The Winter Wolf's Secret Heir

Chapter 9: The Blue Room

He just turned around, grabbed a pair of gray sweatpants from the laundry pile by the mudroom door, apparently left there by the groundskeeper and pulled them on over his wet skin. He didn't bother with a shirt. He didn't bother drying off.

"Move," he growled.

I tried. I really did. I shifted Leo to my left hip and took a step.

Pain shot up my leg like a lightning bolt. A hot, sickening crunch in my ankle made my knees buckle. I gasped, stumbling into the wall.

"Mama!" Leo cried, clutching my neck.

Kane stopped. He looked back over his shoulder. His eyes were cold, devoid of the heat that had been there a minute ago. Now, he just looked annoyed.

"Pathetic," he muttered.

Before I could apologize, he was there.

He didn't ask permission. He scooped me up—Leo and all—into his arms.

I was pressed against his bare chest. My cheek was against his wet skin. I could smell the storm on him, mixed with the deep, musky scent of an angry Alpha. It was intoxicating. It was terrifying.

"You are heavier than you look," he grunted, starting up the stairs. "Must be the weight of all those lies you carry."

I bit my lip. "I can walk. Put me down."

"And let you fall and break your neck? Then I’d have to explain to the council why a guest died in my house." He looked straight ahead, his jaw tight. "I don't need the paperwork."

Leo didn't like it.

My son was squashed between us. He wriggled one arm free and planted his tiny hand flat against Kane’s massive pectoral muscle. He pushed.

"Down!" Leo demanded. His eyebrows were pulled down in a furious V. "Put Mama down!"

Kane looked down at the boy. He didn't slow his pace.

"Stop squirming, pup," Kane warned. "Or I drop both of you."

"No!" Leo growled.

It was a real growl. A tiny, vibrating sound in his little chest. It wasn't scary, it sounded like a kitten trying to be a tiger but the intent was there. He was challenging the Alpha King.

Kane stopped on the landing. He looked at Leo with genuine surprise.

"You have a death wish," Kane said to the damn three-year-old. "Growling at an Alpha? Did your human father teach you nothing about hierarchy?"

I flinched at the word human.

"He's just a baby, Kane. Don't be cruel."

"He needs discipline," Kane snapped. "If he were pack, I’d nip his ear for that disrespect."

"He's not pack," I whispered, holding Leo tighter. "He's just a guest."

"Guest," Kane scoffed. The word sounded like an insult.

He carried us down the East Wing hallway. This was the guest wing. The expensive wing. The carpet here was thick and plush. The sconces on the walls were gold.

He kicked open the door to the Blue Room.

It was beautiful. A four-poster bed, velvet curtains, a fireplace that was already crackling with warmth thanks to the gas starter. It smelled like lavender and wealth.

Kane walked to the bed and dropped us.

He didn't set us down gently. He let go from about six inches up. We bounced on the mattress.

"Stay here," he ordered. "Don't leave this room. I’ll send the doctor for your ankle."

"I don't need a doctor," I said quickly. "Just ice."

"You’ll see the doctor. I don't want you crippled and suing me."

He walked to the door, his hand on the knob. He looked back at us. We must have looked like a sad pair—wet, shivering, huddled together on the massive bed.

His eyes narrowed. He looked at Leo, then at me.

"Does he touch you?" Kane asked suddenly.

"Who?"

"The human. The father." His voice was low, dangerous. "Does he touch you like I did?"

I couldn't breathe. "He's gone, Alpha. I told you."

"But he was there," Kane snarled. "He was there when I wasn't."

He ran a hand through his wet hair, looking at the ceiling like he was asking for patience.

"Elara is waiting for me," he said abruptly. The change in subject was like whiplash. "She’s in my quarters. We have... planning to do."

My stomach turned over. In his quarters.

"I don't need to know your schedule," I whispered.

"I think you do," he said, his voice turning icy smooth. "You need to remember your place, Noelle. You are the hired help. Elara is the future of this pack. She belongs in the Alpha wing. You belong..."

He gestured vaguely at the room, at me, at my wet clothes.

"You belong in the past."

Leo scrambled to his knees on the mattress. He pointed a chubby finger at Kane.

"Go away!" Leo shouted. "Bad man go away!"

Kane’s lip curled. He didn't look angry this time. He looked... amused? Or maybe just exhausted.

"Gladly," he muttered.

He stepped out into the hall.

"I’m locking the door from the outside," he said. "For your safety. I don't want you running off into the snow again to meet some imaginary lover."

"Kane—"

"Get warm, Noelle. And try not to ruin the sheets. Elara picked them out personally. She hates stains."

The door slammed shut.

The lock clicked. Heavy. Final.

I stared at the wood. The silence in the room was deafening.

He hated me. He truly, deeply hated me. And he was going to Elara.

"Mama?" Leo tugged on my sleeve. His eyes were wide, shifting from blue to a dangerous, flickering gold. "Wolf man bad?"

I pulled him into my lap, burying my face in his neck to hide my tears.

"Yes, baby," I choked out. "Wolf man is very, very bad."

But the worst part wasn't his anger. The worst part was that even when he was insulting me, even when he was looking at me with disgust...

I still wanted him to come back and warm me up.