Chapter 4

Calden's POV

Three years ago, Elowen Veyra had been nothing more than part of an arrangement.

That was how I had seen her from the beginning. She was an Omega with a rare blood type, and Thessaly needed that blood to survive. Elowen needed money, protection, and a place in the pack. The Council had brought the two problems together and called the solution a marriage.

At the time, I had not questioned it.

Why would I?

Elowen had agreed to the arrangement, and I had made it clear that my first responsibility was to Thessaly. She had accepted those conditions without complaint. As far as I was concerned, the agreement had worked exactly as planned.

Until she walked away.

I sat alone in my office with a glass of whiskey in my hand, staring at the report Beta Aldrin had placed on my desk.

There was almost nothing in it.

No confirmed destination. No travel record. No bank activity. No useful information about the vehicle that had taken her away. It was as if Elowen had simply disappeared from the world.

I took another drink, but the alcohol did nothing to settle the uneasiness inside me.

Why was her absence bothering me this much?

I had spent three years keeping my distance from her. I had never promised her love, and she had known exactly what the marriage meant. Yet now that she was gone, the silence in the house felt wrong.

I looked toward the doorway.

Her room was empty.

Her clothes were gone.

The little things she had left around the house were gone too. There was no cup of herbal tea sitting on the kitchen counter after one of my late meetings. There was no quiet figure moving through the halls. Even the faint scent she had carried was slowly disappearing.

I had never realized how much of her presence had become part of my daily life until there was nothing left.

The door opened, and Beta Aldrin walked in with his tablet.

"Alpha, I have another update."

I looked up.

"What did you find?"

"The hospital cameras caught the vehicle she entered."

He turned the tablet toward me.

A black Rolls Royce was shown on the screen.

My eyebrows pulled together.

"That car?"

"Yes. We enlarged the image. It appears to be a custom Phantom."

I stared at the screen.

"A car like that does not belong to an ordinary Omega."

"No, Alpha."

My grip tightened around the glass.

Elowen had arrived in my territory three years ago with very little. She had never complained about the simple clothes she wore or the small room assigned to her. She had never demanded expensive gifts or tried to live like a Luna.

But suddenly, she had left in a luxury vehicle worth more than most people earned in years.

Something did not fit.

"When did it leave the territory?"

"Less than an hour after she left the hospital."

"Where did it go?"

Aldrin hesitated.

"North east."

I went completely still.

North east.

Toward Veyra territory.

A strange thought entered my mind.

Could Elowen have been hiding something from me all this time?

I stood so quickly that the chair moved backward.

"Run a complete investigation on her."

Aldrin looked surprised.

"Her?"

"Not just her blood records. Everything. Her background, her family, her finances, where she was born, where she grew up. I want every piece of information that can be found."

I looked at the photograph again.

"Find out who Elowen Veyra really is."

Aldrin nodded.

"Yes, Alpha."

After he left, I remained standing beside the window.

For the first time, I wondered whether I had ever truly known the woman I married.

---

Elowen's POV

The sound of a powerful engine rolled through the estate, and I immediately knew who had arrived.

I had barely stepped out of the house when a silver Maserati stopped in front of me.

The door opened, and Arabella Sterling stepped out.

She looked exactly as I remembered her, elegant and confident, dressed in expensive clothes and walking as if the whole world belonged to her.

Her green eyes found mine.

"Elowen!"

Before I could prepare myself, she rushed toward me and wrapped her arms around me.

I laughed through my surprise.

"Arabella, I can hardly breathe."

"Good. Maybe that will teach you not to disappear for three years."

I pulled away and looked at her.

"You still have not changed."

"And neither have you," she replied, but the smile on her face disappeared as she studied me properly. "Wait. You look terrible."

I touched my cheek.

"Thank you."

"I'm serious."

Her eyes moved over my face and then down to my arms.

"What did they do to you?"

I looked away.

"Nothing that matters anymore."

Arabella's expression hardened.

"I swear, if Calden did this to you..."

"He did not force me to stay."

"He didn't have to." She took my hand. "You loved him."

I did not answer.

She sighed and pulled me toward the house.

"Come inside. We are going to drink tea first, and then we are going to discuss how we are going to ruin his peace."

I laughed.

"You are still dramatic."

"I'm your best friend. Drama is part of my job."

Inside my bedroom, I sat with a cup of jasmine tea while Arabella looked through the clothes in my wardrobe.

She shook her head.

"We have work to do."

"What work?"

"Your wardrobe."

