DYLAN\u00a0<\/p>\n
My stomach growled again, loud enough to echo in the quiet room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I scowled down at it, as if sheer willpower would silence it. I\u2019d been holed up here for hours, refusing to leave since Hunter dragged me in and locked the door behind us. Not that the door was still locked, it\u2019s just that he\u2019s preventing me from leaving the premises.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I glanced toward the small table near the corner. The tray of food the maid had left for lunch still sat there, untouched and cold. My stomach let out another loud grumble as if to say, You idiot. Just eat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I sighed, finally caving, and dragged my feet toward it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But before I could take a single bite, the door creaked open.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I froze. My eyes widened in panic, and I immediately put the food back on the plate and spun on my heel before I darted back to bed, sitting stiffly on the edge and staring at the opposite wall. Ignoring him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His presence filled the room without him even saying a word. I didn\u2019t need to look to know it was him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him walk toward the untouched food. He stood there for a second, as if confirming it with his own eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t touch your food,\u201d he said softly, his voice calm. Too calm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I rolled my eyes before turning to face him. \u201cI\u2019d rather starve myself to death than stay here,\u201d I said, my tone sharp and defiant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t react. Not to the words. Not to the venom in them. His dark eyes simply watched me, steady and unreadable, like he was peeling back layers without needing to touch me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stood, instinctively backing away when he took a step forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He stopped\u2013just a few inches from me. Close enough for me to feel the heat radiating off his body. Close enough to make my breath hitch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, without a word, he lifted a paper bag between us and held it out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWear this,\u201d he said, his tone firm but low as he held out the paper bag toward me. \u201cWe\u2019re going out for dinner.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I blinked, completely caught off guard. \u201cWhat?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His expression didn\u2019t even twitch. \u201cI said we\u2019re going out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I crossed my arms tightly over my chest, lifting my chin in defiance. \u201cI\u2019m not going anywhere with you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A slow, dangerous smile crept across his face. One that should\u2019ve come with a warning. \u201cI wasn\u2019t asking, little\u00a0<\/p>\n
10:33 Thu, Dec 25 M\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 33\u00a0<\/p>\n
dove.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then, before I could protest or even take a step back, he closed the distance between us in a heartbeat. Strong arms wrapped around my waist, and the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Alchemist of Broken Dreams by Sienna Rose Blackwell 33 DYLAN\u00a0 My stomach growled again, loud enough to echo in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-alphas-golden-cage-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}