Chapter 47: Different
Rebecca’s POV
I scrambled to jump up from the couch, my body shaking so violently that I nearly tripped over the heavy blanket. Panic clawed at my throat as I tried to back away from him, to find some corner of this massive room to hide in.
Kaden seemed annoyed by my carelessness. "Sit down," Kaden commanded.
The words weren’t a loud roar, but the pure weight of his Alpha authority hit me like an invisible wall. My knees buckled automatically. Slowly, reluctantly, I lowered myself back onto the leather cushion, my heart racing so hard I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. My mind spun in a frantic circle. What had gone wrong? Where was Stephanie? Oh Goddess, if Kaden had caught us, he would kill her. He would torture her for trying to help a slave escape.
I flinched, pulling my shoulders inward as I braced myself for the impact. I expected him to yell. I expected him to lift me by my neck, to bare his fangs, to be completely brutal toward me just like before.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he slowly stood up from the edge of the bed. I watched his towering figure move across the dim room, my chest heaving as I feared he was going to get a silver whip, a chain, or some other horrible instrument to punish me with.
But to my absolute shock, he simply walked over to a small table, picked up a bottle of water and a clean glass, and returned to stand right in front of me.
He poured the water, the clear liquid splashing loudly in the quiet room, and handed the glass down to me.
I stared at it, completely paralyzed. My eyes darted from the water up to his dark, unreadable face. Was this a trick? Was it poison?
"Take it," he said, his voice flat but demanding.
My trembling fingers reached out and took the glass from his hand.
"Drink," he told me.
I didn’t dare to disobey. I lifted the glass to my lips and drank, the cold water soothing my parched, burning throat. Yet, even as the fluid eased my physical thirst, a deep sense of dread settled in my gut. Was this the calmness before the storm? Was he playing a sick game with me before the real torture began?
Once I set the empty glass down on the small side table, Kaden stepped closer, his shadow completely blotting out the light.
"Stephanie confessed," he said, his eyes drilling into mine. "My warriors caught her just as she was trying to steal your body across the border line. She confessed that she tricked you into drinking sleeping pills. She claimed she did it all on her own just to save you from me." He let out a low, dangerous scoff. "But I still don’t believe her. I believe both of you were in on the plan together."
My eyes widened in genuine horror. Stephanie had lied to protect me. Even after being caught by the Alpha King, she had taken the entire blame upon herself so I wouldn’t be executed for trying to run. Oh, poor Stephanie...
I knew right then that I had to keep up the act. If I admitted the truth, both of us would be dead by morning. I had to make him believe she acted alone; that way, I could look for a way to save her, that is, if she was still alive.
"I... I don’t know what you are talking about," I stammered, squeezing my eyes shut for a second to summon the tears of fear that were already waiting. I looked up at him, trying to make my voice sound as weak and confused as possible. "The last thing I remember was sitting in my room. The maid came in and gave me some white pills. She told me they were painkillers... since you refused to let any doctor or healer check on me after... after everything. I trusted her. After I took them, I just felt sleepy. So sleepy. I thought I was dying."
Kaden leaned down, his face inches from mine as he searched my eyes, looking for any twitch, any stall, any sign of a lie. I kept my gaze wide and trembling, forcing myself to look entirely like a victim of a cruel prank.
Whatever he saw in my face, it seemed to work. The tense line of his jaw didn’t relax completely, but the deadly accusation in his eyes faded just a little.
Suddenly, Kaden grabbed me firmly by the arm and pulled me up to my feet. His grip was tight, but it wasn’t the bone-crushing, painful hold he usually used.
"I almost fucking lost you, do you know that?" he snarled, his voice vibrating against my chest. His eyes flashed with a wild, terrifying intensity that made my breath catch. "If I had left your body with your parents, or if I had buried you, or thrown you away like a dead slave... you would have been gone. Gone with my unborn child."
My eyes widened to the size of saucers. My jaw parted, but no sound came out.
Unborn child?
"Yes," Kaden continued, his hand sliding slightly down my arm, his voice dropping into a possessive, dark purr that sent shivers down my spine. "I am one hundred percent sure you are pregnant. My pup is growing inside you, Rebecca."
My heart instantly sank into a dark, bottomless abyss. Pregnant? No, it couldn’t be. The room seemed to tilt, the mahogany walls closing in on me. A child. A baby with the monster who hated me, the man who believed I killed his wife. Helen’s words about the sweetness inside him echoed in my mind, but right now, all I felt was a suffocating trap tightening around my neck.
Before I could even process the news, Kaden continued.
"You are to be put in the room next to mine from now on," he declared, his voice leaving absolutely no room for argument. "You are not going back to the servants’ quarters. You stay where I can see you."
He let go of my arm, releasing me from his grip, but my heart continued to race like a runaway train. Was I really pregnant? Oh God, no... Please, Moon Goddess, no. I knew I was the one who had begged to be his breeder just to escape the horrific death sentence of being stoned, but actually carrying his child? No!
Kaden slowly looked me up and down, his gaze traveling from my tangled hair down to my rumpled, dusty clothes. His nose crinkled slightly.
"You stink," he said, his voice dropping into a harsh, blunt tone. "You need a bath."
I nodded quickly, not daring to argue, my heart still hammering against my ribs. I stood there, tensely waiting for him to step to the door, open it, and call a maid to escort me to the room next door. But he didn’t move toward the hallway. Instead, he turned and gestured toward a large, heavy door on the opposite side of his chambers.
"Come with me," he muttered.
My chest heaved with anxiety, but I followed him closely, my bare feet padding softly against the cold floor. We stepped across the threshold, and my jaw almost dropped. What were we doing here? This was his personal bathroom, and it was absolutely massive—larger than the entire servants’ quarters I had been sleeping in. The floors were made of polished white marble, a colossal sunken bathtub sat in the center like a small pool, and a grand glass shower stall stood in the corner.
Kaden stopped in the middle of the room and turned around to face me. "Undress."
