Alpha's Secret Bride

"I’ll be there," she said quietly.

She ended the call, left her duty chamber, and walked back to the living chamber.

Cassara was already absorbed in her device when Scarlet stepped into the living chamber, leaving Amaris to keep Gregory company.

The moment Cassara looked up and their eyes met, she frowned.

Scarlet’s steps slowed. Each one felt heavier than the last as she forced herself to keep walking.

"I didn’t see you last moonfall," Amaris said. "Our new manager is doing a great job, by the way."

"I’ve been busy making travel arrangements," Gregory replied. "I’ll be leaving soon."

"Oh?" Amaris tilted her head. "Where are you going?"

Gregory smiled faintly.

"That’s confidential."

"Will you still come by as often when you get back?" Amaris asked.

Gregory smiled faintly and shook his head.

"I’m not sure. Maybe... if my fiancee decides to come with me."

Amaris’s smile widened.

"Well, I wonder who the lucky woman is."

Gregory’s eyes drifted to Scarlet as she slowly made her way toward them. A moment later, he looked back at Amaris.

"Maybe you’ve already met her."

Amaris let out a soft laugh.

"Really? Now you’ve got me curious."

The moment Scarlet stepped inside, all three of them looked at her.

Gregory pointed toward the sofa across from him.

"Have a seat."

She sat down without saying a word.

Gregory rested his elbows on his knees and looked at her.

"I told Amaris we’re together last Moonfall," he said.

"She said there’s something about you that would shock me. I want to hear it from her before I hear anything from you."

He turned to Amaris.

"Did she steal your money?"

Amaris shook her head.

"No."

Gregory frowned.

"Then what did she do?"

"Cassara follows her on social media. She knows exactly who she is. Gregory, if you’re thinking about spending the rest of your life with her, you should know the truth first," Amaris said.

Scarlet’s eyes widened.

Spend the rest of his life with her?

Gregory had never mentioned anything about a matebond. The thought alone made her chest tighten. She wasn’t ready for a commitment like that.

"Scarlet isn’t the woman you all think she is," Cassara said. "She and her parents abused their adopted daughter. They threw her out of her own home and even took her moonmate away from her."

She pulled out her device and held it toward Gregory.

"You need to read this book. Scarlet’s adopted sibling wrote it. She tells everything she went through because of this evil woman sitting right here." Cassara pointed at Scarlet. "People back home hate her. That’s why she ran to this country."

Amaris nodded sharply.

"Read it, Gregory. Then you’ll understand who she really is."

Scarlet lowered her head.

The words kept coming, one after another, until they blurred together.

Every mistake she had made. Every rumor. Every accusation.

She had crossed an ocean hoping to leave that life behind, yet somehow it had found her again.

What she had confessed to Gregory before was only a small part of her past. Amaris and Cassara laid everything before him, even the things she had forgotten saying during her appearance on Inside the Alpha’s Keep.

Cassara scrolled through her device, stopping on short clips from the show before handing it to Gregory.

"Watch these," she said. "Then read the novel. After that, you’ll hate the sight of her the same way I did."

"You’re on the run, but I’ll make sure your sibling and every one of your enemies knows exactly where you’re hiding!" Amaris shouted, glaring at Scarlet. "Cassara has already sent messages to your sibling and some of your enemies."

Gregory slowly looked up from the video playing on the device in his hand.

His eyes settled on Scarlet.

She felt his gaze, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. Her device started ringing.

She let it ring.

"Lunara," Gregory said quietly. "Answer your call."

The way he said her old name made her stomach twist.

A laugh escaped Cassara. Amaris laughed with her.

"Sir, you need to watch this one too," Cassara said. She searched through the clips on her device, found another one, and handed it to Gregory.

He pressed play.

Scarlet heard her own voice.

"Fifty-nine more days, Princess of Greendor," a woman said from behind the camera.

"I can’t wait, Mrs. Emily," Lunara answered, unable to hide her excitement. "I can’t wait to exchange the royal matebond vows and move into Greendor Castle."

"Has the Queen chosen your title yet?" another woman asked.

"The High Luna let me choose my own title."

