Chapter 313: What He Did

Rebecca’s POV

​Callum pulled out the chair and sat beside me. Still nothing from Kaden.

​Callum started talking to Mother about the trade route they were supposed to inspect later, occasionally leaning in to ask me how I was feeling. I tried listening, I really did, but my eyes kept drifting toward the other end of the table. Kaden ate quietly while reading his reports. He didn’t look at Callum, he didn’t look at me, and he didn’t care that Callum was sitting right beside me.

​Kaden quietly set his cup down, pushed his chair back, and stood up. "Alpha Maria, thank you for the hospitality. I will be in my room handling some council matters with my Beta back home. If you need me, send someone."

​"Of course, Kaden," Mother replied gently.

​Then his eyes moved to me—only briefly. "Have a good day, Rebecca."

​I stared at him, my chest feeling strangely hollow. "You too."

​He gave a single polite bow to the room and walked out without looking back even once. I sat frozen, staring at his empty chair.

​This is what you wanted, I told myself sternly, gripping my fork tight. You wanted him to stop crowding you. You wanted him to give you space.

​So why did my chest feel so painfully tight? Why was I sitting here feeling like I had just lost a war I didn’t even know I was fighting?

​Callum’s voice broke through my thoughts. "Are you going to keep staring at the door?"

​My head snapped toward him. "I wasn’t staring."

​His eyebrow lifted knowingly.

​I narrowed my eyes. "What?"

​He smiled and raised both hands in surrender. "I said nothing."

​I pushed my chair back from the table. "I need some air."

​"I was actually planning to walk through the gardens before meeting your mother," Callum said smoothly. "Would you mind some company?"

​I almost said no, but maybe getting out of the house would stop me from thinking about Kaden’s stupid, unreadable face. "Fine."

​A few minutes later, Callum and I were walking through the Stone Pack gardens. The morning sun was warm, and the scent of blooming lilies usually helped clear my mind, but today my thoughts were a chaotic mess.

​For a while, we walked in silence. Then I looked over at him. "How is your eye, really?"

​Callum touched the skin near his eyebrow. "Completely healed."

​"I’m sorry again about last night," I said, turning to look at him properly. "What Kaden did was awful. He had no right to attack you like that. He completely lost his mind, and it was humiliating for everyone involved."

​Callum stopped walking in the middle of the stone path. He looked at me, his eyes studying my face with a thoughtful, quiet expression. Then, he let out a short, quiet breath and shook his head.

​"You don’t need to apologize for him, Rebecca," Callum said gently.

​I blinked, confused. "What do you mean? You were the one who got hit."

​"I was," Callum admitted, tapping the faint mark near his eye. "But I provoked him. I tested him deliberately."

​I froze, staring at him in complete shock. "You... what?"

​"I provoked him," Callum repeated, his voice calm and completely honest. "I wanted to see if the great Alpha King’s legendary control was real, or if he was just hiding behind a polished crown."

​My blood ran cold, a sudden spike of disbelief washing over me. "You egged him on? In the middle of a public match?"

​"I did," Callum said, looking at me directly.

​"What did you say to him?" I demanded, my hands clenching into fists at my sides. "Kaden wouldn’t tell me. What did you whisper in his ear?"

​Callum looked at me, his playful smile fading into something much more serious.

​"I told him that he was a fool for letting you walk away," Callum said quietly. "I told him that while he spent his time begging for your forgiveness like a repentant mate on his knees, someone else was going to step up and show you that you had other choices. I wanted to see if he would fight for you, or if he was really going to step back and let you go."

​My mouth fell open, my heart doing a violent flip in my chest. That wasn’t just a playful taunt. For an Alpha King—a man already tormented by the fear of losing his mate and his unborn child—those words were a direct hit to his rawest, most vulnerable wound.

​"You said that to him?" I whispered. Then my brow furrowed as another thought hit me. "Wait... how did you even know he was my mate? We haven’t announced anything, and you only arrived at the mansion three days ago!"

​Callum gave me a soft, understanding look. "I felt it the moment I arrived three days ago and saw the two of you in the same room, Rebecca. The air practically vibrates around you two. A king can always recognize the pull of a true mate bond, no matter how hard you try to hide it."

​He paused, stepping closer to the edge of the stone pathway.

​"Besides... when I saw the Alpha King staying here, I had my people do some digging. I wanted to understand why he was away from his own territory. And what I found out yesterday morning explained everything."

​My heart gave an uneasy thud. "What are you talking about?"

​"Kaden issued an official statement yesterday morning," Callum said, watching my reaction carefully. "A public announcement sent to every pack leader, council head, and king across the entire supernatural community."

​My mouth parted in utter shock. "What statement?"

​"An apology," Callum said softly. "A public retraction of every accusation ever made against you. He officially declared to the entire world yesterday that you were innocent—that you had nothing to do with the death of Helen, his first mate, and that blaming you was the greatest mistake of his life. He cleared your name completely, Rebecca. Every leader in the supernatural world saw it yesterday."

​My breath caught in my throat. Kaden had done that yesterday morning? Before the match? The proud, stoic Alpha King had stood before the entire world, swallowed his massive pride, and publicly admitted his sins to clear my reputation?