<h4>Chapter 606: Sessful n</h4>
<strong>Evaline:</strong>
My brainpletely short-circuited.
One second I was standing on the balcony beside him.
The next... I was almost pressed against Elion’s chest.
Somehow, he made sure to pull us this close and yet not touch. My hands hung by my side... just as lost as I was.
"What are you-"
He looked down at me and... just smiled.
Sweetly.
Infuriatingly.
Like he hadn’t just shattered every boundary of normal interaction we had established over the past months.
Then he leaned closer, his lips brushing near my ear as his voice dropped to a quiet murmur.
"River is ring daggers at me right now."
My stomach flipped. And instantly... like a maic pull... I felt it.
That scorching awareness.
My mate.
His gaze.
Locked on us.
My body began to turn on instinct, the primal need to find him overriding logic-
Elion’s arm tightened around my waist immediately.
"Don’t," he whispered firmly. "Do not look back unless you want to ruin everything we have worked on this evening. Everything will turn out useless."
I froze.
My pulse was racing so hard I could hear it in my ears.
"This might not even work," I whispered back urgently. "You don’t know River like I do. His self-control is-"
Elion pulled back just enough to look at me, confidence radiating from him.
"I’m going to make sure it works."
There was no arrogance in his voice.
Just certainty.
"Trust me," he added quietly.
I stared at him, trying to read past the wall he always surrounding him.
"Are you really trying to help me, or are you just trying to make sure I’m on the radar of all these nobledies who have their eyes and ns fixed on you and River?"
For a moment, he just stared at me as if I had just thrown the worst possible usation at him.
"How could you think of me like that woman?"
And then he even shook his head dramatically, adding, "Hopeless."
I opened my mouth, but before I could argue again... he grabbed my hand and started walking.
Fast.
"Alpha Grey-where are we going?"
"Come on."
We moved through the ballroom, past guests and servers and clusters of conversation. I barely registered the curious looks because my entire nervous system was hyper-focused on the zing awareness behind me.
River.
He was still watching.
I could feel it.
We exited the hall and reached the elevators in seconds.
Relief hit me briefly.
Oh.
We were leaving.
Good.
Yes.
That was smart.
Escape the situation before it exploded.
But then Elion pressed a button.
Up.
Not down.
I blinked.
"Alpha Grey ... why are we going up?"
"Because we are not going back tonight," he said calmly.
"What?"
"I booked rooms here."
My brain stumbled over the information.
Rooms?
Plural?
"For both of us," he rified.
The elevator doors opened before I could respond, and he pulled me along the hallway with the same determined energy he’d had all evening.
I was still trying to process the sudden change in ns when we stopped in front of a door.
Room numbers.
Hotel corridor.
This was real.
"Alpha Grey, wait-"
The door beeped open.
He stepped aside and ced the card key - he just used to unlock the door - into my hand.
I stared down at it.
Then up at him.
But he was already turning toward the door opposite mine.
He used another key card to unlock the room and disappeared inside for a moment, leaving me standing there in stunned silence.
Secondster he returned... holding two familiar paper bags.
My clothes.
The ones I had worn before the party. And the gown I originally brought to wear in the party.
He handed them toward me.
And I epted them automatically, still confused about what he’s really nning.
But then...
He opened his mouth.
And started speaking absolute nonsense.
"I got you clothes that will make you look even hotter tonight."
I blinked.
Once.
Twice.
My jaw literally dropped.
"...What?"
He smiled.
Not mischievous.
Not teasing.
Satisfied.
Like a man who had justpleted a veryplicated mission sessfully.
I gawked at him,pletely lost.
"What are you even talking about?"
I started to ask.
But he reached out, took my hand again, and gently pushed the bags fully into my palms.
And didn’t let go of my hand.
That was the exact moment the elevator dinged.
The doors slid open.
And the world shifted.
River.
His presence hit me like a physical force.
The mate bond surged alive in my chest, heat and awareness rushing through me all at once.
But it wasn’t just that.
His Alpha aura filled the hallway.
Not overwhelming.
Not aggressive.
But unmistakable.
A deration.
He was here.
I looked past Elion.
And saw him.
River was walking straight toward us.
His each step controlled.
Measured.
Dangerous.
His eyes dropped instantly to where Elion was holding my hand. And the temperature in the hallway seemed to drop ten degrees.
Oh no.
Oh no.
As realization hit me exactly why Elion looked so satisfied, and why River looked so dangerous, I quickly tried to pull my hand free.
"Alpha Grey," I hissed under my breath.
He didn’t let go. If anything... his grip tightened.
"Elion-"
"You owe me one," he whispered near my ear.
And then everything happened at once.
River reached us in seconds.
His hand closed around my wrist, pulling my hand out of Elion’s hold with enough force that the paper bags slipped from my hand and fell to the floor.
Before I could react... he was already moving.
Pulling me with him.
He didn’t even spare Elion a single nce. Instead, I heard the hotel room door behind me swinging open.
And then I was pulled inside.
The door mmed shut.
Click.
Locked.
I opened my mouth to speak...
But he didn’t give me the chance.
In one stride River closed the space between us, grabbed the back of my head...
And smashed his mouth onto mine.