Mated to the Alpha: Sold to the King novel Chapter 96

Chapter 96: 0096

Lorelei POV

The peaceful hum of the garden settled around us, and I turned my full attention back to him. My gaze drifted to the blood soaking through the bandage wrapped around his shoulder.

"Let me see."

"It’s really not that bad..."

"Darius," I interrupted, my voice firm as I fixed him with a look that left no room for argument.

A quiet, defeated sigh escaped him.

Slowly, and with a slight wince, he reached up and unbuttoned more of his crisp white shirt before carefully pulling the bloodstained fabric aside, exposing the injury beneath.

The sight made me suck in a sharp breath.

The wound was a deep, jagged gash that was still oozing dark blood. The skin around it was swollen and an angry shade of red. It wasn’t life threatening for a werewolf as strong as Darius, but it definitely needed to be cleaned and stitched before it had the chance to become infected.

Almost as quickly as she had left, Skye returned, slightly out of breath as she handed me a white first aid box. Afterward, she quietly stepped back and stood beside Isaac, giving Darius and me a little privacy.

I popped open the plastic clips and pulled out the antiseptic solution, clean gauze, and a fresh roll of bandages.

"This might sting," I warned, looking up to meet his dark gray eyes.

"I’ve had worse," he replied, a faint, amused glint returning to them, causing the corners of my lips to lift into a small smile at his stubbornness.

Without another word, I soaked a piece of gauze with antiseptic and gently pressed it against the gash.

Darius sucked in a quiet breath through his teeth, the muscles beneath my fingertips tensing instantly from the sting, but he never once pulled away.

Instead, he simply watched me.

His sharp eyes followed every steady, practiced movement of my hands as I carefully cleaned the wound before wrapping a fresh white bandage securely around his shoulder.

"You’re really good at this," he casually commented.

"Come on, it’s not that hard," I replied quietly, keeping my attention on tying the knot securely. "Besides, I’ve had a lot of practice patching myself up."

Those words shouldn’t have meant anything, yet the air around us seemed to go completely still.

A suffocating silence settled beneath the pergola.

I didn’t even realize the weight of what I had just admitted until Darius’s hand suddenly closed around my wrist.

Slowly, I looked up, only to find his dark gray eyes fixed on mine. Every trace of amusement had disappeared, replaced by something far heavier.

"How often?" he asked quietly.

"What?" I blinked, genuinely confused for a moment.

"How often?" he repeated, finally releasing my wrist.

That was when the realization of what I had accidentally implied finally hit me.

I awkwardly lowered my head, my cheeks warming with a sudden wave of self consciousness as I nervously fidgeted with my fingers.

"Well... I guess you could say pretty often," I admitted in a quiet voice, keeping my eyes fixed on the grass beneath my feet. "But it’s just something you get used to. After a while, it doesn’t really feel like a big deal anymore."

"I don’t see it, though," Darius murmured.

"See what?" I asked, finally lifting my head to look at him.

"You don’t look it. You’re too..." He trailed off, his sharp features tightening as though he were carefully searching for the right words. His gaze slowly traveled across my face before settling back on my eyes. "You just don’t seem to fit that kind of lifestyle."

I scoffed at that. I didn’t know being abused and broken down was considered a lifestyle.

Maybe that was just the kind of detached wording powerful, hardened men used so they wouldn’t have to confront the ugly reality in front of them.

I dug my fingernails into my palm again, the faint sting grounding me.

"It is what it is," I said with a small shrug. "Honestly, I still don’t know how I managed to survive this long, especially with my wolf suppressed. But... here I am."

As the words left my mouth, I forced a faint smile onto my lips, but it felt empty. It didn’t even come close to reaching my eyes.

Finally, I found the courage to meet his gaze again, and the expression staring back at me wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t warm either.

Most importantly...

It wasn’t pity.

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