Chapter 51: Make A Meal For Me
Rebecca’s POV
I watched, completely frozen, as Kaden rolled up the sleeves of his dark silk shirt, showing the thick, popping veins and heavy muscles of his forearms. He tied a clean white apron around his broad waist, a sight so completely strange that my brain refused to understand it.
The cruel Alpha King—the beast who had locked me in cells and ruled the pack with total control—was actually moving around a kitchen. For me.
Well, not for me. For his baby. I had to keep reminding myself of that so I wouldn’t let my guard down.
He moved with a strange, rough speed, pulling out fresh food from the massive walk-in pantry. He grabbed a fresh cut of meat, vegetables, and a clean pot, ignoring the mess of flour and broken glass on the floor like it wasn’t even there.
Watching a seven-foot-tall Alpha roughly chop carrots with a huge chef’s knife is easily the most scary yet strangely interesting thing I’ve ever seen. One wrong move and that knife could slice through a bone, but his movements were perfectly exact.
He slammed a heavy iron pan onto the big stove, turning on the fire with a loud hiss. He threw the meat in, the sudden, loud sizzle filling the quiet room. The good, rich smell of cooked steak and garlic quickly began to spread through the air, making my empty stomach growl painfully.
Kaden didn’t say a single word the whole time. He just cooked, his jaw held so tightly I thought his teeth might break, his dark eyes focused completely on the food. The thick, heavy smell of his Alpha presence—mixed with the smell of rich, sizzling meat—completely filled the kitchen, making it hard for me to even take a normal breath.
After what felt like a lifetime of painful silence, he turned off the fire.
He didn’t bother using a fancy plate. He roughly scooped the steak and cooked vegetables into a large wooden bowl, grabbed a fork, and walked over to where I was sitting. He slammed the bowl down on the stone counter right in front of me.
"Eat," he ordered, his voice rough and completely without warmth.
I stared down at the food. It looked perfectly cooked, the juices from the meat pooling at the bottom of the bowl. My hands were still shaking a little as I picked up the fork, Kaden’s huge body standing right beside my stool, hanging over me like a giant shadow.
"Thank you," I whispered softly, not wanting to start his dangerous temper again.
He let out a harsh, angry sound, crossing his huge arms over his chest. "Don’t thank me. If it were up to me, you’d be eating old bread in the cells. I am feeding my child. Nothing more. Now put the food in your mouth before it gets cold."
I swallowed hard, the bitter truth hitting me before I even tasted the food. I cut a small piece of the steak and lifted it to my lips, chewing slowly. It was incredibly good, cooked perfectly, but it felt like ash in my throat.
As I forced myself to take another bite, Kaden’s eyes followed my throat as I swallowed. He stayed right there, watching me like a hawk, making sure every single bit of goodness was going straight to the baby inside me.
Seriously, it was the most confusing kind of care possible. He hated my guts, yet he was standing guard while I ate a meal he cooked with his own hands. Talk about mixed signals.
"Where is Stephanie?" I asked suddenly, the words coming out of my mouth before I could stop them.
The moment the question filled the room, I instantly wished I hadn’t said it. The air in the kitchen turned dead silent, and Kaden’s whole body went completely stiff.
Kaden didn’t move. He didn’t blink. The ticking of the kitchen clock sounded like a ticking bomb, and my heart beat so loudly against my ribs I was sure he could hear it.
I couldn’t stop myself. The strong need to know, the heavy guilt hurting my soul, pushed me right over the edge.
"Did you kill her?" I asked, my voice breaking because I was so scared.
He didn’t answer. He just stared at me, his eyes dark, empty, and deadly still. The fact that he didn’t answer made the fear in my chest turn into something wild and crazy.
"Please," I begged, my hands shaking so hard I had to drop the fork. It hit loudly against the wooden bowl. "Please, Alpha Kaden... please don’t kill her. She was... she was just trying to help."
BANG!
Kaden’s huge fist slammed down onto the stone counter with such scary, sudden force that the wooden bowl shook and a small crack ran through the top of the stone. I jumped badly, crying out as his giant shadow instantly leaned over me.
"Trying to help?!" he yelled, his voice booming through the kitchen like thunder, shaking the floor under my feet. "She gave you dangerous drugs that could have hurt my growing child! And then she almost took you right out from under my nose! Death is an easy punishment for what she did!"
He leaned in closer, his face twisted into a look of pure, wild anger, his hot breath hitting my pale face.
"By the time I am done with her, Rebecca, she will beg for death."
Hearing those words sent a cold chill straight down my back. The cold, planned cruelty in his voice was enough to make me want to curl up and die. But inside the deep fear, a tiny bit of hope came alive—Stephanie was still alive. She was alive, and I had to save her.
I knew what I had to do. If I sat here and did nothing, her death would be my fault. I couldn’t let her die for my mistakes.
I stopped eating completely. Without a second thought, I slid off the stool and went down on my knees right there on the kitchen floor, surrounded by the mess of flour and broken glass. I didn’t care about the pain of the hard tiles cutting into my knees. I didn’t care about my pride.
Kaden looked down at me with an angry face, his thick eyebrows bunching together in deep disgust and irritation as he watched me beg at his feet.
"What the hell do you think you’re doing?" he growled.
"I’ll do anything," I cried, looking up at him through a blur of hot, stinging tears, my hands reaching out to grab the bottom of his dark pants. "Anything. Please... please don’t kill her. I’ll be exactly what you want. I’ll obey. I’ll give you babies. Just please... don’t kill her..."
Kaden’s eyes burned with a dangerous mix of anger and something much darker—hunger. Before I could say another word, his huge hand shot out, his fingers wrapping around my upper arm as he pulled me up from the floor with easy strength. My knees hurt from the cold tiles, but I barely felt it over the loud pounding of my heart.
"Anything?" he repeated, his voice a low, scary growl that vibrated through my bones. He towered over me, the white apron still tied around his waist doing nothing to hide the brutal power of his body or the massive bulge already straining against his dark trousers.
"Yes," I whispered, my voice breaking. Tears streamed down my cheeks. "Anything, Alpha Kaden. Please... just spare her."
A savage smirk twisted his lips. "Then prove it."
