I looked at it once, then calmly closed the app.
The rain left me with a fever that clung to me like a shadow. Using the excuse that I didn’t want to pass it to him, I moved into the guest room.
Unusually, Alpha Leopold cleared his schedule to stay home and care for me. But I found his presence suffocating.
” It’s just a cold. I’m an adult. I can take care of myself. Go focus on your work.”
He studied me for a long moment, frowning slightly. ” You used to want me beside you most when you were sick. What’s with the sudden change?”
I lowered my gaze, hiding every flicker of truth. ” I was immature before. Not anymore.”
” Rowena, are you sure you’re alright?”
His voice was gentler now, but my wolf only pressed back into silence, refusing to answer him.
” I’m fine. Go on.”
He still seemed unsettled, like some instinct warned him something was wrong, but he couldn’t place it. At last, he sighed. ” Alright. Rest well. Call me if you need anything.”
Once he left, I exhaled slowly, my lungs aching with more than fever, and drifted into a restless sleep.
When I woke, there was another message from my mother—this time with the detailed wedding plan. She’d also sent over more than a dozen bridal gown options, urging me to choose.
I was swiping through them absently, enlarging one of the gowns, when Leopold suddenly appeared. I hadn’t even heard his footsteps.
He snatched the phone from my hands and tossed it aside, his brows drawn in displeasure. ” Why are you looking at wedding dresses?”
For a moment, my heart lurched. I thought he had discovered everything—that I was preparing to marry another. My wolf tensed, ready to bare the truth.
But then his next words came, and I realized how laughable that thought was.
” Rowena, is this your way of pressuring me into marriage? I told you I’d marry you someday. You don’t need to play these little games—it’s beneath you.”