CHAPTER 52

Beatrice's POV

It was unlike all the other mornings I had spent in this suite. There was nothing weighing heavily on me; there was no confusion fogging my mind.

For once, the past wasn’t disturbing my thoughts.

Instead, I could only think of him.

Yesterday’s words from Xander echoed in my head.

"I want you."

"But I’m scared."

His confession had shaken me to my core. I had poisoned my own mind until I could not see clearly enough to understand that what had sprung up between us was not temporary, nor was it something that could be manufactured by circumstance.

But now?

I wasn’t so sure anymore.

I elongated myself, muscles achy from the tightness of the last few days. Sunlight streamed through the high glass windows, creating golden diagrams on the silk sheets. The storm was over and there was a cool morning wind coming in through the open balcony doors.

I breathed out, my fingers sliding across the space beside me. It was empty — though the fading warmth told me he had been there.

Had he watched me sleep?

That idea gave me a strange little shiver.

A knock at the door pulled me from my reverie.

Before I could reply, the door creaked open.

And there he was.

Xander.

He was dressed casually in a fitted black shirt and dark jeans and looked nothing at all like the intimidating Lycan King I had originally met. His usual cold pose was fading, replaced by something... milder. Which is something way too close to warmth.

He watched me from the doorway, his face unreadable.

“You’re awake,” he observed.

His voice was smooth, steady — but there was something unusual about how he said it. Like he'd been waiting for me to wake up.

I propped myself up, running my hair back. “Barely.”

Xander’s lips twitched, as if he were stifling a smile.

Then, without saying anything, he stepped closer, offering a tray of food.

I blinked.

“You… brought me breakfast?”

Xander gave me a dry look. “Do you want it or not?”

It was a slow smile across my face.” “I do. I had no idea you did things like this.”

He laughed, placing the tray on the nightstand. “I don’t.”

My brow arched. “Then why now?”

Xander hesitated.

For a moment, he actually seemed… unsure. As if he wasn’t quite sure what to say. His fingers curled ever so slightly at his sides, and I could sense he was fighting something inside him.

At last, he exhaled and made eye contact with me.

“Because you didn’t eat last night,” he muttered, raking a hand through his already-messy dark hair. “And I don’t like you like that.”

Something in my chest clenched.

He noticed?

The Xander I got to know wasn’t one to be concerned. He was aloof, standoffish — always holding me at arm’s length. But this? This was different.

By this, he was breaking his own rules.

My fingers grazed across the tray, my heart pounding slightly harder than it should have.

“What if I said I’m not hungry?” I tested, looking closely at him.

Xander’s jaw tightened.

“Then I’d make you eat anyway,” he said evenly.

I couldn’t help it—I laughed.

It was soft, not much more than a breath, but it was real. And as soon as the sound exploded in the air, Xander’s expression twisted.

His eyes darkened a touch, resting on my face.

For a second, I could swear he looked fascinated.

I coughed to clear my throat and picked a slice of toast from the tray and took a small bite. “Satisfied?”

Xander crossed his arms and leaned against the edge of the bed.

“For now,” he murmured.

A good-friends silence hung between us. The kind that didn’t seem suffocating, didn’t seem forced. Just… easy.

I chewed slowly, trying to wrap my head around whatever this was.

Xander here, handing me breakfast, observing me with something teetering on the edge of affection—it felt like a silent peace treaty. As if we were both recognizing something neither of us had impressed on the air.

After everything we’ve been through, after all the push and pull, the war between us…

Perhaps, just perhaps, we finally were walking into something neither of us could escape from anymore.”

He placed the tray atop the beside table. “I don’t.”

Then why?

The question lingered between us, but I didn’t press it. Instead I reached for a fork and took a mouthful of the eggs, a comfortable silence falling over us.

He watched me, his arms folded over his chest, as if waiting for my response.

“It’s good,” I admitted.

His brow lifted. “You sound surprised.”

I smirked. “A little.”

Xander rolled his eyes but was not really annoyed.

