Alpha's Atonement

Hunting for the Ghost

Nicholas’s POV

The moment the palace doors swung open, the air in the foyer changed . I had a kingdom to dismantle and a ghost to hunt.

"To the Command Center. Now!" I barked.

Within minutes, the room was filled with the heavy scent of Alpha soldiers and my sharpest soldiers at attention. I stood at the head of the tactical table, the tattered Subject 002 book resting under my palm.

"Listen up!" I slammed my hand onto the table, silencing the room instantly. "I want the Forensics Team deployed to the Latent Labs ruins immediately. I want a microscopic sweep of the site. Every chemical residue, every strand of hair, every drop of dried blood. Give me a detailed report as soon as possible ."

I turned to the commander of Unit 2. "You. Investigate everything on Professor Linden. I want his entire history—birth records, medical school transcripts, the names of his primary school teachers. Spare no minor details. I want a list of anyone he even remotely associated himself with. If he had a favorite barista, I want them in an interrogation room."

The Cyber Unit was already typing, the blue light of their monitors reflecting in my eyes. "Cyber, audit the entire funding of those labs. Follow the money. Who paid for the 'suppressants'? Who authorized the materials ? And run a global facial recognition sweep. Use the most recent images we have of Linden and age-progress them. If he’s breathing, he’s on a camera somewhere."

I paced the floor, my wolf, Novartis, pacing right along with me, his claws unsheathed in my mind.

"Unit 3," I growled. "Question every doctor or researcher ever involved at that lab. Start with the ones still on the royal payroll and work your way down to the retired ones. Someone knows something or noticed something."

I paused, a name flickering in my mind—the only man I trusted to handle the dirty work when the law wasn't enough.

"And someone call Marcus," I added, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "I need him back. Tell him the Prince has a hunt that requires a specialist."

Within a few minutes of setting the units in motion, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out to see Marcus’s name flashing on the screen. It had been a couple of days since I’d heard anything from my Beta. My sister, Kaya, was with him on the mission down at the southern borders, and the silence from their end had been wearing on my nerves.

I picked up immediately.

"Miss me already?" Marcus’s smooth, cocky voice echoed through the line.

"Tell me you found something," I cut straight to the chase, the humor vanished from his voice, replaced by the grim tone of a Beta who had just stumbled onto a graveyard. "Oh, I found more than something. I think it is best you come down here with our forensics team. Get here as fast as you can, Alpha."

A knot tightened in my stomach. Marcus was a seasoned warrior; he would only call me down to the southern borders if it was something massive. Now, the anxiety was clawing at my chest. Whatever he had found, it was big enough to change the game. I had to drive down there tonight.

But before the Alpha in me could fully take over the wheel, my wolf roared in protest. Mate. Novartis was scratching at the walls of my mind, furious at the thought of leaving her behind. I couldn't just vanish into the night without seeing her. I needed to say goodbye.

I headed straight to her chambers, but when I pushed the doors open, the room was empty. Her lady-in-waiting curtsied nervously, sensing the dark, restless energy radiating off me. "The Lady Natalie is in the royal library, Your Highness," she murmured.

I turned on my heel and moved through the palace corridors and opened the library door.

There she was. She was curled up in a massive leather armchair, the soft glow of a desk lamp illuminating her perfect profile. Her nose was buried deep in a heavy, leather-bound volume titled Ancient Werewolf Legends.

I chuckled softly, the sound catching in my throat. It was endearing. She hadn't learned werewolf history the way we grew up learning it. She was trying to understand my world the only way she knew how: through stories.

I walked up behind her, my steps completely silent on the thick carpet. I leaned down, my breath brushing against the sensitive skin of her neck, right below her ear. "Reading fairy tales before bedtime?"

Natalie gasped, jumping slightly as she looked up. Her eyes were wide and beautiful, reflecting the amber light of the lamp. "Nicholas! You scared me."

"Good," I purred, stepping around the chair. Before she could even close the book, I reached down, gripping the arms of the chair and trapping her beneath me. I leaned in close, my gaze locking onto her lips, which were already parting in surprise.

"I was just reading—" she started, but I didn't let her finish.

I closed the distance, crashing my lips onto hers.

The kiss was instant fire. It wasn't gentle; it was full of the desperate, anxious hunger that had been building in my chest since I met her. I needed her to anchor me. I deepened the kiss, my tongue sliding past her lips to taste her completely, molding her mouth to mine. A low, needy growl vibrated in my chest as I reached down, my hands sliding under her thighs and lifting her straight out of the chair and onto the edge of the heavy oak desk beside us.

Books clattered to the floor, but neither of us cared.

Natalie wrapped her arms tightly around my neck, pulling me closer, her body arching into mine as if she could feel the desperation pouring off my skin. My hands traveled up her waist, gripping her butt tightly, pulling her flush against my chest until there wasn't a single inch of space left between us. I kissed her until we were both completely breathless, my lips tracing a path down her jawline to press a hard, possessive kiss into the sweet spot of her neck.

"I have to leave," I rasped against her skin, my voice thick and raw with a desire that was tearing me apart. " Something happened, and I have to drive out tonight."

Natalie’s breath hitched, her fingers tightening in my hair. "Tonight? When will you be back?"

"Soon," I whispered, pulling back just enough to look into her dazed, green-colored eyes. I cupped her face in my hands, my thumb tracing her lower lip, which was swollen and red from my kiss. "Stay in the palace. Take the guards with you everywhere. I'm leaving my best guards at your door."

I gave her one last, lingering kiss—a hard promise that I would return—before I forced myself to step away, knowing that if I stayed for even one more minute, the southern borders could burn to the ground and I wouldn't care.

"Keep reading your legends," I smirked, "Tell me what you discovered when I am back."

With that, I turned and strode out into the night, the taste of her sweet on my lips and a dark storm waiting for me at the border.