Lorelei POV

"So you give tips on how to seduce men," Darius said.

We were outside now, standing near the edge of an almost empty courtyard. After walking in silence for a while, we had stopped beside a low stone wall that overlooked what looked like a training ground.

The morning sun warmed my skin, but my cheeks burned for a completely different reason.

So he really did hear all of that.

"I was just trying to get on her nerves," I muttered, looking away from his gaze. "I didn’t mean any of it. How am I supposed to get any man when I couldn’t even keep my own mate..."

My voice trailed off, and my breath hitched the second the words left my mouth. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

My eyes widened slightly as the realization hit me.

I said that out loud.

Shit.

Darius’s expression shifted immediately, his brows pulling together. "You have a mate?" he asked, his tone no longer amused but sharp with interest.

I let out a quiet sigh, my fingers fidgeting with the fabric of my dress.

"Had," I corrected softly. "He fell in love with someone else, so I rejected him."

"It’s that easy?" Darius asked, his voice unreadable.

"It should be," I replied, my voice dropping slightly. "But it hurts."

It hurt more than I would ever admit to anyone.

Even now, I still caught myself thinking about him, wondering what things could have been if he had just trusted me.

A quiet sigh slipped past my lips before I could stop it.

"But even if it hurts," I continued, staring out at the empty training grounds, "sometimes it’s better to just let go."

Darius let out a soft scoff.

"If only he could take that advice," he muttered, more to himself than to me as his gaze drifted away for a brief moment.

"Who?" I asked instinctively.

The question slipped out before I could stop myself, and a second later, I was mentally cursing myself.

Why was I questioning him like that? He was the Beta, for crying out loud.

"A certain someone," he replied anyway, with a faint smirk touching his lips.

Just like before, he avoided giving a real answer, but I didn’t press further.

After all, it wasn’t my place to pry.

"What about you?" I asked, trying to steer the conversation away from my pathetic past.

So far, I knew the Alpha had a mate who left him because of his nature, but what about Darius? Had his mate left too?

"Me?" he repeated, tilting his head.

I half expected him to dodge the question like he had done twice already, but instead, a dry, humorless smile touched his lips.

"I’m a mateless wolf. Never had one, never will."

Hearing that, my eyes widened in complete shock, and I had to fight the urge to gasp out loud.

"Mateless wolf," I muttered to myself, the words sounding surreal even as I said them.

I had heard about them back home before. They were werewolves destined by the Moon Goddess to never have a fated mate.

The stories always painted them as tragic, solitary figures, claiming that most of them eventually died completely alone, consumed by a hollow ache that could never be filled.

Because they were so incredibly rare, I had never actually believed those stories. Never in a million years would I have imagined meeting one in person. Plus, he was the Beta of an entire empire. He had absolutely no reason to lie to a maid.

Or could he?

"How did you figure that out?" I couldn’t help but ask, curiosity burning too fiercely to suppress.

Surely there had to be a chance that he simply hadn’t met his mate yet. After all, he was still young, probably in his prime.

Hearing that, Darius let out a short, hollow laugh that clearly didn’t reach his eyes. He leaned back against the stone wall and looked down at me.

"Well, for starters, I’ve never felt any connection to any man or woman. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the mate bond. It could simply be attraction. But I feel absolutely nothing. Just a void."

He shrugged his broad shoulders as if we were discussing the weather instead of something that could change a person’s entire life.

"And when I crossed the age of eighteen, my wolf never developed that instinctual urge to seek anyone out. While the other guys in the pack were losing their minds over scents and searching for their fated halves, I was perfectly content spending my time on the training grounds. A few years ago, I even had a shaman read my soul thread to figure out what was wrong with me. Mine was dead, confirming what I already knew."

A gasp escaped me before I could stop it as I stared at him, stunned out of my mind.

"To be honest," he continued, "I prefer it this way."

"You prefer it?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

To me, the idea of living without ever experiencing that ultimate bond, even one as broken as mine, seemed unbearably lonely.

"Think about it," Darius said, leaning slightly closer until his gray eyes locked with mine. "A mate is a vulnerability. Look at what happens to the strongest Alphas when their mates are threatened, or worse, when they leave. They break. The bond makes you weak. It gives your enemies a direct line to your throat. Without it, I’m untouchable. My only loyalty is to the throne, and nothing can ever compromise that."

He spoke with so much certainty that, for a brief moment, I found myself almost envious of him.

"But don’t you ever wonder?" I asked softly, unable to stop myself. "What it feels like to have someone who is entirely yours?"

Hearing that, something in his expression shifted.

His jaw tightened, and for the briefest second, I caught something that looked almost like regret before he buried it again.

"I do," he admitted, holding my gaze for a few long seconds before slowly exhaling and looking away. "But it is what it is."

Those words were followed by complete silence.

I just stood there awkwardly, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, completely at a loss for words. I didn’t know what else to say or if I was even allowed to press any further into the Beta’s personal life after seeing that brief crack in his armor.

"That maid..."

Thankfully, Darius broke the heavy silence, his eyes still fixed on the empty training grounds stretched out before us.

"How often does she target you?"

"Who, Chelsea?" I asked, and just hearing her name made my jaw tighten all over again. "Pretty much since the day I got here. She’s always been on my neck, constantly looking for the smallest excuse to get me into trouble."

"Would you like me to take care of it?"

He said it so casually that a shiver ran straight down my spine, as if my body instinctively understood the dark meaning hidden beneath those simple words.

"What?" I stammered, my heart skipping a beat.

Darius still didn’t look at me. His profile remained perfectly still against the morning light.

"You are no longer a maid, Ella," he said, using my fake name with effortless precision. "You are now with the Alpha King. However complicated your relationship might be, I have a responsibility to ensure your safety and your standing within this compound. So, if you want, I can simply make her go away."