Lara's POV
Of course, I knew he would recognize me even if I wore a thousand different faces and assumed another thousand different identities.
He'd recognize me by that invisible, intrinsic pull between us. That pull that made my wolf surge in me, screaming to the fore, thrumming in my stomach, with a rhythm that matched each throw of his long, powerful strides, he took towards me.
He still walked in that measured, calculated gait. Only now, it dragged against the marble tiles. He hid the recognition that burned in his eyes behind a veneer of seriousness that cracked with each second his gaze remained on me.
Silence settled like a blanket in the room. The whole room shifted from him to me. The Elders turned stiffly in their chairs to acknowledge his stride to the dais.
His stare, while ordinary, lingered too much for comfort. I salvaged the situation by meeting him halfway, my assistant, Rhia, hustling behind me, her heels clicking louder on the tiles behind me.
"Dr. Lorraine Blunt," I said, leaning out my hand for him to take.
He eyed my face for a while. The emotion in his eyes was a mix of pain and rage. They tugged at his eyes so badly, they layered up his grey lenses.
Yeah. He should feel pain. I was here to make him feel lot and lot of it. I was here to make him regret all he did to me three years ago.
His gaze dropped slowly to my hands. "Alpha King Kaelen Draven." He said with the same slowness with which he brought out his hand.
He was playing along as I expected. Good. I'd trusted in our bond, and his curiosity that he would wait to find out what had happened to me within the three years I was away, before he attempted to put a knife to my neck again. I wasn't wrong.
"It's a pleasure meeting you," I said, ignoring the tingle that crawled up my skin at our touch. Damn the bond, I grunted in my head.
I tried pulling back my hand, but he didn't let go.
"The pleasure is mine." He answered rather mechanically.
I couldn't understand why each note that fell from him made him hurt and in pain, and genuine.
I shook my head. I was just overthinking it. I tried to shake my hand free from his, yet he wouldn't let go, until I made the pull obvious, struggling at his tightening grip.
"Let go of her hand, Alpha Kealen," Riven said, coming up from behind him. His heavy, throaty voice was enough to snap Kealen from his reverie, and he let go immediately.
"I am sorry," he whispered, his intense gaze still fixated on me.
Riven looked from me to him, gaze hooded and narrowed. "Have you met her before, Alpha Kaelen?"
His chin trembled with hesitation for a moment. "Of course not, Riven." He said, his voice shaky.
He hid the continuous tremble of his chin away, and he walked past us to the dais.
Riven followed his broad back for a moment before returning to me, his lips curling in a smile. He offered his hands. "Riven," he said. "Riven Rivers." He added.
"I believe I don't need to introduce myself again to you, Mr. Rivers." I took his hand and forced a smile, even though all I wanted to do was rip his eyes out of his head and stamp my heels on it.
"Yes, you don't, Dr. Lorraine. Your reputation precedes you." He broadened his smile.
"Oh! It does." I replied, looking up at his big, smiling face. He looked at peace, so untouched by guilt.
Well, I plan to make that change soon.
I remembered how he'd put his sword to my neck, how he'd chased me through the forest with his men. It was by the merest luck that I didn't die after the car crushed me, and by the same luck that the driver decided to take me to the hospital, where I was fixed up, and my face was changed.
Even if Kaelen had asked him to do that then. I wouldn't have expected him to do it. We were friends too. We grew up together.
I shook off the snippets of memories bombarding my mind as I withdrew my hand. He was going to pay for everything, too, just like Kaelen, just like the Elders. They will all pay for what they did to me.
Rhia leaned out her hand for Riven, smiling way more than normal, while tracing his big, muscular body with her eyes.
"Mr. Rivers, I am Rhia Forest, Dr. Lorraine—"
Riven didn't even allow her finish. He walked past her. "Come this way, Dr. Lorraine." He said gently. He grabbed my shoulder, leading me away to one of the reserved seats in the throne hall.
Goosebumps trickled down my skin as I became hyper aware of Kaelen's eyes following me all the way. I didn't look up to him until I was seated.
He threw his gaze away just before mine could clash with his.
"So how do you intend to treat us?" Elder Bali said. He was the Chief Elder, the very bastard who had betrayed father, urged father to mutiny, and then withdrew at the last minute to have father take all the blame.
Just looking at him sent fire raging through my veins. I stifled the rage sluicing in my blood and produced what I felt was my warmest smile for him. "Just like we agreed, I will have to stay here for a few months and personally attend to your medical needs, until every Elder is completely healed."
Elder Bali moved to speak, but Kaelen's voice stole the air. "A few months." He sounded hurt and hollow. "Why? You should stay here forever, be our pack doctor or something—"
I had wanted to keep my gaze from him, to pretend he wasn't in the room, but now, I was forced to look up again into those intense pairs of his.
His stare still hadn't relent, it pierced my skin like a blade, tugging at my nerves.
Hell! I hated the bond between us.
For some reason, I had to swallow hard to keep my voice steady. "I am afraid, Alpha Kaelen, but I have far more important commitments. I am only here because you are paying a fortune…"
"And we can pay more if you stay longer." He sat up straight on his throne, his stare still burrowing through me. "We can pay anything."
"I don't think you can afford me, Alpha Kealen."
"I can afford anything, just name the price."
Riven, standing near him, pinched his arm. He shook it off. A hard glare at Riven stopped another pinch midway. "Just name the price, I would pay anything," he demanded.
I was still trying to come up with a perfect reply when Elder Bali spoke. "I am sorry, Alpha King, but currently, we can't afford for her to stay, and we wouldn't need her again once the Elders are fully healed."
"The people will need her—"
"The people can survive with their local remedies." Elder Bali retorted.
"But—" Kaelen was saying, and stopped, his lips sealing shut, when Elder Bali, Riven, and the other two Elders around all congregated their gazes on him. "Perhaps you are right, Bali," he grunted mildly.
He'd realized pursuing the subject further wouldn't benefit both of us.
"As I was saying." I exhaled, breathing life back into the room, my voice heavy in the silence. "We will go with the initial plans, and my assistant will communicate my itinerary to you."
Rhia waved her hand to signify she was my assistant, dashing the faces around a warm smile.
"That's okay then," Elder Bali said, relaxing into his seat.
"If there is nothing else to discuss, can someone show me to my quarters?" I stood up, and Rhia stood up after me.
"Let me show you to your quarters," Riven said, striding towards me.
"No!" Kealen dropped fast from his throne. He snatched Riven's arm. "I'll show her to her quarters."
"But you don't—" Riven was saying, drawling from disbelief.
"I said I will show her," Kaelen growled.
Riven looked like he wanted to argue, but he met the fire in Kaelen's eyes and stepped back. "If you want to, Alpha King," he mumbled.
I just watched, like the rest of the room, saying nothing, though I wanted Kealen to come along too. We had a whole lot of things to iron out.