Alpha's Secret Bride

The following moonrise, Moon Estate was quiet as Emma finished breakfast with the pups. Plates were still on the table when the distant sound of vehicles reached the dining hall. She glanced toward the windows as several black SUVs rolled through the courtyard and came to a stop near the entrance.

A servant appeared a moment later and bowed. "Lord Ashley has arrived."

A faint smile crossed Emma’s face. "Please show him in."

A few minutes later, Ashley entered the sitting chamber with two members of his security detail following at a respectful distance. His expression remained composed until his eyes landed on the pups.

Bryan immediately squealed from the carpet and scrambled to his feet. Lottie clapped her hands and hurried toward him, while Nina followed close behind. Emma and Emily exchanged smiles as Ashley opened his arms and bent down to catch the pups as they reached him.

"My, my," he said, laughing as they crowded around him. "An old man barely gets a chance to breathe."

The chamber filled with laughter. Ashley scooped Charlotte into his arms while Bryan tugged at his sleeve, demanding his attention, and Nina stood beside him with an expectant look on her face.

After several minutes of playing with them, Ashley settled into a chair and looked at Emma. "My villa has been unbearably quiet lately."

Emma took the seat across from him. "I’m sure your staff keep you company."

"They’re terrible conversationalists," he replied, shaking his head. "I can ask them the same question three times, and they still manage to give me the same answer."

Emma laughed softly.

Ashley glanced toward the pups, who had already returned to the carpet. "Why don’t you all stay at my villa for a few days? The pups can enjoy the gardens, and I could use some noise in the house again."

Emma hesitated. "I wouldn’t want to trouble you."

Ashley waved a hand. "You’d be doing me a favor."

Emily looked toward Emma. "The villa has the big lake."

"And the beasts," Nina added quickly.

Ashley laughed. "I see my assistants have already made my case."

Emma looked at the excited faces around the chamber before finally nodding. "All right. Thank you."

Ashley leaned back with a satisfied smile. "Good. I’ll have your chambers prepared and arrange for your things to be brought over."

Within an hour, Emma and the pups were on their way to Ashley’s private villa, traveling in a convoy with his security detail. Two vehicles stayed ahead of them while another followed behind, and the guards remained close until the convoy passed through the villa’s gates.

Unlike Moon Estate, Ashley’s villa sat high above a stretch of rolling hills covered with ancient trees. The gardens spread around the house, filled with flowering shrubs, stone paths, and several fountains that caught the light beneath the moonrise. When Emma stepped out of the vehicle, a cool breeze brushed against her face, carrying the scent of flowers from the gardens.

The pups barely waited for the adults to catch up before racing across the lawn. Bryan ran after a butterfly while Nina followed him, and Lottie stopped every few steps to point at something new.

Ashley watched them from the veranda before following at an easier pace. He had barely reached the lawn when Charlotte slipped away toward the villa.

Everyone assumed she had gone inside to look for another toy.

Nearly twenty minutes later, she came running back through the open doors, clutching a sheet of paper in both hands.

"Ashley!"

She hurried across the lawn, clutching the paper in both hands as she ran toward him. "Ashley! Look! I made this for you!"

Emily turned toward her. "Charlotte."

Charlotte stopped and looked up at her. "What?"

"He’s your grandfather."

Charlotte tightened her grip on the paper. "Ashley."

Emily folded her arms. "You should call him Grandfather."

"Ashley," Charlotte repeated, as if that settled the matter.

Emily glanced at Emma, hoping she would step in, but before Emma could say anything, Ashley threw his head back and laughed.

"Leave the little one alone."

Emily frowned. "But she’s supposed to call you Grandfather."

"When she’s ready," Ashley said, still smiling. "Until then, Ashley works just fine."

Charlotte’s face brightened. She stepped closer and held out the paper. "I made this."

He crouched and took it carefully from her hands. "Let me see."

He looked down at the drawing. Colorful stick figures stood beneath a large yellow moon. Charlotte had given Emma long, flowing blonde hair, while Emily stood beside her holding Nina’s hand. Ashley occupied the center of the page with a wide smile drawn almost from one side of his face to the other. She had even colored his suit bright blue.

Ashley stared at the picture for a moment, then looked at Charlotte. "You made me the best-looking wolf here."

Charlotte nodded seriously. "Because you’re Ashley."

He laughed again and pulled her into his arms, holding the drawing safely between them.

"So this is me?"

Charlotte nodded enthusiastically. "You’re handsome."

He raised an eyebrow and looked down at the drawing again. "Am I?"

"The handsomest."

Laughter spread across the garden. He pressed a hand to his chest and blinked several times as though Charlotte had just given him the greatest compliment of his life.

"I’ve waited many winters for somebody to finally recognize my good looks."

Emma covered her mouth, but the laugh escaped anyway.

He looked at the drawing once more, then tilted his head. "I only have one question."

Charlotte’s smile faded as she looked at him. "What?"

"Where’s Bryan?"

