Dumped Omega? Now Their Alpha King Begs at My Feet novel Chapter 24

Valerie's POV

I watched Kai walk into the room.

I felt his presence before I properly saw him. It was a raw, dominant energy, a palpable wave of power that silenced the air around him. It was the signature of a true Alpha predator.

It was the same overwhelming, suffocating power I had felt in the chaos of the ICU. It was a power that demanded attention, that bent the world to its will. He moved with a dangerous grace that his expensive suit couldn't hide.

I saw him give Isabella a polite, dismissive glance. His eyes scanned the room with the quick, assessing gaze of a wolf sizing up new territory. And then, they landed on me.

I saw the shock hit him, a flicker of raw disbelief that he quickly masked behind a wall of cold control. Then came the confusion as he tried to place me. And finally, the dawning, predatory realization as he put the pieces together. His eyes narrowed, and a new kind of intensity burned in their dark depths.

For the first time since leaving the Blackwoods, I felt a flicker of genuine, dangerous interest.

Maybe this new life wouldn't be so boring after all.

Then his attention, his entire predatory focus, snapped right back to me.

The public dismissal was subtle, but in our world of unspoken power dynamics, it was as brutal as a physical blow. He had declared, in front of everyone, who held the real power and interest in the room.

I saw Isabella's perfect smile tighten for just a second. A flicker of raw, ugly fury flashed in her eyes before she expertly masked it behind a facade of polite grace.

The first crack in her perfect mask had appeared. And I knew it wouldn't be the last.