Mated to the Alpha: Sold to the King

Lorelei POV

That night, I was getting ready for bed when the quiet room was suddenly interrupted by the sharp chime of my new phone.

I picked it up and frowned at the unfamiliar number glowing across the screen. For a second, I just stared at it, debating whether I should answer. Then a small, hopeful thought crossed my mind.

Could it be Kaelen?

My finger hovered over the green answer button before I remembered that Darius had already saved Kaelen’s private number for me. This wasn’t it. Still, maybe he was calling from another secure phone?

I hesitated for another second before finally swiping across the screen.

"Hello?"

It wasn’t Kaelen.

Instead, a familiar, smooth voice came through the speaker.

"Lorelei?"

My face immediately lit up when I recognized Raven’s voice, and all the sadness that had been weighing on me just moments ago disappeared.

"Raven! Oh my goodness, how did you even get my number?"

She let out a soft laugh. "The Alpha King gave it to me. He said you might be feeling lonely and could use someone familiar to talk to."

Hearing that, my shoulders immediately dropped as I leaned back against the headboard with a small sigh.

"Yeah... he’s been buried in work all day, and I don’t really have any friends around the estate yet. It’s basically just me, Paul, and Isaac."

"Well, that’s one of the joys of being in such a high position," Raven said sympathetically. "You can’t exactly trust everyone around you anymore. Honestly, I wouldn’t want you to. You always have to keep your guard up, and that can get pretty lonely."

"Tell me about it," I muttered, nodding even though she couldn’t see me.

Then, just as quickly, excitement bubbled back up inside me.

"Oh! Guess what?" I blurted out. "Kaelen officially declared me the Lady of the Empire."

There was a short silence on the other end.

"Really?" Raven finally asked, and I could practically hear the surprise in her voice. "That hasn’t happened in decades."

I smiled to myself, my fingers absently playing with the edge of the blanket.

"I know," I said, remembering Mrs. Whitmore had told me the exact same thing earlier.

Raven let out a small laugh, still sounding a little stunned. "I guess I really underestimated just how much that man loves you."

I couldn’t help the warm, shy smile that spread across my face at her words, but after I spent the next few minutes telling her about the absolute chaos of my day, my curiosity eventually shifted back to her.

"So, how are things over there? Are you guys still on the road, or...?" I trailed off, waiting for her to fill in the rest.

But that was the exact moment something changed as the relaxed tone in Raven’s voice disappeared completely.

"No..." she said slowly, and there was a strange tightness in her voice now. "We just... got back to my place."

"Oh, that’s good," I replied, not thinking much of it before quickly adding, "What about Skye? Is she with you? I’d love to talk to her for a minute."

There was a brief silence.

Then I heard Raven’s breath hitch on the other end.

"Skye..." she repeated, and somehow her voice sounded just a little too high. "She’s... uh, she got really tired from the trip, so she’s already asleep."

"Oh." I couldn’t hide the little flicker of disappointment in my voice. "Well, when she wakes up tomorrow, please call me. I really want to talk to her."

"Sure... I... I can do that," Raven stammered, and my brows immediately pulled together.

Something was wrong.

Raven was literally the most confident person I knew. Even when things got dangerous, she was always calm and collected, so hearing her suddenly stumble over her words like this felt completely off.

I opened my mouth to ask if everything was okay, but before I could get the question out, she quickly cut me off.

"I’m actually getting pretty tired, Lorelei. Can we finish this tomorrow?"

"Uh... yeah, sure. I was just about to..."

"Okay. Goodnight," she blurted out before the call abruptly ended.

Slowly, I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at the dark screen, completely confused.

Did I say something wrong?

Or was something happening over there?

A small wave of worry settled in my chest, but I quickly shook it off, telling myself Raven was probably just exhausted after the long trip. There was no reason to start imagining the worst.

Still, the strange feeling wouldn’t completely leave me.

I created a new contact and saved her number under Raven’s name before placing my phone on the bedside table.

Once that was done, my thumb slowly moved through my tiny contact list, which now had a grand total of three people. I stopped when I reached Kaelen’s name, my finger hovering over it for a long moment as I debated whether I should call him.

But for all I knew, he could be in the middle of some important council meeting or dealing with another security issue at the border.

With a soft sigh, I finally set the phone down and pulled the warm duvet up around my shoulders, closing my eyes as I tried to force myself to sleep.

I had barely started drifting off when I heard the bedroom door click open.

Even through the haze of sleep, I knew it was Kaelen, but I was far too exhausted to move. I only vaguely registered his quiet footsteps as he moved around the dark room before the sound of the shower running reached me from the bathroom.

A few minutes later, the mattress dipped behind me.

A large, warm arm slipped around my waist and pulled me back against Kaelen’s solid chest, his familiar scent of rain and crushed pine immediately filling my senses.

"You’re late," I whispered sleepily, turning my face further into the pillow.

"I’m sorry," Kaelen murmured, his deep voice rumbling right beside my ear as he tightened his hold around me and pulled me even closer.

That was the last thing I remembered before sleep completely took over.

When I woke again, bright morning sunlight was filtering through the sheer curtains, making me squint as I slowly opened my eyes.

I let out a quiet groan and stretched beneath the covers, half convinced that Kaelen coming home during the night had been nothing more than a comforting dream.

But the moment I tried to sit up, a heavy arm tightened around my waist, keeping me firmly in place.

I looked down, and my heart immediately fluttered when I saw Kaelen sleeping peacefully beside me.

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