Chapter 5

Rex

I slowly opened my eyes as the faint rays of dawn began slipping through the curtains, casting thin streaks of light across the room. For a few seconds, I remained still, disoriented by the unfamiliar feeling settling over me.

Then it hit me, I had slept through the entire night. My eyes widened. I immediately shot upright in bed, staring into the quiet dark room as disbelief washed over me. I could hardly remember the last time I had slept peacefully from dusk until dawn without waking even once. It had been a hundred years, a hundred years of restless nights.

That was impossible, I turned my head sharply, searching the other side of the bed. The woman who had been with me last night was gone. I frowned and reached toward the spot where she had been lying. My fingers brushed against the sheets, and I immediately felt the coldness beneath them. She had been gone for some time.

My expression hardened. I got out of bed, my feet hitting the floor as I hurried toward the entrance. There was no chance I was going to simply let her disappear without knowing where she had gone.

Just one night with her had given me something I had not experienced in more than a century, Peace. A kind of peace I had long stopped believing was possible for me.

I opened the door and hurried downstairs, my footsteps echoing through the silent mansion. “Charles!” I yelled as soon as I reached the lower floor.

The moment the maids saw me approaching, they immediately sprang into action. They hurried toward the windows and shut them one after another, blocking out every trace of sunlight before quickly scrambling out of the room.

They knew better than to leave the windows open around me. I was a beast condemned to live in darkness. A curse placed upon me by a powerful witch had taken away my ability to withstand sunlight. It was not merely an inconvenience. It had stripped me of the freedom to rule my own kingdom as I once had.

A hundred years ago, my own Beta, Scott, betrayed me. He divided my kingdom into two factions and took half of it for himself. But betrayal was only the beginning of what he did to me, he killed my mate.

And before everything was over, the witch he had somehow gained the aid of placed a curse upon me—a curse that ensured I would never again be able to endure the sunlight. Since then, darkness had become my prison.

I could no longer rule my kingdom directly the way I once had. I was forced to remain within the shadows while the Alphas I appointed governed the different territories in my place.

But none of them possessed the strength I did, none of them could command the same fear or loyalty and Scott knew it. Every day, while I remained confined to the darkness, his influence continued to grow. His territory became stronger, his allies multiplied, and the power he had stolen from me became harder to reclaim.

I had spent a century watching my kingdom slowly slip further from my grasp. Yet this morning, none of that was occupying my mind. All I could think about was the woman who had vanished from my room.

“ You called for me, Alpha.” Charles' voice pulled me from my thoughts.

I turned toward the entrance as he walked into the living room. He was one of my most trusted custodians and, more importantly, my right-hand man. He had served me long enough to understand my habits, my temper, and the things I preferred not to explain.

“The woman you brought in last night, I can’t find her. Did she leave?” I asked.

Charles stared at me in confusion, I couldn't blame him. Normally, I had no interest in what happened to the women I spent the night with. Once I was finished with them, I left the room without looking back. I never asked where they went or what they thought of me afterward. Instead, I instructed my custodians to compensate their families for their time and ensured they were taken care of before they left.

That was always the end of it. There had never been a reason for me to care but this woman was different.

“Tara said she left early this morning after she was compensated. A driver dropped her at her house,” he said.

My jaw tightened, she had already left. “I need her back here right now,” I said immediately.

Charles' expression changed, confusion deepening across his face. “Did she steal anything? I promise you, I am going to make sure her family pays for it,” he said.

“She didn’t steal anything, and I do not want a single hair on her head touched. I want her here as soon as possible,” I said.

Charles gave me a strange look, he had every reason to be surprised. I had never spoken this way about any woman before. 

“We will get to it right away,” he said before turning and walking away.

I watched him disappear from the room, my thoughts already returning to her. Why did she have to run? I couldn't understand it.

There was something about her, something strangely familiar. The more I thought about her, the stronger the feeling became. It was as though I had encountered her before, somewhere in the distant past, yet I couldn't place where.

