Mated to the Alpha: Sold to the King

Kaelen POV

"What? You don’t like hearing that?"

"It’s not that I don’t like it," she murmured, looking everywhere but at me. "I’m just... not used to hearing it from you."

A slight frown tugged at my lips, even though my heart was practically pounding against my ribs. "Well, you’d better get used to it, because you’re going to be hearing it a lot from now on."

I leaned closer and pressed another kiss to her knuckles. "I love you."

Then I kissed her wrist. "I love you."

I continued up her arm, leaving soft kisses along her forearm until I reached her shoulder. Finally, I leaned in and pressed my lips against her burning cheek.

"I love you."

When I pulled back, I was greeted by the sight of her completely flustered face. I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my lips.

"Now you have to say it back."

Her face turned even redder, the blush spreading all the way to the tips of her ears. The fact that I was clearly serious about it only seemed to make her more embarrassed.

I tilted my head, a playful smirk tugging at my mouth. "Strange. You didn’t seem to have a problem saying it a few minutes ago in the rain."

"Hey! That was different!" she protested, giving my shoulder a weak swat.

"How was it different?" I asked, my voice softening as my thumb brushed along her jaw.

Lorelei lowered her head awkwardly, letting a strand of hair fall across her face as she tried to hide behind it. "It was... in the heat of the moment. I was acting on impulse. But now the adrenaline has worn off, and..."

Her voice faded when she noticed my expression.

The playful smile disappeared from my face, replaced by a sudden sting of insecurity that I couldn’t hide quickly enough.

Lorelei stared at me for a moment before letting out a soft, resigned sigh.

"I love you," she whispered, the words so gentle that they seemed to settle over the quiet car.

My entire face immediately lit up, the sudden gloom disappearing as quickly as it had arrived. "How much?"

She rolled her eyes, but a tender smile slowly spread across her lips.

"A lot." With that, she lifted her hand to my face and tilted her head slightly before pressing a gentle kiss against my right eyelid.

"I love your eyes."

Another kiss landed softly on the bridge of my nose. "I love your nose..."

She cupped both sides of my face, her warm palms against my skin as those green eyes stared into mine with an honesty that made my pulse jump.

"From your terrifying temper to your ridiculous possessiveness..." Her lips curved into a small smile. "I love everything about you."

Before I could even process that, she leaned forward and kissed me.

It was soft and sweet, lasting only a few seconds before she pulled away. I was left staring at her, completely breathless, her scent lingering around me and making it difficult to think straight.

I stared into those brilliant green eyes, my chest rising and falling as a thought suddenly struck me.

"Let’s get married."

The words left my mouth before I could stop them.

Lorelei’s eyes widened.

"What?" she choked out, her lips parting in complete shock.

I simply shrugged, leaning into her touch as though I hadn’t just dropped the biggest bomb imaginable.

"Let’s get married."

Before she could even process what I had said, the ideas started pouring out of me.

"I can have everything planned and executed in less than a week. It doesn’t have to be anything massive if you want something intimate, but if you want a grand ceremony, we can have the biggest, most lavish wedding this empire has ever seen. You’ll be the undisputed Queen of the empire. Every woman in the territory will be jealous of you, and we can have—"

"Kaelen, wait! Slow down!"

Her hands dropped from my face and pressed firmly against my chest, finally forcing me to stop.

I fell silent, staring down at her.

Taking a slow breath, Lorelei carefully met my eyes again, and this time, there was something cautious in her expression that immediately made my stomach tighten.

"Don’t you think..." She hesitated. "I don’t know. Maybe this is happening way too fast?"

"Well..."

For once, I had absolutely no idea what to say.

Too fast?

In my mind, marrying her and making her my legal wife, binding her to me in front of the entire world, was the most obvious next step. Why would I want to wait?

I wanted her. I loved her. She loved me.

What else was there to figure out?

"I just thought—"

Tap. Tap. Tap.

A sharp knock against the driver’s side window cut me off.

I turned my head and found Raven leaning toward the glass, waiting for me to acknowledge her.

Under normal circumstances, I would have been annoyed by the interruption.

But considering the awkward silence that had settled between Lorelei and me, I was almost grateful for it.

I reached for the button and lowered the window, letting Raven lean her arm against the door frame. "I almost forgot to mention that Lorelei doesn’t have a phone right now. I need her to have my direct line so I can check up on her, so make sure you get her one."

"Yeah, sure." I nodded once. "I already have your contact saved. I’ll make sure she gets it."

"Good," she said, giving Lorelei one last warm wave through the window. "Stay safe, Lorelei."

"You too," Lorelei replied with a small smile.

The window rolled back up, sealing us inside the quiet car once again.

I barely had a second to think before I turned toward Lorelei, already preparing to continue our previous conversation. I wasn’t about to let her dismiss the idea of marrying me that easily. If she needed convincing, I was more than willing to make my case.

But before I could say anything, she suddenly leaned toward me, her eyes lighting up.

"You’re getting me a phone?"

The excitement in her voice caught me off guard.

She sounded far too thrilled about it.

Something twisted painfully in my chest.

I hadn’t given her a phone during her time at the estate because, in the beginning, she had been my prisoner. A captive didn’t exactly get unrestricted access to the outside world.

But now that I thought about it, that excuse suddenly felt pathetic.

Even the poorest people in the empire had phones. Yet Lorelei was sitting beside me with her green eyes sparkling at the thought of owning something so ordinary.

My mind immediately went back to Raven telling me about how badly she had suffered in her past. Even without the details, I could only imagine, and that made a dark, protective anger settle over me.

I wanted to ask her about it. I wanted to know who had hurt her, who had made her feel like she was worth so little, who had looked at someone as precious as her and treated her like she didn’t matter.

I wanted names.

I wanted to find every single person responsible and make them regret ever laying a hand on her.

But then I remembered her panic attacks. The way fragile her recovery still was. I wasn’t going to drag those memories back to the surface when she was finally smiling like this.

I could ask her later.

When she was ready to tell me herself.

For now, I let the anger fade from my face and replaced it with a soft smile.

Reaching across the console, I gently tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, letting my thumb linger against her warm cheek.

"Of course," I murmured. "My woman deserves nothing less than everything."

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