The Alpha’s Lost Mate

Eileen’s POV

The taxi had barely come to a stop when Beth called.

“Don’t tell me you’re chasing down unpaid wages for another client.”

“No. I’m almost there.” I paid the fare with one hand while protecting the birthday cake box balanced on my knees with the other.

“My brilliant lawyer is twenty-three minutes late.”

“That’s why she made the cake herself as an apology.”

Beth finally laughed.

I gathered up my skirt and hurried into the hotel. A waiter opened the private-room door for me, and the scent of fir mixed with a faint trace of tobacco washed over me.

Ronan sat at the far end of the long table, the sleeves of his black shirt rolled up to his forearms. He was listening to the man beside him.

I froze and turned, intending to leave.

“Eileen!” Beth came toward me and threw her arms around me. Then she pulled the man beside her forward. “This is Gavin, my boyfriend. Gavin, this is my best friend, Eileen.”

Gavin took the cake from me and held out his free hand. “Beth talks about you all the time. It’s good to finally meet you.”

I managed a strained smile. “Nice to meet you.”

He continued saying something, but I didn’t hear a word.

A chair scraped against the floor beside the table. I glanced over instinctively. Ronan had shifted in his seat and was accepting a drink from the waiter.

“This is Ronan,” Gavin said, following my gaze. “He’s a propulsion engineer at our aerospace institute and the head of the project team I’m on.”

My nails dug into the strap of my bag. I loosened my grip, then clenched it again.

“Hello,” I said.

Ronan gave no response.

“Beth, I just remembered that I have something urgent to—”

Beth hooked an arm around my shoulders. “Whatever it is, it can wait until after we blow out the candles. How long has it been since you celebrated my birthday with me?”

Last year, I had been in the Northern Territories handling a legal-aid case for a group of workers whose wages had been withheld. The year before that, Beth had called me drunk and asked whether becoming a public-interest lawyer meant I didn’t want her anymore.

“All right. I’ll stay for the candles.”

Gavin pulled out a chair for me. It happened to be diagonally opposite Ronan.

I lowered my head, smoothed my skirt, and sat down. When I picked up my water glass, I knocked against the silver spoon, making it clatter.

“I can’t believe Ronan actually came,” someone beside me murmured. “Gavin said their propulsion-system tests only just ended. They’ve been working nonstop for several weeks.”

Someone raised a glass toward Ronan. He merely gave a slight nod, his expression still detached.

I looked at his right hand around the glass. There was a new, healed scar at the base of his thumb.

Five years ago, we had realized that we were fated mates. We had promised that once he inherited the position of Alpha of the Cangyue Pack, I would become his Luna.

“Eileen?”

Beth handed me a napkin. Only then did I realize that I had been rubbing the side of my glass over and over without accomplishing anything.

“Thanks.”

The door opened again, and Vivian walked in. The moment she saw Ronan, her smile brightened.

“I knew you’d be here.” She pulled out the chair beside him and rested her diamond-ringed hand on the edge of the table.

I lowered my head and hid my left hand in the folds of my skirt.

Vivian noticed the two little cream-colored wolves in the cake box and let out a laugh.

“The hotel actually allowed something like that in here?”

“Eileen made it for me herself.” Beth reached out to shield the cake.

Only then did Vivian look at me. Her gaze slid from my face to my bare ring finger.

“Why do you turn up everywhere? Where’s your new Alpha husband? He went from being your father’s personal bodyguard to becoming an Alpha, and he still doesn’t have time to sit down for a meal with you?”

I tightened my grip on my bag and instinctively looked toward Ronan. He was leaning back in his chair, his expression unchanged.

“Today is Beth’s birthday,” I said quietly.

“So you’re not here to celebrate with your friend. You’re here to seduce my fiancé again?”

The table fell silent. Everyone looked at Vivian, then at me, and finally at Ronan, exchanging curious glances.

Beth was about to speak, but Vivian cut her off with a cold laugh.

“What? You abandoned him without looking back because you wanted to become an Alpha’s wife. How do you have the nerve to show your face in front of him now?”

My nails sank deep into my palms.

“Or is the man you found afterward disappointing you, so you’ve remembered how good Ronan was? What do you take him for? Do you think that just because no one else wants you, he’ll want you?”

Beneath the tablecloth, I clenched my skirt until the small patch of fabric grew warm against my palm.

Every word she said sounded as if she were asking the questions on Ronan’s behalf.

Although Ronan had not spoken once, I couldn’t even find a reason to argue.

“That’s enough.” Beth’s expression hardened.

I squeezed her hand and stood.

“I’m sorry. I need to use the restroom.” My voice remained relatively steady.

I didn’t dare raise my head. As I turned, I failed to notice that my skirt had caught on the leg of the chair. My left foot had barely touched the floor when my body was violently jerked backward. My high heel landed in panic on the trailing hem, and before I could react, I was thrown hard toward the wine rack behind me.

The chair screeched across the floor. I flung both hands into the air, desperately searching for something to steady myself, only to realize it was useless.

This was a disaster. I had never made such a fool of myself in court, yet tonight I was about to fall straight into a wine rack in front of all these people.

An arm caught me firmly around the waist. My forehead struck solidly against his chest, and that cool scent of fir instantly surrounded me. Instinctively, I grabbed the front of his shirt.

“Ronan,” Luma whispered inside me.

The wolf that had slept for five years suddenly awoke, stirred by the scent of its fated mate.

Ronan lowered his head. I saw gold flicker around the edges of his pupils, and the arm around my waist tightened abruptly.

I released him and straightened, though my fingers were trembling violently behind my back.

“Thank you.”

He did not step away at once.

“Eileen.”

It was the first time he had said my name that evening.

“Come outside with me. There’s something I need to ask you.”