Chapter 451
[ 1,059 words ]
[Meredith].
Draven finally lifted his eyes to mine just for a heartbeat. But the look was enough to make my stomach tighten.
” To force my hand.” A small pause before he continued. ” And to see how the King and a few others react to you, before I am prepared to handle it.”
My fingers tightened around my knife. ’So this wasn’t just about appearances. This was a strategy, politics, pressure, and testing boundaries. Setting me up for scrutiny I wasn’t ready for.’
I swallowed gently, lifted my cup, and drank everything to steady my breath.
Just then, Draven’s final words came through the mindlink, like a quiet vow. ” Don’t worry. I will decide who sees you and when. Not him.”
My heart softened just slightly as the table fell into a natural, gentle quiet.
Randall didn’t press the matter again. He didn’t question Draven further or even look our way.
He simply continued his meal in dignified silence at the opposite end of the table, as if he hadn’t just thrown both of us into a corner and nailed the door shut.
And that, more than anything, allowed the atmosphere to soften.
Not long after, I felt Draven’s fingers brush my thigh again—slow, absent-minded, but warm. Not teasing this time, just grounding.
I glanced at him. His expression was composed for everyone else, but I knew that look too well—a calm, contained hunger simmered beneath the surface, like a wolf lounging in sunlight after finishing a meal, but still alert enough to pounce again.
His thumb stroked my thigh once, deliberately. Heat curled low in my belly.
I tried to focus on the food. I tried to act like nothing in the world was happening under the table, but Draven’s aura was heavy, warm, and intimate. And after everything that had already happened between us today, it made my breath soften without my permission.
He was still turned on, and he wasn’t hiding it.
I felt his mind brush mine gently—a feather-light, private touch as his voice came through the mindlink.
” Eat. You will need more energy tonight.”
I swallowed a gulp. He didn’t say anything more.
The dinner concluded peacefully. Randall rose first, wished us a good evening, and left with the same regal calm he had entered with.
Oscar excused himself next. Dennis followed, humming to himself as he disappeared down the hall.
Soon, it was just Draven and me at the long table.
He finally turned his head toward me and gave me a hungry and patient look at the same time.
My cheeks warmed as I rose from my chair.
Draven stood like a predator, slowly, with all the time in the world.
He offered his hand. I placed mine in his.
And without saying a single word, he led me out of the dining hall and into the quiet evening corridors.
His fingers kept brushing mine lightly, just enough to tug at my heartbeat.
But the way he kept stealing side glances at me… I honestly didn’t understand him sometimes.
How he could move from tense council politics and subtle fatherly threats straight into teasing touches and hungry looks as though nothing could derail him.
If I were in his shoes, I would still be brooding for hours.
But Draven? He shed tension the way a wolf effortlessly sheds droplets after a river bath.
Maybe that was one reason he stayed sane in a world filled with power-hungry elders.
He didn’t hold on to things longer than necessary.
But even so, a small part of me wondered if I should be worried about his ability to compartmentalize so fast.
He brushed my knuckles with his thumb again, deliberately.
I exhaled, slipping my hand out of his gently before he got bold enough to drag me straight to bed.
“Draven…” I cleared my throat before he could lean in closer. “There is something I want to tell you before your flirting gets out of hand.”
He arched a brow at me, amused. “I wasn’t flirting.”
“Liar,” I murmured.
The corners of his lips curved slightly.
Then, I steadied myself and looked ahead toward the elevator.
“I want to go with you tomorrow,” I said. “To visit King Alderic.”
Draven stopped walking.
When I turned to face him, he was already studying me with that unreadable expression, as though he wanted to peel back my thoughts and inspect every layer.
“Do you now?” he asked quietly.
“Yes,” I replied with certainty. “I do.”
A flicker of something—maybe surprise or even pride crossed his eyes. But he didn’t speak.
So I continued, letting my thoughts flow honestly for once.
“I know what people think of me,” I said. “Wolfless, weak, useless, a harmless dove—I’ve heard all of it. And I know some still think it.”
Draven’s jaw tightened slightly.
“But that’s fine,” I added, lifting my chin. “Because I also know exactly who I am. And what I can do. They can underestimate me all they want.”
Draven’s gaze sharpened intensely, like he was seeing something he hadn’t let himself acknowledge before.
“And,” I added softly, “if I go with you to the palace, it will look good. You will be introducing your Luna to King Alderic properly this time. I only saw him once on our wedding day. And I was hardly myself back then.”
A faint smirk tugged at Draven’s lips. “You were terrified of me and hated my guts,” he said.
“I had every right to be,” I shot back.
He chuckled under his breath, the sound low and warm in the hallway’s quiet. But then his amusement faded, and something gentler, almost reverent, replaced it.
He stepped close enough that I could feel the warmth rolling off him.
“You want to stand beside me?” he asked, voice dropping. “In front of King Alderic? In the palace?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
Slowly, deliberately, he leaned down until his forehead brushed mine. “You have no idea,” he murmured, “how much I’ve wanted to hear you say that.”
Heat bloomed and spread in my chest.
But before he could kiss me, before those hands found my waist, I pressed my palm to his chest and whispered:
“Watch where you are.”
He stilled for a moment, then chuckled deeply.
“Very well,” he said, brushing a knuckle along my jaw. “We are only two floors from our bedroom.”
If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.