The Alpha’s Substitute Groom

CHAPTER 2 — LENA! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!

For a second, I honestly thought Larissa was lying. Or exaggerating. Or doing that thing she always did, panicking over nothing.

But the look in her eyes wasn’t dramatic. It was terrified.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “No. You’re mistaken. She’s probably just… changing her earrings. Or hiding because she thinks it’s funny.”

I didn’t even wait for them to answer.

I turned and ran.

My heartbeat slammed against my ribs like a war drum. The corridor blurred past me—flowers, candles, wedding photos, guests moving around as if everything were perfectly normal, oblivious to the disaster that had just dropped on us.

This has to be a prank. She used to do this when we were kids. Hide. Make me panic. Jump out laughing.

“Lena!” I shouted as I reached the suite door. “Lena, stop playing—Mom is freaking out!”

No answer.

My chest tightened like someone had wrapped a steel band around it.

I pushed the door open and froze.

The room wasn’t messy. It wasn’t disturbed. It wasn’t lived in.

It was… empty. Completely empty.

My hands dropped uselessly to my sides. “Lena…?” The voice sounded alien, echoing back at me like a cruel joke.

I stepped in slowly, scanning everything—the untouched bouquet, the chair pushed neatly in, the veil draped exactly where the stylist left it. No struggle. No overturned furniture. No sign she’d even breathed in this room today.

“Oh, God…” I whispered.

My mind refused to accept it. I opened the closet—nothing. The bathroom—nothing. Under the vanity—nothing. I even peeked behind the curtains like an i***t, expecting to find her crouched there, giggling at my panic.

“Lena!”

Nothing. Just silence stretching and tightening around my throat like a vice.

Then footsteps behind me.

I whirled around, ready to grab someone, anyone, and demand answers. Larissa and Mom entered the room. Mom’s face looked drained, as if someone had wrung every drop of blood out of her. Larissa’s hands shook, and she looked like she might collapse any second.

“Levi… she asked me something weird today,” Larissa whispered. Her voice cracked.

I stared at her, my pulse thundering. “What?”

“She… she asked which route was easiest to leave from,” Larissa stammered. “She kept asking which way someone could sneak out without being noticed.”

My stomach dropped so fast I felt dizzy, like my feet had disappeared from under me.

Mom covered her mouth with trembling fingers, her eyes glimmering with guilt. “It’s my fault… I knew she didn’t want this. I kept convincing her. Pushing her. Telling her it’s tradition… I should’ve listened. Oh, God, what have I done?”

“Mom.” My voice was sharp, almost a growl. “Stop it. Right now. We don’t know anything. We don’t know if she ran. We don’t know if she’s… taken. So stop blaming yourself.”

Her shoulders shook violently, her body trembling like she could collapse at any second. “I just… I told her she had to do this, Levi! The Jimenez family, the Bianchi alliance… everything is on her shoulders! I told her she had no choice… maybe she thought she did.”

“She wouldn’t run,” I said firmly, teeth gritted. “Lena doesn’t run. She fights. She yells. She complains. She throws things. She doesn’t vanish into thin air.”

Before anyone could respond, the air shifted.

Doors slammed open behind us, and in poured the Bianchi elders, faces red with anger, veins standing out, voices sharp and commanding like whips cracking across the room.

“We were told the bride would be ready for escort,” Romano barked, his chin high and unyielding.

Mom inhaled shakily. “There’s… there’s a small issue—”

“Small?” Viotto snapped. “We do not tolerate delays. Where is the bride?”

Their words hit me like hammer blows. Every ounce of calm I had evaporated.

Larissa stiffened beside me, like she could disappear into the floor.

Mom’s eyes dropped to the ground. Her hands twisted together, knuckles white, trembling as though she were trying to hold herself upright. “We’re looking—”

“You lost her?” Pan’s eyebrows shot up, disbelief and fury mixing into a single sharp expression. “How… how does a bride simply vanish on the day of her wedding?”

Mom’s lips trembled. “I—I don’t know—”

“Don’t know?” Romano’s voice rose like a whip cracking through the room. “You are head of the Jimenez! And yet, your daughter has disappeared! What will people say? That you allowed your pack to fail? That your daughter ran away while under your watch?”

Larissa swallowed hard. “She… she asked me about routes… to leave the place…”

“Routes?” Pan’s voice boomed. “You are telling us she asked directions to escape from her own wedding?”

“I—I didn’t know what to do” Mom stammered, clutching her hands together, trembling.

Viotto stepped forward, eyes blazing. “Do you understand what this means? The Jimenez owe the Bianchi a substantial debt. This marriage was supposed to secure an alliance. A financial and political arrangement. And now your daughter runs off?”

“You—you will pay for this!” Pan shouted. “Do you understand the humiliation? The disgrace? The Alpha will not tolerate this! If your daughter does not appear immediately, the consequences will fall upon you and your pack!”

I clenched my fists so tightly my nails bit into my palms. “We’re searching! We’ll find her—”

“Silence!” Romano roared. “You do not speak! You, boy, are of age, yet this is the situation your family has caused. You let your own sister disgrace your pack! Do you know what people will say when the Bianchi arrive and she is nowhere to be found?”

Mom covered her face, rocking slightly, whispering over and over, “I… I… I should have stopped this… I should have listened…”

“Should have?” Pan sneered. “No amount of regret will undo this. The Jimenez are supposed to honor the Bianchi! This is a matter of reputation!”

Larissa’s hands shook as she tried to step closer to me. “We’ve checked everywhere—every corridor, the gardens, the rooms… she’s gone!”

“Search again!” Pan barked. “Every possible route! Every window! Every servant!”

“And if she is not found before the Alpha sees this,” Viotto warned, voice low and dangerous, “you will pay. Your pack will pay. Do you understand?”

I gritted my teeth, fists tight. “We’ll find her. I promise. Just… give us a moment—”

“Your promise means nothing! You don’t want to know the other side of Alpha Xavier,” Viotto snapped, eyes sharp as blades.

Magdalene sank into herself, muttering apologies, tears streaming down her cheeks. Larissa’s shoulders shook violently, panic radiating outward like heat from a fire. The tension was unbearable, almost tangible like the walls themselves were pressing inward, trapping us under the weight of the Bianchi’s fury. And in the middle of it all, I could do nothing but stand, heart hammering, stomach twisting, and pray that Lena was still safe somewhere.

Then…

“What is going on here?”

The air went cold. Every head turned. Not a single person dared breathe.

It wasn’t just the words. It was the presence behind them the weight of raw, unshakable authority that made every wolf in the room feel smaller, weaker, invisible.

I didn’t have to turn to know who it was. Only one wolf carried this kind of aura…

Xavier Bianchi.

My brain short-circuited. He’s here. For Lena.

I swallowed hard, palms sweating. My knees threatened to buckle.

What the hell do we do now?