Sold to the Alpha With Silver Eyes - Chapter 34: Chapter 34

By the time I slip away from Dev’s side, the sun is already looking to set. Colors of red and orange hues burst through the clouds, igniting the kitchen in a surreal glow. I walk toward it, a feeling growing in my chest, a nagging thought in the back of my mind I can’t quite put my finger on.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” Leoni asks, making me jump as I whip around and see her smiling at the kitchen table.
“Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to block your view.” I mutter out. She waves me off like it’s no big deal before standing and heading to the fridge.
“Nothing to apologize for. I have seen this view hundreds of times, but it doesn’t make it any less breathtaking.” She leans her head out from behind the door and winks.
“It kind of reminds me of home,” I mutter, tilting my head as I look back out the window. One large tree seems to blaze with the sun behind it. The only thing missing is a wooden swing, the one my dad put up every spring. It was when I told him we were too old for it that he laughed and said it wasn’t just for us, but for mom.
“Hey, you good?” Leoni asks, suddenly being in front of me.
“Uh, yeah.” I shake my head, chuckling. “Just lost in thought.”
A frown pulls at the right side of her lip, worry dotting her brow before she hands me a plate of food, steaming.
“Here I was thinking we were bonding, and you were lost for a solid five minutes in your own head.” She informs me. I take the plate from her, offering a sympathetic smile.
“Sorry, it’s been a long day.”
“You can say that again,” she exhales, walking around to the table again before she drops into her seat with a disappointed exhale. I turn toward her, pulling out the chair on edge to the side of her. Leoni looks defeated today, which is not a usual thing, not since Hastings’ parents left, anyway.
“Can I ask you something?” I ask, looking down at the plate, dragging my fork over the green beans aimlessly.
“Sure,” she answers, but her eyes narrow and she watches me like I might spring on her.
“I’m not going to ask for your kidney, yeesh.” I snort and she breaks into a wide grin.
“Well, good, because the answer is no. I like having two of these bad boys.” She winks.
My body relaxes, noticing how she is reacting in a way to intentionally makes me comfortable. She always seems to do this when I am worried about speaking my mind or asking for something. Leoni has learned my habits in such a short span of time, picking up on the tiny things I do and realizing they are a part of me, too.
“How do you know you love someone? I mean, outside of the mate bond.” I frown, afraid to make eye contact as I drag the fork to my mouth as a distraction.
“Hmm, love, huh?” She leans back, drawing my attention as she presses her forefinger to her lips in thought. “I’m not sure I can help you with that one. Hastings was my mate, and I loved him beyond the mate bond, but it is hard to determine what that means. He was what I looked forward to every day. Even when I woke up, I couldn’t wait to open my eyes and look at him.”
“But that could just be the mate bond, right?” I ask with a frown, disappointed that I even brought up such a stupid question in the first place. Werewolves and lycans don’t really know love outside of the bond. So why the hell did I expect her to know when she has only ever been with her true mate?
“I don’t know.” She heaves a heavy sigh, crossing her arms over her chest, lips pursing as if she is searching her mind for something. “Hastings always used to say the mate bond brought people together, and love is what made them stay. Maybe he was onto something with that.”
“So wanting to stay would mean I love him?” I ask, my nose crinkling as my brows crash together. That seems too simple. Under the breeder’s bond, I wanted to stay with him, but in many ways. This feels different…like I am cutting out a part of me and leaving it behind by choosing to go.
“Wanting to stay may be a way of determining if you love him.” She gives me a knowing smirk. “But what kind of love is the next question? Are you beholden to him because he feels safe? Do you feel like you owe it to him to stick around or what if you don’t want to leave because you just don’t know the next steps?”
“True.” I murmur, losing myself in thought again. To leave his side, for good. The thought makes my werewolf whimper. Topher pops his head into the kitchen, his hand on the door frame as he looks at us.
“Hey, I changed his bandages, so I am going to head out. Tried to convince him again to drink something, but he called me a dick and sent me on my merry way.” Topher says, rolling his eyes. “His strong moral compass annoys me, so I will be back in the morning to check on him.”
“Do you need me to change the dressings in the middle of the night?” I ask, standing abruptly and moving toward him. He tilts his head from side to side, humming in thought.
“Maybe, if they look too dark, you can change those, but if all goes well, he should be fine until morning.” He concludes before he waves at Leoni, who gives him a nod.
“Are you going to bed? It’s still pretty early.” She asks me, lifting a brow.
“In a little bit,” I admit, keeping the part to myself that being up there with him, seeing him in so much pain, somehow makes my body ache as if I were whipped with him.
“Wanna talk about it?” She coaxes me.
“About what, exactly?” I ask, eyeing her suspiciously. She shrugs, like she has no idea what she is referring to.
“Anything. But perhaps we could start with the whole…love question again.” She bites her lips, her eyes alight with excitement. My face blossoms in heat,
“Only after you tell me why you seem to hate the King.”
“What makes you think I hate him?” She asks, eyeing me like I know too much. I’m pretty sure Leoni won’t kill me, but the longer she looks at me like this, the more my belief in that statement waivers.
