Chapter 4 Meet the King

Adrian did not come home.

The first night, Mira told herself it was expected. He had said he wouldn't return. She prepared for the silence, the dull ache of the mate-bond stretching thin between them like an overstrained wire.

The second night, disappointment settled in her chest like sediment.

By the third, something inside her went quiet. She didn't feel anymore; she couldn't. The house was quiet, too quiet.

No footsteps in the hall. No faint pull of his presence through the bond. No messages, no explanations delivered through intermediaries. The manor remained pristine and hollow, every room echoing with absence. His absence.

On the fourth morning, the call came. Mira half hoped it would be her mate. But as expected, it wasn't Adrian.

It was an unknown caller. She considered ignoring it, too out of it to care, but curiosity won.

"Luna Mira," a woman said carefully on the other end of the line. "This is Clara from the executive office. I-this call isn't official. I thought you deserved to know."

Mira, who was at the breakfast table, sat up, her curiosity piqued. Her untouched tea sloshed at the movement.

"Know what?" she asked calmly, biting back the curious edge.

There was a pause. Then, the woman spoke again. "The Alpha is not on a business trip."

That, in itself, was not a shock. Mira waited.

"He is currently in the southern territory. The coastal sector. With Assistant Ivy. At a private villa. The travel expenses... weren't discreetly filed."

A faint smile touched Mira's lips. It wasn't amusement, it was recognition.

Of course. A straying Alpha wouldn't spend his 'cooling-off' period alone. His time for 'reflection' was just a cover for a romantic getaway with his mistress.

"Thank you for telling me," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "You did the right thing."

After the call ended, Mira didn't move. She simply opened her tablet and logged into the pack's public network.

It took seconds to find them.

A video, posted by a travel blogger, autoplayed across her screen. Sunlight. Laughter. Adrian, relaxed in a way she had not seen in years, one arm draped possessively around Ivy's shoulders as they strolled along a white-sand shoreline. Ivy leaned into him, smiling up at his

face, her hand resting familiarly against his chest.

The mate-bond reacted instantly.

A sharp, instinctive pull-followed by a hollow echo, as if something vital had been scooped out of her and left exposed to air.

If she didn't know better, she'd have guessed they were mates, bound by the moon goddess herself.

She stared at the screen, waiting for the pain to crest.

It didn't.

Instead, numbness spread-cool, eerily soothing. The bond still existed, but it no longer felt sacred. It felt... functional. Like a marriage without love.

'So this is what breaking feels like,' she thought distantly.

She closed the video, going back to her tea, which had gone cold a while ago.

Two hours later, her lawyer called.

"Mira," he began without preamble, his voice tight. "We have a problem."

That was enough to get a reaction from her. She listened as he laid it out: the marriage contracts, the asset mergers, the board restructuring done shortly after her wedding-all decisions she had signed without hesitation, trusting the man she believed would stand beside her for life.

If she insists on proceeding with the divorce as planned, Adrian could legally claim controlling interest in Vale Industries.

Vale Industries was originally Sterling Industries.

The empire her father had built from the ground up. The legacy her mother had guarded for years.

Had it not been for that horrific tragedy, Mira would have entered its executive ranks under her mother's guidance and inherited the family business in full.

But the abduction three years ago didn't just take her mother's life; it left Mira with scars that never fully healed.

Back then, Adrian had been her only refuge, her sole hope.

After their marriage, following ancient pack tradition and the terms of the corporate merger, the company was renamed Vale Industries to align with marital custom.

Adrian had promised that the Sterling legacy would always remain at the heart of the enterprise.

Yet now, it seemed that promise had been little more than a comforting illusion.

"Unless," her lawyer continued carefully, "you can secure unwavering support from the board of directors, this will be an uphill battle."

"After all... you've spent the last few years strengthening Alpha Adrian's standing in both the company and the pack, rather than building influence of your own. This won't be easy."

Mira ended the call and sat very still.

Foolish. She'd been foolish. Love had made her careless. Marriage had made her vulnerable.

She had handed her power away with both hands, smiling as she did it.

Now she was trapped, in a marriage that humiliated her and a bond that hurt her. She exhaled, her gaze drifting to the final document on her desk: Adrian's itinerary.

Royal Capital.

Official purpose: negotiations with the Alpha King.

Unspoken truth: another stage on which to parade Ivy as his chosen companion.

A slow, deliberate breath filled Mira's lungs.

If Adrian wanted to use the capital to elevate himself, then she would use it to reclaim everything he had taken.

This was her chance, probably the only chance she'd get to free herself from the bondage her marriage had become.

With trembling fingers, she logged into the company network.

Within minutes, she summoned a select team-legal, financial, and strategic advisors who had once served her father directly. People who remembered her not as Adrian's wife, but as Mira Vale.

By nightfall, she was en route to the capital, her plan moving into action.

Her body trembled with adrenaline, and something that felt too close to hope.

***

The royal palace loomed like a carved mountain of stone and authority, its gates flanked by guards whose auras pressed outward in silent warning.

Mira stepped through them with feigned confidence, as though her heart didn't pound wildly in her chest, as though her hands didn't have a slight tremble.

The moment she entered the reception hall, the weight descended.

If she had been nervous before, this was something else entirely.. Power, ancient and absolute, coated the space. It pressed against her wolf, testing, oppressive. Mira straightened instinctively, refusing to show weakness.

The closer she drew to the Alpha King's office, the more restless her wolf became.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, her heart racing wildly.

She hesitated for only a heartbeat before pushing the heavy door open.

The office was dark, gloomy.

The King sat in his seat, posture relaxed, sharp grey eyes trained on her. She sucked in a sharp breath.

She'd heard the stories-how he had taken the throne by blood and strategy, and how no pack that tested him remained whole.

Alphas stiffened at the mention of his name, women cowered in fear, and children-they trembled.

Yet here she stood, in his domain with her chin raised, her shoulders squared, and her pulse racing.

The Alpha King stood.

He was younger than she had expected, eyes sharp, piercing. His aura pressed down on her, dangerous in the quiet way of those who never needed to raise their voice.

"Luna Mira Vale," he said smoothly. The sound of her name echoed through the room.

Mira froze.

She had not announced herself yet.

Slowly, she inclined her head, fighting the tremble in her limbs. "Your Majesty."

King Evren's lips curved-not in surprise, but in amusement.

"I've been expecting you," he said.