Chapter 244: The Locket Around His Neck
Rebecca’s POV
Kaden finished his coffee a few minutes later and pushed his chair back. "I have a council meeting this morning," he said, picking up the dark jacket draped over the back of his chair. "I’ll probably be gone for a few hours."
I nodded without looking up from my breakfast. "Okay."
He hesitated. For some strange reason, I could feel his eyes lingering on me. Then his footsteps finally moved away.
Only when I heard the dining room doors close did I release the breath trapped inside my chest.
I quietly finished the rest of my breakfast, refusing to let my thoughts drift back to last night. No Kaden. No almost-kiss. No ridiculous thoughts about how beautiful his smile was.
The key. That was all that mattered.
About twenty minutes later, I stood from the table and headed toward the grand staircase. I had barely reached the bottom step when footsteps sounded from somewhere above.
I looked up.
Kaden was coming downstairs. He had completely changed—the casual dark shirt from breakfast was gone. Now he wore a fitted black suit over a crisp white shirt, looking every bit the cold, powerful Alpha King the rest of the world knew.
But it wasn’t his clothes that made me stop. It was my choker.
Hmmm.
My fingers flew instantly to my throat. The beautiful metal band had begun vibrating against my skin.
My heart stopped. No.
I remained completely still as Kaden descended another step. The vibration became stronger.
Hmmm.
Heat spread across the metal. My eyes widened.
The key. It was close.
Kaden continued toward me, completely unaware of what was happening. With every step he took, the choker grew warmer.
My pulse exploded. It was him. The key was with Kaden.
But how? I’d been near him at breakfast only twenty minutes ago, and the choker hadn’t reacted at all. What had changed?
My gaze swept over him desperately. His jacket. His trousers. His watch. Maybe he’d picked up the key after leaving breakfast. Maybe it was sitting inside one of his pockets.
"Ruby?"
I blinked. Kaden had stopped several feet away from me, his eyebrows pulled together. "What’s wrong?"
"Nothing." My answer came far too quickly.
His eyes narrowed. "You’re staring at me."
"I wasn’t."
"You definitely were."
"I was just..." My brain scrambled desperately for an excuse. "Your suit."
"My suit?"
"Yes."
His eyebrow rose, and I wanted the floor to swallow me whole. "It looks... nice."
For a moment, Kaden simply stared at me. Then one corner of his mouth lifted. "Thank you."
My face heated. That wasn’t what I meant.
He resumed walking. The second he came closer, the choker suddenly gave another hard pulse. I nearly gasped, my fingers tightening around the railing.
Kaden stopped again. "Ruby?"
"I’m fine."
"You don’t look fine."
"I said I’m fine."
He studied me suspiciously before slowly continuing past me. And that was when I saw it.
A thin black chain rested around his neck, disappearing beneath the collar of his white shirt.
My breath caught. Had he been wearing that earlier? No, I was certain he hadn’t. At breakfast, his shirt had been open slightly at the neck, and there had been nothing there.
My eyes followed the chain. Right before it disappeared beneath his shirt, I caught the faintest glimpse of something dark and metallic resting against his chest. A pendant.
My heartbeat slammed against my ribs. Could the key be inside it?
Kaden walked past me, and immediately, the choker began cooling.
I turned around instinctively. "Kaden."
He stopped, slowly glancing over his shoulder. "Yes?"
My gaze dropped straight to his chest again. "The necklace you’re wearing..."
His fingers moved unconsciously toward the chain. "What about it?"
"I’ve never seen it before."
Kaden looked down at himself. "Oh."
He pulled gently on the chain, and a small black pendant slipped out from beneath his shirt.
My blood turned cold. It wasn’t an ordinary pendant. It was a small, rectangular locket made from dark silver, no larger than the top of my thumb.
And the moment it came into view—
HMMMM.
The choker around my neck vibrated so violently that I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from reacting.
That was it. That had to be it.
Kaden looked down at the pendant resting against his chest, his fingers brushing over it almost absentmindedly. "Helen gave it to me," he said quietly.
My chest tightened.
"It was her gift to me on our first wedding anniversary." His expression softened slightly as he turned the small dark locket between his fingers. "I don’t wear it often."
My throat suddenly felt dry. Helen. Of course.
I stared at the locket, my mind racing. So Kaden hadn’t picked it up from the training grounds at all. He simply hadn’t been wearing it before, and now that it was hanging around his neck, the choker was reacting. My pulse quickened. The key had to be connected to that locket somehow—maybe hidden inside it.
But why didn’t the choker react when I went to his room that night? Does that mean he doesn’t keep this pendant in his room? That excludes it. Then where does he keep it?
"Why are you asking?" Kaden questioned, his eyes narrowing slightly.
I quickly tore my gaze away from the pendant. "No reason. I just thought it looked beautiful."
Kaden glanced down at it once more. "Yeah," he murmured, a faint sadness touching his voice. "It meant a lot to me."
He stared at me, his gaze sharpening again. "You’re acting strange."
"I’m pregnant," I blurted.
His eyebrows shot up. I wanted to slap myself.
"Pregnancy hormones," I added quickly. "Apparently we act strange."
For several seconds, there was complete silence. Then Kaden’s lips twitched. "Apparently."
I frowned. "Don’t laugh."
"I didn’t."
"You’re smiling."
"Am I not allowed to smile anymore?"
I rolled my eyes and turned toward the staircase. "Go to your meeting, Kaden."
A quiet chuckle followed me. "I’ll see you later, Ruby."
His footsteps moved toward the entrance. I waited, feeling the vibration grow weaker the farther he went, until finally—nothing. The choker went cold.
My hand immediately flew to my throat. "Oh my Goddess..."
The key wasn’t hidden somewhere in his bedroom. It wasn’t buried around the training grounds. It was inside that locket—and Kaden was wearing it around his neck.
I swallowed hard. Getting into his bedroom had already been difficult. But stealing something from around the Alpha King’s neck?
That was going to be a completely different nightmare.