Page 111 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

I take a deep breath in and slowly let it out, trying not to let the guilt eat me alive. Kieran told me it wasn’t my fault, but I can’t help but feel like it was.

“That I did not hear.” She stands up straight and stares at me. “What happened?”

I shake my head and look away. I can’t believe she didn’t hear about it, yet the whole town knows Marvin died.

“Tell me,” she insists.

“I came out in the middle of the night, and Kieran met me here. He had his arms wrapped around me when Marvin.” I let out a shaky breath. “We weren’t expecting anyone to come into the forest but there he was. He was yelling for him to let me go, and Kieran kept my face in his chest so Marvin didn’t see who I was. But Kieran walked up to him and killed him because Marvin would have told anyone that we were together, that couldn’t happen.”

Zahra hums as I put the last bit of ice in the bucket.

“Kieran was nice enough to have Marvin put in a grave and treated with respect.” I mumble as I stand straight.

But the guilt is still eating inside of me, threatening to come out with each passing second.

“He would do anything for you,” Zahra gently says. “He will do anything to keep you safe.”

And I know that now. When she told me before, I thought there would be limitations to what he would be willing to do, but I was wrong. If he is willing to kill someone for me, what else will he be willing to do?

“You can’t help but feel a little aroused, attracted to Kieran more after that, can you?” Zahra bends down so we are face-to-face.

“I—”

“Don’t even think about lying.” She raises an eyebrow.

My cheeks turn pink as I think about it. Yes, while it was jarring that he killed someone in front of me, I can’t help but feel even more attracted to him. He killed someone to protect me, which is something I never thought I was going to be attracted to, but I am, and part of me isn’t mad about it.

“What are you doing to my mate?” Kieran asks, and my shoulders relax.

“We were just having a friendly conversation about how she was turned on after you killed for her,” Zahra says.

“Not right after!” I raise my voice and turn to Kieran. “It was later when I thought about what happened. You know how sad I was when it actually occurred.”

Zahra cracks a smile and shakes her head. “I’ll be seeing you later. Don’t get into any trouble, Adeline.”

Kieran steps forward, and it takes everything in me not to take one back. I’m not afraid of him, but he does make me nervous.

“Was Zahra right in what she said?” Kieran asks, his voice smooth. “Was my mate all hot and bothered? Did you want me to touch you? Show you how I can take care of you?”

I open and close my mouth before settling on a nod. I admitted to it earlier, so I’m not going to deny it now. Kieran lightly trails his knuckles against my skin as he stands in front of me.

“Don’t be all shy about it now. I want to hear you say the words,” he growls. “I want to hear them come from your lips.”

My cheeks get redder as I stare at Kieran, trying not to remember that Zahra is close to us and can probably hear everything Kieran says.

“Sweets.” His voice rumbles. “Was she right?”

“Yes,” I breathlessly whisper. “She was right with what she said.”

“Was I right about you wanting me to show you how well I can take care of you? How you want me to touch you and never stop?” His finger hovers over my skin, and I can’t help but push my face forward, making him touch me.

Kieran grins and shakes his head.

“Yes, you were,” I finally reply as I lean into his hand that is now cupping my cheek.

“Good girl,” he purrs. “My good little Sweets.”

I close my eyes and moan.