I laughed.

"Arabella."

"No, listen to me. You have spent three years dressing like someone who wanted to disappear. That ends now."

"I am not trying to impress Calden."

"Good. You should be trying to impress yourself."

Her words made me pause.

She placed a dress back in the wardrobe.

"You are Elowen Veyra. You are not some unwanted Omega begging an Alpha to notice you."

I looked down at my tea.

"I know."

"Do you?"

I looked at her.

She smiled softly.

"Because I want you to believe it."

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Then I remembered why I had returned.

"I need to go back to Sunlight Ridge."

Arabella's smile disappeared.

"Why?"

"I need my divorce decree, and I have belongings there that I want to collect."

"You can send someone."

"I could."

"Then why won't you?"

I took a slow breath.

"Because I need closure."

She stared at me.

"I need to see that place one last time and know that I am leaving it behind for good."

Arabella reached across the bed and held my hand.

"Then I'm coming with you."

"You don't have to."

"I wasn't asking."

A smile escaped me.

"I knew you would say that."

She squeezed my hand.

"We will go together, and nobody there will make you feel small again."

---

The gates of Sunlight Ridge appeared ahead of us later that afternoon.

The moment we entered the territory, I felt my old anger returning.

This place had once been my home.

Now it felt like somewhere I had survived.

Arabella parked her Maserati near the main entrance. Several pack members turned to look at us.

I stepped out.

A few whispers immediately spread through the crowd.

Then someone laughed.

Garrett, one of Calden's enforcers, walked toward us with a smug expression.

"Well, look who decided to come back."

I remained silent. He looked at the car behind me.

"That is quite a car for someone who left here with nothing."

A few wolves laughed. Grace stood among them, smiling.

"Maybe she found another Alpha to pay her bills."

Arabella's expression changed.

"Did you really just say that?"

Grace shrugged.

"I only said what everyone is thinking."

I stepped forward.

"Grace, apologize."

She laughed.

"Why should I apologize to you?"

"Because you insulted my friend."

She looked at Arabella.

"And who exactly are you?"

Arabella smiled.

"You should probably ask your Alpha before you continue."

Grace rolled her eyes.

"Please. She is just another spoiled woman."

Arabella moved so quickly that Grace barely had time to react.

One second she was standing several feet away.

The next, Arabella had her pinned against the wall with her claws near her throat.

The crowd went silent.

Arabella's voice remained calm.

"I am Arabella Sterling."

Grace's face lost its color.

"And you are going to apologize."

Garrett immediately stepped back.

Everyone knew the Sterling family.

Arabella released Grace.

"Now."

Grace swallowed.

"I'm sorry."

"Good."

Before anything else could happen, another voice came from the steps.

"What is happening here?"

Calden's mother, Seraphina Vale, came down the stairs.

Her eyes immediately landed on me.

Her expression hardened.

"You came back?"

"I only came for my belongings."

She laughed coldly.

"After everything you did to this family, you still have the nerve to return?"

I clenched my hands.

"I am not here to fight with you."

"You should leave."

Arabella stepped forward.

"She will leave when she is ready."

Seraphina looked at her.

"And you are?"

"Someone who knows exactly how your family treated Elowen."

Seraphina's face tightened.

"Guards!"

No one moved.

She turned toward the entrance.

"Guards, remove them!"

A moment later, Beta Aldrin appeared.

He looked at me, then at Arabella, and finally at Seraphina.

"Former Luna, what happened?"

"These women have insulted me and attacked one of our pack members."

Aldrin remained calm.

"Miss Sterling is a member of the Sterling family. I cannot order her removal without creating a serious diplomatic problem."

Seraphina's face darkened.

"Are you taking their side?"

"No," Aldrin answered. "I am preventing an unnecessary conflict between packs."

She had no answer to that.

I looked at Aldrin.

"I am going to collect my things."

He nodded.

"Of course."

I turned toward the stairs.

I thought the confrontation was over.

I was wrong.

I felt a hand grab my waist from behind.

Seraphina tried to shove me toward the stairs.

But my body reacted before my mind could.

I turned sharply and pushed her arm away.

She lost her balance.

Her heel slipped on the stone step, and she fell backward.

Gasps spread through the courtyard.

She landed several steps below us.

"You little witch!" she screamed. "You attacked me!"

I stared down at her.

"You grabbed me first."

Arabella walked over and looked down at Seraphina.

"Maybe next time, keep your hands to yourself."

Seraphina glared at us.