She pointed to a tiny circle near Ashley’s feet. "There."

Ashley bent closer to the page. "That’s Bryan?"

"He’s the pup."

Another round of laughter rose from the garden.

Bryan, who had been playing nearby, wandered over without paying any attention to the conversation. He wrapped both arms around Ashley’s leg and looked up at him with a wide grin.

Ashley glanced down and smiled. He bent over, scooped Bryan into his arms, and settled him against his chest. "Ah... so this is the real Bryan."

Bryan reached up and caught a handful of Ashley’s beard.

Ashley blinked and pulled his head back. "Oh?"

Bryan tugged again, laughing.

Ashley rubbed his chin and gave the pup an exaggerated look of suspicion. "So you’re already strong enough to challenge your grandfather?"

Bryan squealed with laughter and reached for his beard again.

Before Ashley could react, Lottie stretched both hands toward his face and caught hold of his glasses.

"Lottie," Emily called, hurrying toward her.

But Lottie had already pulled them free.

She collapsed into laughter as Ashley carefully took the glasses from her hands and slipped them back onto his face. "I see I’ve walked into a very dangerous family."

Emma stood at the edge of the terrace, watching them. The corner of her mouth lifted as Lottie laughed in Ashley’s arms and a maid ran around the lawn after Bryan.

Her hand rested lightly against the railing. She stayed there for a while, listening as their laughter drift through the garden, and the tightness she had carried in her chest slowly eased.

Several hours later, the Royal Council Chamber was filled with voices.

The long stone table was surrounded by elders, commanders, council representatives, and royal advisers. Documents lay open in front of several council members, while others spoke quietly among themselves as they waited for the meeting to begin.

Ashley sat near the head of the table, his hands resting loosely in front of him.

When the council finally settled, Samuel pushed his chair back and rose. The low conversation faded until the chamber was silent.

"I have a proposal."

Several heads turned toward him.

Samuel placed both hands on the back of his chair. "I move that the kingdom begin the legal process of recognizing bond severance."

For several seconds, no one spoke.

An elder lowered the document in his hands. Another exchanged a quick glance with the wolf beside him.

Ashley slowly leaned back in his chair before rising to his feet. "Absolutely not."

Samuel looked across the table at him. "I expected your objection."

Ashley placed both hands on the table and looked around the chamber. "The Moon Bond has united our people for generations. It isn’t simply a custom we can change whenever the council decides. To our people, it is sacred."

Samuel remained standing. "And what happens when that sacred bond becomes a prison?"

A few council members shifted in their seats.

"It has kept countless wolves trapped in miserable relationships," Samuel continued. "If two adults no longer wish to remain bound to each other, why should they be forced to spend the rest of their lives together simply because of tradition?"

An elder slowly rubbed his chin. "There are cases where a bond has caused suffering."

Ashley turned toward him. "And there are countless others where wolves have worked through their problems and remained together."

Another elder folded his hands on the table. "The kingdom has changed, Regent. Perhaps the law should change with it."

Ashley looked from one face to another, his jaw tightening.

"What happens when people abandon their mates the moment they face difficulties instead of making an effort to work through them?" he asked. "Do we really want to create a kingdom where the Moon Bond can be discarded whenever a relationship becomes difficult?"

Silence settled over the chamber.

An elderly council member slowly closed the folder in front of him. "Families would lose their foundation."

Another elder nodded. "The Moon Goddess blessed the bond for a reason. We shouldn’t be so quick to change what she gave us."

Samuel remained standing, his hands resting on the back of his chair. "Or perhaps we’ve misunderstood her intentions."

The discussion quickly picked up again. Voices rose around the table as council members argued over one another. Some rejected the proposal outright, while others surprised Ashley by speaking in favor of it.

Ashley said little. He watched the men across from him instead.

One elder who had defended the Moon Bond for decades now argued that the law was outdated. Another, who had once called bond severance an insult to the Moon Goddess, was suddenly asking whether the council should reconsider it.

Ashley’s fingers tightened against the edge of the table.

Too many positions had changed too quickly.

Samuel waited until the arguments began to die down before speaking again.

"If the council cannot reach an agreement today, then we’ll settle the matter by vote."

The chamber went quiet.

Several council members exchanged uneasy looks, but no one challenged him.

When the meeting finally adjourned, chairs scraped against the stone floor as the council members gathered their documents and filed out. Ashley waited until the chamber had nearly emptied before following them into the corridor.

He walked past the main hall and turned into a quieter passage. The sound of footsteps gradually faded behind him.

Once he was alone, he reached inside his coat and pulled out a small communication device. He entered a number from memory and held it to his ear.

The line connected after the second ring.

He kept his voice low. "The time is now."

A brief silence followed.

Then an unfamiliar voice answered, "Understood."

The call ended.

He slipped the device back into his pocket and continued down the corridor without looking back. His pace never changed, but his hand remained over the pocket where he had hidden the device.

Something had already been set in motion, and he knew there was no turning back now.