Lorelei POV

For the first few seconds, I was completely frozen in place, my heart thundering so hard against my ribs it almost hurt.

Because of my suppressed wolf, I hadn’t sensed his presence at all.

Now I had been caught.

What the hell was I supposed to do?

Slowly, I lifted my head and looked up.

A man was standing over me.

He was tall, with broad shoulders, cropped black hair, and gray eyes that seemed to look straight through me.

He wasn’t wearing a guard uniform.

Instead, he was dressed in all black. A black shirt. Black pants. Simple, casual clothes that somehow made him seem even more intimidating.

"Careful," he said in a low, smooth voice, his grip around my waist not loosening in the slightest. "Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself."

My heart practically lodged itself in my throat.

If he wasn’t a guard, then with how strong his scent was and the way he carried himself...

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

I immediately pulled away from his grip and dropped to my knees.

"I’m sorry," I breathed, bowing my head. "I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t... please don’t..."

He was definitely high-ranking.

I could tell at a glance.

My family had been high-ranking, and I had spent decades around other high-ranking wolves. There were certain things you learned to recognize.

It was woven into their very being.

The suffocatingly thick scent.

The effortless dominance in their posture.

Even the cold, casual way they looked at people beneath them.

"Get up," he said, his voice calm and smooth, completely unbothered by my sudden display of terror. "I’m not going to bite."

I hesitated for a second, my hands pressing into the dry leaves scattered across the fountain basin before I slowly pushed myself back to my feet.

My twisted ankle immediately twinged, forcing me to shift my weight, and the deep, throbbing ache between my thighs made me tremble.

Still, I kept my eyes fixed firmly on his black boots, refusing to look any higher.

"I’m sorry, sir..." I murmured, deliberately making my voice sound smaller, quieter, as meek and invisible as possible. "I was just sweeping and got distracted. I didn’t mean to come this close to this area."

"Is that why you were crouching behind a dead fountain," he asked smoothly, "watching the delivery truck like a hawk?"

The words were spoken in a light, almost amused tone, but my entire body still went rigid.

So he had seen me.

How long had he been watching?

"I... I was just resting," I lied desperately, my fingers twitching at my sides. "The afternoon heat... I felt a bit dizzy."

A low hum rumbled from his chest as he took a single step closer, and I instinctively took three steps back.

"I wouldn’t consider trying to escape if I were you."

The second those words left his mouth, all the color drained from my face.

My head snapped up, and my eyes met his terrifying gray ones. The corner of his lips curled slightly, like he was amused by my reaction.

"I... I... I..." I stuttered, scrambling for some excuse, some way out of this, but he already knew the truth. Lying now would only make things worse.

"I’m sorry, sir," was all I could manage.

He nodded once, and silence stretched between us.

I stood there awkwardly, trying not to look directly at him, but I could feel his gaze on me. It was the same feeling a rabbit must have when it realized a predator was watching from the shadows, quietly assessing its next move.

"You don’t know me, do you?" he asked suddenly.

Was I supposed to?

"I’m new here," I said carefully, and his smile widened.

"That’s obvious. Otherwise, you would be running in the opposite direction."

My throat instantly went dry.

"Who are you?" I blurted out before I could stop myself, then immediately pressed my lips together, silently scolding myself.

But he only tilted his head, those gray eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my fingers tighten around the fabric of my dress.

"Wouldn’t you like to know," he replied, then took another step forward.

This time, I didn’t move.

Not because I wasn’t afraid, but because I was terrified completely out of my mind.

"You really shouldn’t be here if you want to keep your head," he said, his voice dropping into a whisper.

"I’m sorry..." I stammered again, the words catching in my throat as the sheer pressure of his presence seemed to close in around me. "I was just leaving. I won’t come near this section again. I swear."

My words made him let out a low, dark chuckle that seemed to vibrate through the air between us. But then his gray eyes dropped to the high, tightly fastened collar of my gray dress, lingering there for a second too long.

My heart stopped.

Did he know? 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Could he smell the faint remnants of his Alpha’s scent on me, or was he simply amused by how obviously terrified I was?

Thankfully, his gaze lifted back to mine, cutting off the suffocating spiral of thoughts threatening to consume me.

"You should be grateful I was the one who found you here," he said. "Other wolves are less... forgiving."

"T-thank you," I stammered, swallowing hard.

His lips parted as if he wanted to say something else, but he was suddenly interrupted by the loud clang of a heavy iron bell echoing across the entire estate.

"Looks like another one got in trouble."

His gray eyes flickered toward the source of the sound, and he let out a quiet sigh before turning his attention back to me.

"You should head back. Now would be the worst time to be seen around here."

I didn’t need to be told twice.

With a respectful bow, I turned and hurried away, clutching the broom tightly in my trembling hands and completely ignoring the pain shooting through my twisted ankle.

The second I got back to the courtyard, I planned to pretend I had never left in the first place.

Unfortunately, a guard spotted me almost immediately.

"Hey! What are you still doing there?" he barked, his boots crunching heavily against the gravel as he marched toward me. "Didn’t you hear the bell?"