Mated to the Alpha: Sold to the King novel Chapter 124

Chapter 124: 0124

Kaelen POV

"Miss Ella and Beta Darius just left the estate, Alpha," Isaac reported, lowering his head in a deep bow before my desk.

At his words, the fountain pen gliding across the document came to an abrupt stop.

My grip slowly tightened around the barrel until the metal groaned beneath the pressure, but my expression remained perfectly composed.

"Is that so?" I asked quietly, my voice calm and even despite the beast clawing beneath the surface. "You may leave."

"Thank you, Alpha."

Isaac bowed once more before turning and leaving the office.

The moment the heavy door clicked shut behind him, I forced my hand to move again, signing my name across the stack of documents waiting for my approval.

I buried myself in the paperwork, hoping the endless reports and signatures would drown out the noise in my head.

It didn’t.

The more my pen moved across the page, the clearer that one image became.

Her.

Wrapped in Darius’s arms.

When she refused to join us for breakfast this morning, an inexplicable wave of agitation had crashed over me so violently that I abandoned the dining hall altogether. I retreated to my chambers under the pathetic excuse that I wasn’t feeling well.

The lie hadn’t lasted long.

I couldn’t stay inside those walls.

It was as though something beyond my control had pulled me toward the private gardens where the ritual was taking place. I stopped at the edge of the tree line, hidden beneath the shadows, with no intention of revealing myself.

That was when I saw her.

That was when I saw her completely fall apart.

Her shoulders trembled with every quiet sob as she buried herself against Darius’s chest, clinging to him as though he were the only thing keeping her from breaking.

The sight sent a sharp ache through my chest, far worse than the one that had haunted me all morning.

Something dark and possessive reared its head inside me, urging me to march into that pavilion, tear her out of his arms, and remind Darius exactly who he was standing too close to.

Violence had always come naturally to me.

It would’ve been easy.

But then I looked at her face.

The tears streaming down her cheeks extinguished every ounce of anger inside me.

All I could see was her pain.

And when I watched the way she clung to Darius, seeking comfort that she had never once sought from me, my shoulders slowly slumped in quiet defeat.

So, like the fool I was, I turned around, returned to my office, and buried myself in work.

For hours, I sat behind this desk signing documents like a machine on autopilot, convincing myself that if I kept my hands busy enough, my mind would eventually follow.

It hadn’t.

Now that I was finally forced to sit alone with my thoughts, knowing the woman who had been tormenting my mind despite us sharing no mate bond was somewhere outside this estate with my Beta, I could finally admit the truth to myself.

Claiming I wasn’t feeling well this morning hadn’t been an excuse.

I genuinely wasn’t.

My chest felt hollow, yet somehow unbearably tight at the same time. An endless restless energy burned beneath my skin, and no matter how hard I tried to suppress it, it refused to disappear.

I couldn’t understand how we had gone from sharing one unforgettable night to her suddenly treating me as though I were the plague.

Was the sex really that bad?

She had looked me in the eyes and told me I was terrible in bed.

Was this just another consequence of that?

"Ah, fuck," I growled.

My fist crashed onto the desk with enough force to make the entire thing shudder.

I shoved my chair back and rose to my feet, immediately beginning to pace the length of my office. My claws slowly extended, digging into my palms until sharp stings of pain spread through my hands, but even that wasn’t enough to quiet the frustration clawing at my mind.

What was it?

Was Darius really that much better of a man than me?

What could he possibly give her that I couldn’t?

Money?

Power?

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