"Have you decided?"

"Yes."

"Would you like to share it with your fans?" a woman asked.

"Of course." Lunara smiled at the camera. "They’ve been with me through this whole journey. I don’t want to keep them guessing."

She clasped her hands together, barely able to hide her excitement.

"My wonderful viewers, I’ve decided that my title will be..." She paused, then beamed. "The Queen of Greendor!"

Cheers and excited screams filled the chamber.

After the noise settled, another woman looked at the screen in front of her.

"Now it’s time to answer a few questions from your fans. Here’s the first one. As your royal mating gets closer, how does the Moon Prince feel about it?"

Lunara laughed softly.

"He can’t wait."

"So he’s excited?" the woman asked with a grin.

"Oh, you noticed?" Lunara’s smile grew wider. "It was obvious, wasn’t it?"

"Everyone noticed."

"He greeted me before I even had the chance to greet him." She laughed, shaking her head. "After breakfast yesterday, he came to the executive lounge to see me. I was so surprised. We talked for a long time and laughed so much."

She looked down for a moment, smiling to herself.

"I kept looking at his perfectly shaped lips. For a second, I wanted to kiss him..." She let out a quiet laugh. "But I stopped myself."

"My Queen of Greendor," the woman said gently, "you should be careful about spending too much time alone with him. You’ve both waited this long."

Lunara nodded.

"Your royal mating robe is white," the woman continued. "It represents purity. Don’t let impatience ruin such a special day."

"Thank you, Mrs. Emily, for the reminder. The Moon Prince and I know our limits. We’re strong enough not to give in to temptation before our royal mating."

A few wolves in the crowd laughed.

"Not with the way he was looking at you yesterday, My Queen of Greendor," one of them called out.

More laughter followed.

Another voice rose above the noise.

"My Princess of Greendor, no matter what happened between you and your sibling, one of your fans wants to know whether the two of you will set your differences aside and make your royal mating an even more special occasion."

Lunara let out a cold laugh.

"Hell no."

The smile disappeared from her face.

"First of all, I don’t have a sibling. Emma Greens stopped being my sibling nine winters ago. She went to visit one of our aunts and gave her virginity to some random man she had just met in that region."

She shook her head with disgust.

"That kind of behavior doesn’t run in our family. I refuse to call a girl who jumps from one man to another my sibling."

She folded her arms.

"I still don’t know what men see in her. Her face isn’t pretty, her figure is nothing special... unless they’re only interested in her oversized butt."

A few people in the audience exchanged uneasy glances, but Lunara kept going.

"She was expelled from the academy for bad behavior. She always finished at the bottom of her class, so no company wanted to hire her. Then she suddenly became a novelist."

She laughed again, this time with open mockery.

"Can you believe that? A girl who can barely spell her own name is somehow writing bestselling novels."

She lifted her chin.

"I already told my mother I don’t want to see that ugly face anywhere near this palace on my mating day. She is not coming to my royal matebond."

Her eyes turned icy.

"Emma brings bad luck wherever she goes. She was born under a dark moon. Even her own biological mother rejected her."

Tears blurred Scarlet’s vision as she pushed herself to her feet and walked out of the living chamber.

The winters she had spent in the palace came rushing back. Every mistake. Every regret. Every painful memory crashed into her all at once. Her chest tightened until she could barely breathe. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if it would be easier to end everything and never look back.

She hurried out of the living chamber. Behind her, Amaris and Cassara burst into laughter. Their cheerful voices followed her down the hallway, making every step feel heavier.

She hurried to her duty chamber, snatched the car keys from the table, and rushed outside. A moment later, she stopped in her tracks when Amaris and Cassara walked toward their car.

Her hands tightened around the stripes of her bag as she drew a shaky breath.

She would check into a resting den, get another travel document, and leave the city. Emma would scatter the ashes whether she was there or not. There was no reason for her to stay.

Her device kept ringing, but she didn’t even look at it, let alone answer. When it refused to stop, she picked it up, held down the power button, and switched it off.

She hurried toward her car and opened the driver’s side

"Close that gate!" Gregory’s voice thundered across the driveway.

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