Found by the Lycan King by Natalie Winter

Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Zenovia

I froze in my tracks, my heart pounding in my chest. I had assumed Callahan hadn’t noticed my presence, but his voice shattered that illusion. Slowly, I turned around, my eyes meeting his intense gaze.

Callahan’s expression was stern, but there was a flicker of curiosity in his eyes. My mind raced, desperately searching for something to say, a plausible reason for my presence in his office. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words escaped.

I gulped when I heard the voice of King Callahan. My heart began to beat so fast that it was galloping at the speed of a thousand horses.

I feared it would fall out of my mouth at this rate. Slowly, very slowly, I turned around to see Callahan looking at me.

He still had the marker in his hand and gave me a small smile before returning his attention to his file.

“Come here.” He said and went back to sit on his chair, the file in his hand.

I gulped nervously as I slowly made my way towards him. I reluctantly approached Callahan’s desk, my eyes darting nervously around the room.

As I reached his side, he motioned for me to take a seat in the chair opposite him.

He pushed the chair in my direction without looking up and highlighted something with his marker.

“Are you going to speak at all?” He asked without looking at me. I sank into the plush chair and hoped that it would just swallow me whole.

“I…I am sorry…” I muttered weakly. He flipped the page, took a pen, and scribbled something on the paper.

Callahan did not say anything and kept reading intently for the next five minutes that felt like an eternity to me.

There were a few files scattered along the table and a huge map of the kingdom strewn across the length of the desk.

There were a few stains of teacups, showing that he had been really working hard on it, and a few pins that marked certain important spots.

“Do you not know that it is a bad habit to eavesdrop on someone?” Callahan asked as he pulled the cap off a pen with his mouth and threw it on the table as he took another pen to write something.

I thought of what to answer and could not come up with an answer. Luckily, I was spared of answering him when there was a knock on the door.

The servant I had met on my way to Callahan’s office had returned with another round of tea.

“Yeah, come in,” Callahan muttered as he began pacing through the room while reading the file.

He flipped a few more pages and was done with the file as he tossed it on the table and picked another one.

The file had landed on the edge of the table and it was going to fall down, so I stopped its fall. A few loose pages came out of the file, which I began picking up.

As I collected all the papers and put them in a stack, Callahan’s voice reached me.

But it was not directed at me. “Zenovia will prepare the tea. You can leave.”

just poured black tea into the cup and reached for the sugar. He did not say that to me, felt like it was an order directed at

work and it did not look like last night had affected him

but I

day and was still reading the files instead of lunging at me the second I

what I secretly hoped he would do upon seeing me again. Either that, or just

neither, and that was confusing me.

promptly left, glad to not be

nervously and walked towards the tray. Placing the papers

“Sugar?”

He curtly answered, and I

“Milk?”

took the cue and poured the milk while reaching for a

11.01

Chapter 39

office. I would have argued with him that I am not

moment.

the

fell on the table, spilling it all over the files he had been religiously studying.

out a startled cry and hastily pulled some tissues to dab it

cup on the

was spreading through the white pages, making them

the desk and

am sorry, I did not

grabbed my wrist and held it in front of me. My hair was askew as 1 tried to grab the

me was

stop

gaze met his and I quickly looked down, not wanting to see the rage directed

cried, but he simply plucked me away from the table and pushed me

then placed me on the chair and my body had not even gotten time to react to his touch before he had dropped me again, letting go

gulped nervously. When he saw that I was not moving, he went to the

knew I would need this,” He mumbled to himself before taking off the lid.

he going to disinfect

squatted down. Without saying

some of the dried bits

was only now that I realized that I had spilled most of the tea in my hands. He wiped it off and then grabbed an ointment from the box and

his face, covering it partially. He was being so tender; it was heartwarming to watch that.

he was not even the least bothered. How could this

just become another plaything

it. The silence was too much to bear and seeing him not yell at me made

me and be done with it so I

the papers that were lying all over the place, the ink of the marker and pens spreading through even more papers, making it look like a big mess.

I

of the ointment on my arms and I tried not to gasp when

he could squash it in an instant if he wanted to. After he was done, he got up from the floor and went back to

burned hand with another as he began salvaging