Everyone is staring at me. When Ivar and I walk into the real estate office, everyone stops talking. Their eyes follow me as I get to the front desk to ping the bell. The woman on the other side of the desk flinches at the sound. She immediately stands up without looking away.
“Ms Helvig,” she says with an insane amount of empathy in her tone.
“It’s okay, Jess,” one of the agents comes over to us. “Ms Helvig, if you’re here about your properties, I regret to inform you that we were not allowed to help you. Not just us. All real estate companies have been forbidden to do business with you or your grandmother. It’s an alpha decree.”
“Are you serious?” I step back.
“I’m so sorry, Sophia,” she says, lowering her head. “It’s an order from our alpha.”
“I understand,” I say and turn around to face the prince.
“Let’s go,” he growls.
“Don’t,” I stop him. “It’s not their fault. You know what orders are.”
“This is bullshit, and you know it,” he shakes his head. He’s fighting his rage, but his gray eyes are pitch black.
“Come on. We still have a whole lot of other stuff to do. Something tells me this isn’t going to be the first dead end we hit today,” I look around apologetically. “I’m sorry he scared you. Lycans,” I shrug. “They’re scary.”
I sit in the car with my forehead on the steering wheel, feeling like my stomach is filled with hot tar. My ears are buzzing again. I take deep breaths to keep myself calm. When I look over at Ivar, he takes pity on me and pats my head.
“Hop over. I’ll drive,” he gets out of the car and comes around. I jump over the center and buckle my seatbelt. I smile, feeling better. “What?”
“This is the first time I ever sit in the passenger seat of my car.”
“This is a car?” he smirks. “I thought you turned your golf cart into a pokeball.”
“I can see why the King sent you away. You annoyed him, didn’t you?” I roll my eyes.
“You’re allowed to be pissed,” he says, getting serious.
“I am. I can play this game too,” I reach into my glove compartment for my tablet.
Because he was always so busy with the alpha’s demands, Santiago let me take care of the technical stuff. One by one, I shut down our credit cards, bills, and apps. I change all of the passwords to every single one of his devices and lock him out of them. I set the question to who was your first crush in high school and sit back. It might take him a while to discover it, but when he calls, he’s going to find out that I’ve blocked him.
“Where to?”
“The bank,” I say, tapping it into the GPS.
I reach back to see if I still have my reusable shopping bags so that I can put his money in them.
“You’re going to bring him to the house,” Ivar says.
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Chapter 11
“Are you complaining about having to tell him to fuck off?” I smirk.
“I can just kill him and call it a night,” he shrugs.
“Don’t act like you’re not the type to play with your food,” I scoff.
“You are taking advantage of me.”
“Are you mad?”
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“The right word is surprised. I am very surprised to know that you are exactly how I remember you. All right, let’s play,” he
agrees.
This is not going to end well. For either of us, but this is the only way he’s going to let me go. Santiago has always had everything handed to him. I would always get praised because of how easy I made his life. No matter what it was, if it were within my power to give, I’d make sure he had it.
That’s all changed now. I am going to ruin everything he does simply to piss him and his family off. He’s not the only one who’s been wrapped up in my things. My father helped his father establish his company. My mother covered up a whole lot dumb things the former Luna did in order for her to be able to take the political position she has at court beside the Alpha King.
The Alpha King should be smarter than they are. They know that I am the granddaughter of a Lycan Major General. He knows that she has been taking care of the princes since they were pups. I need to get out of here, and if they’re not willing to let me go quietly, I’m going to make as much noise as possible until everything here is settled and I can leave it all behind
- me.
I will return all of this money when he allows me to put everything up for sale. Even if this wasn’t happening, I have no use for any of this. I would never come back here willingly. This house holds too much pain for me to be able to live in it. I would go crazy.
Once we get home, I finally greet the staff and the security team. For the first time today, no one looks at me with pity. Lycans are like that. My grandmother can be ice cold sometimes. It really has to resonate with her for her to show some kind of emotion, but for the most part, I’ve been met with detachment. I never thought I would say this, but I love that so much right now. I can’t stand the way everyone is looking at me when I walk out that door.
It’s a little past seven in the evening when my phone rings. My stomach drops when I see the name on the screen. I don’t know why I need to make sure I’m presentable when I answer, but I fix my hair and straighten my clothes. I even wipe under my eyes to make sure I don’t have any smeared mascara.
“My king,” I answer as politely as I can. “To what do I owe this honor?”
“Hello, Sophia,” his deep ominous voice greets me. “I just wanted to check in. I hear you’ve run into some trouble trying to put your estates and business buildings on the market.”
“You heard right,” I sigh. “But I’m going to deal with it. Everything will be done by the time we head to Blackstone.”
“Home,” he says.
His voice and tone have changed so much since the last time I’d seen him. He was the first person I saw when I opened my eyes after the attack. At first, I thought it was Gavin. I think I hurt his feelings when I saw that it wasn’t, and remembered my brother’s wolf dead behind my father and the way his mate ran straight for the rogue who had done it. I couldn’t stop crying, and the doctors made him leave.
“Excuse me?”
“By the time you head home,” he sighs. “I’m very sorry about the predicament you seem to find yourself in, Sophie. I would
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also like to apologize for not reaching out. You are my friend, and I feel that I haven’t shown that in a long time.”
“It’s okay, Sir. I understand you’re busy, and it’s not like I reached out either. I would also like to apologize for that.”
“I want you to know that Blackstone has always been and always will be your home, Sophie. I don’t care that you’re an omega. You are part of my family, and if we’re being honest, being a werewolf is overhyped.”
There’s a playful tone in there, and I appreciate it.
“Thank you, your majesty. That means a lot to me.”
You can stop with the formalities. You can still call me Ragnar.”
“I don’t think I can,” I laugh. “You’re the Lycan King, and the respect is a given.”
“Except that it feels like you’re mocking me when you say it,” he huffs.
“Me?” I laugh. “Never. I would never mock the Lycan King. I hear that’s an offense against the crown.”
“Yeah, and punishable by lashings, but because we’re friends,” he sounds smug now. “A spanking would do.”
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
