Chapter 178

Killian felt something get lodged in his throat. He wanted to tell her that he was only doing it for her safety, but when he noticed the trace of vulnerability in her eyes, he knew that he had done some really heavy damage to her.

At once, he thought about how Inez had to live under the close scrutiny in her previous pack and all of a sudden his heart felt a bit choked up. He was one stupid bastard.

"...I am sorry." he lowered his head and apologised, realising that he might have crossed a line without knowing it.

Inez looked at him through her lashes before nodding. "You should be."

"Was he a lone shifter?" Killian asked Ajax, who gave him a nod and then said to him, "He was. I made him confess his identity. He went by the name Brendan."

"Never heard of him." Killian did a quick check of the list of names that he had in his mind, the lone hunters with whom his mother had been in talk in the past, but never used.

However, he didn t waste his time worrying about useless things because there were more pressing matters that he needed to worry about. Like noveldrama

"The one thing that strikes me as ominous is that the man knew where to find you," said Killian as he turned his head around and looked at Inez, who was sitting on the bed upright with her back against the bed s headboard. "It was as if he knew that you were going to the swimming pool."

Inez, however, shook her head and said, "It must be a coincidence. I made the decision to go to the swimming pool randomly. I think that the shifter snuck into the main lodge to gather information, but I was unfortunate enough to walk into the swimming pool area and fell right into his grasp."

"It wouldn t have happened if there were no cracks and someone had worked faster, especially with the continuous attacks," clipped Killian, his voice loud enough to carry his intense rage.

Laxus winced. "We are doing everything that we can; don t worry, we will fix every crack in the territory. I have given the orders to the submissive lycans to even fix the cracked and uneven doorjambs. Alright? Even the smallest cracks will be filled this time around, such that there will be no repetition of such an attack."

However, that was not enough for Killian. He wanted to give Laxus a grilling session, but he knew that Inez needed him more. He then turned to look at the rest of the pack and said to them, "You can all leave. I am with her."

"I " Ajax began, but quieted down when Killian gave him a look. Good.

Good. he wasn t in the mood to get into a quarrel with Ajax.

The pack filed out of the room without saying another word.

Selene was the only one who lingered behind and said to Inez, "If you feel unwell, send word. I will call the healers again."

"Thank you." Inez nodded at the woman, who smiled and then allowed Laxus to wheel her out of the room.

Killian walked up to the door and closed it, and when he turned around to look at Inez, the woman had lain back down on the bed. With her face hard and her body stiff, she had her eyes closed. She didn t even look at him as she breathed through her mouth, most probably her own way to calm her anger down.

He slowly crossed to her, invading her personal space and then sat down on the bed. Reaching out, he skimmed his knuckles on her cheek. "Open your eyes, Bubbles."

He had expected to see torment and blame in her eyes. After all, he had been acting like a jerk with her. He was hot one second and then cold another without letting her get the stability and peace that she wanted. Especially when Inez had gone through so much already at the hands of her mate mate who had insulted her in every form and manner.

What he had never expected was that when she lifted her eyelids, the one staring back at him would be her siren. There was a warning in her eyes. The siren had been insulted and heavily hurt by his actions. She had taken it as a blow to her pride, and she was letting him know that she was not going to tolerate any of his nonsense any more. That she had had enough of it.

Her siren must have sensed that there was something different about him. Maybe she knew that he was here to tell Inez that he wanted something more. Something more real with her, rather than just waiting and watching where it was going to go.

Thus, she was telling him that she was paying attention to him and knew what he was playing at. The only good thing was that she was not pushing him away.

His beast lunged to his surface, wanting to get close to the siren. He wanted to reassure him that his foolish human had understood and learnt his lesson the hard way, but the siren didn t give him a chance. She withdrew within Inez and the latter s eyes and skin returned to their usual form.

"I thought you were supposed to be staying away from me," said Inez as she looked at him warily.

He slid his hand down and then brushed the pad of his thumb against her lips. He said to her, "I did try to... But didn t like it. The next time, I would like to lose an inch of my skin rather than stay away from you." He leaned down and nuzzled his face in the crook of her neck.

As her scent filled his lungs, he wished he could bury himself deep in her, but he knew that she needed to rest. She was highly strung and was still riding the adrenaline due to the attack.