Chapter 237 - 0237

Kaelen POV

"I strangled her."

The words left my mouth, and everything went completely still.

My pulse immediately started hammering against my ribs, the reality of what I had just admitted hitting me all over again. Darius, meanwhile, choked on his drink. He coughed violently before slamming his glass onto the table, his entire expression changing in an instant.

Every trace of amusement vanished from his face.

His posture stiffened as his gray eyes locked onto mine, and the look in them was so cold and sharp that I barely recognized him.

"You did what?" he demanded, his voice dropping into a dangerously low whisper.

His hands curled into tight fists against the table, his knuckles turning white from how hard he was clenching them. I could see the anger building in him, but he was clearly doing everything he could to keep it under control.

I lowered my head, staring at the little bit of amber liquid left in my glass. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. The guilt sitting in my chest felt unbearable, burning through me every time I thought about what I had done.

"I had another relapse," I admitted quietly, my voice almost getting lost beneath the low hum of the lounge. "I could see Morwenna. I could hear her talking to me, whispering right in my ear. Then she was suddenly standing right in front of me, laughing in my face. I just... I lost control and attacked her."

Even saying Morwenna’s name brought everything rushing back. The memories of my past came at me all over again, ugly and violent, sending a cold shiver down my spine. I took a slow breath, forcing down the bile rising in my throat before I finally looked up.

Darius looked like he was seconds away from losing it.

If I weren’t his Alpha King and his closest friend, I honestly wasn’t sure he would’ve stopped himself from grabbing me by the throat right there.

"She’s... she’s fine, though," I quickly added. "She isn’t hurt. She’s..."

"She’s not fine!" Darius snapped. "You almost killed her!"

His voice echoed through the quiet lounge before he caught himself.

He grabbed the bottle and poured himself another drink, but his hands were shaking so badly that some of the liquor nearly spilled over the rim. He downed the entire glass in one go before slamming it onto the table.

"Damn it, Kaelen."

He dragged a hand down his face, breathing hard as he tried to get his anger under control.

"Fuck!" he finally growled, shaking his head in frustration.

I went completely quiet, staring down at my drink. The amber liquid shimmered under the dim bar lights, barely moving. My own reflection stared back at me from the surface, warped and distorted, looking like a monster barely keeping itself together.

My heart was pounding against my ribs, and the shame sitting inside me was so heavy that I couldn’t bring myself to look at my best friend.

A few seconds passed, stretching into what felt like minutes. Eventually, I forced myself to put the mask back on. The same one I had worn through the worst years of my life. I straightened in my seat, lifted my chin, and forced my expression to go cold and unreadable, even though every part of me wanted to keep staring at the table and hide like a coward.

Darius noticed the change immediately. He saw the walls going back up, but this time, he didn’t call me out on it. Whatever anger he had left seemed to drain away, replaced by nothing but exhaustion.

He leaned back in his seat, his gray eyes still fixed on me.

"So what now?" he asked quietly. "You clearly can’t guarantee her safety anymore. What are you going to do?"

I stared at him for a long moment before letting out a slow breath. "I can’t ignore her like I did last time."

That mistake had almost pushed Lorelei away from me completely, and the thought of losing her still made my blood run cold.

"But you just did," Darius pointed out, glancing at the empty glasses between us.

I shook my head. "I just needed to clear my head. Of course I want to go home to her." I hesitated, the next words feeling bitter on my tongue before I finally forced them out. "It’s just... to be safe, we’ll sleep in separate rooms from now on."

Darius raised a brow, but I continued before he could say anything.

"Her chambers are already prepared. She should probably move in tonight."

"Lorelei isn’t going like that," Darius said quietly.

"I know," I replied flatly. "But it’s for her own good. At least until I figure out how to get my emotions under control and stop triggering the curse."

Because the terrifying truth was that the curse had already evolved once. What was stopping it from evolving again? What if the next trigger wasn’t rage, fear, or stress? What if it became something as simple as hearing her laugh, seeing her smile, or waking up beside her in the middle of the night?

There were too many risks. I couldn’t keep rolling the dice when Lorelei’s life was the one on the line.

Darius let out another tired sigh and reached across the table, nudging my freshly filled glass toward me.

"Drink," he said quietly. "You really need it."

A weak, humorless breath escaped me as I reached for the glass. I lifted it to my mouth and drained it in one slow swallow, letting the sharp burn trail down my throat.

A few more hours passed, with one drink after another being placed in front of us. Slowly, the suffocating tension in my shoulders began to ease as our conversation shifted away from Lorelei and the Council and somehow found its way back to the past, to how Darius and I had first met.

I reminded him of how he had practically begged to work alongside me after I saved his ass from a group of rogue thugs. Back then, I had found him completely insufferable. He followed me everywhere like a lost puppy with absolutely no sense of direction, constantly getting on my nerves without even trying.

Honestly, he was still a pain in the ass now, but at least these days, he was a loyal and dependable one.

The memory pulled a faint, genuine smile from me. I was just lifting my glass for another sip when a familiar scent suddenly cut through the heavy smell of alcohol in the room.

My head snapped up.

At the exact same moment, Darius whipped his head toward the entrance, his entire body going rigid.

But while his expression shifted into confusion, mine hardened instantly. Every muscle in my body tensed as my eyes locked on a heavily pregnant woman who was walking straight toward us.