THREE

For two weeks, Eliza had convinced herself she could pretend nothing had happened.

She woke up each morning and told herself the memory would fade if she ignored it long enough. That the rain, the forest, the stranger with storm-green eyes had been nothing more than a mistake born of fear and confusion. A moment she could lock away and never acknowledge again.

She hadn’t told Harold the truth.

Instead, she smiled. She laughed when he teased her. She let him hold her hand, let him speak of the future as though it were untouched, unaltered. And every time guilt crept up her spine, sharp and suffocating, she pushed it down and reminded herself that nothing had truly changed.

Because nothing had to change.

She could move on. She would move on.

The lie almost held.

Until the doors opened.

Until the air in the room shifted so abruptly it stole the breath from her lungs. Until instinct screamed louder than reason and her gaze lifted before she could stop herself.

And met his.

Green eyes—cold, intense, unyielding—locked onto hers from across the living room.

The world seemed to tilt.

Her heart slammed violently against her ribs, every carefully built wall cracking all at once. In that single look, everything she had buried surged back to the surface—heat, fear, hunger, the pull she had tried so desperately to deny.

He was here.

And just like that, the pretending shattered.

Everything had happened too fast.

One moment she had been standing in the living room, voices colliding around her, desperate pleas tearing out of her throat as she reached for Harold. The next, she was being escorted- no, dragged- past unfamiliar guards, past stone corridors that echoed with finality, past a life she hadn’t been allowed to say goodbye to.

She remembered shouting his name.

Remembered the way his voice broke when he shouted back.

Remembered the Alpha King’s presence at her side- silent, immovable, as though the decision had been made long before she ever entered the room.

And then without her having not even the slightest choice, dragged into his carriage.

The journey to his pack was long and merciless. The wind was cold and harsh, biting at her skin as the carriage cut through unfamiliar lands. The world outside blurred into endless stretches of snow-dusted ground and towering trees, but inside, the silence was worse.

He barely spoke.

He sat across from her, broad shoulders rigid, gaze fixed ahead as though she didn’t exist. The Alpha King- her mate- looked carved from stone. Not once did he ask if she was warm. Not once did he acknowledge her mood, her sharp sighs, the way she shifted restlessly just to feel something other than the ache coiling in her chest.

Her irritation grew with every passing mile.

By the time the distant outline of a palace emerged through the fog, dark and imposing against the pale horizon, she couldn’t contain it anymore.

“How did you find me?”

The words slipped out before she could stop them.

He didn’t look at her. “You’re my mate.”

Her fingers curled into fists. “That’s not an answer.”

“It is the only one you need,” he replied calmly. “You belong to me.”

The possessiveness in his voice made something hot and furious spark in her chest. “I don’t belong to anyone.”

He finally turned to her then, green eyes sharp and unwavering. “Over my dead body,” he said evenly, “would I allow what belongs to me to be claimed by another man.”

Her breath caught- not from fear, but from the certainty behind the words.

She swallowed hard then looked away from him, her throat aching as she searched for her next words.

“So that night in the forest- was it even a coincidence?” she asked quietly. “Did we meet by pure coincidence? Wicked fate? Or have you been searching for me all your life?”

Silence.

His jaw tightened, but he said nothing.

That did it.

Anger surged through her, raw and burning. “You’re selfish,” she snapped. “You appeared suddenly and now dragging me away from my life like this. I have no use for you and you have no use for me so why are you doing this? My life has been far from easy all my life and just now, I was about to finally live peacefully so why did you have to suddenly appear to ruin it all?!”

He chuckled.

Actually chuckled.

The sound sent a jolt straight down her spine.

Her pulse spiked. “What’s so funny?”

“You,” he said, eyes flicking briefly to her lips, then back up. “You’re hilarious.”

Her chest rose sharply. He was impossible. Hilarious? She was hilarious? Did he not hear everything she had said or was it not clear enough from her words that the last things she wanted was to be with him for even a second longer.

“You seem to be mistaken,” she dared to speak up again. “I’m not in love with you.”

The air immediately shifted. His gaze flickered towards her and then he immediately leaned closer. He wasn’t touching her- not yet- but he was close enough to have her skin react instinctively, heat blooming where there was no contact.

“You seem to be mistaken,” he said quietly. “I’m not in love with you either,”

Her breath hitched. The heat on her skin became more intense, somewhere between tension and anger.

“But then, our bodies will always tell a different story.”

For a second, her mind went blank. And then almost immediately, the memory of the forest slammed into her without warning—heat, closeness, the way her body had betrayed her long before her mind ever could. The tension coiled tight between them, electric and dangerous, pulling her forward even as every instinct screamed at her to pull back.

For a heartbeat, she thought he might kiss her.

Instead, he straightened abruptly.

“This has nothing to do with love,” he said flatly. “Never mistake it for that.”

She wanted to yell at him and remind him she also wasn’t in love with him. she wanted to tell him she was in love with someone else and that would never change. But as he pulled away, her tongue curled in her cheek and before she could bring herself to part her lips for a new reason, the carriage slowed and then came to a halt.

The doors opened to reveal towering gates and black stone walls etched with ancient symbols. Guards stood at attention as he stepped down, his presence commanding immediate bows.

Eliza followed, legs unsteady. She looked around her, managing to shuffle her gaze between her surrounding, him and suddenly the two women standing by the door.

“We welcome you back, Alpha King,” one of the guards standing next to the women said. the rest of them immediately followed, bowing respectfully to him.

The guards who had accompanied them immediately stepped forward, mirroring their actions but instead, directing their greetings towards the two women.

“Dowager Luna,” they greeted dropping to one knee. “Luna. We have returned.”

Confusion immediately flickered through her. She looked at the two women, their features contrasting heavily. One was clearly older with grey hair tied neatly in a bun and one was younger, dark black hair hanging beautifully around her shoulders, jewels adorning her from head to toe. One had a warm and welcoming smile as she looked at her while the other looked at her like she was something that needed to be erased immediately.

Eliza’s breath hitched as the realization settled in. Dowager Luna made sense. But Luna?

Shock rippled through her, cold and dizzying. She lifted her gaze instinctively to him, searching for something- anything- but his attention was already forward, his expression unreadable. She swallowed hard, dread settling deep in her chest as the full weight of it pressed down on her.

The full weight of what she had gotten herself into.