Defying the Lycan King (Kira and Derek) novel Chapter 96

Chapter 96: Scoreboards

When they finally pulled into a park at Aethewulf Centralis and Kira reached for the door handle, his hand shot out and caught her arm.

She turned to look at him, brows raised. "What now?"

"Is this your way of avoiding my questions?"

She settled back into her seat. "We had a deal." Her gaze fixed on his hand on her arm. "Do what I want, and get your answers."

"When did we strike a deal?" He looked at her for a moment, working out whether arguing would be worth it. Clearly it would not. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

She turned to face him properly. "I want to know if you genuinely don’t understand emotions, or if you deliberately choose not to see how your actions, and your inactions, affect the person sitting right next to you."

His brows creased, and he stared blankly at her. That was not the question he had expected.

"What does that even mean?"

"It means, do you actually have any emotions at all?"

In his head, Derek is thinking her pregnancy hormones must be making her so sensitive.

"Emotions are for weak men," he said flatly. "Logic is what runs a kingdom, not feelings. Why does this matter, by the way?"

"Emotions aren’t for weak people," she countered. "True strength is understanding the impact your actions have on others. It’s called emotional intelligence, and you’re currently failing the class."

He huffed, looking away. "Just answer the damn question, Kira."

"Fine. BFF means Best Friends Forever."

"Not that one," he snapped. "The scoreboard thing."

She leaned back and smiled slightly and a little smugly. "It’s simple. It means I’m winning, and you’re losing."

"Winning what, exactly?"

"Winning everything!" she said it cheerfully, without a single trace of the coldness that had been there a few minutes before. "It’s a tally of every round I’ve won in this marriage."

"And how have you decided you’re winning?"

"Because look at you." She gestured at him broadly. "You are the most powerful king in the territories. And you just swerved off a main road because I called you gramps. If making the most powerful man in the kingdom lose his composure completely doesn’t count as winning, I genuinely don’t know what does." She beamed at him. "Current score: Sweet Kira: 7. Grumpy King Derek: 0000."

She popped the door open and slid out of the car before he could form a single word in response.

Derek sat in the driver’s seat and stared through the windscreen, completely dumbfounded.

***

Nana had always loved the gardens at Dravengard in the early evening. The light went golden and soft at this hour, falling across the hedgerows and flower beds in a way that made everything look like it belonged in a painting.

She walked slowly, the way she had been walking for the past two years since her hip had started making its opinions known, with two gammas a respectful distance behind her and her personal maid, Dot, holding a light pashmina in case the evening air turned chilly.

A low whistle broke the peace.

"If it isn’t the most beautiful woman in the whole of the West," a voice called out.

Nana stopped, a knowing smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as Kai appeared around the corner of the hedge, hands in his pockets, grinning like a man who had just had a very satisfying afternoon.

He sauntered toward them. "Nana." He opened his arms wide. "You look younger every time I see you. What is your secret? I need it immediately."

"Kai, you silver-tongued devil," Nana teased.

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