Free Web NovelChapter 68: Watching Her
Rodrigo continued walking forward, his strides long as he crossed the large front doors of the East Building, Seven coming in step behind him.
He didn’t look back, but an unconscious part of him could still hear their voices carrying behind him. He’d not expected to see her all of a sudden, and for a moment, he nearly lost his composure, but he’d schooled his expression quickly before she noticed.
Rodrigo exhaled the breath he was holding slowly as he held onto the rails and continued walking. He pushed the doors of his private room open and reached the windows before his head caught up.
Seven stood by the doors, his mouth parted in surprise as he watched the Alpha’s strange behavior.
He stood there with one hand on the curtain, then moved it to the side, his eyes glancing down.
The moment his eyes fell on her, the tension in his shoulders eased.
She was standing on the line drawn, a bowl balanced on her head and one on each shoulder, her arms lifted slightly away from her sides. Her chin was up, her lower lip caught between her teeth, and she was staring at a fixed point ahead of her like if she looked away, the whole thing would collapse.
She made it five steps.
The bowl on her head tilted left, and she shook, trying to balance it, but the others lost balance and everything dropped. They hit the ground with a piercing clatter, and she flinched, her shoulders jumping up to her ears.
A sound left Rodrigo’s throat before he could stop it.
He pressed his arm across his chest and leaned his shoulder into the wall, watching her crouch and pick the bowls up without looking at anyone, her cheeks already going pink. She set them back on her head and shoulders, squared her feet, and started again.
Three steps this time. Then the bowl slid, knocked the one on her left shoulder, and both hit the ground at once.
The corner of his mouth lifted as he continued to watch her absentmindedly.
She squatted and picked them up again, the flush climbing up her neck now as she set them back into place and started again.
His gaze dropped to her mouth without him deciding to — the way her teeth pressed into her lower lip, and stayed there.
Rodrigo’s jaw tightened.
He looked away, but only for one second.
Then he was looking at her again. A knot formed in his throat, and he tried to swallow, but just then, she stopped. Her chin came up slowly and her eyes went straight to the window.
Straight to him.
He jerked back from the window with lightning speed, his heart thudding once in his chest.
What was he doing?
He pressed his eyes shut and drew a breath in through his nose, brushing his fingers through his silver locks.
He’d spent the entire morning trying to forget her, yet here he was, trying to catch a glimpse of her.
"Alpha."
Seven cleared his throat, breaking the long silence. Rodrigo’s eyes lifted as he realized for the first time that Seven had been in the room all along. His brows creased in frustration.
’’What?’’
Seven was standing by the table with a pile of scrolls under his hand, his face composed. He rubbed his nose with his free hand and pushed Rodrigo’s chair back.
’’Have you reviewed these reports?’’ he asked as he continued to lift the scrolls into his arms.
Rodrigo stared at him for a second, then crossed to the table.
’’Drop them,’’ he said flatly, taking his seat. ’’I’m not done.’’
He reached for the nearest scroll without looking at Seven and opened it, his eyes moving through the scroll, but his gaze caught on nothing in particular. All of his attention was fixed on a certain human he desperately didn’t want to think about.
"Prepare condolence gifts for the families affected by the rampage, and for those who lost their loved ones, the pack’s house will cover the funerals."
"Yes, Alpha."
He placed the scroll down and picked up another. Then another. A few seconds of silence passed, and then Seven shifted on his feet.
"About the memory pill..." He started, waited a beat to be sure the Alpha wouldn’t retort, then continued. "Did you remember something?"
Rodrigo’s hands went still on the sides of the paper.
He didn’t answer immediately. The events of that morning came back against every will inside him, the way they had been coming back all day — in pieces, uninvited, at the worst possible moments.
He had woken before she did.
The room was still dim, the curtains holding the morning light back, and she was tucked against his chest with her face turned toward him, close enough that he could feel the warmth of her breath. His arm had found the small of her waist sometime in the night without his permission and stayed there. Her cheeks were flushed from sleep, lips slightly parted, strands of hair fallen loose across her mouth, and he had lain there and looked at her, his eyes refusing to look anywhere else.
She was completely unguarded, her lashes unmoving against her cheek, her breathing slow and even against his chest like she had no care in the world.
He had not moved.
The quilt had shifted in the night and was not covering much, and his eyes had lowered before he could stop them — to the soft curve of her shoulder, the line of her collarbone, the gentle swell of her chest rising and falling with each slow breath.
Then she shifted.
The sheets moved lower.