Interestingly, for the first time, it felt … normal between us. No tension. No fights. No hesitation.

Just us.

“Come with me,” Xander said suddenly, just as I was finishing eating.

I dabbed my mouth with a napkin and cocked an eyebrow. “Where?”

His lips curved into something that was neither a smile nor the usual indifference he wore.

“You’ll see.”

A spark of curiosity flickered in my chest.

I was about to ask again when he turned to walk towards the door.

It took me only a moment to follow.

Xander guided me through another part of the villa’s estate, through stately trees and winding stone passages. The air was thick with the crisp and invigorating scent of earth and pine.

I didn’t know where we were headed, but I was not afraid.

Next to Xander, I felt … safe.

And then I saw it.

In the morning light, a vast, open field lay before us, golden. A big wooden stable stood in the middle, its doors ajar.

Horses.

Just outside, a sleek black stallion stood, its mane as silky as the promises I saw in the horse’s eyes. A few others grazed nearby, their tails flicking lazily.

I looked at Xander, wide-eyed. “You have horses?”

He looked almost sheepish. “I used to ride. Before…”

Before life hardened him.

The man he had been before.

Whatever it was in my chest, it tightened.

“You don’t ride anymore?” I asked softly.

Xander breathed, a faraway look in his eyes. “It’s been years.”

I looked at his face, the tiny clench of his jaw. There was something fragile about this moment, something uncommon.

He had lost much, and a part of him still longed for it.

That made him a human being.

“Then let’s make sure that changes,” I replied, surprising even myself.

His gaze snapped to mine, flickered with amusement. “You ride?”

I hesitated. “…No.”

Xander laughed softly. “And you think I should teach you?”

I lifted my chin. “Yes.”

He paused, looking at me for a long moment.

Then, without a word, he strode to the stable.

I screamed.

“Hold on!” Xander’s rich laugh filled the air as the horse I rode shifted.

“I am holding on!” I shouted back, as I gripped the reins.

The horse wasn’t even running that fast, but my heart raced in my chest.

Xander stood next to me, one hand on the horse’s bridle, the other lightly resting on my knee, steadying me.

“You’re in a panic,” he observed.

“No, I’m—”

The horse snorted.

I yelled.

Xander laughed again, squeezing my leg. “Relax, Beatrice. You’re not going to die.”

I shot him a glare. “Easy for you to say. You’re not the one up there on top of a giant creature with a mind of its own.”

His gaze softened. “Trust me.”

I stilled.

It was no longer serving just the horse.

He was telling me to trust him.

Tentatively, I let out a quak­y breath.

I didn’t know how long we sat like that—me on the horse, Xander standing next to me, his hand still on my knee.

But it just felt like the right thing to do.

Like I was meant to be here.

As if this was where we were supposed to be.

That night, we sat outside on the terrace of the hotel suite. We stood facing the ocean, moonlight skipping across the sea.

We hadn’t talked much since the riding lesson, and it wasn’t an awkward silence. It was… comfortable.

I stole a glance at him.

He seemed more at peace than I’d ever seen him.

His guard was down. His expression was soft.

And for the first time since we began, I realized—

Xander Thane was more accessible than I thought.

I curled my fingers against my lap.

If I just tilted my head a little closer…

If I let myself want this…

Would he let me in?

Would we work?

The thought sucked a wave of heat through me.

I must have stared at Xander because he turned around and looked at me. There was something unreadable, something dangerous, in his eyes.

The same one he had shot me last night.

The one that made my heart go thump.

That air between us crackled with something I wasn’t prepared to name.

For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me.

For a moment I hoped he would.

But I couldn’t quite bring myself.

Something told me this wouldn’t last.

This moment, this tenuous happiness, would vanish the moment we stepped outside this villa.

I lowered my gaze.

Xander exhaled softly.

He didn’t push.

He didn’t ask.

And that, more than Anything Else, hurt.

When I went home, I lay in bed on that one night and stared at the ceiling, and one thought kept coming back.

“Is all this going to go away when we go back?”