Chapter 66 Unspoken Confessions
Elara's POV
"Could you take me somewhere to eat? The cafeteria closed an hour ago, and after today's training..." I trailed off.
Kaelen shrugged off his long coat and draped it over my shoulders, the fabric still warm from his body heat and carrying his distinctive scent of cedar and rain. His hand settled on my waist, steady and sure as he guided me toward his car parked just beyond the gates.
Twenty minutes later, we pulled up to an elegant building tucked away on a quiet street I'd never noticed before. The doorman who greeted Kaelen did so with the kind of respect reserved for the highest-ranking wolves.
"This way, Alpha Thorne," the man said, leading us through a dimly lit hallway to a private room on the second floor.
The space was intimate without being cramped, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the rain-soaked city and a table already set with pristine white linens. Kaelen pulled out my chair and waited until I sat before taking his own seat across from me.
When the server arrived, Kaelen requested a series of high-protein dishes that I knew would take considerable time to prepare. Ribeye steak, grilled salmon, prawns in garlic butter, and sides rich with nutrients my depleted body desperately needed.
The food arrived in stages, each dish more beautifully presented than the last. I picked up my fork and knife, but before I could cut into the steak, Kaelen reached across the table and gently took them from my hands.
"Let me," he said simply, and began slicing the meat into perfect bite-sized pieces with practiced efficiency.
Heat crept up my neck as I watched his long fingers work. When he finished with the steak, he moved on to the prawns, peeling each one with meticulous care and arranging them on my plate.
Throughout the entire process, he barely touched his own food, his ice-blue eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my pulse quicken.
I stabbed a piece of steak with my fork. "You should eat too."
Kaelen's lips curved into a small smile, the kind that made my stomach flip. "Watching you eat is enough for me."
Our eyes met across the table, and the air between us seemed to thicken with something I couldn't quite name. I looked away first, focusing intently on my plate as my cheeks burned.
The meal stretched on for nearly an hour, course after course appearing and disappearing as I ate with an appetite I hadn't realized I possessed. With each bite, I could feel my strength returning.
But it wasn't just the food, I realized with a start. Kaelen's presence itself was doing something to me, the mate bond humming with a warmth that seemed to accelerate my recovery.
When I finally set down my fork, Kaelen stood and extended his hand. "There's a recovery room upstairs. It might help you relax."
I took his hand, letting him pull me to my feet and guide me out of the dining room. The recovery space turned out to be a private lounge with soft lighting and a massage table in the center.
"Lie down," Kaelen said, his voice dropping to that low register that always made my breath catch. "I'll help you release some of that tension."
I hesitated for only a moment before complying, settling face-down on the padded table and pillowing my head on my crossed arms. The sound of Kaelen moving around the room reached my ears, followed by the quiet click of a door being locked.
Then his hands were on my shoulders, and I had to bite back a gasp. His palms were warm and firm as they worked into the knotted muscles of my upper back, his fingers finding every point of tension with unerring accuracy.
A tremor ran through my body as his hands moved lower, tracing the line of my spine with deliberate slowness. The sensation was almost overwhelming, a mixture of relief and something far more intimate.
"Relax," Kaelen murmured, his voice closer than I expected. "I can feel how tense you are."
I tried to obey, forcing my muscles to loosen as his hands continued their methodical exploration of my back.
Time lost meaning as he worked, his touch never wavering in its careful precision. My eyelids grew heavy, exhaustion finally catching up with me as the combination of food, warmth, and Kaelen's ministrations pushed me toward sleep.
I must have dozed off at some point, because the next thing I knew, Kaelen was gently shaking my shoulder. "We should get you back before curfew."
I sat up slowly, blinking in the dim light and trying to orient myself. My body felt loose and warm, the bone-deep exhaustion from earlier replaced by a pleasant lassitude.
The drive back to the academy passed in comfortable silence, the car's engine providing a low background hum beneath the soft classical music playing from the speakers. I leaned against the window, watching raindrops race across the glass as streetlights blurred past.
Kaelen's hand rested on the gear shift between us, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his skin. Every time he shifted gears or adjusted his grip, his little finger would brush against my hand where it lay on the armrest, sending small jolts of electricity up my arm.
