Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 415

Chapter 73: Faking Love

I watched his back as he was leaving, and pondered what he just said.

'I was just passing by.'

That was a lie.

Tallis was hiding something, I knew he was. There was a familiarity about him that I just couldn't shake. It was this air of calm and cold that he carried. I had felt it once before and only with one other person.

But could it be?

I had asked him numerous times and each time he refuted my claims. He was not the somber prince I knew.

So why did they both carry the same aura?

I shook my head thinking I had lost my damn mind. First the fake Ciana and now this. My problems and questions kept piling up with each passing day.

It didn't matter now though. I had more important matters to attend to.

My mind was turning fast. Fake Ciana had professed her undying love to Warren. This was what I had been hoping for. Phase one of the plan was complete and now it was time to move onto phase two.

Whoever Tallis was, he could wait.

I turned on my heel ready to walk back to where fake Ciana and Warren had been, but I slammed into a warm wall.

I stumbled a few steps back before a pair of strong arms came out and caught me.

"You okay there, Ciana?"

Warren helped me to steady myself.

"Yeah," I looked up at him. "Where is the other Ciana? What happened? I had to leave because..."

My voice trailed off as the words got stuck in my throat. I didn' t want to worry Warren. He had a tendency to somehow shift blame of every bad thing that happens onto himself, especially when it regarded me.

I often thought that he had too much honor at times. I wished he would be a little less chivalrous.

"Because?" He pressed.

"It's nothing. Now tell me what's going on with her?"

Warren stepped closer, crossing into that imaginary bubble l had around me.

"What happened, Ciana?" His eyes held mine.

"I told you nothing."

"It doesn't sound like nothing. Your heart's racing, you have that little nervous nose twitch you do when you're hiding something. So spill it."

I stood still for a moment in complete shock. "How do you know about the twitch?"

He rolled his eyes. "I notice everything about you, Black. Now spill it."

I let out a sigh and bit down on my lip. "Hawke came by."

I saw his body visibly tense. By now, he probably has heard about Hawke a few times, both from me catching him up on the important players in the pack, and from the girl he just spent a good amount of time with.

"And?" His voice was tight and tense.

"And he may have tried to harass me, a little bit," I blurted out. "But he was drunk and he had two broken arms so he wasn't really that much of a threat."

His eyes darkened. "I need to have a word with him."

I couldn't help but compare Warren and Theo in my mind. In a situation like this, if it was Theo, he probably would just beat Hawke up....like Tallis had done.

I reached my hand out and grabbed his arm. "No need to. And besides, Tallis took care of him."

"Tallis?"

I nodded. "But we aren't talking about Hawke. We are talking about you and fake me. What did she say?"

A somber look overtook Warren's face. My heart immediately dropped and I felt all the hope drain from my body.

"She agreed to elope with me."

The joy returned to my body and I bounced on the balls of my feet. "This is great news! You are the best! But... I could tell you're upset. Sorry again for putting you through all this."

"Don't get me wrong, I am happy for the progress. But it's just...I feel like I'm going against my moral code."

The smile slipped from my face. "I know..."

"This girl, fake you, loves me. She actually loves me for real and I just lied to her. I told her I loved her too and told her I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. What kind of man does that make me?"

I stepped up toward him and placed my hand on his chest right above his heart. I could feel the strong thumping on my palm. It was racing and I didn't know whether it was from guilt or nerves. But whatever it was, I wanted it to calm down.

He had no business feeling guilty for this. If anything, all of this was my burden to bear.

"You are a good man, Warren. A great man in fact. I told you this many times before and now I will tell you again. What you are doing for me is a service that I will never be able to repay you for. However, please don't feel guilty for what you're doing with her either."

He locked his gaze on me, waiting for me to continue.

"First of all, this girl is not fully innocent. She has taken my identity and is trying to take over my home. This is wrong, and I will claim my name back."

"And I want that for you."

I nodded. "That being said, she can't keep my identity forever. The most important thing is that she didn't want this life. I could tell. No one would want to be someone else for the rest of their lives. So you're helping her. You're helping her to get out of here and get away from people that she is afraid of, like Raymond, like Hawke."

I could tell Warren's expression was softer.

"So remove the guilt from your heart. You're helping me and her. She might feel bad once she finds out you don't really love her, but by then, at least she would have the freedom to carry on her own life, and that's way more important than her being stuck here."

He leaned his forehead against mine and let out one long breath that fanned my face. His scent of pine and morning grass surrounded me.

When he pulled away he offered me a small smile. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"