge passing a sentence.

...If they had been talking about anyone else, I wouldn't have cared.

My eyelashes fluttered. The air in the tiny dressing room suddenly felt dangerously thin.

Kellan was leaning against the back wall. His face was obscured in the dark, but I could feel the blistering weight of his stare. We were standing so close my chest almost brushed his jacket with every ragged breath I took. Our air mingled.

The conversation outside wasn't over.

"You play the part well," Declan hummed, a cruel edge to his usually warm voice. "I almost believed you were actually in love with her."

"Back at you," Zane replied.

"God, I can't wait to see the look on her face when the time comes. It's going to be so fucking sweet."

"Sweet?" Zane mused. "Tragic, maybe. But I suppose tragedy has its own kind of sweetness."

I didn't understand the exact parameters of their metaphor, but the rotting core of it was unmistakable.

The world went horrifyingly quiet.

So quiet, I could hear the slow, sick thud of my own heart.

I could accept a rival. I could accept that an arrogant heir might be my enemy. But I could not compute the reality that the two boys I had spent twenty years loving, the ones who had protected me from the world, harbored a malice toward me so deep it bordered on the grotesque.

For the first time since it invaded my brain, I believed the System with absolutely no reservations.

My hand, pressed flat against Kellan's chest to keep him back, was trembling visibly.

The man in front of me leaned down. His mouth hovered right beside my ear, his breath warm and laced with mockery. "I'm leaving now, Miss Fallon."

He reached around me for the brass doorknob.

In a blind panic, I grabbed his arm to stop him. My heel caught on the edge of the carpet, and I stumbled against the door.

Thump.

"What was that?"

Declans voice snapped like a whip, entirely stripped of its usual golden-boy warmth.

Meeting Kellan's impassive gaze, I knew with absolute certainty he wasn't going to cover for me. I sucked in a sharp breath and wrapped my hand around the doorknob.

A second before I could turn it, Kellan's voice cut through the dark. "It's me."

He glanced down at me, a silent command.

I didn't hesitate. I pressed myself flat into the dark corner behind the door hinges, utterly swallowed by the shadows.

Kellan pushed the door open. The angle of the wood perfectly shielded me from the lounge.

"Well, well," Declan's voice drifted in. "Didn't realize you had a fetish for eavesdropping."

The sheer venom in his tone made my stomach turn. I had never, in twenty years, heard Declan speak with such naked malice. It was a complete stranger's voice.

Kellan sounded entirely unbothered. "Does Fallon know about this little plan of yours?"

A deathly, suffocating silence descended on the lounge. The air practically froze.

It took a long time before Zane finally spoke, his voice dangerously low. "Are you planning on running to her with a warning? Who do you think she's going to believe, Caldwell? You? Or us?"

Declan seemed to relax, the tension bleeding out of his stance. "Exactly. You know exactly how much she despises you."

Kellan didn't grace them with a response.

Declan offered a short, derisive laugh.

Footsteps echoed across the hardwood. The heavy lounge doors clicked shut. They were gone.

I leaned the back of my head against the wall, exhaling a breath that burned my lungs.

When I stepped out of the dressing room, Kellan was already halfway to the door, meticulously adjusting his platinum cufflinks.

I stood rooted to the spot, a sudden wave of desperate uncertainty washing over me.

If the System was right about them... then it had to be right about him.

"What time..." I swallowed hard. "What time is your flight?"

Kellan stopped. He lifted his heavy gaze, pinned me to the wall with it, and said absolutely nothing.

"I mean," I babbled, the adrenaline making me frantic, "when are you coming back? Ha, don't misunderstand, I don't mean anything by it, but if you don't want to tell me"

"I suggest," Kellan interrupted, his voice dropping to a merciless, freezing register, "that you start worrying about yourself."

He turned and walked out.

Before I could even process the warning, my phone buzzed in my clutch.

Declan.

I hit decline.

When I finally forced myself back out to the ballroom, my mother grabbed my arm, oblivious to the fact that I was rigid with terror. She pulled me toward a circle of socialites.

"Fallon, darling," she beamed, the champagne making her bold. "You're getting to that age. Have you thought about which of the boys you're going to choose? You've always been so close to Declan and Zane. Who is it going to be?"

The System shrieked to life in my brain.

Host! You can curse me all you want, but you have to tread carefully! Do not choose either of them. They are not normal men!

"You didn't answer my call."

The voice came from right over my shoulder. Declan.

I slowly turned my head.

He was smiling. His eyes were crinkled at the corners, his mouth curved in that beautiful, familiar way, but his tone was feather-light, carrying the distinct pressure of an interrogation.

Across the circle, Zane was staring at me. His gaze was unblinking, heavy, and dead.

A cold sweat broke out along my spine.

It felt like I had stepped into a pit with two vipers, and they were just waiting for me to make a sudden movement.

I forced a bright, bratty laugh, looking back at my mother. "I like them both. Why can't I just have both?"

My mother blinked, offering an awkward, embarrassed laugh to the women around her. "Oh, listen to her. Such nonsense."

