The Lycan King's Defiant Surrogate
Defiant Surrogate 52

Chapter 52

Caleb follows me back to my room. I'm annoyed, frankly, because Bethany put a lot of effort into this dress only for me to be unable to truly show it off. But Caleb's insistence has me moving my feet, booking it back to my room and then to my closet.

Bethany is still in the rooms, cleaning up from the masterful miracle she performed on this dress. She looks at me in confusion, yet the moment she sees Caleb coming in behind me, she pales and quickly ducks out of the room, leaving her sewing machine, basket, and other fabrics behind. Caleb doesn't even glance at her, though he does notice the sewing machine. He glares at it before focusing again on me.

stand outside of my closet door and wait for him to peer inside.

"This is why I can't change," I tell him

He stills in the doorway to the closet. Then, as he takes a step inside, his entire body tenses, his shoulders going rigid, his eyes flashing red.

-Where are the clothes I bought for you?" he says.

"I don't know, Bethany says they were stolen."

Caleb swivels on his heel, sending his glare my way once more. "Who?"

"I don't know," I answer honestly.

A low growl emits from the back of his throat. "I tire of your continued ignorance."

"I didn't see them. I wasn't here." I say.

Caleb looks away from me, back to the empty room. "It has to be members of the harem. No one else would be allowed back here."

I can't deny that.

"But you still refuse to give me specific names...

I keep my mouth firmly clamped.

"Perhaps I should purge the lot of them," Caleb mutters, as if to himself. "I could easily start over again."

"That's too excessive," I say at once, worried he might actually follow through. I'm not sure how many members of the harem there are, exactly. I know it grows all the time with the tributes sent. Those women are included, even if the King mostly ignores them. I couldn't stand even one loss of life made in my name. Now he's talking about dozens, maybe even a hundred?

Needing to soothe that bloodlust in him before he went out of control, I slowly stepped to his side. Reaching out, I placed a hand on the center of his bag and began to lightly massage. Immediately, some of the tension eased from his body.

"I suppose that much murder would infuriate the packs.." Caleb says, growing incrementally calmer. "They send their women to me to gain my favor, but also to show their own strength.

That makes sense, I suppose. The more consorts in the harem that a pack had, the more important they would consider themselves. To slaughter all those women, in addition to just being a horrible, evil action, would also alienate those packs.

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15:08 Wed, Nov 20

Chapter 52

1:60%,

The King, to have power over his kingdom, needed complacency. With that much murder, he'd have to worry about uprisings, even more than he already did.

I'm hoping the cruel nature of a purge would stop Caleb from committing it, but just in case, I'm relieved there are other reasons to keep him from doing so.

As Caleb relaxes. I add my second hand beside the first, to press more fully into his back. Under my hands, I feel the last of his tension case away.

"You must be some type of sorceresch

he says.

"I'm not," I assure him. "I'm just a frail human."

He grunts in disbelief. Then, he turns to me, stopping my ministrations. His eyes search my face, though I'm not sure what he's looking for. After a moment, he glances away, dissatisfied. With an annoyed huff, he returns into the main room of my chambers. I follow him out.

He walks toward the entry way, where a bouquet of flowers brightens the room from a side table. Carefully, he pulls a pink peony from the bouquet. She sniffs it lightly.

It's a strange moment, watching a man so powerful, so deadly even, hold something so fragile. He's careful not to crush the flowers as he brings it over to me.

He holds it out. "It smells like you!

My eyes go wide, and my heart races out of control.

Sexual overtures, I expect from him. Gruff, angry demands are the norm.

But this? What is this?

Kindness? Vulnerability almost?

It doesn't seem real.

I half expect it to be a trap, even as I reach out and accept the flower.

He looks at me strangely then, as if only now realizing what he's just done. The softness in his eyes hardens at once, returning to its typical low burn of annoyance.

But I get the feeling that annoyance isn't directed at me, but at himself.

"I will order new clothes for you," he says. "Do not leave this room until they arrive."

I'm so stunned by the flower that I nod a little, barely registering his new command.

At my ascent, he swivels on his heel and leaves the room, slamming the door behind him.

For hours, I sit in my room and wonder over the peony and what it could mean. Bethany returns in time and even she seems dumbfounded.

"He just gave it to you?" she asks.

"Yes," I tell her.

"He didn't... demand something in return?" she asks.

"No," I say.

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15:08 Wed, Nov 201

Chapter 52

60%

Eventually, a few slaves knock on the door. They enter carrying a few clothes for me, dresses and nightgowns and bras and panties. Enough to see me through for a few days,

"King Caleb has ordered a new wardrobe for you, but such things take time to prepare," the person in charge tells me. "These items should suffice in the interim." They do, I assure him.

The last slave to enter carries with them a vase of fresh peonies. She hands it to r

Amazed. I look at Bethany. Her eyes are wide.

When the slaves are gone. I hurry to change my outfit.

me without a word.

iving the dress I had been wearing to Bethany, I tell her, "If we could make it less revealing, I would love to keep wearing your designs. Bethany beams, and a spark of happiness ignites within me. It feels good, to make people smile. To bring out the kindness in them.

Glancing at the flowers, I make a decision. "I need to see him. I have to thank him at once."

Taking one of the peonies with me, I slip out into the hallway and go in search for the King. By now, the party has long since ended and the Hall sits empty. His personal servants tell me he's not in his chambers. The guards tell me, with a wary look. that he's in the floors below. I haven't taken the stairs downward since my endeavor with the coliseum. But I head that way now, confident that Caleb is a good person deep down.

The flowers have spoken words that he cannot,

Down and down I follow the stairs. The guards who see me look at me curiously but make no effort to stand in my path. It seems my freedoms as a consort are much more than those of a slave.

1 spot Tristan in the hallway containing the interrogation rooms, the floor above the dungeons. As I step out of the stairwell, a shriek of pain makes me freeze.

One of the interrogation rooms is open, and from where I'm standing, I can see straight inside.

There's a man bound to a chair. He's shirtless with a few fresh dagger wounds crisscrossing his chest.

Caleb walks into view, rounding the man,

In his hand, he's holding a dagger dripping with blood.

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