CHAPTER FOUR

SALOME

In the weeks that followed the divorce, the palace became a very quiet, lonely place. Alpha Williams poured himself entirely into his sport. Every single morning, he would leave the house before the sun even came up to go to his hockey games or training sessions, and he wouldn't return home until very late at night.

It was absolutely not in my place to take care of him. I was just a maid, and my duties should have ended in the kitchen or with the laundry. But the heavy weight of guilt still crushed my chest every time I looked at his empty living room. I still felt like I was the reason his marriage had ended. Because of that guilt, I found myself doing extra things for him. I stayed up late, waiting for the sound of his car in the driveway. I served him his dinner, made sure his tea was perfectly hot, arranged his clothes, and did other stuffs a wife does for a husband—well, except sleeping with him, of course. We never even touched. He was always polite, but he looked so exhausted.

"I want you to come with me to the hockey field tomorrow," Williams told me one night.

I had just set a plate of warm beef and rice in front of him at the dining table. He stopped with his fork halfway to his mouth and looked up at me, his dark eyes intense.

"We are playing the final game tomorrow, Salome," he continued, his voice dropping to a softer note. "And I would like you to be there to cheer me up."

My heart did a dangerous flip in my chest. Panic immediately rushed through my veins. "Alpha, please... I don't think that is a good idea. People will see me. They will talk."

I wanted to say no with everything inside me. But Williams just set his fork down and shook his head. "It wasn't a question, Salome. I am making it an order, and as a maid, you must obey the Alpha's order. Be ready by eight in the morning."

All through the night, I couldn't sleep a wink. I tossed and turned on my bed, pondering in my head how I would survive tomorrow. How could I stand beside the Alpha in public? The pack members would definitely talk. If they saw a common palace maid sitting in the Alpha's private section right after his wife left, Mariam's bitter words would be assumed to be true by everybody. Everyone would think I really was a husband snatcher.

When morning came, I stood in front of my small mirror with tears of anxiety in my eyes. I didn't want to look like I was trying to replace the Luna, so I intentionally got dressed in an outfit that was far below what a woman standing by the Alpha would ever wear. I chose an old, oversized knitted sweater and a pair of faded denim jeans. I didn't wear any makeup, and I kept my hair in a simple, tight ponytail.

When I walked out to the hallway, Alpha Williams was waiting for me. He looked incredibly handsome in a sharp, expensive black coat. He paused, his eyes traveling down to my worn-out sneakers and my oversized sweater. He said absolutely nothing when he saw me, but I could tell from the slight pinch between his eyebrows that he didn't like the standard of the cloth. He knew I was trying to hide.

As we walked out of the main doors, I could feel dozens of eyes on my back. I glanced toward the kitchen windows and saw the other maids peeping through the glass, their mouths wide open as I walked side-by-side with the Alpha to his car. My cheeks burned with deep shame.

The drive to the massive arena was completely silent. When we arrived, the stadium was already buzzing with thousands of shifting wolves and human fans. Williams escorted me straight to a secure, private VIP box right at the edge of the ice rink.

"Stay here. You'll be safe," he said, giving my shoulder a brief, warm squeeze before leaving me to go get dressed in his hockey uniform for the game.

When the game started, the sheer energy of the crowd swallowed me whole. The Blackwood Alphas moved across the ice like lightning. They were brutal, fast, and completely dominant. Williams was a force of nature as the captain. He crashed into opponents, stole the puck with superhuman speed, and led his team flawlessly.

Round after round, his team scored. The excitement in the stadium was infectious, and before I could even stop myself, the anxiety completely melted away. I forgot about the gossip. I forgot about my old clothes. I found myself jumping up from my seat, screaming so loud out of pure excitement.

"Yes! Go Williams! Go!" I yelled, my voice piercing through the air as he scored the tie-breaking goal in the final period.

Well, I was so loud—no, I was actually the loudest person in the entire VIP section—that the rest of the wealthy crowd turned around to look at me. The moment the buzzer sounded, signaling that the Blackwood Alphas had won the championship, I was still jumping and screaming.

Then, I caught the judgmental stares of the polished pack elders sitting nearby. It was then that it suddenly dawned on me that I was not polished at all. Looking at their elegant clothes and perfect posture, I felt so small. I am archaic and timid, I thought to myself, dropping back into my seat with a red face.

But that was just me thinking low of myself.

Down on the ice, Alpha Williams didn't care about the crowd or the elders. He looked up at the VIP box, his face covered in sweat, his eyes wild with victory. He saw me. He liked the way I cheered him up so passionately. Without even waiting for the trophy presentation, he skated hard toward the exit, tore off his heavy gloves, and rushed straight up the stairs into my section.

Before I could even stand up properly, his large hands gripped my waist. He lifted me right up into the air, spinning me around as if I weighed nothing.

"Baby, we won! Your presence made us win!" he shouted, his voice thick with raw, adrenaline-fueled joy.

Then, out of pure excitement, he brought me down and kissed me right there in the open field, in front of thousands of flashing cameras and shocked spectators.

My eyes went wide. The world froze. His lips were warm, tasting of sweat and pure victory, pressing hard against mine. I didn't want to kiss him back because I knew the disaster it would cause, but the sheer power of his hold was unyielding, and I couldn't push him away. My hands just hovered weakly against his chest. It took him three whole minutes to finally get his senses back, his breathing ragged, before he slowly let go of me.

We got home in total, suffocating silence that night.

But the damage was already done. The very next day, the nightmare I feared came to life. We were already on the cover of every single pack magazine and blog. The headlines were brutal: “ALPHA WILLIAMS AND HIS MAID KISSING IN PUBLIC AFTER SENDING HIS WIFE OUT.” The articles called me a homewrecker, a gold-digger, and a low-class servant who seduced the leader.

I cried all through the day, locking myself in my room, sobbing until my chest ached. My reputation was completely ruined. I could never show my face in the pack again.

Late in the afternoon, my door clicked open. Alpha Williams walked in. He looked at my tear-stained face, my swollen eyes, and the crumpled magazines on my floor. He saw my deep pains, and a look of fierce determination crossed his face. He walked over to my bed and knelt down in front of me, taking my shaking hands in his.

"I am not going to let them destroy you because of my mistake, Salome," he said, his voice completely steady and dead serious. "I am going to marry you to save your face."

The words echoed in the quiet room. I lost my breath for a few minutes the moment he told me he will marry me. My heart completely stopped beating, and I could only stare at him in sheer, speechless shock.