At a red light, he turned to look at me, his ice-blue eyes catching the glow from the dashboard. "Tonight... are you feeling better?"
I met his gaze, my throat suddenly tight. "Yes. Much better. Thank you."
We stared at each other for several heartbeats, the silence stretching between us until it felt like a physical thing. Then the light changed to green, and Kaelen's attention returned to the road, though I caught the slight curve of his lips as he accelerated.
When we arrived at the academy gates, the rain had softened to a gentle drizzle. Kaelen got out first and came around to open my door, producing an umbrella seemingly from nowhere and holding it over my head as I stepped out onto the wet pavement.
We stood there in the misty darkness, neither of us making a move to say goodbye. I could feel my heart beating too fast, could see the way Kaelen's jaw tightened as he looked down at me.
Finally, he reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingertips grazing my cheek. My breath caught, heat flooding my face despite the cool night air.
"Get some rest," he said, his voice rough and low. "If you need anything, call me. Anytime."
I managed a nod. He handed me the umbrella, his fingers lingering against mine for a fraction too long before he let go.
I turned and walked toward the gates, forcing myself not to look back. But I only made it a few steps before the urge became too strong, and I glanced over my shoulder.
Kaelen stood exactly where I'd left him, rain soaking into his clothes as he watched me with an expression that made my chest ache. His eyes held mine across the distance, burning with an intensity that stole what little breath I had left.
I spun back around and hurried through the gates, my heart pounding so hard.
The next morning, I woke to Lillian shaking me with enough force to rattle my teeth. "Elara! Wake up! You need to see this!"
I groaned and tried to burrow deeper into my pillow, but she shoved her phone directly in front of my face.
"You're trending!" she practically shrieked. "Number one on WolfWatch!"
That got my attention. I sat up, grabbing the phone from her hands and squinting at the screen. The headline made my stomach drop: BREAKING: Future Alpha King Spotted in Late-Night Rendezvous with Mystery Woman
Below it were photos, dozens of them, clearly taken by someone with a telephoto lens and no sense of privacy. Kaelen tucking my hair behind my ear in the rain, the two of us standing too close under the umbrella, me getting out of his car with his coat draped over my shoulders.
The comments section had exploded, thousands of posts flooding in faster than I could read them. Some were supportive, calling us a perfect match and speculating about a political alliance between our packs. Others were vicious, questioning my motives and suggesting I'd seduced my way into Kaelen's good graces. A few enterprising wolves had already dug up my identity, plastering my name and pack affiliation across multiple threads.
"This is insane," Lillian breathed, reading over my shoulder. "The post has over a hundred thousand shares already, and it's been up for less than three hours. Everyone in the werewolf world is talking about you two."
"Aren't you freaking out?" Lillian demanded, staring at me like I'd grown a second head. "This is massive exposure, Elara. Your face is everywhere. People are camping out in the comments waiting for more information."
I handed her phone back and shrugged, reaching for my own device on the nightstand. "I'm not trying to be an influencer. What people say online doesn't really matter to me."
What did bother me was the potential impact on Kaelen. As the future Alpha King, his every move was scrutinized by wolf society. I should probably reach out.
My finger hovered over his contact, but I couldn't bring myself to press it. What would I even say? Sorry our private dinner got photographed? Sorry people know we're spending time together?
Before I could spiral further into indecision, my phone buzzed with an incoming message.
Kaelen: [I saw the news. Already have people handling it. Don't pay attention to the comments.]
Kaelen: [About our relationship... if you want to keep it private, I can have everything scrubbed from the internet within an hour. But if you don't mind, I'd actually prefer if everyone knew that you're my destined mate.]
I stared at the words "you're my," my heart doing something complicated in my chest. Images from last night flashed through my mind unbidden.
My fingers trembled slightly as I typed out a response: [You don't need to delete everything. It's not like any of it is fake anyway.]
I hit send before I could second-guess myself, then immediately buried my face in my pillow, my ears burning hot enough to set the fabric on fire.
My phone buzzed almost instantly.
Kaelen: [Then I'll take that as your official acknowledgment.]
I clutched the phone to my chest, unable to stop the grin that spread across my face.
For the first time since this whole arrangement began, I let myself admit the truth I'd been avoiding: I had real feelings for Kaelen Thorne, and they were growing stronger every day.