Chapter 213 - 0213

Lorelei POV

I frowned, wondering if his scent had actually changed or if my senses were simply becoming more sensitive now that my wolf was slowly waking up. Maybe it was the latter. I honestly had no idea. All I knew was that I couldn’t seem to get enough of him.

I breathed him in again and pressed myself closer, practically burying my face against his neck. His warmth surrounded me along with that intoxicating scent, and for some reason, I suddenly had the ridiculous urge to stay right there forever.

I wanted to drown in it.

Actually, maybe I was already halfway there.

Without really thinking about it, I leaned in and lightly nibbled at the side of his neck, copying the exact thing he was always doing to me.

"What are you doing?" he asked, tilting his head slightly as he looked at me with an amused expression.

"You smell very edible," I murmured against his skin, taking another bite that made him chuckle softly.

"I’ll take that as a compliment," he murmured, and I couldn’t help the little smile that pulled at my lip.

But after another second, I reluctantly pulled back and looked over his shoulder. "What about you? Did you sleep well?"

As I spoke, my eyes dropped to the closed laptop sitting on his thighs, but Kaelen followed my gaze.

The next second, he sighed before picking it up and placing it on the nightstand. "Not really. Some last-minute work came up that I needed to clear before the day starts."

Oh.

Just work.

The tiny bit of suspicion I’d been carrying disappeared almost immediately. It was probably some official business, maybe confidential pack matters or something equally boring and important.

"So....." he drawled, shifting slightly so he could look at me properly. "Do you have any plans for today?"

"If I had plans, wouldn’t you be the first to know about them?"

It was the truth. After all, Kaelen was the Alpha King, and somehow, he had always managed to keep track of almost every part of my schedule around here.

That earned another warm chuckle from him. "That’s true." He paused, his amber eyes softening as he ran a hand through his tousled hair. "The interior designer for your chambers is coming today. They’ll be starting on the actual changes, so I want you there while they work. You can keep an eye on everything and make sure they’re doing it exactly the way you want."

I nodded almost immediately, unable to hide the excitement that bubbled up at the thought of finally getting to customize a space that was actually mine. I had already spent way too much time imagining what I wanted to do with the room, so the fact that it was finally happening made me ridiculously happy.

"What about you?" I asked, glancing at the laptop he’d just set aside. "You’re already working, so are you going to be busy the whole day?"

The brief hesitation in his eyes gave me my answer before he even opened his mouth.

"It’s out of my control today," he said softly, reaching up to stroke my cheek. "I’m sorry. But I’ll find a way to make it up to you."

I let out a small, disappointed sigh, but I kept my arms wrapped around his waist anyway. "Okay..."

Kaelen looked down at me with a smile, and then something playful flickered across his amber eyes. "Tell you what. Let’s take a bath together before I have to leave."

My face instantly lit up, and just like that, whatever disappointment I’d been feeling disappeared in a heartbeat.

****

Kaelen POV

Crash.

The thick wine glass shattered inside my palm, breaking into a dozen sharp pieces beneath the force of my grip. But the pain barely registered because I was too fucking angry to care.

I had been pacing around my office for what felt like forever, moving back and forth like a caged beast, completely consumed by everything Lorelei had confessed to me last night. Everything she had endured. The torment, the humiliation, the betrayal.

All of it kept replaying in my head, each detail making the rage inside me burn hotter.

And then there was the worst part.

That she had belonged to another man first.

I had always known a day like this would come. I knew Lorelei had a past before she came to this estate.

I knew there had been things in her life that I couldn’t erase simply because she was mine now. But fuck... knowing she had a past and hearing her tell me about it herself were two completely different kinds of hell.

Blood mixed with the dark wine as it dripped steadily from my sliced palm onto the polished hardwood floor. I hadn’t even been able to pour myself a proper drink to take the edge off before my temper completely snapped.

Breathing heavily, I finally dragged myself toward my desk and dropped into my leather chair. I shoved one hand into my hair and gripped it tightly, my eyes fixed blankly on the blood now smeared across my desk.

A few seconds later, the doors clicked open and Darius stepped into the office.

For a few seconds, his sharp grey eyes immediately took in the shattered glass on the floor, the blood dripping from my hand, and the suffocating tension hanging heavily in the room.

He let out a long sigh as he closed the doors firmly behind him. "It’s too early in the morning to be this fucking mad."

"He’s her mate," I spat, my voice thick with venom.

Darius’s footsteps faltered instantly, and his brows pulled together in genuine confusion. "What?" he muttered.

I clenched my jaw, forcing the words out through gritted teeth, each syllable burning like acid in my throat. "That bastard... the one who had the absolute fucking audacity to lay his hands on her." My fingers curled against the edge of the desk as another wave of rage tore through me. "He was her mate. They were lovers once."