Zane's mother chimed in, smoothing over the faux pas. "The kids are just too close. It's impossible for her to pick right now."

Zane tilted his head, a slow, dark smile spreading across his lips. "Both?" he repeated.

Declan, usually the one who couldn't stop talking, went perfectly still. The smile never left his face, but it didn't reach his eyes.

I kept the plastic smile plastered on my face and nodded.

Inside, I was screaming. Both meant neither. This was the twenty-first century. I wasn't about to run a harem, especially not a harem of psychopaths.

"Alright."

Declan's voice was bright, almost melodic.

I stared at him.

"Whatever Fallon wants," Declan said smoothly. "I accept unconditionally."

If I hadn't overheard them in the loungeif I hadn't known the truththat sentence would have thrilled my ego. My gorgeous childhood friend, so obsessed with me he's willing to share? Amazing.

But now? All I heard was the sound of a trap snapping shut.

I looked at Zane, my voice catching slightly. "You... you agree to that?"

Zane slowly raised his eyes.

I didn't miss the flash of pure, unadulterated violence that passed through his pupils before it was buried again.

"Yeah," he murmured. "No objections."

I felt nauseous.

My mother rubbed her temples, sighing. "Fallon, honestly. Though," she paused, her eyes narrowing in thought, "I did hear that things have always been tense between you and the Caldwell boy?"

The calculation in her voice was naked. She was weighing the Kellan Caldwell option.

Months ago, my father had casually floated the idea of a Caldwell merger over dinner. Because I was knee-deep in my crusade to destroy Kellan, I had thrown an absolute tantrum, refusing outright. My father hadn't brought it up since.

The silence among the parents grew thick.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, offering my mother a vague, dismissive shake of my head.

I turned to Zane. "I've got a headache. Walk me to the gardens?"

I stepped into his space, leaning my weight against his arm in a display of total, oblivious trust.

Zanes muscles went completely rigid beneath his suit jacket for a fraction of a second.

I could feel Declan's eyes burning into my back as we walked away.

The moment we were out of the crowd, under the guise of slipping my arm through his, I dropped a microscopic audio bug straight into the pocket of Zane's tuxedo jacket.

I had to know. I had to know exactly what kind of hell they were building for me.

The moment I locked my bedroom door at home, I sprinted to the bathroom, turned the shower on full blast to mask any noise, and opened the app synced to the bug.

Nothing but static for hours.

I was drifting off to sleep when the sudden crackle of a voice jerked me upright.

"What did she say to you tonight? She practically threw herself at you. You didn't put your hands on her, did you?"

Declan.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zane's voice was bored, flat.

A few seconds of heavy silence.

"Are you going soft on her?" Declan asked, his tone laced with something dark.

"No." Zane's voice was ice. "The plan proceeds exactly as discussed."

"...I don't know. I feel like she knows something. She was looking at us differently."

Zane scoffed softly. "She's as clueless as she's always been."

"The island is prepped?"

"Yeah."

"Then we make the move in the next few days."

"I'll ask her out tomorrow."

The audio crackled. A second later, my phone vibrated in my palm. A text from Zane.

Want to see me tomorrow?

My fingers flew across the screen. Why? What's up?

Date.

I stared at the four letters, my stomach twisting into a violent knot.

Swamped lately. No free time. I hit send.

Through the audio bug, I heard Zane's phone chime.

"She says she's got no time," Zane relayed.

"No time?" Declan let out a sharp, incredulous laugh. "She spent the last year doing nothing but making Kellan's life miserable. Now that he's gone, she suddenly has no time?"

"Do you think Kellan actually warned her?" Zane asked, his voice tightening.

Declan clicked his tongue. "I know Fallon. Even if he did, she'd never believe him. She only trusts us."

I pressed the heel of my hand against my mouth to stifle a sob.

"Honestly," Declan's voice dropped to a whisper, a sound so possessive it made my skin crawl. "When the dust settles, I'm going to take her and..."

I leaned in, straining to hear, when the audio dissolved into a harsh, scraping noise.

Fabric rustling.

Then, Zane's voice, laced with a slow, terrifying amusement. "Well, look at this. Look what I found in my pocket."

A deafening, high-pitched squeal tore through the speaker.

And then, dead silence. Connection severed.

I stared at the screen as my chat with Zane remained perfectly still. He didn't send another message.

The app read: Device Disconnected.

I sat in the silence of my bedroom for a long time.

"System," I whispered into the dark. "They really are monsters, aren't they?"

I am so sorry, Host, the System replied, sounding genuinely mournful. If I hadn't mixed up the files, perhaps...

I shook my head. "Even if you had told me the truth from day one, I wouldn't have believed you. I had to hear them say it."

I looked down at my trembling hands.

What were they going to do to me?

Host, the System said. Go find Kellan.

I blinked, the exhaustion making me slow. "Find him?"

The System calculated for a moment. You can use him. Use him to flush out Declan and Zane's true intentions.

I frowned.

You possess a fatal attraction over him, the System urged. He cannot refuse you.