The Lycan King's Defiant Surrogate

Chapter 106 Rolling

g away from me, Caleb wakes up a while later. He stretches as he pulls himself out of bed. Since he's naked, all of his bare skin is on tantalizing display. As hot as he is, though, right now, I'm not as turned on as I am disheartened. Caleb's wounds are almost all the way healed, so much so that many of them simply look like red marks that are fading even as I watch them.

While I'm happy that he's healthy again, I'm also filled with trepidation and worry. They'll be nothing holding us back now. When Tristan comes back to us, we will have to go to the capital. My little slice of heaven here will come to an end. Caleb catches me staring with a melancholic look on his face. "What's the problem?" he asks.

I don't know how to explain without making him angry. We're having a good morning, and I don't want to ruin that. Besides, who knows how long it will be before Tristan returns?

Yet I feel the weight of the situation pressing down onto me. If I could stop us from having to go back, I would. But I know there's nothing I can do to keep Caleb out here with me, hidden away, where we can be on equal levels socially. Nothing will keep Caleb from reclaiming his throne.

"Harper," Caleb says, turning more fully toward me. "I will not ask again."

"I'm just thinking of what things will be like when we go back," I admit.

He shrugs, seemingly relieved that my worries were about something as simple as that. "Things will return to how they've always been. George's interference will not change the way I run my kingdom."

"That's not what I mean," I say. Gathering my courage, I press, "What about us?"

Caleb laughs as he turns and begins to dress, kicking his legs into his pants. "What about us? That will not change, either. It will simply return to how it was before."

"Oh," I say, downtrodden, and glance away.

Caleb notices. He continues to dress, but he's not laughing anymore. "Did you want things to change, Harper?"

Yes. Immensely. But when I try to imagine Caleb as King treating me as anything other than a servant, I just can't manage it. He is still waiting for his perfect mate to come around, after all. Compared to that, I don't have any chance of holding his interest for very long. The fact that I've held his attention for this long is something of a miracle.

"Would you let me go?" I ask softly.

This time, he totally stills. "Go where?"

"Here," I say. "I want to stay here, with the meadow and my garden. I wouldn't bother anyone. I wouldn't tell anyone what happened. Everyone can just assume I died."

"No," Caleb snaps with such fierceness that I look at him in surprise. Holding my gaze prisoner with his own, he doubles down, "Absolutely not."

"Have I not been a good consort?" I ask. "Do you hate me so much that you would drag me back into imprisonment?"

here."

"You have been a good consort," Caleb says. "And it is precisely for that reason that I will not be leaving you "Please, Caleb..." Truly, I do not want to see him interact with the harem again, or worse. What if he does find his perfect

mate when we return? Would I be forced to watch from his side as he cavorts around, fawning over some other woman?

I'd rather stay here, alone but safe for the rest of my life.

Caleb presses a knee onto the mattress and leans over me on the bed.

"I will not let you go," he says fiercely. "I will not give up my favored consort."

With that, he leans down and kisses me. It's a claiming kind of kiss, with more bite than softness.

He's reminding me that I still belong to him and that I always will, no matter where we are, inside the capital or not.

"There is no escaping me," he growls, and pushes me down onto the mattress again.

Two days later, Caleb is fully healed, doing pushups while I tend to the garden. He's shirtless, leaving me entirely distracted - until a truck starts pulling up our driveway.

"In the house, Harper," Caleb says, pushing himself up to his feer.

"No," I tell him.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

"Harper," he growls.

"I told you before and I'll tell you know," I say.

if this is the enemy coming, then we'll face them together."

He opens his mouth like he wants to argue more, but the truck is moving at break-neck speeds up the drive. Instead, Caleb comes and stands directly before me.

As the truck comes closer, I see that it has the name house, kicking dust up from the stone driveway.

of a catering company painted on the side. It skids to a stop

Tristan hops out of the driver's side. "King Caleb! I've returned. And I brought company."

beside the

Seeing it's Tristan, Caleb's shoulders relax somewhat. He moves closer toward the truck, following Tristan as he moves around the back. I follow as well, staying back a few feet.

Relief rises in me, happy to see Tristan unharmed. At the same time, I feel dread, knowing there can be no more delay in Caleb's return.

Tristan opens the back of the trunk, revealing a few of Caleb's closest soldiers. They hop out of the back of the truck and line up. While they stand at attention, some cannot hide their pleased expressions, seeing their king again.

"I've brought a few loyal troops," Tristan says. "They'll be helpful discussing strategy. There are more still back in the underground. You have an army, my King, ready and waiting for your orders."

"It's good to see you alive, King Caleb," says one of the bolder soldiers,

"I imagine so," Caleb replies, "After that traitor George told everyone I was dead. As if I'd be felled by a bear and a handful of silver bullets."

Tristan and I exchange a glance. It was a lot more than a handful of silver bullets. Plus, he also fell out of a window.

But I suppose telling too much truth to the soldiers might dim their hero worship. Right now, we need that sense of awe and surprise.

If everyone thinks he's dead, it will ruin George all that much more when Caleb makes his grand return.

I'd still rather stay here, but I suppose a King's return would be a sight worth seeing.

"We need to speed up our timeline," Tristan says, when the awestruck mood has mostly passed. "George has become emboldened in your absence. He is using planted bear-soldiers to keep the Alpha Council prisoner. He is using threats against their families and entourages to ensure they don't stand in the way of him crowning himself king."

"That traitor wants to wear my crown?" Caleb asks, low and dangerous, the threat clear in his voice.

George made a huge mistake betraying a predator as fierce and deadly as Caleb. Caleb will never back down until he has retaken his throne and made George pay for usurping him.

"My King," Tristan says. "It's time for you to return. Your throne awaits."

Caleb grins. "Finally,"