Semua Bab Too Late, Alpha — She’s a Queen Now: Bab 31 - Bab 40

Grandma Serena decided we should all spend the weekend at a hot spring resort. Darius even agreed to come, which honestly shocked me. Lately, he’d been finding every possible excuse to stay away. But as the day dragged on, his absence became impossible to ignore. Lunch came and went. Still no Darius. Grandma’s mood soured with every passing minute; even her favorite dessert sat untouched. Lyra kept muttering under her breath, sulking like a spoiled child.And me? I was the picture of calm—at least on the outside. I smiled, made Grandma a latte, and said gently, “Maybe something urgent came up. He’s probably tied up with work.”Even I didn’t believe the lie I was selling. Darius wasn’t the type to forget what mattered. If he wasn’t here, it only meant one thing: someone else was more important. By evening, Grandma was too upset to stay downstairs. She went to bed early, her disappointment written all over her face. Lyra kept trying to call him, pacing the hall like a restless cat, but h

By the time we checked in and entered the exhibition hall, it was already packed. The air buzzed with energy—electric, metallic, and laced with the subtle scent of the pack. My senses sharpened instantly, every nerve alert.The hall was massive, dazzling in its chaos. Drones hummed overhead like mechanical falcons. Flying cars hovered in the distance, sleek and loud, their engines growling like iron beasts. Androids stood on display, their eyes gleaming with artificial intelligence and something eerily close to sentience. It was a strange collision of worlds—technology and wolf instinct.Lucy’s voice echoed in my head, wary and tense.“Stay sharp. This place isn’t just for show—someone’s watching.”I nodded slightly, forcing my face into calm neutrality. Joe was beside me, a magnetic presence that drew the attention of half the room. Entrepreneurs and investors flocked to him, eager to make connections. I smiled when I needed to, laughed when I expected, my mask perfectly in place. But

Professor Williams’s name carried weight all over the world. Yet in person, he looked nothing like the austere legend the media made him out to be. He was tall and lean, maybe in his early forties, with intelligent eyes behind rimless glasses and calm confidence that made people instinctively lower their voices around him. His mother’s Latino roots softened his sharp features, giving him that dangerously handsome, mixed-heritage look—the kind that drew eyes without even trying.When he said, “Come sit here,” his tone was mild, but it hit the crowd like thunder.For a moment, everything froze.Emma’s perfectly painted smile faltered. Her expression wavered, shock first, then disbelief, and finally, jealousy that burned through the cracks in her composure. All her careful networking, her fake laughter, her attempts at charm; it all turned to dust in a heartbeat.I swallowed, my palms slightly damp, and stood. The attention that followed me as I walked toward Professor Williams felt heavi

He strode toward me through the crowd — tall, broad-shouldered, his combat jacket still dusted with ash and dirt. A band-aid clung stubbornly to his cheek, a small testament to whatever chaos he’d just come from. Gabriel always had that rugged, untamed look about him — as if he belonged more to the battlefield than to polished halls like this.I didn’t know how long he’d been standing there. Maybe he’d seen everything — every strained smile, every glance, every humiliation.What a day, I thought, exhaling.When he reached me, his mouth curved into that familiar grin that could light up a stormy sky. He opened his arms, voice low and warm.“I missed you.”It wasn’t the kind of hug that meant anything more than friendship, but Joe was already smirking from behind me, eyebrows raised in silent mischief. My gaze flicked, unbidden, toward Darius. He stood a few feet away, eyes locked on us, tension rippling through his shoulders. Even from here, I could feel the shift in the air — Gabriel’s

Luca ended the call and turned toward Darius, his small brows knitting together.“Dad, I think Mom’s mad,” he said quietly. His tone was worried, the kind only a child used when they didn’t quite understand adult pain—but felt it all the same.Darius didn’t even look up from the papers in his hand. “Is that so?”“Yes,” Luca insisted, his voice firmer this time.“Hm.”That was all he said. Just a sound. Nothing more. And somehow, it made the silence in that room even heavier.———For the next few days, I worked from home—if you could call endless video calls, late-night revisions, and caffeine-fueled deadlines “working”. Luca called every single day to check on me, each call pulling a piece of my heart apart.Meanwhile, Joe and I barely had time to breathe. We were buried in revisions for the “homework” Professor Williams had assigned us. The project had grown massive, the kind of thing that demanded every ounce of your brainpower and sanity.During one of our breaks, Joe leaned back in