Chapter 11: Silhouette

ALEX

The air feels colder than it should.

Or maybe that’s just me, spiraling again.

I shouldn’t care. I don’t care.

But my feet still carry me down the hallway like I’m running from something… or toward it. 

I can’t tell which.

My throat burns with the words I didn’t say, and my chest tightens with something that feels a lot like rage and something worse.

Something I'm too ashamed to admit.

He’s exactly what I thought he’d be.

A King who toys with people just because he can.

Why would he even ask me to stay here? 

To make me feel small again? 

To remind me that I’ll always be the one who gets less?

The thought hits harder than I expect, and for a second, I stop walking. 

I just stand there, staring at the marbled floor.

My fingers curl into fists. “You’re pathetic,” I whisper to myself. “He doesn’t matter.”

But the lie doesn’t hold. Because deep down, beneath all the armor and anger, something does hurt.

Something stupid.

My vision blurs. 

I blink hard, refusing to let any of it fall. 

Not here. Not now.

I take a step forward… but slam straight into something solid.

It’s like hitting a wall. 

Except the wall moves.

My breath catches as I lose balance. Falling back, but before I hit the ground, a firm hand catches me.

“Easy,” a deep voice murmurs.

That voice.

No. It can’t be.

My fingers clutch at the front of his shirt before I can stop them, my head snapping up… and there he is.

Adrian.

His eyes are shadowed but clear, silver catching the dim light.

Right in front up me.

Not upstairs.

My mind goes blank. “How—?”

“You should watch where you’re going,” he says softly, his hand still steady at the small of my back. “These halls can be… disorienting.”

I don’t move. I can’t.

His touch burns. Steady and warm, even through the thin fabric of my dress.

I swallow hard, pulling away before I combust. “I— I thought you were—”

“Mnnn?” His brow lifts, voice edged with something darkly amused.

The blood drains from my face. “I didn’t—”

“Didn’t what?” He takes a small step closer, straightening me. 

Something tells me he knows exactly what happened. 

Now I feel stupid.

My heart stutters. 

“You arrogant—”

He smirks, but there’s no cruelty in it this time. Just curiosity. “Spying on the supposed monster? Has it gotten to that? How low do you think I can stoop?”

Heat floods my cheeks, unwelcome and sharp. “I wasn’t— gods, you’re impossible!”

He leans closer, lowering his voice. “Then why do you look so guilty?”

I open my mouth to retort, but all that comes out is breath. 

His scent. Wraps around me like a snare.

Every inch of space between us disappears before I even realize it.

“You shouldn’t wander the manor at night,” he murmurs, his tone quieter now, almost protective. “Can’t guarantee what could happen to you the next time you snoop around.”

I hate the way his words make something twist inside me. 

Tch.

For a heartbeat, we just stand there.

The air heavy, his gaze tracing mine like a physical touch.

It’s unbearable.

It’s intoxicating.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I manage, my voice unsteady.

He tilts his head. “Like what?”

“Like you know something I don’t.”

“Maybe I do,” he says, and the way his voice drops sends shivers down my spine.

I take a step back, desperate for distance, but then—

“Alpha Adrian!”

A new voice cuts through the tension.

We both turn.

A man is hurrying down the stairs, shirt half-buttoned, hair a mess, skin damp with sweat.

And trailing just behind him… a woman, beautiful and flushed, adjusting the strap of her dress.

I blink.

Oh, shit.

The man stops short when he sees us, bowing quickly. “My apologies. I thought you were still on patrol.”

Adrian’s jaw tightens. “Liam.”

Liam. The voice clicks now. The cadence, the laughter I’d heard. 

It wasn’t Adrian’s. It was his Beta’s.

The woman beside him clears her throat delicately. “We’ll, um… be quieter next time.”

If there were a hole in the ground, I’d crawl into it.

“I— I thought…” I start, then clamp my mouth shut.

Liam glances at me, realization dawning in his eyes. “Oh.”

He gives Adrian a helpless grin. “A misunderstanding then?”

Adrian’s expression is unreadable. “Seems so.”

The woman, Maya, giggles softly. “We’ll head back to our room now.”

And just like that, they disappear down the corridor, leaving an awful, suffocating silence behind.

I can’t look at him. My face burns, humiliation prickling under my skin.

He lets me squirm for a moment before he finally speaks, voice calm, maddeningly even.

“So,” he says. “You broke into my corridor in the middle of the night because you thought I was— what? Entertaining someone?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” I snap. “I just—heard something.”

“And came running?”

The corner of his mouth twitches.

“You’re infuriating,” I breathe, stepping past him. But he moves too, matching my pace until we’re face to face again.

“Admit it, Alex,” he says quietly. “You were jealous.”

My head jerks up. “I was not!”

“Then why are you still blushing?”

“It’s called anger.”

“Hmm.” He leans in, so close I can feel the ghost of his breath against my ear. “You sure that’s all it is?”

The world narrows to that one point.

The smell of him, the heat radiating between us, the slow, steady pulse of danger that feels far too much like desire.

“Go to hell,” I whisper, but my voice doesn’t sound convincing even to me.

His reply is a low murmur, velvet and smoke. “Already there luv”

And as he steps back, his eyes glint with something wickedly unreadable. 

Like he knows exactly what he’s doing to me, and exactly how little I can do to stop it.