Mated to the Alpha: Sold to the King novel Chapter 31

Chapter 31: 0031

Lorelei POV

For the first few seconds, I was completely frozen in place, my heart thundering so hard against my ribs it almost hurt.

Because of my suppressed wolf, I hadn’t sensed his presence at all.

Now I had been caught.

What the hell was I supposed to do?

Slowly, I lifted my head and looked up.

A man was standing over me.

He was tall, with broad shoulders, cropped black hair, and gray eyes that seemed to look straight through me.

He wasn’t wearing a guard uniform.

Instead, he was dressed in all black. A black shirt. Black pants. Simple, casual clothes that somehow made him seem even more intimidating.

"Careful," he said in a low, smooth voice, his grip around my waist not loosening in the slightest. "Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself."

My heart practically lodged itself in my throat.

If he wasn’t a guard, then with how strong his scent was and the way he carried himself...

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

I immediately pulled away from his grip and dropped to my knees.

"I’m sorry," I breathed, bowing my head. "I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t... please don’t..."

He was definitely high-ranking.

I could tell at a glance.

My family had been high-ranking, and I had spent decades around other high-ranking wolves. There were certain things you learned to recognize.

It was woven into their very being.

The suffocatingly thick scent.

The effortless dominance in their posture.

Even the cold, casual way they looked at people beneath them.

"Get up," he said, his voice calm and smooth, completely unbothered by my sudden display of terror. "I’m not going to bite."

I hesitated for a second, my hands pressing into the dry leaves scattered across the fountain basin before I slowly pushed myself back to my feet.

My twisted ankle immediately twinged, forcing me to shift my weight, and the deep, throbbing ache between my thighs made me tremble.

Still, I kept my eyes fixed firmly on his black boots, refusing to look any higher.

"I’m sorry, sir..." I murmured, deliberately making my voice sound smaller, quieter, as meek and invisible as possible. "I was just sweeping and got distracted. I didn’t mean to come this close to this area."

"Is that why you were crouching behind a dead fountain," he asked smoothly, "watching the delivery truck like a hawk?"

The words were spoken in a light, almost amused tone, but my entire body still went rigid.

So he had seen me.

How long had he been watching?

"I... I was just resting," I lied desperately, my fingers twitching at my sides. "The afternoon heat... I felt a bit dizzy."

A low hum rumbled from his chest as he took a single step closer, and I instinctively took three steps back.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify