(DARIAN)

"Park the car up at the corner," I instruct Jimmy as I get in the back seat.

My second-in-command looks at me through the rearview mirror, surprised. "We’re not going back to the hotel?"

"Not yet."

I rest my mouth against my fist and stare out the window.

Seven years.

When I launched Acme Intech, a company whose ownership I concealed under multiple layers, I hadn’t expected that it would lead me to the woman I betrayed so many years ago. Alice looks just as beautiful as she did back then. Except that her beauty has matured; she was once a stunning wildflower, but she is now a gorgeous rose. Confidence oozes out of her.

She’s no longer the young girl who used to look at me, confused why someone like me was choosing her.

She has become a force to be reckoned with.

If it hadn’t been for the initial shock in her eyes, I never would have known that she even recognized me. Her tone was sharp and yet professional. She didn’t so much as flinch during our interactions.

I was the one who couldn’t take my eyes off her. She barely looked at me, and when she did, her gaze was steady. It drove my wolf mad with excitement.

Jimmy pulls the car up about fifty feet and parks at the curb. "So, what are we waiting for?"

I don’t answer. He’s used to my silence by now, so he doesn’t ask again.

It’s still raining. I twist my body around to look out the car’s rear window, fixing my eyes on the building’s entrance. She’s going to have to come out at some point.

I see some men leave the building, but not her.

A couple of minutes later, a slim woman with red hair that brushes against her shoulders when she moves and a dark suit that takes nothing away from her femininity walks out under an umbrella. She heads toward a black car.

Her gait is unsteady. As she tries to open the door, the umbrella is forced out of her hand by a gust of wind. Instead of chasing after it, she turns in our direction and stares at it, as if perplexed.

That’s when Jimmy sees her in his mirror. He sucks in a breath. "It can’t be. Darian?"

He turns his body halfway in his seat to look at me, but I don’t respond. My eyes are glued to her.

If I were to list differences in Alice between now and then, I would say her breasts seem fuller, more rounded, as do her hips. Her waist is small, making me think she takes care of herself. I wonder if her skin still tastes

the same, whether she makes the same wanton sounds in bed. "I thought she was dead," Jimmy mumbles, looking shocked.

A growl escapes my throat before I can control myself. "Look into her. I want every bit of information there is on Alice Lane. Where she’s been all this time, who her best friend is, and who she had lunch with two years ago. I want to know everything about her." I look at Jimmy, my voice cool now. "I want that report by the end of the day."

He nods. "I’ll try, but Darian, when I searched for her before, I came up with nothing. It’s like she stopped existing after—after what happened."

It finally hits me. "That must be because she’s not in the registry anymore. No wonder there was no trace of her. Somebody must have wiped out her name."

Jimmy looks bewildered. "Only the royal family and pack alphas have access to the registry."

"You think I don’t know that?" I snarl at him. "She’s clearly been living among the humans. Kalem and Son’s law firm. Start there. Work your way back in time. But right now, follow her. I want to know where she lives."

Jimmy starts the car and glances at me apprehensively. "What are you planning, Darian?"

I lean back in the seat, my arms folded across my chest. "I want to know where Alice has been hiding all these years. And what she’s been up to."

My friend gives me a troubled look but doesn’t argue.

I feel my phone vibrate against my leg, and I ignore it. A few seconds after it stops, Jimmy’s phone rings.

"It’s Her Majesty—"

"Don’t call her that," I snap. "Call her by her name."

"The last time I did that, I was severely punished," my second-in-command gripes, his fingers flexing on the steering wheel.

Anger thrums through my veins. "She learned her lesson, didn’t she? She’s not allowed to touch my people."

Jimmy begins driving as Alice’s car leaves. "She’s calling again." "Reject the call and put your phone on silent," I say dismissively.

Jimmy does as I say. He doesn’t question why I’m not answering Willow’s calls. After all, if anyone knows the lie I’ve been living for the past seven years, it’s Jimmy.

We follow Alice all the way to a nice apartment complex.

"She’s a lawyer," I murmur. "Of course, she must make a good living." I feel a sense of pride. A quick search of the human internet on my phone brings up Alice’s picture and her portfolio. I’m surprised she never changed her name. "Barthel School of Law. That’s not easy to get into."

"How did she afford it?" Jimmy muses out loud.

"She clearly found a way," I retort. "She’s smart and resourceful."

Jimmy rolls his eyes at me in the rearview mirror. "I’m sorry. What was I thinking, asking a completely legitimate question?"

I ignore him, trying to unearth traces of Alice online. There’s nothing about her personal life. In fact, aside from her picture on the law school’s website, on a page showcasing high-achieving alumni, and the same picture on her

law firm’s website, there’s not much I can find about her. The fact that she has managed to maintain such a low profile, even with such a high-flying career, is commendable. She’s done well for herself.

I smile broadly.

More than anything, I feel relieved.

Years ago, when Jimmy couldn’t find anything about her, I assumed the worst: that she had fled the palace, and she hadn’t survived. I tried to lean on her friend, the healer, but she remained silent during the entire questioning. My father was furious, demanding that I stop my interrogations and focus on what was important. My engagement with Willow.

He told me to ignore the white witches, who were pressuring me to find Alice. I finally told them that she had died. They were skeptical, but there wasn’t much they could do.

I don’t know when I began to believe it, to believe that Alice was gone forever, but my heart has felt like a barren land for what seems like eons.

Seeing her again made me feel like I could breathe again. Like the air that had been stuck inside me all these years was finally released.

She has changed so much. The hesitance and naivety that were once a part of her personality have disappeared. She has become confident and alluring.

Her eyes are sharp, filled with cleverness that perhaps was always there. And more than that, she has settled into her skin.

When she staggered into that boardroom today, the color leaching from her face, I wanted to shove everybody aside to get to her.

"Please! Just kill me! Darian!"

"Darian, please! I’m sorry! I’m begging you!"

My ears suddenly echo with her screams, the cries I’ve never been able to forget. They still haunt me in my dreams, in my every waking moment. The broken look in her eyes, the desperation as she tried to clutch my leg, begging for a painless death, and pleading for mercy.

I crushed the prideful girl who had looked at me with such trusting eyes. I had finally managed to earn her trust, and then I was forced to break it. I was forced to see her scream in agony, her body contorting as the witches sealed her magic. I saw the light go out of her eyes, the dull acceptance of what was happening, and it killed me.

But all I could do was watch—because if I hadn’t watched, the fate that awaited her would have been far worse.

My chest tightens in a familiar emotion, a perpetual hopelessness, a guilt that has forever been carved into my soul. I look away from the apartment building.

"Let’s go, Jimmy. There’s no pointing staying here." Jimmy glances at me before nodding and driving away.