“Oh, come on, I might not talk a lot but I am usually around when you make remarks, or faces when he says something you disagree with..” I tell her and she scoffs, sneering playfully at me.
“I do not make faces,” she mutters.
“Ehhh…” I inhale sharply. “You kind of do.”
“Fine. An occasional face might slip out. But that is because I am very protective of Dev.” She sits forward, her elbows on the table. “That man up there is a genuinely good man. The one on the throne is…let’s just say, his aura rubs me the wrong way.”
My brows furrow as I stare at her, and she groans, rolling her eyes.
“His aura?” I scoff. “The King’s aura rubs you the wrong way, which is why you have an issue with him? It seems to me like you think Dev should be on the throne.”
“Maybe he should be,” she says the words so carelessly that I lean forward.
“If the wrong person hears you, they will call you a traitor.” I hiss at her. Something changes in her face and she clears her throat, looking away.
“Let them hear me.” She shrugs finally. “Why should they care about my opinion when we all know Dev would never take a throne forcefully, not that I can say the same for King Cedric.”
My skin prickles and I blink at her. The hostility in her voice is more than I felt with her anger toward Paxton, the prick.
“What did he do to you?” I ask, and she rolls her eyes.
“Nope, I’m actually going to go to bed now. You go check on Dev and get some sleep.” Then Leoni rushes off, leaving me with my mouth open, questions swirling around in my head. Is King Cedric a bad guy? I have seen many sides of Leoni but this one, it’s new. My brain runs at a hundred miles a minute, all sorts of crazy scenarios popping up in my head.
What if she thinks he had something to do with Hastings’ death? Or maybe she learned something more when she went with Paxton’s group to the auction site, but if so, what did she learn?
The possible schemes drudge up my own distaste for the King I barely know, not that he made a great first impression anyway, but I talk myself off the ledge as I walk past the bathroom, pausing when I hear the shower running.
Dev should be sleeping, so it must be Leoni. But then I hear her door open behind me as she runs downstairs, probably to grab something. I turn back around, rapping my knuckles on the wooden door, only to receive no response. My gut is telling me to move to the bedroom and check on Dev, so I move faster than I need to as I throw the door open and find him nowhere to be found.
“Damn it, Dev.” I mutter, spinning around and stomping to the bathroom, pushing the door open hard enough that it hits the counter and swings closed behind me.
The tall glass shower is covered in fog from the water’s heat, but I can make out the tan, nude skin on the other side, arms moving as a head tilts back. I panic, turning away only to find myself looking at the reflection of him in the mirror. Shit, shit, shit.
“I’ll be out in a minute.” He says, his voice hoarse as deep red colors the hazy view of him and I realize his back is to me.
There is no mistaking the hiss of pain as he stumbles, his body dropping before I move on instinct and open the door, staring at the open wounds bleeding down body. His legs quiver from the pain and he glances over his shoulder at me, not a lick of surprise in his eyes, only agony as he clutches the wall and lifts the soap over his other shoulder and pours it onto his open gashes.
“What are you doing?” I squeal in shock, stepping into the water, moving around to his chest as I wrap my arms up and around his shoulders to avoid touching his cuts. He presses into me, his body too drained to hold him up on his own any longer.
“This will get the wolfsbane out of me faster.” He stammers the words, his entire body shaking.
I step one foot back in an attempt to fix my footing when I kick something rough and I realize it is an exfoliation sponge that Leoni insisted I needed. When I look down, bile rises in my throat and I thank the heavens I haven’t used it yet. The one clean white holey surface is covered in blood and dead skin. I shudder, looking away from it as I lean my head back to get a look at him.
“Hey, are you still with me?” I whisper, taking note of his pale face and unfocused eyes. His head droops to my shoulder as he nods. “What the hell were you thinking?” I grind out the words, turning him so I can rinse the soap off his back.
“The sooner the wolfsbane is out, the faster I heal.” He says it with weak conviction.
“And you didn’t think to ask for help or run this by anyone?” I huff at him.
“Do I need permission?” He asks, and I roll my eyes. Glad to know he still has enough of his consciousness to be a smart ass.
“Permission, no, but if you want help, you can always ask.” I remind him, and he scoffs.
“I don’t need help.” He grumbles as I reach out and turn the water off, noticing the water is running clear and not full of soap suds any longer.
I move him to the door of the shower, placing his hands on it as I reach out and grab a towel and wrap it around his waist, ignoring the urge to check out his body despite the pain he must be in. Then I shed my own clothes, wrapping a towel around my wet body before I move back to him and help him to the room.
Dev breathes heavily, his nostrils whistling as he tries to calm himself. The movements obviously agitate his lashings but if I were to guess, his intensely scrubbed back against the cool air is taking more of a toll.
I try to lead him to the bed so I can grab the patches for his back, but instead I tumble backwards, him laying between my legs, head resting on my towel clad chest as he sighs in relief for the first time.
“Leave the patches off for now.” He mutters, “They feel so heavy on my skin.”
I struggle to get us further onto the bed, my back finding the pillows as I finally rest back and he nuzzles his head into the fluffy towel between us. Then, in less than a moment, his breathing grows more even and I can tell he is asleep once again.