Lorelei POV

For a long moment, I remained in Kaelen’s arms, inhaling his rich, comforting scent. Somehow, it soothed me deeply, calming the panic that had been clawing at my chest. My sobs gradually faded until I finally regained my senses.

And then everything became awkward.

"Uhm... Alpha..." I whispered, my voice coming out small and uncertain as I hesitated, not entirely sure whether I should push him away or stay exactly where I was.

But before I could decide, he broke the embrace himself.

I quickly lowered my gaze, feeling the intense weight of his amber eyes as they examined every inch of my battered body. Without a word of warning, I was scooped effortlessly off the damp ground and placed gently on the thick trunk of the fallen tree.

He knelt in front of me, his large hands immediately moving to tear away the shredded denim around my right leg. One thing I noticed instantly was how his jaw tightened the second his gaze landed on the deep gash and my unnaturally twisted ankle.

"How did this happen?" he asked, his deep voice dangerously quiet as he began ripping his own shirt into thick strips of cloth.

"Well, uhm..." I stuttered, momentarily distracted by the sight of his bare torso and the raw intensity radiating off him.

Get it together, Lorelei.

I forced myself to focus as he leaned forward and began wrapping the torn fabric tightly around my bleeding calf to slow the blood loss.

"I fell off the cliff."

"How?" he asked, though his attention remained fixed on my leg.

"I was pushed," I replied honestly.

The second those words left my lips, his movements stopped completely.

The sounds of the forest suddenly seemed louder in the silence that followed. The rustling leaves. The distant insects. The faint whisper of the wind through the trees.

Slowly, his gaze lifted to meet mine.

"What?" he asked.

His voice was terrifyingly calm, but something beneath it sent a violent shiver racing down my spine.

Did I say something wrong?

Why had his expression suddenly turned so cold?

"Someone pushed me," I repeated, my fingers twitching nervously at my sides as the memory flashed through my mind.

In just a second, Kaelen’s eyes darkened.

His jaw tightened so hard that a muscle ticked in his cheek, and the grip he had on my leg noticeably stiffened.

"Did you see who it was?" he asked, the words clipped and sharp as they left his tongue.

I simply shook my head, swallowing past the lump in my throat.

"They came up from behind me," I replied, recalling the incident exactly as it had happened. "I didn’t hear or sense anyone at all. It happened so fast."

He didn’t say anything after that.

Instead, he forced his attention back to my leg, focusing entirely on wrapping it. His movements were precise, careful, and surprisingly gentle, making sure not to jostle my injured ankle more than necessary.

As he worked, my gaze drifted to his upper arm, and I froze when I noticed it was partially wrapped in white bandages.

He was hurt?

How did he get hurt?

Was it because he had been moving through the dense forest searching for me? Had he gotten injured because of my own carelessness? No, that wouldn’t make sense. It was already bandaged.

"How did you know where to find me?" I asked, breaking the agonizing silence. More importantly, I needed something to stop my thoughts from spiraling into guilt.

The forest was enormous, and it was completely dark out here. It must have taken an impossible amount of effort to pinpoint my exact location.

"Your scent," he said casually, pulling the makeshift bandage tight before tying it off securely.

My brows knitted together in confusion.

This was the second time he had mentioned my scent. But I was certain I didn’t have one, so how exactly could he pick up on my scent especially from such long distance.

Still, judging by the dark expression on his face, I decided not to question it.

"Thank you," I whispered instead, looking down at his handiwork.

If he had arrived even a second later, I would have been bitten by that snake. And who knew what would have happened to me out here alone?

He let out a heavy, exhausted sigh as he carefully lowered my injured leg back onto the bark. "You seem really good at thanking me lately," he said.

The strange tone in his voice left me thoroughly confused.

"You just saved my life," I countered softly, looking up at him. "Of course I’m grateful."

Even if he usually acted like a complete dick, good deeds were still good deeds. And in my case, good deeds were something rare.

"Is it really that easy?" he asked.

I blinked, momentarily lost. "What?"

"After everything I’ve done," he said, his voice dropping low. "After how I’ve treated you. Is it really that easy to just be grateful to me?"

At his words, a sudden rush of old resentment made my fists clench tightly at my sides.

I stared at his broad, bare shoulders as memories of his past coldness flashed through my mind.

But then, slowly, my fingers relaxed.

"It’s not about forgetting the bad," I said, carefully choosing my words. After all, I was still speaking to the Alpha King. "You’ve hurt me, yes. But you’ve also helped me. You saved my life tonight. You gave me a tutor. You gave me a room. And you even assigned an annoying guard to look after me."

The corner of my mouth twitched faintly before I continued.

"I can hold both truths at once. That you’ve been cruel, and that you’ve been kind. I don’t have to choose one over the other."

He was quiet for a long moment.

Once again, the sounds of the forest filled the heavy silence between us. Leaves rustled overhead, insects chirped somewhere in the darkness, and the cool night breeze slipped through the trees, growing even colder.

I braced myself, fully expecting him to snap at me or immediately change the subject. Powerful men like the Alpha King rarely handled the raw truth well when it was laid directly in front of them.

But to my utter surprise, Kaelen slowly lowered his head.

The rigid tension that always seemed to stiffen his shoulders suddenly eased, and in a voice so quiet I almost thought I had imagined it, he whispered,

"I’m sorry."