REJECTED BY HER MATE, DESIRED BY THE LYCAN KING

Chapter 9

Kael POV

"Corwin." I cut through whatever the guard beside him was saying.

I couldn't wait any longer, I have been anxious for only the goddess knows when.

"Kael, I'm a little occupied right now—"

"Was it a poison, or just a rumor," I asked before he could finish.

Wren's father's eyes flare simultaneously on me. "A rumor, as far as we can tell. It may be from someone wanted her isolated tonight, and it worked."

"What do you need from me."

"Keep her door watched," he said. "I have guards posted through the hall, but I want someone I trust specifically outside her room. She shouldn't be alone with anyone she doesn't already know well."

"I'll go up now."

"You didn't have to offer," he said, glaring at me a beat too long before turning away. "But I appreciate it."

As I climbed the stairs, the pull toward her became irresistible with every step, insistent in a way I'd been ignoring for weeks now. I reached her door and stopped there instead of going in, I leaned my back against the frame, and started breathing in the faint trace of her scent through the wood.

This was exactly what I didn't need. Another reason to think about her.

I thought back to the forest, to the second I'd let myself kiss her back before catching myself. My wolf hadn't named her mate that night. But something in me had recognized her regardless, even though I still didn't have a clean word for it.

She was upstairs, hurting, and I still hadn't told her any of it.

The distance between what I knew and what she didn't felt more devasting. I'm in a complete state of mess

The door opened, and her aunt stepped into the hallway, pausing when she saw me there.

"Everything all right?" she asked, as her eyes digged into mine .

"Her father asked me to watch the door," I said, keeping my voice even.

"Good." She mutter plainly. "I'm going down to speak with him. I don't think this was as simple as a rumor spreading on its own. Someone worked to make sure it pushed beyond her limit so that, she will be extremely hurt and broken."

"I'll let you know if anything changes up here."

She gave me a small nod before disappearing down the stairs.

I told myself I'd stay right where I was.

I lasted less than a minute before I opened the door anyway.

Her scent hit stronger the moment I stepped inside. She lay curled on the bed, dressed still in the deep green she'd worn all evening, her face flushed, a faint sheen of sweat along her hairline.

She shifted restlessly, a small sound of distress escaping her, searching for some comfort she couldn't find on her own.

I crossed the room before I'd decided to and pressed the back of my hand lightly to her forehead. She went still almost instantly under it.

She sighed, reaching up to hold my hand there with both of hers, keeping it in place. I stood frozen while watching her, unsure on what to do with how easily she'd settled the moment I touched her.

Her eyes fluttered open, after sometimes and she glares at me, unable to digest what had just happened.

"Kael?" she whispered, her voice was thin and half-asleep.

"Rest," I told her, slowly.

As I started to pull away. Her grip tightened, holding on with more strength than I expected from someone this worn down.

"Don't go," she murmured. "Your hand's cold. I like it."

"I can find you something colder," I said.

She shook her head weakly,as more sweat gathered under my palm.

"No. This is fine," she said, eyes slipping shut again. "You're unfairly good-looking, you know that?"

I raised my brows despite myself.

"Genuinely unfair," she mumbled on. "Why do you have to be so—"

She drifted before finishing, breath evening out. I stood there a moment longer than necessary, watching her, telling myself the moon flower rumor's stress alone could account for delirium like this.

I pulled my hand free once her grip loosened and found a cloth in the adjoining bath, soaking it in cold water before laying it on her forehead. The flush in her cheeks eased almost immediately.

She sighed, as a small smile tugged at her mouth.

"That's nice," she whispered. I turned to leave again, and her voice caught me at the door. "You were my first kiss, you know."

I already knew that. I hadn't expected her to say it out loud, while she's half-conscious and fighting for her life .

"You were my first kiss," she said again, slowly. "And I think… I think there's something I haven't told you…"

She was gone before she finished,her breath is slow and whatever she'd meant to say lost with her into sleep.

I stood there, completely brazen.

What was she about to say?

Was she about to tell me about the prophecy?

No. That wasn't possible. She had no way of knowing what Mira might have already pieced together, no way of knowing what the Elder Seer had confirmed to me weeks ago.

Still, everything about tonight left me more unsettled than I wanted to admit.

She shifted again, restless even in sleep. I adjusted the blanket over her properly and straightened the pillow beneath her head without fully deciding to.

If she somehow already suspected what she was to the prophecy, would that change anything between us, or only complicate what I'd already spent weeks trying not to feel.

Don't start doubting her before she's even said a word to you clearly, I told myself.

I didn't entirely believe it.