Heat rushed through him so fast it took his breath, pooling low and hard, and for one long suspended moment, the wanting of her was so intense that it frightened him in a way very few things had.
He shut his eyes. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
Dragged one breath in, then another until he’d calmed himself a little. He reached over and pulled the sheets up carefully, slowly, covering her without looking.
He needed to leave.
He knew that.
And yet he didn’t move.
His eyes drifted to her face again, to the flush of her lips slightly parted, to the strand of hair lying across her mouth that moved faintly with each exhale. His hand had lifted without him deciding to lift it, fingers hovering over her face, close enough to feel the warmth of her skin without touching it.
He had wanted to brush the hair away. Had wanted to pull her close and pretend he was still asleep and hold her against him until she woke up first.
But instead, his hands folded into fists, his jaw gritting hard.
He looked away from her and pulled himself out of the bed, making sure not to glance at the bed again because he was not sure what he would do if he did.
He hadn’t planned for any of the previous night to happen.
And yet,
Strangely.
Strangely, he had not regretted it.
He should. He had marked her. He understood clearly what that meant, with everything at stake, everything he still didn’t know about who she was and why she had survived what no one else had. He should feel regret.
He didn’t.
"Alpha."
Seven’s voice came through, and Rodrigo blinked, the morning dissolving back into the study, the desk under his hands, the scroll he had stopped reading.
He cleared his throat and set the paper down. "Not yet," he said. "The High Priestess mentioned it would take time. The main part is done. Now we wait."
Seven looked at him.
The crease that lived permanently between Rodrigo’s brows was gone. His jaw was not locked. His hands were still on the desk, but not pressing into it.
Seven tilted his head slightly.
The Alpha was smiling.
Not broadly. Just the faintest easing at the corner of his mouth, there and almost not there, the kind of expression that didn’t know it was happening.
Seven looked at the scroll in front of him and said nothing.
He did not remember saying anything funny.
A loud knock sounded on the doors, and Rodrigo glanced at them. There was only one person who could knock like that on his doors.
’’Open it.’’
Seven crossed to the door and pulled it open, stepping back with a dip of his head.
"Matriarch," Seven greeted.
Rodrigo’s eyes met hers from across the room.
Eloise stood outside for a few seconds, then walked in, her hands wrapped around her staff, her gaze locking onto him the moment she cleared the doorway. She walked to the desk and lowered herself into the chair across from him.
Seven slipped out quietly, closing the door behind him.
"To what do I owe this visit?" Rodrigo dropped his eyes back to the page.
Eloise rested her staff against the edge of the desk and folded her hands. She watched him carefully.
"What is your plan?" she asked.
Rodrigo looked up, lifting a brow. "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean."
"I clearly don’t, Grandmother." His voice came out flat, controlled.
Her eyes didn’t move from his face.
"Your Luna is a half wolf."
There was silence.
’’And?’’
’’When do you intend to start making heirs?’’
Rodrigo leaned back in his chair.
"I don’t think that is the most pressing issue this kingdom is facing right now, Grandmother." He set the paper down flat on the desk. "We have a curse about to wipe us all out, and you are worried about heirs. I cannot bring a child into the world in the current state of things. You of all people should know that."
’’You cannot stop your duties simply because of the curse. She’s a half wolf, and bearing children with a half-wolf... is harder. The council would soon begin to send petitions if she’s not with child soon. You of all people should know what is at stake.’’
Rodrigo blinked.
’’I don’t think I need to be discussing this with you, do I?’’
Eloise cleared her throat. ’’You do not, but I have to remind you what needs to be done.’’
She paused, glancing at him.
’’What I’m saying is... Charlotte and Dominic have been very quiet since the coronation," she said. "They might just have something up their sleeves. We need to be sure your Luna can bear an heir."
There was a moment of quiet before Rodrigo leaned back in his seat.
’’Finding the Earthstone is of utmost priority,’’ he said. ’’There would be no packs to rule if we are all animals running in the wild. With what happened two days ago, we are uncertain if the full moon can be held back anymore, and if this continues, we barely have nine months left.’’
Eloise breathed, her hands going stiff around her staff. ’’Then what about the book? Have you recovered your memories of where it is?"
The room became still, the air dropping to chilly degrees.
There was a long moment of silence, and then slowly, Rodrigo tilted his head to the side.
"Grandmother,’’ he called, his voice quiet in the room. ’’Do you know where the book is?"
The question came all of a sudden, startling Eloise in her chair. All of the color drained from her face completely, her eyes staring at her grandson.
