Mated to the Alpha: Sold to the King

Lorelei POV

I was practically biting back a smile, trying my best not to let my nerves show. Everything had been going perfectly so far. Even Kaelen seemed unusually excited, his intense gaze locked onto me with that possessive look that always made my stomach do ridiculous little flips.

But then Darius stepped closer and whispered something into his ear.

I watched the change happen almost instantly.

The warmth disappeared from Kaelen’s face, replaced by a coldness that made my stomach drop. He tried to hide it quickly, probably because he didn’t want to scare me, but it was too late. I had already seen it.

"Kaelen?" I asked softly, my eyes narrowing with concern. "What’s wrong?"

He didn’t answer.

That only made the uneasy feeling in my chest grow worse. I watched his face, waiting for him to say something, but the longer he stayed silent, the heavier the tension between us became.

Finally, Kaelen looked back down at me. He reached for my hand, his fingers closing around mine a little tighter than usual.

"Lorelei..." he said quietly, and the careful tone in his voice immediately made my heart start racing. "You can’t leave with me."

I stared at him, barely processing what he’d just said.

"What? Why?"

"Something came up," he replied, his jaw tightening as he tried to keep his voice calm. "I need to handle it, and I need to do it without you."

"No."

The answer came out instantly as I shook my head, fear already creeping into my chest.

"I don’t want to go alone. I don’t want to. What if something happens to me? What if something happens to you? What if..."

"Hey, look at me."

Kaelen’s hands came up to my face, gently cupping my cheeks until I had no choice but to meet his amber eyes.

"Nothing is going to happen to you," he said firmly, his thumb brushing gently over my cheek as if he could somehow calm the panic building inside me with the simple touch. "I’m the one being targeted right now. If you stay with me while I deal with this, I’m worried I won’t be able to protect you the way I need to."

His gaze stayed locked on mine, steady and reassuring despite the tension I could still see beneath his calm expression.

"And you’re not going alone," he continued. "You’ll have twice the number of our best guards around you. I’m going to handle this quickly, and I’ll be right behind you before you even have time to miss me."

Those words were supposed to reassure me, but somehow, they did the exact opposite. If anything, they only confirmed what I had been trying not to think about.

There really was a serious threat against him.

I wanted to tell him that if someone was targeting him, there was a good chance I would be a target too. They had already managed to drug me once, and thanks to Chelsea, or whoever else was still secretly working against us from inside the estate, they already knew exactly what I looked like.

All those arguments rushed through my head, begging to be said out loud, but I swallowed every single one of them.

Kaelen wasn’t stupid.

He knew all of this too.

Yet he was still telling me to leave without him, which meant he had already thought everything through and had a plan in place.

I still didn’t like it, but I knew arguing with him wouldn’t change his mind.

So, after a few seconds, I reluctantly nodded.

"Okay," I whispered.

Only then did some of the tension finally leave Kaelen’s shoulders, although the change was barely noticeable. His expression hardened almost immediately, that soft look he’d been giving me disappearing as his ruthless Alpha side took over.

He turned toward Paul and Isaac.

"You have one job tonight. Keep her safe like your lives depend on it, because they fucking do," Kaelen ordered, his voice leaving absolutely no room for argument. "If anyone threatens her safety, I don’t care who they are or what position they hold. You have my direct order to eliminate them."

A chill ran down my spine at the cold finality in his voice.

Paul and Isaac immediately straightened before bowing their heads.

"Yes, Alpha," they answered together.

And just like that, I was escorted into a smaller, more discreet vehicle surrounded by a convoy of more than six elite guards.

Instead of having Kaelen beside me like I had imagined all day, I was being driven away from him and straight into whatever danger was waiting for us without even knowing what was happening.

"Don’t worry, Miss," Isaac said from the front, his eyes dropping briefly to my hands before returning to the road. My fingers were twisted tightly together in my lap, betraying just how nervous I actually was. "Unlike last time, we’re taking extra precautions tonight. Nothing is going to happen to you."

A faint, grateful smile tugged at my lips at his words, but it disappeared almost as quickly as it came.

"It’s not myself I’m worried about," I said softly. "It’s the Alpha."

Kaelen was practically indestructible, so seeing him that tense had scared me more than I wanted to admit. Whatever had happened, it had to be serious enough to put even him on edge.

"The Alpha is a very capable man," Paul said calmly from the passenger seat. "I’m sure he already has everything under control. Splitting us into separate cars was probably just another precaution. So please, don’t worry too much. Not yet, anyway."

He paused, glancing toward me through the mirror.

"Especially when the real political snakes are waiting for us inside."

His words made me swallow hard, and before I could ask what he meant, our vehicle slowed to a stop in front of the grand entrance of the venue.

The sight outside immediately made my breath hitch.

Dozens of luxury cars lined the driveway, one after another, while high-ranking Alphas, foreign nobles, and beautifully dressed women stepped out with their respective security details following closely behind them.

The entire place was packed.

Camera flashes exploded nonstop along both sides of the red carpet, bright enough to make me squint as reporters shouted questions and called out to the arriving guests.

For a second, I simply stared through the window, my heart beating faster as the reality of the night finally settled over me.

This wasn’t really what was happening. I was actually here.

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