Chapter 166 - 0166
Kaelen POV
I let out a loud groan as I drove the third suppressant needle into my arm, then threw my head back against the leather chair while the drug burned through my veins.
Every muscle in my body locked tight as I fought to force my wolf back down.
The beast lingered just beneath the surface, clawing violently at my ribs and demanding to be set free.
It had taken every ounce of self-control I possessed not to lose myself completely and tear the entire estate apart. That was exactly why I had ordered the executions to be carried out immediately. If I had waited any longer, I wasn’t sure anyone would’ve survived my rage.
Now, sitting alone in the silence of my chambers, I finally felt the beast begin to retreat. It slowly slunk back into the depths of my mind, leaving behind nothing but exhaustion and a dull ache that settled deep in my bones.
Only then did it feel like I could finally breathe again.
I rested my head against the back of the chair and drew in a long, ragged breath, letting the suppressant slowly do its work.
It didn’t help.
The moment I closed my eyes, Lorelei’s face appeared behind my eyelids.
Those tear-filled eyes.
That broken expression.
The way she’d looked at me after the truth finally came out.
My eyes snapped open.
"Fuck..." I muttered, dragging a hand roughly down my face.
How had I gotten it so wrong?
How had I missed something so obvious?
I prided myself on seeing through lies. On reading people before they even opened their mouths.
Yet somehow, this had happened.
What the hell was I supposed to do now?
She wasn’t a rogue.
She wasn’t a criminal.
She wasn’t even carrying my heir.
By every law of this territory and every logical reason I could think of, I no longer had any justification to keep her here.
I should let her go.
But the very thought of it felt like someone had reached into my chest and wrapped a fist around my heart.
The idea of Lorelei walking out of this estate, of leaving for good, hurt far more than I was willing to admit.
As I sank deeper into that suffocating mess of guilt, frustration, and confusion, a loud, impatient knock suddenly echoed through my chambers.
The sharp sound ripped me out of my thoughts, and for one ridiculous second, my heart actually skipped a beat.
But common sense returned just as quickly as I realized Lorelei would never knock like that.
Besides, after everything that had happened between us today, she had absolutely no reason to come anywhere near my chambers.
Already pushed well past my limit, I shoved myself to my feet with an irritated scowl and strode toward the door, fully prepared to rip into whichever idiot had ignored my direct order not to disturb me tonight.
I unlocked the heavy door and pulled it open, but before I could even register who was standing outside, a tall, broad body stumbled straight toward me and collapsed heavily into my arms.
"Darius?" I muttered, catching his weight on instinct as I staggered back a step. I managed to steady both of us before kicking the door shut behind him with my foot.
The next second, an overwhelming stench of whiskey hit me immediately, and my frown deepened.
Darius wasn’t a man who got drunk.
Not like this. Plus, he had been completely sober only a few hours ago during the executions.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I growled, throwing his arm over my shoulder before dragging his dead weight toward the nearest sofa.
The only response I got was a string of bitter, slurred mumbling that didn’t make a damn bit of sense.
The second we reached the couch, he practically collapsed onto it. He leaned forward, dropped his elbows onto his knees, and buried his face in his hands as a heavy groan escaped him.
I stared at him in disbelief.
Was he seriously drowning himself in alcohol because, just like me, he felt guilty?
But unlike me, Darius had treated Lorelei with nothing but kindness from the very beginning.
So, in a way... they actually made more sense together.
If anyone deserved someone like Lorelei, it was Darius.
Certainly not a monster like me.
The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth.
With a quiet sigh, I turned, intending to leave him alone to wallow in his drunken misery until he spoke.
"Why..." he rasped, his voice so faint I would’ve missed it entirely if I didn’t possess werewolf hearing. "Why didn’t you just give up...?"
I stopped walking and slowly looked back over my shoulder, watching as he dragged a trembling hand down his face before lifting his bloodshot eyes to meet mine.
"I tried so hard," he whispered, his voice breaking. "I tried so fucking hard to make her see I was better than you... to make her see you didn’t deserve her."
He let out a bitter, humorless laugh before shaking his head.
"So why?" he choked out. "Why... why the fuck couldn’t you just give up on her, Kaelen?"
Those words made me frown.
Why would I give up?
It had never been a fair fight to begin with, especially since Darius had always been the good man in Lorelei’s story.
If anything, I’d expected him to walk into my chambers tonight wearing that smug look on his face, reminding me that he’d warned me all along.
I’d expected an I told you so.
Not... this.
"Why didn’t I find her first?" Darius mumbled, letting his head fall back against the leather sofa with a dull thud. "Why couldn’t our paths have crossed sooner? Fuck..." He laughed bitterly before squeezing his eyes shut. "I can’t believe it. I can’t fucking believe I lost."
My brows pulled together in confusion.
Lost?
What the hell was he talking about?
This was literally his moment.
With guilt eating me alive and Lorelei having every reason to despise me, this was the perfect opportunity for him to win her over.
So why was he sitting here like a man who’d already been defeated?
None of it made any sense.
Of course, I wasn’t about to say any of that out loud.
Even if I knew, deep down, that I was the one who had truly lost everything tonight, I still had enough pride not to hand Darius that truth on a silver platter.
I let out a slow breath and rubbed the back of my neck.
I’d had enough.
Ignoring the rest of his drunken rambling, I turned on my heel and headed toward the bathroom, hoping a blast of ice-cold water would be enough to clear the pounding in my head before I completely lost my mind.