Chapter 170 - 0170
Lorelei POV
"You don’t look so good," Raven said softly, watching me closely as I fought with everything in me not to let the tears burning behind my eyes finally spill over.
Of course I didn’t look good. How was I supposed to look good after being told that the man I had stupidly fallen for was basically sending me away?
"Are you upset about the Alpha King’s decision?" she asked carefully.
My steps slowed before I finally turned around to face her. "Why wouldn’t I be?" I choked out, the words coming out far more bitterly than I intended, but the moment I saw the way Raven flinched, I immediately felt bad and let out a tired sigh as my shoulders slumped. "But... I guess I should try to look at the bright side. I’ll be with you, and at least I won’t have to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder, wondering if Jaxen is going to find me."
"I’m sorry, Lorelei," Raven whispered instead, causing me to drag a frustrated hand through my hair as I shook my head.
"It’s fine. None of this is your fault." I glanced down the corridor, suddenly feeling exhausted all over again. "I should probably go start packing or something."
And, more importantly, I needed to tell Skye that she was finally free. At least there was one piece of good news buried underneath all this bullshit.
But before I could walk away, Skye reached out and gently touched my arm. "You don’t have to worry about packing just yet. There are still a few days left." She paused, studying my face for a moment before her expression softened. "What about your friend, Skye, right? How is she doing?"
The mention of Skye immediately pulled a small smile from me. "She’s already back to her usual sharp-tongued self."
"Good." Raven’s shoulders relaxed slightly when she saw my expression. "I’m really happy to hear that. Once I’m free, I’d actually love to meet her properly."
I blinked at her. "You aren’t free right now?"
At that, she gave a tired little laugh and shook her head. "I haven’t even had a proper moment to rest since I got here. There’s been one thing after another, and now that we’re leaving soon, there’s even more to deal with." She sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Honestly, thank the Moon Goddess for Cole, because without him, I probably wouldn’t even be standing here. But once I finally get a break, we definitely need to spend more time together."
My smile widened briefly at that, but it faded just as quickly.
I opened my mouth to ask her another question, but before I could say anything, something caught my attention. A figure was walking down the corridor toward us.
It was Darius, clearly heading toward Kaelen’s office. What caught my attention wasn’t just the fact that his shirt buttons were mismatched, but the heavy, exhausted expression on his face. He looked completely drained, like he hadn’t slept properly in days, and the second his eyes landed on me, his brows lifted slightly in surprise.
"Raven..." I whispered quickly, lowering my voice. "I’ll go ahead, if that’s okay."
She looked at me in confusion for a second before following my gaze toward Darius. His eyes were already fixed on me as he approached, and I could tell from the way Raven’s expression shifted that she understood immediately.
"Ah... okay, then. I’ll see you later this evening," she said.
I nodded, watching her step away. She gave Darius a polite bow as she passed him, and once she was far enough away, I turned my attention back to the man already standing in front of me.
"Can we talk?" I asked.
The question clearly caught him off guard as he seemed to swallow whatever greeting he had been about to give me, staring at me for a second before finally nodding. "Of course."
I didn’t say anything else. I simply turned around and led him farther down the hallway until we reached a quieter corner beside one of the huge arched windows overlooking the gardens. Once we were far enough away that no one could easily overhear us, I turned back to him.
"I’m leaving," I said, getting straight to the point before he could even ask why I had brought him here.
For a second, he looked like he hadn’t understood what I’d just said. Then his tired expression completely disappeared, replaced by pure shock.
"What?"
His reaction told me everything I needed to know. He hadn’t known about Kaelen’s decision at all, which honestly surprised me. Those two were practically inseparable, so I had assumed Darius would have been one of the first people to know.
"When?" he finally asked, his voice suddenly rough.
"In a few days," I answered quietly. "That’s what Kaelen said."
The moment I said his name, something in Darius’s expression changed. His features slowly crumpled, the shock giving way to something that looked almost like defeat as he stared down at me.
He was quiet for a few seconds, his jaw tightening as if he was struggling to find the right words. Then he finally looked me directly in the eyes.
"Do you... do you really want to leave?" he asked.
No, the answer screamed inside my chest.
Instinctively, I wanted to refuse, but as the overwhelming emotions threatened to break through my carefully held composure again, I forced them back down.
"This place holds enough painful memories," I murmured, my voice trembling as my lips quivered slightly. "So maybe... maybe it’s for the best."
I took a slow breath before looking back up into his eyes, forcing myself to smile even though it felt incredibly difficult.
"I’m really going to miss you most of all, to be honest. That’s why I called you here. I wanted to properly thank you. Thank you for crossing paths with me... and for treating me so well, even when you suspected I was a criminal."
"Don’t say things like that," he rasped, his voice rough. "It sounds too much like a forever goodbye."
Before I could say anything else, he suddenly reached out, grabbed my arm, and pulled me flush against his broad chest in a tight embrace.
A startled gasp escaped my lips, but as my cheek pressed against his firm chest and the loud, wildly racing beat of his heart filled my ears, the tension in my spine slowly melted away.
I wrapped my arms around his waist, leaning into his solid presence as if I could anchor myself against him and keep my own frayed emotions from falling apart.
But then, without warning, Darius lowered his head and buried his face deeper into the crook of my neck before taking a deep breath, openly inhaling my scent.
My brows knitted together as the intimate gesture crossed the line from comforting to downright strange.
"Darius? Are you okay?"
I placed both palms against his chest and tried to push him back, but his towering, muscular frame didn’t budge an inch. Instead, he pressed his nose even closer to the base of my throat, his breathing growing heavier and more erratic.
Okay, this was getting weird.
"Darius!" I called out, much more sternly this time.
The sharpness in my voice seemed to snap him out of whatever trance had taken hold of him. He pulled back so abruptly that it looked almost instinctive, his face flushing as he dragged a hand over his mouth.
"Fuck... I’m sorry. I..." He stumbled over his words, his eyes wide and unfocused. "Your scent... it’s... it’s..."
"It’s probably just my wolf stirring a little more," I quickly cut in, trying to diffuse the sudden embarrassment hanging heavily between us. "That’s why you can smell me now, even if it’s only a faint trace."
"Yeah..." Darius muttered, but his dark brows remained tightly furrowed as he stood completely still, staring at me as though he were trying to solve some impossible riddle.