The Startup Queen

Maya Sterling fixed her eyes on the figures glowing on her laptop, doing her best not to panic. The screen offered no comfort. NovaLink had only twelve days of operating cash remaining. Twelve days. She sank back into her chair and pressed her fingers against her tired eyes. Beyond the glass walls of her cramped office, Abuja was slipping into evening. City lights shimmered below, lovely but far away. Inside, though, the place looked nothing like the headquarters of a company expected to become the next big technology success. There were seven employees in all. Two programmers. One person handling marketing. Three interns. And Maya, somehow, was responsible for everything else. Founder. CEO. Accountant. Salesperson. Customer support. Every now and then, even the cleaner. Her gaze settled on the company logo painted across the wall. NOVALINK It was a simple name for something she believed could become extraordinary. NovaLink's software brought small businesses, customers, suppliers, and payment platforms together in one system. Maya had developed the original idea three years earlier while working from her tiny apartment. She believed in it when no one else did. She borrowed money. She worked through the night. Investors had laughed her out of conference rooms, telling her that a young woman without rich parents had no place competing in tech. Still, she had refused to quit. Now she was twelve days from losing everything. Her phone buzzed. Maya looked down. ELENA: Have you eaten? Despite herself, she smiled. Elena had been asking her that for as long as Maya could remember. Maya sent back a quick reply. MAYA: Yes. A second message appeared almost at once. ELENA: Liar. Maya let out a quiet laugh. She was just about to answer when another notification popped up—an email. She opened it, and her heart seemed to stop. The subject read: Investment Meeting Confirmed. Maya straightened in her chair. The investor had confirmed the meeting. Tomorrow morning. The name beneath the message made her stomach clench. Blackwood Capital. She knew the name. Everyone did. Blackwood Capital belonged to Adrian Blackwood, a billionaire businessman whose name showed up regularly in financial magazines. He was young, fiercely successful, and notoriously hard to impress. If Blackwood Capital invested in NovaLink, the company would make it. More than that, it could burst onto the international market. Maya read the email twice, then a third time. Tomorrow might change everything. She shut the laptop and rose. A sudden wave of dizziness swept over her. Maya caught herself on the desk. Her breath came in uneven pulls, and her heart was racing far too fast. Something was wrong. She glanced at the windows. The city lights looked strangely sharp. From several floors below, she could hear the traffic—not just see it. Every horn. Every engine. Each faint voice. Her eyes widened. Then another sound reached her: a heartbeat. Slow. Heavy. Close. Maya spun around. No one stood there. She swallowed. "Okay," she murmured. "I really need to sleep." She picked up her bag and walked out of the office. As soon as she stepped outside, the night air slapped against her face. For some reason, the smell of rain seemed overwhelmingly strong. Then a second scent cut through it. Wild. Familiar. Maya stopped. Pressure gathered behind her eyes. For one brief moment, she saw a forest beneath the moon. Blood. A woman running between the trees with a small child in her arms. Then it was gone. Maya gasped and looked around. People kept moving, unaware that anything had happened. She pressed her fingertips to her temples. "What's happening to me?" Her phone rang. Elena. Maya answered. "Hello?" Silence met her. "Elena?" "Maya," Elena said at last. Her voice was frightened. Maya's stomach clenched. "What is it?" "Where are you?" "Outside the office." "You need to come home." "Why?" Silence again. Then Elena murmured something Maya could hardly make out. "The moon is rising." Maya glanced up. A full moon was starting to show through the clouds. She couldn't explain it, but fear slid through her from head to toe. "Elena, you're freaking me out." "I should've told you years ago." "Told me what?" The call cut off. Maya looked down at her phone, frozen. That was when she saw someone across the street. A man—tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in a black suit. He wasn't checking his phone or speaking to anyone. He was staring straight at her. Every instinct she had told her to go. Maya turned away. When she looked back, he had vanished. Her pulse jumped, and she hurried to her car. She had no idea that, across the city, someone else had just felt the same strange tug. Adrian Blackwood stood in the penthouse office at Blackwood Capital, watching the moon rise beyond a wall of glass. His wolf wouldn't settle. It had been agitated for hours, and honestly, he had never experienced anything like it. Then, without warning, his whole body went rigid. A scent reached him. Impossible. Familiar. Powerful. His wolf surged awake inside him with such force that he nearly dropped to his knees. Mate. The word rang through his mind. Adrian clenched his jaw. "No." His wolf answered, utterly certain. Mate. For twenty nine years, Adrian had waited for the person destiny was meant to send him. He had pictured a thousand different outcomes. Her face had never appeared in any of them. Maya Sterling—the struggling founder whose company he was scheduled to assess the next morning. Adrian lifted the file from his desk. Her photograph was clipped to the cover. He studied her face, and something old stirred deep within him. Then his phone rang. Lucas, his younger brother. Adrian answered. "Tell me." Lucas sounded unusually grave. "Adrian, we've got a problem." "What kind?" "We uncovered something in the old records." Adrian's expression turned hard. "What?" Lucas paused. "The Sterling name." Adrian glanced at Maya's photograph again. His wolf rumbled low in his chest. Lucas went on. "The family wasn't completely wiped out." Adrian's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?" "There might be a survivor." Adrian slowly pressed the phone closer to his ear. "Who?" Lucas drew in a breath. "Maya Sterling." Silence filled the room. Adrian turned toward the moon. For the first time in twenty five years, the past had found its way back to him. And destiny had delivered it straight to his doorstep. Neither Maya nor Adrian knew it yet, but tomorrow's business meeting wouldn't be about an investment. It would mark the start of a war. The woman who thought she was fighting to keep her startup alive was about to learn that she had been born to rule an entire kingdom. She was the queen no one knew existed.