Caught by the Mad Alpha King-Chapter 246: Find Elara (Win -Win)

Dax did not move his hands from Chris’s waist.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. The steam was still clinging to Chris’s skin, cooling slowly, his pulse finally settling now that nothing was demanding immediate composure.

"You didn’t answer me earlier," Dax said at last, voice low.

Chris exhaled. "It’s nothing; my brain is just overworked and staging a mutiny over what Adelaide Malek said."

Dax’s thumbs shifted slightly at Chris’s waist, waiting for his husband to speak. "That is not nothing," he said.

Chris let his head fall forward, forehead resting briefly against Dax’s chest. The last of the heat left his skin in a slow shiver. "She didn’t say anything," he clarified. "Well, she spoke, but what she implied about my parents makes me think some things."

Dax’s jaw set, a quiet, contained motion. "What?"

"Well, she said that my parents didn’t want them near me until I was twenty," Chris said. "And suddenly my head decided to replay my entire childhood in chronological order, looking for missed warnings." He gave a humorless breath. "Very productive."

Dax angled his head down, voice dropping further. "Did she reference your secondary gender?"

"No," Chris answered immediately. "Maybe, I don’t remember, Rowan probably had written a report already. I just know that she knows about Elara and that my parents didn’t want the Malek family near us after they heard about her."

Chris stopped, now tracing the wet spots on Dax’s shirt. "Can you find out where she was sold to? Great aunt Elara Malek?"

Dax did not answer immediately.

His hands stayed where they were, warm, but something in him went still in a way Chris had learned to recognize.

"Yes," Dax said at last. "I can."

Chris’s shoulders loosened by a fraction, relief slipping through before he could stop it. "Quietly," he added. "If possible."

"It will be quiet," Dax replied. "And thorough."

Chris nodded, eyes still down, fingers tracing absent shapes against the fabric of Dax’s shirt. "If Elara was sold," he said slowly, thinking aloud now, "and my parents found out who bought her... that would explain why certain doors closed overnight. Why some names stopped being spoken in the house."

Dax’s grip tightened just enough to be felt. "It would also explain why the Maleks were kept away from you."

"Yes," Chris agreed. "And why Adelaide looked at me like she was measuring something that already had a price."

Silence settled again, heavier this time.

Dax shifted, guiding Chris’s forehead back against his chest, his chin resting briefly atop damp hair. "Whatever was done to Elara," he said evenly, "will not be repeated with you."

"I know," Chris said. He meant it. Then, softer, "Is not about that, but... I can’t stop wondering if the car accident my parents died in wasn’t that accidental."

Dax hummed. "Then let’s find out more about that too." He kissed Chris’s hair. "Now, do you want to eat dinner or me? Because you’re touching me like that...

Chris froze, then realized, belatedly, where his fingers had drifted while his mind had been elsewhere. He pulled his hand back a fraction, ears warming. "That was not intentional."

Dax’s breath brushed his hair as he spoke. "It rarely is," he said. Then, after a beat, "But it is noted."

Chris let out a short, resigned sound and shifted his weight properly back into Dax’s space, forehead still resting against his chest. "Dinner," he decided. "If you distract me now, I’ll forget to eat. And Nadia will kill you."

Dax’s mouth curved faintly. "A compelling argument."

He loosened his hold just enough to guide Chris toward the sitting room, one hand sliding from his waist to his back, firm and unmistakably present. "Eat first," he said. "Then we talk. Then we investigate."

"Dax, I need to change into something decent first," Chris said, glancing up. "I’m still in the towel."

Dax followed his gaze down, then back up again, expression unreadable for half a second.

"No," he said.

Chris blinked. "No?"

"No," Dax repeated calmly. "You’re eating first. Then you can change."

"That is deeply unreasonable," Chris replied, even as he made no move to leave Dax’s hold.

"You are damp, exhausted, and spiraling," Dax said. "Changing clothes does not outrank food."

Chris stared at him, then snorted softly. "You sound exactly like Nadia."

"I listen to competent people," Dax answered.

He steered Chris the rest of the way into the sitting room, one hand still warm and unyielding at his back. The table was already set. Killian had anticipated this without being told twice.

Dax pulled out a chair and sat, guiding Chris down with him rather than letting him retreat. "You eat," he said. "I will tolerate the towel."

"That’s generous of you."

"Yes."

Chris picked up a fork, hesitated, then glanced down at himself. "If anyone walks in..."

"They won’t," Dax said. "Rowan is outside. Killian has orders. And anyone else will regret it."

Chris sighed, the last of his resistance dissolving. He took a bite, then another, the edge in his shoulders finally easing as his body accepted the truce.

After a moment, he spoke again, quieter. "Thank you."

Dax’s hand settled at the nape of his neck, thumb brushing once in silent acknowledgment.

—

The examination room smelled faintly of antiseptic and warm stone.

Chris sat on the edge of the bed, robe tied properly this time, feet dangling a few centimeters above the floor. He looked calmer than he had three days ago, which Nadia noted immediately and filed away for later commentary.

"Well," she said, checking the tablet in her hand. "I can officially confirm that His Highness is not pregnant."

Chris closed his eyes and exhaled. "Good. I would have liked a memo before my body tried to rewrite its own schedule."

The doctor, older and unimpressed by royal dramatics, cleared his throat. "Your hormones did spike," he said. "But not abnormally so, given the circumstances. Bonding, stress, suppressant history, and a dominant alpha partner will all contribute."

"In other words," Nadia added dryly, "your body panicked, recalibrated, and decided to behave."

The doctor nodded. "Your cycle has stabilized. Based on current markers, we expect your next heat in approximately three weeks."

Chris opened one eye. "That soon?"

"Yes," the doctor replied. "Once a month is well within normal range for your physiology. Duration should be short, with two days on average, three at most."

Nadia smiled at him. "I have one question... How could you not recognize that you had heat before, even incomplete?"

Chris tilted his head back slightly, staring at the ceiling as if the answer were written there.

"I thought I was just cold," he said. "Or tired. Sometimes sick."

Nadia blinked.

"I’d get shivers," Chris continued, tone mild, almost detached. "Ache in my joints. Trouble focusing. I assumed it was exhaustion or stress. I was taking suppressants every single day, so a heat was not in my books."

"Well, it was a good thing to discover it. Now your heats would be annoying at worst and just another night with your husband at best." Nadia said.

"You are good to go, Your Highness. I’ll send your personnel a list of supplements to take until things return to normal."

"Thank you."