Chapter 255: A tragic painting
"Of course he’s a good match! At least Xavier isn’t completely blind like some people around here!"
Killian’s dark smile widened slightly, a quiet warmth touching his sharp features. "I am glad you feel that way... Little Snowflake."
Yuki’s face burned a furious, bright red, her jaw dropping in indignation. *Little Snowflake?! Who the hell gave him permission to use nicknames for her?* This emotionally stunted corporate tyrant had no right to act familiar with her now.
"Don’t call me that!" she snapped, her frustration boiling over.
Killian merely smiled at her fiery reaction, taking a brief satisfaction in seeing her flush with life before he turned on his heel and walked through the sliding glass doors into the facility. The moment the automatic doors shut behind him, cutting off her view, the smile vanished from Killian’s face completely.
’It was clearly a set-up from the very beginning,’ his wolf’s voice echoed sharply within his mind, laced with dark, growling satisfaction.
Killian didn’t bother answering aloud, because his beast already had full access to his thoughts. He had already suspected the truth from the digital anomalies his private tech team had flagged on the server logs months ago, but listening to Yuki’s raw, defensive reaction just now confirmed it without a shadow of a doubt.
Eloise had intentionally staged the ruined dress, framed Yuki for the smashed gifts. It increased the possibilty she drugged Yuki’s drink at the party to systematically destroy her credibility before the pack elders.
In the dark hallway, Killian’s right fist clenched until his knuckles popped with a brutal, violent force—the exact same icy fury consuming him now as the night he had found Yuki compromised at the gala, realizing with a horrifying sting what would have happened if he hadn’t shown up to pull her out of that room.
𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
There had been no mate bond between them back then, nor was there one now. Yet a dark, possessive beast was clawing frantically at his ribs
*How dare they? How dare anyone attempt to ruin the little wolf he couldn’t even bring himself to touch?*
He had forced his brothers to sever the bond specifically to save her from being trapped as an unloved political pawn in their house, knowing their prejudice would make her life a living hell. A low, cynical scoff escaped Killian’s throat as he recalled Eloise’s theatrical suicide attempt in his office earlier.
She had sliced her own neck because she truly believed a violent splash of blood would blind his intellect and distract him from her lies. She knew he possessed the raw magic to seal a superficial wound within seconds, and she knew he would never allow the Beta’s daughter to bleed out on his floor.
’Your girlfriend indeed is an interesting creature,’ his wolf chuckled darkly in the quiet of his mind, its golden eyes gleaming in the shadows. ’Let’s see how long her little stage play lasts.’
******
The emergency took considerably longer than Killian had anticipated. The restricted corridor on the facility’s lower level was dead silent, the soft hum of the ventilation system doing little to cut through the heavy, sterile air.
Killian stood leaning against the cool wall, still clad in his blood-soaked shirt, his head throbbing with a brutal, unrelenting pulse. He closed his eyes, crossing his muscular arms over his chest as he focused on keeping his breathing steady. Soft, deliberate footsteps approached him down the tiled hallway, but he didn’t so much as twitch a muscle in response.
Yuki walked over, holding a cold bottle of glucose water in her hand. She wasn’t doing this because she gave a single damn about his well-being—or so she repeatedly told herself—but simply because the towering Alpha didn’t look great at all.
None of the healthcare workers bustling through the vicinity could sense his underlying strain. A pair of off-duty nurses in pale blue scrubs hurried past, stealing quick glances at him while whispering frantically to each other.
"Oh my goddess, look at him," one nurse gushed under her breath, fanning her face with a clipboard. "Is that the eldest Alpha Lord? He looks like a tragic painting just casually leaning there with his golden hair all disheveled."
"I know, right?" her colleague squeaked back, clutching her hands to her chest. "Even covered in blood, he looks wildly attractive. I wish I was assigned to his wing!"
Yuki’s jaw tightened as the whispers drifted away, but beneath the superficial appeal, her sharp, observant mind caught the subtle signs of deep physical exhaustion—the tight strain around his jaw and the slight tremor in his hands.
"You don’t look great yourself," Yuki stated flatly, stopping a foot short of him. She crossed her arms, looking up at his towering frame with an annoyed glare. "Maybe you should get out of those bloody clothes... or is your girlfriend’s blood that precious to you?"
Killian’s lips twitched slightly. He slowly opened his eyes, his piercing blue gaze alighting on the petite blonde a whole foot shorter than him, her expression radiating a clear desire to be anywhere else in the world.
"Why do you sound so bitter about that?" he asked softly, his deep voice carrying a rough, raspy edge as his eyes flicked down to the plastic bottle in her hand.
Yuki’s lips twitched in irritation. "You must be imagining things," she huffed, thrusting the bottle forward. "Have some glucose water before you faint. You Alpha lords are always so dramatic."
Killian accepted the bottle, his warm fingers briefly brushing against hers as he unscrewed the cap. "Most people wouldn’t notice I was exhausted, you know," he commented smoothly.
Yuki halted her retreat for a brief second, just in time for another small group of administrative maids to hurry by, their hushed, fluttering voices echoing off the smooth floorboards.
"Wait, is that Lord Killian or Lord Kieran?" one maid whispered eagerly to another. "They look so similar from behind!"
"That’s definitely Lord Killian," the other giggled softly. "Honestly? He’s probably the hotter brother. That commanding aura is just unmatched."
Yuki’s emerald eyes twitched violently. She had completely lost count of how many times staff members had found ridiculous excuses to loop past this specific corridor.
"I feel like Kieran is the hotter brother," Yuki muttered bitterly under her breath, rolling her eyes in deep annoyance. "Honestly, they’re all completely blind."
Immersed in her petty frustration over everyone constantly swooning over Killian, she completely missed the subtle shift in his expression—the way his dark eyebrows raised in amusement before he raised the bottle to his lips and took a slow, measured sip.
"They really need to see Yuki to get a proper reality check," she grumbled, crossing her arms defensively.
Killian paused, lowering the bottle. "Who is ’Yuki’?" he asked in a low, curious tone, having a strong feeling she clearly wasn’t referring to herself in the third person.