Chapter 13: Dinner ~

The Lycan Enforcer ~~

Annabeth's POV ~

I wasn't surprised when I saw him.

Kael.

Standing right by the door, staring at me.

"Hello." He said to me, breaking the silence.

"You're back." I managed to say. I watched him come inside the room, pacing from one corner to the next, touching the surface of anything he could lay his hands on, looking awkward.

"How...are you? Trust your day was well spent?" He asked, looking away from me.

I pulled the blanket closer to myself. "I've been locked in this room all day. You made sure of that. So the day went by exactly how you wanted it to." I said to him accusingly.

He chuckled slightly and cleared his throat. "As long as it kept you safe. That's all that matters to me."

I glared at him but it didn't seem to bother him at all as he continued, "I believe you're yet to have dinner. Would you mind joining me downstairs in the dining room?" He asked politely and I scoffed.

This was different. So he did have manners after all.

"I'd rather just starve."

"You will join me for dinner Annabeth. This is no longer a request. Join me willingly or I'll have to force you to join me either way. Your choice." He threatened, his tone changing from sweet to dangerous.

"My choice? I've never had a choice since I met you! You took away my freedom!" I said, my voice raising slightly.

"I'm only doing this to keep you safe little one. I've already told you that." He said softly and I looked away from him. Angry.

"I didn't come up here to banter words with you. I came here to ask you to dinner. Now, Come." He commanded and outstretched his hand for me to take.

I decided I wasn't going to do what he wanted. I crossed my arms, still refusing to look at him. But the next thing I knew, he was next to me, grabbing me and cradling me like a baby.

"Put me down!" I struggled on his hold but it was of no use.

He went down the stairs, passing by all the bodyguards he had assigned all over the house, who looked at us with curious eyes when we passed by, and went straight into the dining room and set me down on a chair.

"I really wish you'd stop fighting me, Little One." He said as he took his own seat across me. Not at the head of the table. Across. Like we were equals.

He uncovered the plates. Steak. Potatoes. Green beans. Real food, once again.

I couldn't deny the fact that I was probably drooling over the food in front of me so I just gave in.

We ate quietly for a while.

The only sound was silverware on plates and the soft flickers of the candles.

And his eyes on me.

Kael’s eyes never left me.

He wasn’t glaring. Wasn’t assessing. He just… watched me. Like he was memorizing the way I cut my meat. The way I tucked my hair behind my ear. The way I licked a bit of sauce from my lip without thinking.

It should’ve been creepy.

But it didn't feel creepy.

It felt warm. Intense, but warm. Like being wrapped in a blanket you didn’t want to admit you needed in the cold.

"Tell me about your past life. How exactly did you end up at Red Moon? Do you remember your parents?" He suddenly asked out of the blue.

I almost coughed on the food in my throat before properly swallowing and clearing my voice.

"Why are you asking me that?" I questioned.

"Because I want to know and understand you Annabeth. So please indulge me." His eyes pleaded.

"I was born in Red Moon Pack. My Mother was pregnant with me when she was forced to serve the Old Alpha." I say with pursed lips.

"And how did they die?" He asked. I looked up to meet his gaze with my hardened one.

"They were both killed. An order given by The Lycan Enforcer." I spat hoping he'd feel my hatred for his kind.

His gaze never left mine, he looked like he was processing what I'd said.

"I am truly sorry to hear that, Annabeth. But if I may ask, for what crime were they charged with that deserved that sentence?" He asked.

"They didn't deserve to die, they only wanted to keep me safe and away from harm by fleeing. But they were caught by Our Alpha, and with the Enforcer present then, he sentenced my parents to death."

He let out a sharp breath and drank from his glass of wine.

"Is that why you have all this pent up anger towards me, do you hold what the old Enforcer did against me?" He asked and I scoffed.

"I wouldn't have, if you didn't tear me away from my home and held me prisoner here. So yes, I do hold it against you." I say to him and he nodded.

"I really am sorry for what happened to your parents. But I am not the old Enforcer. I have my own ways of dealing with things. And I apologize for taking you the way I did, but I didn't have a choice either. I couldn't just pretend to not feel you and leave you there Love."

"It still doesn't make what you did right." I said to him and he nodded.

"I know." He took another sip of his wine.

“I can't stay in that room forever.”

“No you won't.” He said it fast. Certain. “You won't stay there forever. That's not what I want for you.”

“Then what do you want?”

He held my gaze. Blue eyes, steady and open in a way they’d never been before. “I want you to be safe. I want you to eat well. To sleep well. To not flinch every time i come close to you.”

He hesitated, then continued.

“And I want… I want you to have all the freedom you could ever imagine. To go anywhere you'd wish. To walk the halls. The gardens. The library. If that’s what you truly want.”

“You’d let me?”

“Only If I'm sure you’re safe. If I, Mrs. Halloway or Victor or Chad is with you.” He ran a hand over his face. “I’m not good at this, Annabeth. I’ve never… had someone I needed to protect like this.”

Needed to protect. Not wanted to own.

Something in my chest cracked.

“So I’m not just a pet Mate then?” I whispered. The word Mate feeling like thorns in my mouth.

“No.” His voice was rough. “You were never a pet. I also told you I said that to protect you. Because knowing you're in my life now, scares me.”

"Scares you?"

“You make me feel things I haven’t felt in my hundred years of living.” He looked down at his hands, then back up. “And that terrifies me.”

The air between us went thick.

He pushed his chair back and stood. Walked around the table slowly, like he was giving me time to run. I didn’t.

He stopped beside my chair and crouched down. Now we were eye level.

“If I do that,” he said quietly. “If I give you a little freedom. If I stop treating you like something I have to lock away to keep… will you give me something back?”

My throat went dry. “What?”

His eyes searched mine. Soft. Hopeful. “A little bit of affection, Annabeth.”

He wasn’t demanding. He wasn’t commanding.

He was asking.

“Not because you have to. Not because you’re scared of me. But because… because maybe you don’t hate me as much as you say you do.”

My lips parted.

I was clouded by his scent.

I thought of how my body didn’t feel cold when he was near.

I thought of how I wasn’t scared of him anymore.

And how terrified I was that I wasn’t scared.

I opened my mouth. Closed it.

I had no answer for him.

Because the truth was, I didn’t know. I didn’t know if what I felt was safety Or something worse. Something I wasn’t ready to name.

So I said nothing. I just kept silent.

And Kael… he waited. He didn’t push for an answer. Didn’t growl. Didn’t get angry at me.

He just sat there, crouched beside me, his blue eyes patient, waiting for an answer I didn’t have.

The candles burned lower.

And the silence stretched out between us, full of everything I couldn’t say.

What was this feeling I felt for this beast?

~