Kaelen POV

"Don’t you have unfinished business at the border that needs your immediate attention?" I asked.

My words hit their mark, causing Darius’s grin to falter for the briefest moment.

"No," he replied smoothly, finally dropping his arm from her shoulders. "I contacted the outpost captains an hour ago, and they said everything is completely under control."

Slowly, I stepped out from behind my desk and shook my head.

"Well, something came up at the last minute. As the Beta of this empire, you should go take a look yourself."

This time, his arrogant grin disappeared completely. His jaw tightened as he glared at me.

Seeing him finally snap out of his casual attitude made my lips curl into a small, victorious smirk.

But just when I thought I had completely won this round, Darius let out a long, heavy sigh.

"I guess I really do have to go," he said, turning toward Ella, who looked completely oblivious to the silent, suffocating war raging between the two of us.

His expression softened instantly.

"But thank the Moon Goddess you came by. I’ve been so restless about what happened last night. I felt like I needed to apologize again. It was just too improper of me."

Instantly, my brow furrowed in confusion.

Last night?

What the fuck happened last night?

I watched in real time as a deep shade of pink rushed up her neck and spread across her cheeks.

She looked completely flustered.

Her eyes darted away from Darius, and she shifted nervously on her feet as though she desperately wanted the conversation to end.

"I’m really fine about it," she stammered softly. "It was clearly a mistake. There’s really no need to feel..."

"A mistake?" I cut in sharply. "What mistake?"

Darius’s smirk returned in full force.

Meanwhile, Ella opened her mouth, then immediately closed it again, looking completely trapped.

"Nothing, Alpha," she said quickly, her voice tight with panic. "It was just..."

"I walked in on her by accident," Darius interrupted smoothly.

The bastard made sure he was staring directly into my eyes when he delivered the blow.

"She had just gotten out of the shower."

For a moment, the entire room went silent.

Instantly, her eyes widened in pure horror, and she dropped her gaze to the floor.

Meanwhile, a violent buzzing filled my ears as my mind processed what Darius had just said.

I stared at him.

Then I stared at her.

The blush on her face deepened so dramatically that I didn’t need another word to know he was telling the truth.

The second the image clicked into place, Darius seeing her naked, seeing the body my wolf had been obsessing over all night, fury slammed into me so hard it nearly knocked the breath from my lungs.

"What?!" I barked.

The force of my voice made her flinch so hard her shoulders jerked, but Darius, of course, didn’t even budge.

"Don’t raise your voice," he said calmly, deliberately stepping closer to her as though shielding her from me. "Can’t you see you’re embarrassing her? It was my fault, not hers."

"Get out," I said coldly, the words vibrating with a lethal edge. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.

I didn’t want to hear another word from him.

"Which one of us?" Darius asked.

Even now, standing on the very edge of completely losing my temper, he was still finding ways to get on my last nerve.

I drew in a deep breath, but it came out as a low, dangerous growl that seemed to vibrate through the office walls.

"Get out."

This time, Darius finally recognized the deadly shift in the atmosphere. Or maybe he simply didn’t care to push me any further.

Either way, he didn’t argue. He had already accomplished exactly what he wanted.

Turning toward Ella, his expression softened. "See you later," he said quietly.

To my absolute disbelief, she looked up and managed to give him a small smile before he turned and walked away.

The heavy office door slammed shut behind him, leaving the two of us alone in the suffocating silence.

But the moment he was gone, her smile vanished completely.

Ah.

"Take it off," I said coldly as I began advancing toward her.

Her gaze finally snapped up to meet mine, her brows knitting together in utter disbelief as she muttered, "What?"

"The clothes," I yelled, the sound tearing from my throat despite my effort to control it, making her flinch. "Take it off. Get rid of it!"

"I-I’m sorry, Alpha," she stammered as I continued closing the distance between us. "But I can’t. This was a gift."

A gift.

From my Beta.

Something inside me snapped.

The beast beneath my skin surged violently, shredding through the last scraps of restraint I had left.

By the time she took an instinctive step backward, I was already too close.

"I am your Alpha!" I yelled, my voice dropping into a terrifying command tone as I threw my weight forward and slammed her against the wall.

The impact knocked a gasp out of her, but even with how dangerously close we were now, she still refused to look at me. Her eyes stayed fixed somewhere off to the side, avoiding mine completely.

That simple act of defiance made something inside me snap.

"When I tell you to do something, you do not question me. You just do it!" I roared.

I reached out and wrapped my fingers around her chin, forcing her head back until she had no choice but to face me.

"When I am talking to you, you look at me."

But the exact second her striking green eyes locked onto mine, the rest of my angry words died in my throat.

My heavy, ragged breathing suddenly slowed as her scent filled my lungs. My gaze dropped helplessly to her lips, and for a moment, everything else faded into the background. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Before I could think, before my pride could stop me, I leaned forward and crushed my lips against hers.

The kiss was fueled by pure instinct. Every ounce of frustration, every second of my sleepless night, and every bit of the toxic possessiveness that had been eating me alive poured into it. I wanted a reaction. I needed one.

But she did not kiss me back.

Her lips remained completely still beneath mine.

This doesn’t feel right.

The thought cut through the haze clouding my mind, bringing a sharp wave of irritation with it.

Still, the beast inside me refused to back down. I pressed harder, desperate for any response at all, desperate for even a fraction of the warmth she had shown Darius earlier.

Why wasn’t she kissing me back?

This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.

Slowly, I pulled away, breathing heavily.

I looked down at her, only to find her staring back at me with a blank expression before she quietly lowered her gaze again.

The emptiness of her reaction drove a fresh spike of fury straight through my chest.

"What is this?" I demanded coldly, my grip tightening on her chin. "Are you mad at me or what?!"

"It’s not my place to be mad at the Alpha," she whispered. "I’m just here to fulfill our agreement."

"Bullshit!" I yelled.

The word ripped from my throat as I slammed my fist against the wall beside her head, making her flinch violently.

"Were you expecting an apology, huh?!" I roared, the frustration from the entire night finally boiling over into a reckless fit of anger. "Do you want me to drop to my knees and beg you? Is that what you want?! For the Alpha King to plead for your forgiveness?!"

My voice shook the quiet space as my entire body boxed her in, casting a massive, suffocating shadow over her small frame.

I towered over her, breathing heavily as I waited for some kind of reaction.

But the second she gave me one, the moment her wide green eyes turned glossy and filled with tears, the fierce, unyielding anger inside me vanished completely.

A shaky, defeated breath left my lips, and my head dropped forward until it hovered near the curve of her neck.

"I’m sorry," I whispered.