I had lived for more than a century, and there were very few things I could remember with complete certainty anymore. Faces, names, battles, alliances, betrayals—they had all blurred together over the years. But I remembered the way I had felt around her.

Last night had been unlike anything I had ever experienced, it had been the best night I had ever had. Not even with my mate, when she was still alive, had I experienced that same sense of completeness.

Everything had felt right with this woman. For the first time in a hundred years, my disturbed wolf had become completely calm in someone's presence. He had not fought me, he had not raged inside my mind. 

My wolf had actually slept after being with her. That alone was enough to tell me that something about her was different. I had felt insatiable, as though one night with her could never be enough. I couldn't help wondering how she had managed to withstand me for so long, especially when she didn't even have a wolf.

That made no sense, everything about her seemed contradictory. She was human, yet my wolf reacted to her in a way he had never reacted to anyone else.

Once they brought her back to this palace, I would make certain she stayed where I could find her. I had no intention of allowing her to disappear from my sight a second time.

I finally turned away and headed back toward my bedroom. I walked into the bathroom to freshen up while I waited for Charles and the others to return with her. I needed to clear my head, but my thoughts continued circling back to the same woman.

My body felt stronger, the exhaustion that had plagued me for months seemed to have disappeared completely overnight. My strength felt completely replenished, and even my wolf seemed more powerful than he had been in a very long time.

I stared at my reflection for a moment after washing up. After getting dressed, I left my room and headed toward my office. I sat behind my desk and opened the first report in front of me, forcing myself to concentrate on the words.

It didn't work, my eyes moved across the pages, but my mind wasn't in the work. Every few minutes, my attention drifted toward the door. I was waiting.

I checked the time again, more than two hours had passed since Charles left. My patience was wearing thin. What was taking him so long?

It hadn't taken nearly this long for him to bring her to me the previous night. Everything had been handled quickly then, so why was it suddenly taking hours to find her now?

I leaned back in my chair, staring at the clock on the wall. Another minute passed, I couldn't concentrate.

The reports scattered across my desk had become nothing more than meaningless words. I had tried forcing myself to work, but my mind kept returning to the same thought.

My wolf was becoming increasingly restless, his agitation spreading through me until I could barely sit still. Finally, I pushed my chair back and stood. I left my office and walked into the living room, hoping the movement would settle the uneasiness building inside me, It didn't.

My wolf was pacing restlessly inside me, refusing to settle. “Can we go out and bring her ourselves?” my wolf asked.

I stopped walking. “You know that’s impossible. How can you suggest that?” I said.

The idea was absurd, I couldn't simply leave the palace and go searching for a woman in the middle of the day. The curse prevented me from stepping into sunlight, and there were limits to what I could even do. But my wolf didn't care about any of that, he wanted her. 

I immediately shut him out before his desperation could push me into doing something reckless.

I began pacing around the living room instead, my irritation growing with every passing second. I had barely stopped pacing when the doors finally opened.

Charles walked into the room alone. My eyes immediately moved past him, searching for the woman who should have been following behind him. She wasn't there.

My expression darkened. “Where is she?” I asked.

Charles swallowed hard, that alone told me something was wrong. “I got to her parents’ house, and they said she didn’t return last night. They thought she was still in the palace,” he said.

I stared at him, anger began boiling beneath my skin. “If she is still in the palace, then find her and bring her to me now!” I yelled. My voice thundered through the room.

Charles remained where he stood, his expression tense. “She left already. The driver said he dropped her at the outskirts of the kingdom. I think she fled the kingdom,” Charles said, lowering his voice on the last part.

I froze. Fled? She was gone.

After I had finally found something that brought me peace, she had disappeared. My wolf stirred violently at the realization, his restlessness returning with twice the force.

I clenched my fists. “Find her, I do not care whatever it takes, make sure she is brought back here before the end of today.” I said