Defying the Lycan King-Chapter 29: Intercourse Meeting
Kira left the kitchen with her spine ramrod straight and her chin lifted high. Only once the heavy doors of her bedroom clicked shut behind her did she allow herself to slump back against the wood, exhaling a long, shaky breath. She stood frozen there for a moment, the chilled bottle of water still clutched in her fingers, staring blankly at the opposite wall.
She tipped the bottle to her lips and drank half of it in three desperate gulps, but the cold liquid did nothing to soothe the hot, twisting ache in her chest. Ruby’s bright laugh still rang in her ears. The casual way her hands had rested on Derek’s broad shoulders. The cosy, intimate little scene she had walked in on. It shouldn’t have stung. It really, truly shouldn’t have.
Their marriage was an open one, nothing more than a contract on paper. He could have a dozen women laughing at his jokes, touching him, for all she cared. So why did it feel as if someone had pressed a thumb hard against a sore bruise?
She scoffed under her breath and crossed to the bed, dropping her backpack onto the duvet, before setting the water bottle carefully on the nightstand. She sank onto the edge of the mattress, pulled out her small black diary from the side pocket, and cradled it in her lap. This little book was her sanctuary, the one place she could spill the messy, jagged pieces of her life without anyone judging or pitying her. Right now, she needed to focus on things that actually mattered instead of playing the part of the jealous wife in a pretend marriage.
She flipped it open to the page headed in her neat handwriting: KNOWING ABOUT MY MOTHER
Below the scattered details she had collected over time about the woman she had never known, she added the new entry:
Mother might have cheated on Father and the entire pack knew about it. Alpha Rolf scrubbed the records because of her betrayal.
She stared at the words until they blurred, wondering if the gentle, tragic figure she had built up in her mind could really have been the villain of the story. Could her father’s cruelty, his cold distance, his open favouritism, actually stem from a broken heart rather than simple hatred? She closed the diary with a snap and pressed her palm flat against the leather cover, as if she could trap the painful truth inside and keep it from spreading any further. Then, she let out a long and shaky exhale.
Her phone buzzed on the bed beside her. She reached for it, unlocked the screen, and saw the message app still open to the text Derek had sent earlier that day.
’Our first intercourse meeting is tonight. Be ready.’
Kira stared at the detached words for several long seconds before a short, disbelieving laugh burst out of her.
"Intercourse meeting," she muttered to the empty room. "Who even talks like that? What is he, scheduling a board meeting or a baby-making appointment?"
The laugh faded quickly, chased away by the memory of Ruby’s hands on his shoulders, the easy way they had been talking, and the way he hadn’t even looked at her when she entered the kitchen.
Is he going to come straight from her laughter to my bed? she wondered, as a hot spark of resentment flared in her gut. Does he think he can just check me off a list after flirting with his ’loyal’ Lycan assistant?
She sucked her teeth. "To hell with both of them."
She tossed the phone onto the bed and marched into the bathroom to freshen up. By the time she stepped out, skin damp, hair loose, and had pulled on a simple silk slip that skimmed her thighs, she had made up her mind. She wasn’t going to sit and wait for him like some obedient bride. If he wanted this so-called "meeting," he could damn well come and find her. She was going to sleep.
She had just pulled the covers up to her chin when there was a soft knock at the door.
"Come in," Kira called. Her voice came out smaller than she would have liked.
Mara stepped inside and dipped her head. "Pardon the intrusion, Your Highness. But the King... he has requested your presence in his suite. Now."
Kira’s heart slammed violently against her ribs. Her fingers curled tightly into the duvet. "Thank you, Mara. I’ll be there in a moment."
Once the maid left, Kira stayed frozen for a full minute, taking deep, conscious breaths, and trying to calm her racing heart. It’s for the contract. For my survival. No emotions or feelings. Just business. She had survived worse than a cold, emotionless husband doing what the agreement required. She could survive this.
She pushed back the covers, legs feeling strangely heavy, and she padded across the rug to the adjoining door and pushed it open. Derek’s bedroom smelled of him, that citrus scent she had found oddly comforting.
He wasn’t in the room, but from behind the closed door on the far side, she heard the sound of rushing water and knew he was in the shower.
Kira stood in the centre of the rug, her hands shaking. She quickly tucked them behind her back, squeezing her fingers together to still the shake. Her mind became a chaotic mess of questions.
How will he do this? Would he be brutal, treating her like a chore to be finished? Or would he be more gentle with her? But the rules were clear: no emotions. That meant no tenderness. No soft words. Her throat felt as dry as a desert. She needed to move, to do something other than stand there like a sacrificial lamb. She turned back toward her own room, thinking she would grab the water bottle she had left on her nightstand.
The bathroom door creaked open then, and Kira froze. She didn’t turn around, but she felt the shift in the air. The temperature in the room seemed to rise ten degrees in a single second.
"Going somewhere?"
