Librairie
Rechercher
Accueil / Werewolf / Too Late, Alpha — She’s a Queen Now / SHE’S NOT COMING HOME NOW?

Share

SHE’S NOT COMING HOME NOW?

Auteur: Zoe bear
David’s face turned hard, his tone laced with cold authority. “Assistant Rae, I suggest you adjust your attitude. This isn’t your Pack’s territory anymore.”

I picked up my bag with steady hands, refusing to flinch. “If you’ve got a problem with me, you’re welcome to fire me. Formally.”

“You—”

Lucy, my wolf, gave a low, irritated huff in my mind, her tail flicking in annoyance. I swallowed the sting of his words, shoved my emotions down, and walked out without another glance.

David’s face turned an angry shade of green. He stormed off, muttering under his breath just as Logan appeared from the side corridor.

“What happened?” Logan asked, giving him a curious look.

David gestured wildly. “Rae. She left early. Didn’t even finish her work.”

Logan frowned. “That doesn’t sound like her.”

David scoffed. “Stop defending her. She still thinks she’s untouchable—like she’s Luna or something.”

My chest tightened at his words. Lucy bristled in the back of my mind.

Then Darius appeared.

“What’s going on?” he asked flatly.

David turned, quick to seize the moment. “Alpha, Assistant Rae left early. Abandoned her post, didn’t complete her assignments.”

Darius didn’t even blink. “Then follow protocol,” he said, his voice empty, his eyes colder than winter ash.

He didn’t even ask why.

He didn’t even realize I’d already submitted my resignation three days ago.

Lucy growled softly, her claw scraping across the walls of my consciousness. “He doesn’t even know. How pathetic is that?”

---

By the time I reached my grandmother’s house, the sky had already gone dark. The familiar warmth of the old place wrapped around me like a memory I didn’t deserve.

Darius’s grandmother was sitting in the living room. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw me. “You’ve lost weight again, child.”

I offered her a small smile. “The research center’s been keeping me busy.”

She pulled me into a hug, soft and comforting. “You were born from Luna bloodlines. You shouldn’t have to wear yourself down like this.”

Lucy sighed in my head, her tail curling low. “You smell like exhaustion. Like a wolf too tired to shed her skin.”

She wasn’t wrong. Ever since the bone regeneration experiment went wrong, my spiritual energy has been in a steady decline. Even shifting had become a struggle. I was running on fumes, something no wolf should ever have admitted.

She sat me down and served a hot bowl of soup. I leaned my head gently on her shoulder. For once, Lucy curled up quietly inside me, like a wolf resting by a fire, finally calm.

But when I asked about my aunt and uncle, Lucy’s voice returned, low and firm. “They were never the point, Rae. We don’t belong in glass labs and boardrooms. We belong in the wild. On the battlefield.”

I didn’t answer her. I just sipped the soup like it was the only thing keeping my body upright.

---

Later at dinner, Uncle William arrived. The moment he saw me, his brows furrowed. “Why are you so thinned again?”

I tried to smile. It came out cracked.

At the table, I barely touched my food. Lucy murmured again, “You are a Luna. Not some discarded lab rat who’s forgotten what it means to lead.”

But I ignored her, focusing instead on the real reason I was here.

I slid a black card across the table to my uncle. “This is all I can offer right now.”

He looked at it, startled. “Rae, no. You’ve already given so much—”

“I’m not using it. And you need it more than I do,” I said, gently but firmly.

The card held twenty million.

I still had money coming in—patents from old AI developments, tech company dividends, investments I’d made back before my marriage. If I wanted to, I could live in luxury and never lift a finger again.

But what good was money when I couldn’t even shift without pain?

Uncle looked ashamed. “The company is still struggling. We just can’t find our footing.”

“Transformation takes time,” I cut in. “Don’t beat yourself up.”

I thought of Joe, how he’d looked at me the last time we spoke.

"If you hadn’t left the company to marry that Alpha, we’d be running a billion-dollar empire by now—one that could’ve saved countless wolves. There’s still time, Rae. AI in healthcare is the future. Come back to us before it’s too late."

Maybe he was right.

If I could recover even a fraction of the brilliance I once had, I could rebuild everything—from the tech company… to my shattered identity.

---

Later that night, I sat alone in the garden. The air was thick with the scent of pine and memory. The wind rustled through the trees like whispered regrets.

Lucy was silent now, buried deep in my consciousness.

Far away, back in Moon Claw Ridge, Darius returned home.

Luca, our son, peeked out from the top of the stairs, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Daddy? You’re back?” His voice was soft. Hopeful.

He stared behind Darius, eyes scanning the hallway. His little brows furrowed.

“…Mommy didn’t come back with you?”

Darius hesitated. “Go to bed, Luca.”

He walked past him, took a sip of water in the dark kitchen, and slowly climbed the stairs.

He pushed open the bedroom door.

The lights were off. The bed was untouched.

The room was cold.

She wasn’t home.

