Chapter 209 - 0209

Lorelei POV

I stopped in my tracks, and my brows drew together as I stared around in confusion. There was no one there. No Kaelen. No sign that anyone had even been standing outside the bathroom.

Yet I knew what I had heard.

His voice had been so clear that I could have sworn he was standing right outside the door.

I remained frozen in the middle of the room, shivering in nothing but my towel as my mind struggled to make sense of what had just happened.

But the next second, the main bedroom door opened, and I turned sharply just as Kaelen stepped inside, his phone clutched tightly in one hand.

What made my stomach drop, though, was that in his other hand was a single tall glass of warm milk.

It didn’t help that he looked completely relaxed, wearing that soft, gentle smile I had grown so familiar with, the same warm and affectionate expression he always gave me whenever his eyes landed on mine.

"Look what I brought for you," he said softly, and my eyes dropped to the glass in his hand before slowly lifting back to his face.

"You’ve been drugging me?" I asked instead, and within seconds, the warm, tender smile vanished completely from his face.

"How... how did you..."

"Have you been drugging me, Kaelen?" I cut him off, my voice firm and unwavering as I slowly approached him. My eyes remained fixed on the glass of milk he was still holding tightly in his hand.

Seeing that there was no way out now that I had caught him red-handed, Kaelen swallowed hard, his throat bobbing nervously as he lowered his gaze, unable to meet my eyes.

"I... yes," he finally admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.

A shaky breath slipped from my lips as I stopped directly in front of him.

I wanted to be furious. I knew I should be furious. He had been slipping something into my drinks behind my back while I blindly trusted him, drinking every last drop without ever questioning what he was giving me.

But as I looked at his tense posture, the memory of his frantic phone call flashed through my mind, followed by the heart-wrenching conversation we had shared before, when he had confessed just how desperately he wanted a child of his own.

The anger burning inside me slowly faded, replaced by a strange, aching sense of pity.

"What is this?" I asked quietly, gesturing toward the glass in his hand.

Kaelen finally looked up, his jaw tight as he stared at me for a moment before answering.

"It’s a fertility supplement," he said quietly. "The healer assured me it would help balance your hormones and significantly increase your chances of conceiving."

My brows pulled together in a slight frown. Knowing that the healer had willingly helped him slip an unprescribed supplement into my drinks without my knowledge felt like a massive breach of trust, but when I looked at Kaelen again, I could see the desperation that had driven him to this.

"I told you already that I want your child," I whispered, a thread of hurt slipping into my voice. "Did you not believe me?"

At the sight of my fallen expression, a wave of guilt washed over Kaelen’s face. He quickly set the glass down on the nearby side table before reaching for my hands, his voice turning urgent as he tried to explain himself.

"Of course I believed you! I swear I did. I just... I wanted you to get pregnant sooner. I was impatient, and I let my desire for a family cloud my judgment."

His voice trailed off when I reached past him, picked up the glass of warm milk, and lifted it to my lips.

Before he could even process what I was doing, I tilted my head back and gulped down the entire glass in one go.

I immediately winced as the liquid slid down my throat. The bitter aftertaste was much stronger tonight, which only confirmed that he had doubled the dose exactly as he had said he would.

I wiped the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand before looking up at him.

Kaelen was staring at me with wide, completely bewildered eyes, his mouth slightly parted as though he couldn’t understand what had just happened.

"What?" I murmured, giving him a small, wry look. "When I said I wanted to have your child, I meant it. You didn’t have to go behind my back just to make me drink this stuff. Although, I have to admit, you’re absolutely heartless for making me swallow something that tastes this awful."

Before I could even finish speaking, Kaelen’s arms suddenly wrapped tightly around my waist, pulling me against his chest so quickly that the air left my lungs.

He buried his face in the crook of my neck, his warm, frantic breath brushing against my bare skin.

"Thank you," he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "And I’m so sorry. I swear to you, I’ll never go behind your back like this again."

I hesitated for a moment, caught off guard by the sheer intensity of his embrace. But as his warmth surrounded me and I felt the tension slowly leave his body, my own resistance melted away, and I wrapped my arms tightly around his broad shoulders.

"I love you, Kaelen," I whispered against his collarbone, holding onto him as tightly as I could. I needed him to understand that I meant it, that despite everything, my feelings for him were real. "I would do anything for you if it makes you happy... just like you do for me."

For a moment, he didn’t say anything. His arms only tightened around me, his fingers pressing firmly into my back as though he was afraid that if he loosened his hold even slightly, I might slip away.

"I love you too, my Luna," he finally murmured, his voice soft against my ear. "More than life itself."

Something about the way he said it made my heart ache.

When he eventually pulled back, he kept his hands on me as he looked down at my face. The tenderness in his expression was still there, but it was now mixed with obvious confusion, his amber eyes narrowing slightly as he studied me.

"But there’s something I don’t understand," he said. "How did you know I had spiked the milk?"

"I heard you talking on the phone," I replied casually, but his expression immediately changed.

"But you were in the bathroom." His brows drew together as he glanced toward the bathroom door, then back at me. "I was outside the chambers. There’s no way you should’ve been able to hear that."

He paused, his gaze slowly sharpening as he seemed to replay the entire situation in his head.

"Unless..."

I watched as realization suddenly flashed across his face.

His amber eyes widened, and he stared at me for a long moment before a quiet, almost disbelieving breath escaped him.

"Has your wolf finally fully awakened?"