Lorelei POV

Oh.

Was I supposed to know what that meant?

My throat instantly went dry, and I lowered my gaze to his muddy leather boots, tightening my grip on the broom handle until my knuckles ached.

"I-I’m sorry, sir," I stammered. "I was finishing up my sweeping, and I... I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to go."

"You must be the new girl," he said, his voice softening into something far less harsh, which honestly surprised me. "Each time the bell rings, it means a crime has been committed. All staff are required to gather in the main courtyard in front of the estate offices. It’s for a headcount and to witness the punishment."

The second I heard the words crime and punishment, a shiver raced down my spine.

Was this it?

Had I finally been caught?

This was definitely the end of me.

"Hurry up," the guard said, gesturing toward the sea of gray uniforms moving past us.

"Right away," I choked out, forcing my trembling legs to cooperate.

I quickly fell into step with the other maids, keeping my head down as my heart pounded so hard I was convinced someone would hear it.

By the time I reached the main courtyard, it was already crowded.

Dozens of servants, maids, and guards stood in neat rows with their heads bowed and their faces pale.

The sight did absolutely nothing to calm my nerves.

I searched the crowd for Skye, desperately needing a familiar face beside me during what was quickly becoming the most terrifying moment of my day.

But before I could find her, the quiet whispers surrounding me suddenly died.

A heavy silence swept through the courtyard, followed by the sound of approaching footsteps echoing across the grounds and growing closer with each passing second.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I lifted my head just enough to peek.

The second I did, I wished I hadn’t.

My eyes landed on a face I had already memorized far too well.

Alpha Kaelen.

And somehow, as if my luck couldn’t get any worse, his gaze was already fixed directly on mine.

Shit.

For one horrible second, it felt like the entire courtyard disappeared.

There were hundreds of people around us, yet it still felt as though he was looking at only me.

My stomach dropped so fast I thought I might actually throw up, and I quickly lowered my head again.

At this point, my entire body was trembling.

I tried taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, but it didn’t help. If anything, it only made me more aware of how fast my heart was beating.

"You all know why we are here," a voice that didn’t belong to him announced loudly, echoing off the walls. "One of you has broken a rule, and as such, you will be punished."

Oh no.

This was it.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the courtyard as the Alpha King slowly walked past the rows of servants.

"Raise your head," he finally spoke, his voice deep and cold, sending a shiver racing down my spine.

This was probably so he could identify the culprit.

And in this case, that culprit was me.

Slowly and hesitantly, heads began to lift throughout the crowd, but I kept mine lowered.

Maybe if I didn’t look at him, this nightmare would somehow disappear.

"All of you," he added, and my stomach twisted.

With my fists clenched tightly at my sides, I forced my head up, keeping my gaze fixed straight ahead so I wouldn’t have to look directly at him.

His steps were slow and deliberate as he moved past each maid.

And the closer he got to my row, the faster my heart pounded.

I could feel him.

His presence alone was overwhelming.

It rolled off him like a suffocating wave of power and dominance that made even my suppressed wolf want to curl up and submit.

Two rows away.

Then one.

Then he was beside me.

I held my breath when his footsteps stopped as he stood directly in front of me.

Against every instinct screaming at me not to, my eyes flickered upward to meet his unreadable expression.

He had on a dark gray shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. His amber eyes seemed dimmer than they had the night before, but they still burned with an intensity that made my skin prickle.

"You," he said flatly.

My blood turned to ice.

Right then and there, I wanted to drop to my knees and beg for mercy, even though I was already convinced my fate was sealed.

As my knees began to bend, his gaze shifted past me toward the maid standing beside me.

Immediately, she collapsed to her knees.

"I didn’t mean to!" she sobbed, tears streaming down her face. "She made me do it! She made me do it!"

I froze.

My panic came to a screeching halt as confusion took its place.

What?

My eyes darted between the crying woman and Alpha Kaelen.

Had he not been talking to me?

And more importantly...

What the hell was going on?

"You could have reported it to me," Alpha Kaelen said, his voice as cold as ever. "But you chose to drug me instead. Due to your past crimes, one would assume you were smart enough to know better. But you’re just as stupid as you are useless."

A collective gasp rippled through the crowd, and my breath caught in my lungs.

Drugged.

So he had been drugged.

Well, that explained a lot.

That explained why he had gone into heat, which had led to what happened between us.

"You should know by now what I do to those I find useless," he added before signaling to the guards.

Two guards immediately stepped forward.

One grabbed the woman and dragged her from the line into the center of the courtyard while her cries grew louder. She pleaded desperately for mercy, but her words seemed to fall on deaf ears.

My fingers trembled at my sides as I watched the second guard load a gun with silver bullets before handing it to Alpha Kaelen.

The woman was on her knees now, sobbing and begging while her entire body shook violently.

"Please, Alpha, please..." she cried. "I’ll do anything. Just give me another chance."

But her pleas fell on deaf ears.

And as Kaelen raised the gun, the entire courtyard seemed to hold its breath.

I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t.

"Any last words?" he asked. His voice sounded almost bored, like this was a minor inconvenience and nothing more.

But the woman could only continue begging for her life.

"I guess not."

Those were the last words she heard before he pulled the trigger.

The gunshot echoed off the stone walls, and the woman’s body instantly crumpled to the ground.

Silence swallowed the courtyard once more.

No one dared to move.

No one dared to breathe.

I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed.

I mean, yes, I had seen executions before, but there was usually some kind of emotion behind the executioner’s eyes.

It could be anger, hatred, rage, or sometimes even a cruel smile.

But I had never seen someone kill with such a blank expression.

There was nothing in his eyes.

Nothing at all.

It looked less like an execution and more like he was completing a routine chore.

I wanted to throw up.

"Clean this up," he said, gesturing carelessly toward the lifeless body lying in a pool of blood.

My breathing turned uneven as the air suddenly felt thick and suffocating in my lungs.

I should have been grateful I hadn’t been recognized.

There was an incredibly high chance that could have been me lying on the ground right now.

Yet my mind wouldn’t stop torturing me with a terrifying what-if.

What if he did recognize me?

What if he knew exactly who I was and was simply stalling, playing with me the way a cat played with a mouse before finally killing it?

The thought made my stomach churn.

My fear only intensified when his dim amber eyes swept across the courtyard and found me again.

They locked onto my face for one excruciating second.

One second that felt like an eternity.

Then he finally looked away and announced,

"You are all dismissed."