Lorelei POV

My breath hitched sharply in my throat as I stared down at the man in front of me.

Maybe it was because he had technically apologized once before in the heat of a chaotic moment, but I had never expected him to utter those words to me again. Especially not like this, completely unprompted, deflated, and quiet in the middle of the woods.

"What I said..." he continued, his voice strained as if he were fighting a brutal internal war against his own pride. "What I said to you that day, about you being only good for spreading your legs... I didn’t mean it."

My heart clenched painfully in my chest. I swallowed hard, remembering the humiliation of that day. I had tried so incredibly hard to bury that moment and never think about it again, but hearing him bring it up made the ghost of that emotional ache resurface.

"How I reacted in my office," he went on, staring down at his scraped hands. "It wasn’t fair to you. I was angry about things and I took it all out on you. If I could go back in time... I would take it all back."

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. It all felt so strange, completely out of character for him.

"Never thought I would ever hear those words coming from the Alpha King," I whispered, more to myself than to him, while subtly shifting my posture to bite back a pained groan from the relentless ache in my leg.

But he heard me perfectly.

"That’s because I was wrong, and I regret it," he said, the honesty in his tone catching me off guard. "It’s been really difficult for me to trust people because I’ve been hurt so many times. In my world, being cruel is just much easier."

That was understandable, given the brutal nature of pack politics, but the only problem was that excuse didn’t sit right with me.

"I’ve been hurt too," I whispered, trying my absolute best not to let my mind wander back to those dark, painful memories. "I’ve been hurt by a lot of people, Alpha, including you. But I still make the conscious choice to treat people with kindness."

"That..." he said, raising his head as if trying to defend his past choices.

"You were avoiding me," I cut in.

Yes, I was still deeply hurt by his sudden coldness over the last month. Even though I tried to quickly mask the pain in my voice, his eyes had already caught it.

"It was for your own good," he said flatly.

I scoffed bitterly.

"Is that your universal excuse for treating people poorly?" I asked.

As the words left my mouth, my hands subconsciously curled into tight fists against the rough bark. I couldn’t stop the sudden, intrusive memory of Jaxen from flooding my mind.

Jaxen had treated me the exact same way. He had hurt me deeply, and then he had avoided me until I meant absolutely nothing to him.

"You don’t even know me," I pressed on. "Who are you to decide what’s for my own good? I went through absolute shit too, and..."

"But this is different," he insisted, his amber eyes burning with a strange frustration.

"How?" I demanded, staring right back at him. "How is it different?"

"Because..." he stuttered, his powerful chest heaving. "Because you are a..."

The words were clearly right at the tip of his tongue, but he was fighting them back with everything he had.

Slowly, the intense fire in his eyes dimmed. He forced his gaze away from me and looked down at the forest floor.

"I’m not trying to make an excuse for myself," he said quietly, his voice hollow. "I genuinely regret what I did to you. You don’t have to see me any differently because of this. This is just me... taking accountability for my own actions."

All the fiery words I wanted to throw back at him suddenly died in my throat.

The anger evaporated, leaving behind only a heavy exhaustion.

Instead of arguing, I simply let out a soft sigh.

Then, remembering the strange encounter before my fall, I reached into my back pocket and carefully pulled out the crumpled white envelope.

"Here," I said, stretching my arm out and handing it to him.

"What is this?" he asked, his brows knitting together in suspicion.

Instead of taking it blindly, he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his phone, turning on the flashlight.

The bright beam illuminated the dark space between us, which was even better because now I could see every micro-expression on his face clearly.

"You have a crush," I said, watching him set the phone down on the tree trunk so the light angled upward while his large fingers started ripping open the sealed envelope. "One of the teenage kids wanted me to give this to you."

I watched him intently, my heart racing for some inexplicable reason as his eyes quickly scanned the handwritten contents of the letter.

Within seconds, he let out a frustrated groan and tossed the paper carelessly into the dirt.

"What the hell is wrong with these kids?" he muttered, dragging a hand down his face in annoyance.

Seeing this, I couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at the corners of my lips at his dramatic reaction.

"Why?" I asked. "Is she too young for you?"

There was enough mockery in my voice to make him raise a brow. He turned his head and gave me a thoroughly weird, unamused look that almost made me laugh out loud despite the throbbing pain in my ankle.

Then my fingers twitched at my sides as I dared to ask, "What about Emily, then?"

It wasn’t planned.

The question slipped out before I could stop it.

"Who is Emily?" he asked instead, wearing a blank expression.

Hearing those words, my muscles subconsciously relaxed.

"One of the volunteers," I said carefully. "My roommate."

"Ahh..." he said, seeming to finally place her. "The lady who wouldn’t stop talking. So annoying."

Instantly, a heavy weight I hadn’t even realized I was carrying lifted from my chest, and I exhaled softly in relief. I couldn’t even explain why.

"You find her annoying?" I asked, trying my absolute best to keep my voice neutral.

"She talked my ear off for ten minutes straight," he said flatly, rubbing the bridge of his nose as if recalling a headache. "About her cat. Her cat. I am the Alpha King, and I do not care about her cat. But I was forced to be polite."

I bit down hard on my lower lip to keep myself from laughing out loud.

Strangely, it felt good to know that what I had witnessed earlier was just an act.

"We should go," he finally said, breaking the lighthearted moment as he slowly rose back to his full height.

He looked down at my bandaged leg.

"Can you walk?"

"No," I said slowly, glancing at my twisted ankle. "I don’t think so."

With that, he leaned forward, bending his large frame over the log as if preparing to wrap his strong arms around my back and knees to lift me.

But the moment he moved closer, his face ended up only inches from mine.

Instantly, the playful atmosphere vanished, and I swallowed hard, my breath catching in my throat as my gaze instinctively dropped to his lips.

The intensity of how close we were was impossible to ignore. Despite the cold air, heat still rushed up my neck.

My heart began pounding so hard it felt almost painful, and the distance between us suddenly felt agonizing.

So without warning, driven by a sudden reckless impulse and the lingering adrenaline of the night, I leaned forward and pressed my lips firmly against his.