Chapter 167
Chapter 167:
I looked at him — really looked at him. He was terrifying to the world, a monster to his enemies, but to me he was this: a man who had bought out a pharmacy because he didn’t want me to be in pain.
I needed to say something. I needed to bridge the gap my confession in the car had created. He hadn’t said he loved me back, but his actions screamed it. Maybe that was enough. Maybe I just needed to acknowledge it in a language he understood.
“Dallas p>
He moved toward me — predatory yet graceful — stopping just inches from the coffee table. His golden eyes locked onto mine, intense and waiting.
“You’re a good man,” I said softly, my voice trembling with sincerity. “A true Alpha. You take your duties… to your Mate… so seriously p>
The change was instantaneous.
The warmth in the room evaporated. The scent of cedar and rain, which had been so soothing, turned sharp and cold. Dallas flinched — microscopic, just a tightening of his jaw and a flicker of darkness in his eyes — but I saw it. It was as if I had slapped him.
𝘔𝗈𝘳𝘦 𝗇о𝘷𝖾l𝗌 o𝗇 𝘨𝗮𝗅𝘯𝘰𝗏е𝘭s.со𝗆
“Duties,” he repeated. The word sounded like ash in his mouth.
“Yes,” I rushed on, thinking I wasn’t being clear enough. “Most Alphas wouldn’t care this much. In the Hyde Pack, everything was a transaction. But you — you honor the bond. You take care of me because it’s your responsibility as a Mate, and you do it so perfectly p>
I thought I was praising him. I thought I was telling him he was the most honorable man I had ever known.
But Dallas’s face had become a mask of stone. The vulnerable man who had thrown a pillow at his daughter was gone. In his place stood the King.
“I see,” he said, his voice stripped of all emotion. “You believe this is about responsibility p>
“Isn’t it?” I asked, confusion bleeding into my tone. “The Mate bond creates obligations. And you fulfill them better than anyone p>
He stared at me for a long moment, and for a single breath, I thought I saw profound hurt swirling in the depths of his golden eyes. Then he blinked, and it was gone — replaced by a wall of ice.
“I have work to attend to,” he stated flatly.
“Dallas, wait p>
He didn’t wait. He turned on his heel and walked to his study without looking back, without checking whether I was warm enough. He simply crossed the room and closed the heavy wooden door behind him.
Click.
The sound echoed through the silent penthouse like a gunshot.
I sat there, surrounded by the mountain of chocolate and care products he had bought for me, feeling colder than I had on the street. I had tried to thank him. I had tried to tell him how much I appreciated him.
So why did it feel like I had just broken his heart?
Braydon
The whiskey in my glass was older than the woman sobbing in front of my desk, but it burned less going down than the rage clawing at my throat.