Chapter 21 Back to Sentines
Chapter 21 Back to Sentines
The instant Skylar’s weight sagged fully into him, he tightened his hold and turned, his movements swift and decisive, as if hesitation alone might tear her away again. The street behind them was still alive with noise—cars honking, people murmuring, the echo of disruption lingering in the air—but Liam had already stepped past it, past the men who had tried to take her, past everything that didn’t matter.
“Open it.”
The command came low, sharp. The car door was already being pulled wide before he reached it. He slid inside without breaking stride, Skylar gathered against him as if she were something far more fragile than she looked. The door shut, sealing them into a quieter space, though the tension did not lessen. It pressed closer instead, contained within the narrow distance between them.
“Drive.”
The engine responded immediately. The car surged forward. Liam didn’t look out the window. His attention had already dropped to the woman in his arms.
Skylar barely stirred. Her head rested against his chest, her breath shallow, uneven, her body far too still for someone who had just been running for her life. The faint warmth of her skin did little to ease the cold impression her appearance left behind.
She looked worse.
His gaze moved slowly, taking in what he had missed in the chaos outside. Her feet—bare, bruised, the skin torn in places where the pavement had been unforgiving. Dirt clung to her, faint streaks of dried blood marking where she must have stumbled more than once. Her arms carried the same story, thin lines and deeper marks scattered across them, some fresh, some already darkening.
When he looked at her pale face, his jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. A week hadn’t pass yet since this chaos started by her run, yet she looked as though she had been dragged through something far longer, something that had stripped away more than just strength.
His hand shifted slightly beneath her, adjusting his hold without waking her. The movement was careful, controlled, but it betrayed something else—something quieter, buried beneath the surface.
The faint rise and fall of her chest did not reassure him the way it should have. For a brief moment, an unfamiliar thought pressed in—What if she didn’t wake up? His expression didn’t shift. But his voice, when he spoke again, carried a sharper edge.
“Call the palace,” he said.
The chauffeur didn’t hesitate. “Yes, Alpha.”
“Tell them to prepare the doctor. Immediately.”
The call was made before the car had even cleared the next intersection.
Liam leaned back slightly, his coat already wrapped around Skylar’s body, shielding her from the lingering chill that clung to her skin. It swallowed her almost entirely, leaving only her face visible, pale against the dark fabric.
And for reasons he refused to name, Liam found himself watching her more closely than necessary.
The gates of Estines opened without delay. Word had traveled faster than the car. By the time they arrived, the palace was already awake in a way it usually wasn’t at that hour. Guards stood more alert, servants moved with quiet urgency, and the tension in the air carried something heavier than routine.
The car barely came to a full stop before Liam stepped out, Skylar still in his arms. He didn’t wait for assistance. He didn’t look at anyone as he moved past them, his pace unbroken as he crossed the courtyard and entered the palace.
The doctor was already there, standing near the base of the stairs, his posture straightening the moment Liam approached.
“Alpha—”
“Prepare the room,” Liam cut him off.
The doctor nodded immediately, stepping aside to follow as Liam continued forward.
The door to the Alpha king’s bedroom had open, Liam stepped inside without pause, crossing the familiar space as if it had never been empty of her presence. The bed stood untouched, the sheets still perfectly arranged—until he reached it.
He lowered Skylar carefully, far more carefully than his expression suggested, his hands steady as he eased her onto the mattress. Only when he stepped back did the room seem to breathe again. Behind him, movement gathered.
A few members of the council had came to the palace—drawn not by invitation, but by the gravity of what they had just witnessed.
They saw her now. The one whispered about in closed rooms and careful conversations. The one their Alpha had hidden within the palace walls, shielded from their knowledge until now.
She didn’t look like a threat. She looked breakable—and that unsettled them more. Because men like Liam didn’t bend their world around something fragile without reason.
Near the doorway, Benetta stood apart from the others. Her hands rested lightly in front of her, her posture as refined as ever, but her eyes did not leave the bed. Or the girl lying on it.
The girl who had slipped through her grasp, who had turned what should have been a controlled arrangement into something far less predictable.
Skylar looked smaller than she had expected. Hardly the kind of presence that could disrupt anything of real importance and yet—Liam had brought her back himself. Carried her in front of them all like showing everyone that she was belonged to him.
Benetta drew in a slow breath, steadying herself, her composure settling back into place as if nothing had shifted at all.