Lorelei POV

A love letter?

I stared at her, completely stunned.

This girl looked barely sixteen, and from what I had gathered, Kaelen was thirty-one. The age gap between him and me was already a lot, but this? This was simply too much.

Then again, there was nothing wrong with having an innocent crush. She probably just admired him from afar, like most people in the empire did. So I decided to keep my tone gentle when I addressed her.

"While your feelings are completely understandable," I said carefully, trying not to sound preachy, "I don’t think this is entirely appropriate to give him directly. Maybe you could..."

"What do you know about what’s appropriate or not?" the girl cut me off sharply, her eyes flashing with sudden, ugly venom.

I blinked, thoroughly caught off guard by her aggression.

"I’m just trying to say that—"

"I know you sleep with the Alpha King."

The words left her mouth so casually that my blood instantly turned to ice. My heart nearly stopped in my chest.

"What did you say?" I whispered, my voice barely audible over the distant shouts from the field.

The girl scoffed and crossed her arms tightly over her chest.

"Did you really think you could hide it? You slept with the Alpha, and now you’re going after the Beta. Don’t you have any shame?" She stepped a little closer. "You’re just a slut, but you think you have a special place in his heart, so now you want to trample on younger competition."

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Were these cruel, disgusting words really coming from this young girl’s mouth?

A wave of nausea hit me, followed quickly by a chilling realization.

If she knew about this, then it meant her peers probably knew too. The other volunteers might know as well.

So really, how much did they actually know?

My fists clenched so tightly at my sides that my nails bit into my palms. But just as I opened my mouth to speak, ready to defend myself—

"Ella!"

Darius’s voice rang out from the center of the field as he waved an arm to get my attention.

"We’re about to start! What are you waiting for?"

Oh, right. The game.

I was on his team.

As much as I had a million things to say to this little girl, I realized there was absolutely no point in arguing with someone so young and clearly immature.

I forced a deep breath into my lungs, let out a tight sigh, and turned my back on her without another word.

"Hey!" the girl called after me. "Make sure you give that to the Alpha! And don’t you dare open it!"

I said nothing. I didn’t even look back. But my grip around the white envelope tightened so much that the paper nearly crumpled in my hand.

By the time I reached Darius, I had forced a bright smile onto my face, trying to bury the humiliation deep down.

"Am I late?"

"Just in time," Darius replied with a warm grin. He stepped forward and carefully placed a red fabric band around my head. "You’re on the red team."

I blinked as I adjusted the fabric. "Red team?"

"The Alpha is leading the blue team," he said casually.

Instantly, my eyes widened in surprise, and my gaze instinctively shifted across the field to where Kaelen was standing with his own group.

He had a blue band tied around his muscular bicep and was currently talking to one of the older teenage boys, wearing a relaxed, almost playful expression.

As if sensing the exact moment my eyes landed on him, his amber eyes shifted directly toward me.

The second they did, my breath hitched.

This time, maybe it was because of the girl’s cruel words or his frustrating hot-and-cold behavior, but I immediately forced my attention right back to Darius.

"Ready?" Darius asked after he finished explaining the basics of capture the flag.

I swallowed hard and nodded. More than anything, I needed a distraction right now.

"Ready."

With that, I tucked the crumpled envelope into my back pocket, wiped the dirt from my hands, and focused on the game.

****

When the game began, everyone ran toward the middle of the field. From Darius’s short explanation earlier, I was on offense, which meant I had to sneak onto the blue team’s side and try to steal their flag.

The rules were simple. Get the other team’s flag and bring it back to your side without getting tagged.

I moved with the others, weaving between trees and trying to stay hidden. For the first few minutes, I actually started getting into it.

Then Paul suddenly appeared beside me out of nowhere.

"It seems we’re on the same team, Miss," he said, pointing at the red band around his arm.

I scoffed loudly.

"Are we?" I asked. "Or are you just following me around again?"

"Both can be true," he replied smoothly. "And I’m simply doing my job to keep you safe."

Since I was already frustrated by everything that had happened today, I stopped in my tracks and turned to face him fully.

"Keeping me safe from what?" I asked, gesturing wildly around the peaceful woods. "So far, there’s no threat here. Just kids and a game. I’m starting to think you’re actually a spy sent by the Alpha King to watch my every move."

Maybe they suspected I had plans to escape.

The thought wasn’t exactly comforting.

Paul looked completely at a loss for words. Before he could find a way to defend himself, however, his gaze drifted somewhere behind me.

His expression changed instantly.

Without warning, he stepped forward and pulled me behind his larger frame as several members of the blue team suddenly emerged from between the trees.

"Don’t worry, Miss," he said, squaring his shoulders. "I’ll hold them back."

The hell?

It was just a game. Why on earth was he taking this so seriously?

I watched as he immediately began dodging a group of teenage boys who, for some reason, had locked their full attention onto him.

Maybe it was because he was one of the Alpha King’s guards, and taking down a guard simply sounded a lot more exciting than tagging anyone else.

Seeing how distracted Paul was by the teenagers, I decided to use that exact moment to escape from him. I slipped away in the opposite direction and headed deeper into the dense trees.

I figured I might be able to spot the blue team’s flag hidden away from the main chaos of the field. Besides, being completely alone wouldn’t exactly be a bad thing right now.

Gradually, the shouting voices and laughter faded behind me, swallowed by the quiet rustling of the forest. I kept walking until I found myself standing at the edge of a small cliff, overlooking a vast sea of green trees stretching endlessly below.

I had been so lost in my own thoughts that I had completely forgotten why I was even out here playing a children’s game.

Staring out at the view, especially with the setting sun casting a rich golden-orange glow across the horizon, I had to admit it was beautiful. Really beautiful.

But I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy it as my thoughts drifted right back to the interaction with that teenage girl, and I let out a bitter sigh.

To be honest, why was I even surprised?

Callista had been a hundred times worse to me at that age. And deep down, it wasn’t like the girl was completely wrong about my situation. I knew exactly what I had signed up for when I accepted Kaelen’s deal.

Fuck.

Now I was thinking about Kaelen again.

I really, desperately didn’t want to think about him right now. In fact, I should probably head back to the game before someone noticed I had disappeared.

But just as I was about to turn around, a pair of hands suddenly shoved me hard from behind without a single sound or warning.

I gasped as my feet lost their grip on the dirt and my entire world tilted dangerously forward.

For one horrifying second, I windmilled my arms, desperately trying to catch myself.

But there was nothing beneath me, and to my absolute horror, I couldn’t stop myself from falling straight off the edge of the cliff.