ELARA POV
"I'm not ready for any of this," I said as the elevator doors opened, saving me.
"Don't ever try to stop me again. The next time you do something as stupid as that, I will make sure you regret breathing the same air as I do. You want to know what job I'm doing, right? You'll find out very soon. Know your limits, and we will coexist in this company quietly. Trust me," I said to him as a clear warning before pulling my hand free and walking away.
I walked straight to the lab. Everything was tangled up inside me, the happiness from how Kael had made me feel last night now clouded over. I stepped in to see him munching on something.
I looked at him, puzzled.
"This is the first time I'm actually seeing you eat," I said to him as he laughed.
"This is the first time I have eaten in the past month," he said as I almost choked.
"How? Why haven't you been eating? How do you cope? How do you still have so much energy? How on earth did you carry me last night?" I said, immediately feeling foolish for letting that last part slip.
"Because I'm a wolf, okay? I don't know what happened. I was down. I had lost myself entirely, up until last night. I suppose that gave me back the appetite I had lost for so long," he said as I sat down on the ground with him, drawing the food closer between us.
I took a bite. It was actually quite filling.
"For once, the guards did something right," I said as he laughed.
"What happened? You look down compared to this morning. This morning you looked like the happiest woman in the world after I made sure of it," he said as I laughed quietly.
"Yes, thank you for making me the happiest woman in the world. I haven't actually been that in my entire life," I said, a thin layer of sarcasm underneath the words.
He moved the food to the side and pulled me closer to him, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
"They are watching," I muttered as he scoffed.
"And so what? That is their business. I can't just watch you sit here like this. Do you want us to get out of here? Run away. Together," he added.
"Run away to where? I don't want to throw away everything I have built. I've worked too hard to be in this position, only to run? I wish I could. I truly wish I could. But I can't," I said to him as he laughed quietly.
"You can't. The only reason I am still here is because I was waiting for you. I knew you were going to come. You were spoken of to me, and I came searching for you. That is how I ended up in this situation," he said.
Those words settled over me like something entirely different.
"Wait. A prophecy about me?" I asked as he laughed.
"Oh, now you're hanging onto what I said. Yes. I was told that my mate was not in my realm but lost somewhere in her own world, in trouble, and I was the only one who could find her. That is the real reason why I came here. And then I got captured. Not that I couldn't have escaped over all these months, but I knew you were going to come to me. I believed that you would find me at the right time," he said as I quietly swallowed.
I can't share this with them, or I will be chained to this company indefinitely, and they will just keep using me. And at the same time, they are clearly watching him speak to me right now. They will want to know everything he's saying. Very soon, I am sure they will plant microphones in this room the moment I refuse to report it myself.
"Stop. Don't tell me anything else. I don't think it's safe for you to be sharing things like this with me right now, Kael," I said to him, hoping he would listen.
He went silent.
"I can't stop myself. I feel so drawn to you, so connected to you. I have never felt that way about anyone before, and I know that at this point I may return to the werewolf realm and never be recognized as the Alpha again. My brother will take everything from me, and I won't even be able to stop him. Do you know how that feels?" he said as I looked at him steadily.
"I know how that feels more than you might think, okay? I know how complicated it gets when everything you built starts slipping through your hands. You just have to be strong. I have something to tell you, something I never said before," I said to him, finally ready to hand over the one thing I had been holding back.
He looked at me with full attention.
"What is it? From the way you said that, I know it's serious."
"I kind of... I kind of had an encounter. A group of wolves. They came to me. They stopped me, they used a camouflage, took on the form of my ex. They told me they were trying to get to you and wanted my help. But at the time, I couldn't. Even now, I am only telling you because I want you to know that someone in your realm is still fighting for you. They have not forgotten about you. Even with your brother on the throne. I don't know him, but from everything you have told me, I already know what kind of person he is," I said to him as he let out a quiet laugh.
"Eric has always been that way. Very soon, when you are fully mine, I will go back and take everything that belongs to me."
"What? Fully yours?"