The Alpha Behind The Mask-Chapter 83: Replaced

Aurora’s POV

​"He... he left without me?" I whispered, my hand gripping the door.

​"The Alpha King has a very busy schedule, Miss Aurora," the driver replied, keeping his eyes lowered. "I’ll be waiting downstairs. Please take your time."

​I closed the door and leaned against it, the silence of the room now feeling like a physical weight. He had actually done it. He had taken me at my word. I had called him a heartless, broken man, and instead of fighting me, he had simply stepped out of my life. He was giving me exactly what I asked for: distance.

​But it was a distance I realized I couldn’t survive.

​I moved like a ghost myself, packing the few things I was given, before walking downstairs.

​Alpha Oscar was in the foyer talking to a staff member. When he saw me, his expression was unreadable.

​"He’s gone," I said, my voice sounding hollow even to my own ears.

​Oscar didn’t seem surprised; he only nodded.

I swallowed hard, wanting him to say something... anything that could help, but he said nothing. It was as if he had nothing to give.

​"Thank you... for the hospitality."

​He nodded again.

It was as if he had been warned not to speak with me.

​I forced myself to move and walked away.

​I sank into the back seat of the car, and the driver started the engine.

​The drive was suffocatingly silent.

I rested my head against the cold, tinted glass, watching the trees of the estate blur into the gray asphalt of the highway. I felt a loneliness so profound it physically ached, a hollow thrumming in my chest that matched the vibration of the tires. For several minutes, I stayed like that, paralyzed, staring at the world passing by.

​Then it hit me.

I couldn’t go home.

​I couldn’t just vanish into my old life without doing the right thing. I needed to speak to him. I needed to apologize—not because I wanted to confess my feelings, but because he didn’t deserve what I said.

​"Could you please take me to the pack house?" I whispered, leaning forward toward the partition. "I need to see Alpha Oliver."

​The driver’s eyes caught mine in the rearview mirror. He hesitated, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. "Miss, the King’s instructions were very specific. I am to take you directly to your residence."

​"Please," I said, feeling restless. "I have to tender my resignation... in person. It’s a matter of protocol."

​It was a lie, and we both knew it, but it gave him the professional cover he needed to disobey a direct order. He sighed, checked his mirrors, and took the next exit, doubling back toward the city’s heart.

​Two hours later, we pulled into the reinforced gates of the pack house. The afternoon sun was high and harsh, hitting me with a wave of heat as I stepped out of the car. I smoothed my rumpled clothes, trying to find a shred of the composure I’d lost somewhere between the estate and here.

​But as I walked through the main lobby, the atmosphere felt... different. I exchanged quiet greetings with some staff; a few responded with pitying smiles, while others simply stared at me with a cold, judgmental glare I didn’t understand.

​I stopped the driver before he could head back to the car. "What is going on? Why is everyone looking at me like that?"

​He looked uncomfortable, glancing around. "It seems Cassey paid some blogs to write some... shitty things about you this morning, Miss Aurora. Rumors about your relationship with Alpha Oliver."

"But don’t worry," he added quickly, "the King’s legal team has already taken them down. They’re scrubbed."

​I swallowed hard, the bile rising in my throat. So that was it. Even as he was avoiding me, he was still cleaning up the messes other people made of my life. But the rumors weren’t my main concern. Only he was.

​"He’s in his office?" I asked.

​The driver nodded. "He hasn’t come out since he arrived."

​I took the elevator, my stomach dropping with every floor the digital display counted. When the doors finally dinged open, I stepped out into the quiet executive hall. I expected to see my desk empty, but my heart stopped when I saw a young man, likely in his late twenties, seated there.

​He was focused, typing rapidly on a laptop that sat exactly where my notepad used to be. He looked up, his sharp eyes taking me in through a pair of designer glasses.

​"Can I help you?" he asked, his voice respectful and professional.

​"I... I’m Aurora," I said, my voice trembling. "I’m the Alpha King’s assistant."

​The young man’s brow furrowed slightly as he checked a tablet on the desk. "Miss Aurora? Ah, yes. The King did mention you might stop by to finalize your... resignation. I’m Elias, his temporary assistant."

​I looked past him toward the heavy double doors of the inner office. "I need to see him, Elias. Just for a minute."

​Elias looked at me with pity, the same look I had seen on the staff downstairs. It was the look you gave to someone who had lost their position and was struggling to let go. "I’m sorry. He was very clear. He said any remaining business regarding your resignation or personal effects should be handled through me."

​"I just need five minutes," I pleaded, stepping closer to the desk. "It’s personal. Please, Elias."

​Elias shook his head. "I’m sorry... I can’t. And for your pay... it has already been deposited into your account."

​"I don’t want his money," I whispered, my eyes burning.

​Suddenly, the heavy double doors to his inner office swung open. A group of stern-looking council members filed out, talking in hushed, urgent tones. They didn’t even glance at me.

​At the end of the line was Oliver.

​He looked exhausted. His suit jacket was off, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and his tie was loosened. He was looking down at a file in his hand, his jaw tight.

​"Oliver!" I called out before I could lose my nerve.

​