Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)-Chapter 355 - Showcase Special Security

The other night, when the bath went cold and she still hadn’t appeared like I expected, I made use of her access card. Only to find Kyrie Voss passed out on her kitchen floor in her wolf form.

Assuming that it was attempting my ridiculous request which had exhausted her... yes, I figured it out quite immediately! While absolutely not hyperventilating and dashing forward. Nor without both hands ready to use the medical scan on her, before I realized she was breathing normally.

So the responsible thing had been making sure she got to bed safely - without annexing her or risking doing so. And then Vrika had simply... refused to leave. Pitiful, whining howls.

It begged to stay so strongly that I just settled in next to her presence like we had every right to be there. Like it *wasn’t* weird at all to sleep next to a white wolf I just dragged through an apartment and hauled onto a bed.

Which would have been fine if it didn’t send back impressions of contentment and protectiveness. Making it more than it was. Just a plain good deed and practical use of time!

> I couldn’t argue with you then, because I felt guilt. But did we really have to lay on each other like a two puppy pile? That bed was large. Could have been in proximity without using her as a pillow. <

My wolf chuffs and rolls over. It is already bored and I haven’t even left for the showcase yet. But it does send impressions that remind me of how I snuck away from her home successfully, that time.

Before dawn, before she could wake up and we’d have to acknowledge whatever the situation was in words and conversation. It was enough that she would know I was there at all. It was enough that I walked back...

Smelling of crisp snow and bloody iron, with my head down and staring at concrete like I was ashamed of where I’d been and why. Is that not usually reserved for drunken ’sorority’ members and the venereal regrets therein?

"Haven’t talked to her in days. And she has not pressed, either."

Even tonight, I’m not sure why I still let what happened bother me. It was not that big of a deal! Just... another night of sleeping next to her. Without it being about sex.

> The Friends with Benefits concept is varied in this world. I do believe it can include what they call ’cuddle buddies’. Platonic relationship elements added in the situation. They do not have to be... romantic. <

I stood outside Perigee Residences, repeating that defense, dressed in the outfit Anise had designed and requested I wear to the event. She spent an hour adjusting it’s tight fit to my bust yesterday. Hoping to make a statement with her own clothing.

Even though none of this will matter soon, I still waited like a wax statue in red packaging. Gemstone belt, with complementary blue stones with gold setting, hanging around my waist for accenting.

She took my assurance that no chill will bother me to mean mid-thigh was an acceptable hem length - with small slits that were supposed to help draw a visual sense of attention to my legs and make them look longer. Leading to red pumps that should make the choice between looking down from my backside harder.

Holding onto the coat meant to hide myself and seem *normal* for the reveal moment after getting out of the car. One of the nice ones from this line-up, sent by Ember. But I had no inclination to hide underneath of it while waiting.

Until a sleek glossy black vehicle, pulled up to the curb. Sent by Claire, but supposedly not a rideshare or one of the self-driving cars in her arsenal. I’d been suspicious this whole time... and a withheld breathe leaves my lungs when the driver gets out.

Blonde, not white. Bulky, not beautiful. But oddly, the pressure only increases in my chest. Relief and disappointment are not supposed to mingle so clearly together.

> I really am just... oh, you shut up. I was *not* hoping it was her! <

Luca Stroman, the Rimecoat Beta, screamed ’security professional’ in the suit he wore this evening. Not to mention his eyes swept the entire street like he was looking for trouble. Finally, they landed on me with resignation - as if I am the only trouble around for him to deal with.

"Ms. Lomdi." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Oddly, that behavior improves my mood. So, I smirk and nod as he holds the rear passenger door courteously. The leather seats smelled neutralized, which means this vehicle is used to transport other... Very Important People.

And it also means he was trying to make this trip as bearable as possible for me. Whether that is on another’s orders or not matters very little.

"I know what Claire texted you, but my Alpha is who thought you might prefer different company for the showcase. Instead of the pair of guards you keep slipping, all throughout Vossden, someone more familiar that could travel inside the venue is-"

Really, it doesn’t matter! So why is he opening his mouth?

"Familiar is generous. We’ve exchanged few sentences that weren’t either veiled threats to each other... or awkward package deliveries. And even if it wasn’t for being friends with a woman who brings you up out of nowhere, I would not pretend to be on a date with you at a social event."

"That’s fine. I meant familiar to the city, not to you."

His lips twitched, almost toward a smile that I can see in the rear mirror’s reflection while he got back into the driver’s seat. The engine seemed to start with almost no sound at all. Or jingle of keys.

And suddenly I felt like I was back in a palanquin, being shuttled to some noble’s household to be leered at in the name of some personal festivity of theirs. Because a royal princess is meant to be a sociable creature.

However, the city that slid past the heavily tinted windows was not my kingdom. Glass, steel, and concrete are quite different from wood, sandstone, and clays. And I was arriving not to be looked upon as a beautiful princess, but as a beautiful... person.

> Thin distinction, but the lack of total expectation eases my desire to change my mind. And just go to a plain buffet. No, stop thinking about chickens, I’ll really do it! <

"Claire told me. About what you... are. What’s supposedly coming."

There it was. I’d been waiting for him to bring it up if we met again. It is not as though her assistant neglected to warn me. But I’d been wondering how Kyrie had framed the conversation he surely had with her.

What she’d chosen to share and what she’d held back out of... respect for my privacy, her own uncertainty of facts, or just so that she could hold onto details all her own. I suppose none of that matters, either. Not to my available response.

"And you’re still here anyway. On this little time wasting errand. Either you’re very loyal, or you think I’m lying and want to evaluate the threat."

"Both, probably."

His honesty turned my attention off of well lit billboards and fully to him. My system’s Intuition never spiked, but my own raised in the environment I had been... did. My responses will set a tone that will carry forward - or carry us backward.

"I’ve served Kyrie Voss as her Beta since she took control of a rudderless pack. She’s never been easily fooled, never been reckless with her pack’s safety. Even when her focus was on growing Lunarizon Industries into what it has become."

Knowing such an amazing person could be brought low and spend a whole evening being an idiot because of pictures and texts? It makes my hand cover my mouth. That was close, I almost showed my smug grin after his proud words and set myself as an enemy!

> We have all night to do that, hm? Lets not hasten the unpleasantries. <