And she wasn’t coming back.
Continuez à lire ce livre gratuitement
Scanner le code pour télécharger l'application
Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Latest chapter

  • Too Late, Alpha — She’s a Queen Now   A CROWDED BANQUET

    By the time we arrived, the banquet hall was already buzzing with energy—laughter, champagne, and the hum of gossip bouncing off crystal chandeliers and polished marble floors.I stepped in wearing the ivory embroidered gown. Simple. Classic. Safe.Almost instantly, I felt it—eyes tracking my entrance. Some lingered too long, some looked away too quickly. Admiration, curiosity, judgment; it all swirled in the air around me. But I didn’t flinch. Years of being married to Darius had taught me to walk through a room like I belonged, even when I didn’t feel it.The host, Leo—a long-time friend of Rocco’s—smiled and started to greet us. But before he could say a word, a voice shouted from the entrance.The entire room shifted.Something was coming.No—someone.Whispers rippled across the crowd like electricity on water. A collective breath held. I didn’t even need to turn. My body already knew.Leo stiffened, his smile faltering. Then he gave Rocco and me a quick, awkward nod and moved past

  • Too Late, Alpha — She’s a Queen Now   I LIKED IT, BUT IT WASN’T MY GOWN

    Zoe’s fever finally broke the next morning, and I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Once she was steady on her feet again, I headed home, exhausted but relieved.There was still one thing left to deal with—tomorrow night’s banquet.The one where I had to show up looking like I belonged. Like I hadn’t spent the last few years hiding in the shadows of someone else’s life.I left that afternoon to find a gown.The boutique was luxury-level—soft jazz playing, the kind of lighting that made everything look like it belonged in a magazine spread. Sales associates swarmed around a single gown near the center of the floor, adjusting it with a reverence usually reserved for religious artifacts.Curious, I stepped closer.“Can I help you?” one of them asked with a tight smile.I returned it politely. “Just browsing for now.”She nodded and stepped back, but the watchful look in her eyes didn’t fade.I’d been married into the Westbrook family for years, but I was never the kind of wife

  • Too Late, Alpha — She’s a Queen Now   SUDDENLY AT GUNPOINT

    Darius’s phone rang just as Lyra was finishing her orange juice. I barely glanced up, until I saw the caller ID."Baby."My chest tightened.It was ridiculous, really. I’d promised myself I was done caring. But love isn’t something you can just switch off. Especially not when it’s tangled around your ribs for years.I looked away, pretending I hadn’t seen it.Darius noticed. Of course he did. But he didn’t bother to hide it. Instead, he answered right there at the breakfast table, his voice lower, softer.“What’s wrong?” he murmured into the phone.Lyra, completely missing the tension in the air, perked up. “Is that Aunt Emma?”Darius didn’t even hesitate. “Yeah.”I didn’t flinch. I just kept stirring my coffee like it meant something. But inside, something was quite broken.Lyra opened her mouth to ask to talk to Emma—but caught herself. She remembered I didn’t like her, and guilt flickered across her face. She dropped her toast and suddenly didn’t want to eat anymore.Then Darius’s e

  • Too Late, Alpha — She’s a Queen Now   LYRA SAYS SHE STILL WANTS MY COOKING

    Logan stepped into the tearoom just as Nina and I were chatting. He froze, watching us with an expression I couldn’t quite read.He and David had always assumed I’d never truly walk away from the company—or from Darius.They thought I’d flinch the second someone like Nina came into the picture. She was bright, beautiful, and utterly disarming. The kind of woman men didn’t just notice—they remembered.But I hadn’t flinched.Not only had I welcomed Nina with a smile, but now I was teaching her how to brew Darius’s coffee.Logan looked like he’d seen a ghost.I didn’t care. I had bigger things to focus on. When Nina invited me to dinner after work, I declined politely.I had plans.I wasn’t the same woman I used to be—someone whose world revolved around Darius and Lyra.I have a new life now. And tonight, I planned to eat alone and keep working on my AI project.Just as I stepped into my car, my phone rang. Lyra’s name lit up the screen.“Mom, are you done with work?”I softened at her vo

  • Too Late, Alpha — She’s a Queen Now   RAE ISN’T COMING HOME ANYMORE?

    It was nearly one in the morning when Darius finally returned home with the others after Emma’s victory celebration.He carried Lyra, fast asleep in his arms, her little hands curled around his neck. The butler, startled by the late hour, stepped forward with concern. “Sir, is everything alright? It’s late.”Darius only grunted, brushing past him without a word.After settling Lyra into bed, he made his way to the master bedroom. The moment he flicked on the lights, he paused.The room was empty.Turning to the butler, he asked, “Rae didn’t come home tonight?”The man shook his head. “No, sir. She hasn’t been home.”Darius stilled, his expression unreadable. Rae had been disappearing more often lately. Quietly. Without explanation.He hadn’t realized how frequent it had become—how her presence, once constant and warm, had turned to nothing more than an echo in these walls.Was something going on?The next morning, Lyra woke up beaming, her energy still buzzing from the night before. Sh

  • Too Late, Alpha — She’s a Queen Now   HE COULDN'T HIDE HIS ADMIRATION

    Even Darius—stoic, unreadable Darius—couldn’t mask the awe in his eyes.From across the racetrack, I watched Lyra and Rocco leapt to their feet like two overexcited pups, screaming Emma’s name as she surged into the final stretch of the race.The crowd roared, the engines howled, and in the eye of that storm, Emma was untouchable—fearless, flawless, feral.William handed the binoculars back to me, practically vibrating. “Rae, I told you, didn’t I?! No one watches Sky race and walks away the same. You’re falling for her too, huh?”I gave a faint smile but didn’t respond.What was there to say?Bitterness crept in like poison through my bloodstream. I pulled out my phone and hovered over Darius’s name. I already knew how this would go.He’d ignore the call.Like he had a hundred times before.Still, I hit dial—maybe because I needed to confirm what I already knew. Maybe because this felt like the last time.Through the binoculars, I caught the flicker of his phone screen. He saw my name.

Plus de chapitres

Vous vous intéresseriez aussi à

Découvrez et lisez de bons romans gratuitement
Accédez gratuitement à un grand nombre de bons romans sur GoodNovel. Téléchargez les livres que vous aimez et lisez où et quand vous voulez.
Lisez des livres gratuitement sur l'APP
Scanner le code pour lire sur l'application
DMCA.com Protection Status