Chapter 56 No - Amelia’s POV
I pushed, directing all my energy toward the transformation. The heat grew hotter, almost uncomfortable now. My fingers tingled, nails aching as if they wanted to extend into claws. The muscles in my back twitched and spasmed. For one glorious moment, I felt myself balancing on the edge of something monumental, a precipice of change.
Then, like a candle being snuffed out, the sensation faded. The heat receded, leaving behind only a hollow disappointment and the echo of what might have been.
'No!' Kaela howled, her frustration crashing through our bond like a physical blow. 'We were so close! What's blocking us?'
I opened my eyes, blinking away tears of disappointment. "I don't know," I admitted, my voice rough with emotion. "But you're right—that was closer than we've ever gotten."
For twenty minutes, we tried again and again, each attempt bringing us to that same precipice before the invisible barrier stopped us. Finally, exhausted and frustrated, I gave up for the day.
'Something's wrong,' Kaela muttered as I made my way back toward the castle. 'It's not natural, this blockage. It feels... deliberate.'
"Like a bloodline curse," I said quietly, mindful of servants passing in the hallway. "Nora said it's connected to Aleksandr's Centennial Curse somehow."
'Then we need to break both,' she growled. 'Soon.'
I checked the ornate clock in the corridor, almost time for Aleksandr's meeting to end. I hurried back to my suite to freshen up before he came looking for me. Perhaps I'd surprise him, meet him outside the council chamber instead.
The door to my suite was slightly ajar when I reached it. Strange—I was certain I'd pulled it closed when I left. Cautiously, I pushed it open, peering inside.
"Mira?" I called, thinking perhaps the maid had come to tidy up. No answer.
The sitting room looked exactly as I'd left it, breakfast tray still on the side table. I moved toward the bedroom, a prickle of unease running down my spine. The door swung open at my touch, revealing a sight that stopped me in my tracks.
On my bed sat an elaborate gift basket, wrapped in cellophane and tied with a red silk ribbon. Surrounding it were at least two dozen blood-red roses, their heady scent filling the room. For a split second, I thought perhaps Aleksandr had arranged this surprise—until I saw the note propped against the basket, written in unfamiliar, angular handwriting.
My hands trembled slightly as I picked it up, unfolding the heavy cream-coloured paper.
Miss Lovelace,
Your presence in the Alpha King's life is temporary at best, destructive at worst. You cannot give him what he needs—a true Queen from a worthy bloodline. Walk away now, disappear, never contact him again, and five million dollars will be deposited to an account of your choosing. Stay, and you will regret it. This is both generous offer and final warning.
The choice is yours. Choose wisely.
The note wasn't signed. I read it twice more, my initial shock hardening into something colder, sharper.
'Someone's threatening us,' Kaela snarled, her fury a living thing inside my chest. 'Someone wants us gone.'
"Or dead," I whispered, looking more closely at the gift basket. It contained an assortment of luxury items—expensive chocolates, bath salts, a bottle of champagne—all innocent enough on the surface. But the implied threat in the note made me wonder if they were safe to touch.
'Tell Aleksandr,' Kaela insisted. 'Now. This is serious.'
I sank onto the edge of the bed, careful not to touch the basket or the roses, the note still clutched in my hand. Tell Aleksandr. The logical response, surely. He was the Alpha King; he had resources to investigate, power to protect me.
But as I sat there, I thought about the shadows under his eyes this morning, barely noticeable but present nonetheless. The tension in his shoulders when the council summoned him. Nine weeks until his hundredth birthday, nine weeks to break a curse that threatened to consume him completely. And now this—someone in his court, perhaps even on his council, attempting to bribe or threaten me into leaving.
Could I really add another burden to his shoulders? Another problem to solve? Another threat to neutralise?
'Yes!' Kaela insisted. 'He's our mate, Amelia. He would want to know.'
"He's not officially our mate," I reminded her, though the words felt hollow even to me. Whatever we were to each other, it went deeper than titles or formal claims.
I thought about Kane's cold eyes across the council table, the way he'd dismissed me as unworthy without knowing anything about me. About Blackthorn's false joviality that never quite reached his eyes. About the dozens of courtiers who stared when Aleksandr and I walked together, their whispers following us like shadows.
Any of them could have sent this. All of them had reason to want the "wolfless girl" gone.
'This is stupid,' Kaela growled. 'If you won't tell him, I'll tell Skoll.'
"No," I said firmly. "Not yet." I carefully folded the note and slipped it into my pocket. "Aleksandr has enough to worry about with the curse and the council. I'm not adding this to his plate until I know more."
'Know more how?' she demanded. 'Are you planning to play detective?'
"If I have to." I stood, gathering the roses with careful hands, checking each one for hidden thorns or signs of tampering before placing them in the bathroom sink. The gift basket followed, though I left it wrapped in its cellophane. "I've survived worse than threats and bribes, Kaela. We both have."
She didn't like it, but she couldn't argue with that. We had survived Marcus and Elena's cruelty, survived being outcasts in our own pack, survived silver knives across my back and cigarette burns on my legs. Compared to that, an anonymous note seemed almost trivial.
Almost.
I washed my hands thoroughly after handling everything, then changed my clothes again, irrationally worried that whoever had entered my room might have touched or tampered with what I'd been wearing. By the time I'd selected another outfit—a simple green dress that brought out the colour in one of my eyes—I'd made my decision.
I would handle this myself. I would watch, listen, try to identify who had sent the threat. And only when I had something concrete would I take it to Aleksandr. He had given me safety when I had none, respect when I'd known only contempt, kindness when I'd expected cruelty. The least I could do was shield him from one more problem until I absolutely had to burden him with it.
"Just until I know more," I promised Kaela, tucking the note into a hidden pocket sewn into the dress. "Then we'll tell him."
'Fine,' she reluctantly agreed. 'But if anything else happens—anything—we tell him immediately.'
"Deal." I took one last look at the bathroom where I'd sequestered the "gifts," then firmly closed the door. Whoever had sent them, whatever their intention, they had underestimated me badly if they thought money or threats could drive me away.
I checked my appearance in the mirror, smoothed my hair, and took a deep breath. By the time Aleksandr finished his meeting, I would be waiting, smiling, giving no sign that anything was wrong. I'd protected myself for years before he came into my life; I could protect us both now.
But as I left my suite, carefully locking the door behind me, I couldn't quite shake the chill that had settled in my bones. Someone had been in my room. Someone had left me a threat disguised as a gift. Someone wanted me gone.
And they were close enough to get to me, even here.