Chapter 41: Chapter 41: The Wolf King’s Suspicion

Jasper’s POV

After the study door closed, the entire world fell silent.

It wasn’t a physical absence of sound, but a suffocating vacuum, as if all distractions had been stripped away. I stood before the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, staring out at the heavy darkness. Moon Hidden Villa backed up to a mountain forest, and the night wind whistled through the trees, sounding just like the mournful cries of lone wolves in the Forbidden Forest.

But what I heard at that moment wasn’t the wind. It was the faint, hesitant sound of her breathing from just outside the door.

Lila was gone.

She didn’t even ask the question—about Caleb, about that awkward encounter this afternoon, about whether she still had any hard feelings. She just stood there like a frightened little animal before ultimately choosing to retreat.

And it only fanned the flames of the nameless rage burning inside me, a rage I had no way to release.

I turned, my gaze falling on the towering stack of documents on the desk. They were the core files for several multi-billion-dollar acquisition deals the Hale Group had scheduled for next week. Ordinarily, a single glance would be all I needed to pinpoint every loophole and risk. My brain is like a sophisticated computer—it never makes a mistake. But now, the dense columns of numbers and clauses blurred into a meaningless jumble before my eyes.

My thoughts were a complete mess.

I couldn’t get the image of Caleb Goodrich’s ugly face out of my head. The way he looked at Lila, that complex gaze mixed with guilt, struggle, and possessiveness, was like a thorn digging into my eyes. It made me physically ill.

’Who the hell does he think he is?’

’What right did he have to look at her like that? He was the one who personally pushed her into an abyss. And now that she’d finally managed to crawl ashore, he had the gall to put on a deeply affectionate act, trying to sway her with a few pathetic words of repentance and so-called “concern”?’

I know his type. They’re used to being in control, used to making everyone else pay the price for their moods. Caleb isn’t truly repentant; he just can’t stand that Lila has escaped his control. In his eyes, Lila was never an independent person. She was just an obedient pet raised by the Goodrich family. And when a pet runs away, of course the owner gives chase. When he can’t get it back, he resorts to playing the victim.

But Lila, of all people, was falling for it.

Even though she’s by my side now, even though just last night she was trembling in my arms and crying out my name, there’s still a soft spot in her heart for that man that she can’t seem to sever.

That’s what drove me the most insane.

I walked over to the liquor cabinet. Forgetting a glass, I grabbed a bottle of aged Macallan, twisted off the cap, and took a long swig. The harsh liquid burned my throat, a fiery trail searing its way to my stomach, yet it did nothing to extinguish the agitation in my chest.

Caleb. An existence as insignificant as an ant. I could make him disappear from this world with a flick of my finger. I wouldn’t even need to do it myself; a single glance from me and my Wolf Guard would make him wish he were dead.

But Lila wouldn’t want to see that happen. This woman—seemingly fragile, yet with a core as stubborn as a weed, and uncommonly kind—she is my one and only weakness.

I sank back into the large leather chair, my fingers unconsciously drumming against the armrest—tap, tap—in an erratic rhythm. It’s a tic that only appears when I’m extremely unstable.

’If one day she really has to choose between me and Caleb… will I lose?’

The moment the thought surfaced, I wanted to smash my fist through the desk. ’Who am I? I’m Jasper Hale! The tyrant whose very name strikes fear into the heart of the North American Wolf Clan! And I’m doubting myself? Worrying I might lose to some good-for-nothing who can’t even protect himself?’

But my gut told me this wasn’t about winning or losing.

It was about loving and being loved.

I was the one who fell first.

The realization struck me like a sledgehammer to the chest. I, the Wolf King, accustomed to taking whatever I wanted through strength and intimidation, had been the first to fall. And I’d fallen for an ordinary girl struggling to survive in the human world, one who didn’t even know the truth of her own birth.

It was utterly absurd.

What was even more absurd was that I was feeling so insecure over a moment of her hesitation, a moment of her silence.

I closed my eyes, and her small, tear-stained face floated into my mind. Caleb’s hands reaching for her at the construction site this afternoon… they were like venomous snakes wrapped around my nerves. I could feel her rejection of him at that moment—it was real. But I could also feel her pain, and that was just as real.

’What is she in so much pain over?’

’Is it for those fifteen years of deception? Or for the “brother” she once loved so deeply?’

I didn’t know.

This feeling of being completely in the dark was more agonizing than the sharpest enemy claws. I was used to seeing through everything and everyone, but I couldn’t see into her heart.

’I need her.’

The thought was crystal clear, yet it filled me with a sliver of shame. It wasn’t because of the Priest abilities she’d inherited, or any benefit she could bring me. It was simply because… she was a tranquilizer for my soul.

Lila. She didn’t just quell my frenzies; she awakened my “human” emotions. She taught me what it feels like to have your heart ache for someone, what possessiveness is, and what it is… to be afraid of losing someone.

’But what can I use to make her stay?’

’My wealth? She doesn’t care about it.’

’My power? She’d probably even see it as a burden.’

’My body? Although our unions have brought me a satisfaction I’ve never known, a pleasure like our very souls merging, something I’d never experienced before. I can feel her response to me in that way. Her body is honest. It blossoms the moment I enter her, her hips meeting the rhythm of my thrusts. It’s not an act. It’s a primal, physical attraction.’

’But is that enough?’

’But if it’s only physical compatibility, then how are we any different from animals? I don’t want to use her as a tool for my release or a vessel to soothe my inner beast. I want her to stay with me because she loves me, because she needs me, because I’m Jasper…’

’If it weren’t for the fact that I can protect her, help her investigate her parents’ deaths, and give her the independence and dignity she wants, would she still stay with me?’

I didn’t know.

This unprecedented feeling of being out of control nearly drove me insane. I shot to my feet and slammed my fist onto the heavy, solid-wood desk. The hard oak tabletop instantly splintered beneath my knuckles with a dull CRACK, sending shards of wood flying.

’What if… what if she really chooses Caleb?’

The question was a cold dagger plunging into my chest. I didn’t even dare picture it. ’If she really turns and walks toward him, if she actually says to me, “I’m sorry, I still love him”… what will happen to me?’

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