The Unchosen Alpha, the Self-Crowned Queen Chapter 10

The Unchosen Alpha, the Self-Crowned Queen Chapter 10

Lucien finally asked me out officially at the Blackridge Light Festival.

The whole city was covered in projections and beams, the square packed with people pushing forward. He grabbed my hand. I looked down at his fingers laced over mine. Didn’t pull away.

“Maeve.”

“Yeah.”

“Be my girlfriend.”

It wasn’t a question-it was a statement. But the nervous swallow that followed gave him away.

“You don’t even know anything about my family.”

“I know you like spicy food. I know cold drinks mess with your stomach. I know you forget to eat when you’re working late.”

“And I know when you laugh, you press your lips together like someone told you not to be too

loud.”

He shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal. “That’s all I need to know. The rest? You can tell me when

you’re ready.”

The light projections painted his face in shifting colors. I nodded.

“Okay.”

His fingers tightened. Warm.

After that, so many things that used to be forbidden just became… normal.

He called me, and I could answer. No Lyanna screening my calls.

He held my hand on the street, and I didn’t have to hide it under gloves. No etiquette instructor

watching.

He kissed my forehead on the subway, light and quick. I didn’t flinch. In seventeen years at Blackwood Pack, the most physical affection I’d ever received was Lyanna adjusting my collar-and that wasn’t care; that was quality control.

I learned that a forehead kiss could suspend your heart midair for three full seconds.

Senior spring, I got the official job offer from the food group-starting salary twenty percent 1. higher than my classmates. Lucien got an offer from another Blackridge firm. We celebrated at a little riverside place. He ordered champagne.

Over the toast, he asked: “Have you ever thought about going back?”

I set down my glass. “Not yet.”

He nodded. Didn’t ask why.

But that night, I lay awake turning it over. Going back meant facing Blackwood Pack. Facing Lyanna. Facing everything I hadn’t settled yet.

I wasn’t ready. Or maybe-I wasn’t strong enough.

By my second year, I’d made regional manager. By the third, they pulled me back to headquarters

I was running supply chain strategy for the whole Asia-Pacific region.

The year I turned twenty-two, the VP retired, Marc got the top job, and I moved up to VP assistant.

That night, Lucien made me a feast-yes, he cooked. And he was good at it.

I ate until I was sweating, gasping from the spice. He sat across, calmly drinking milk.

“You can’t do spicy.”

“But you can.”

That was him. Quietly doing everything, then stating it like it was the most obvious thing in the

world.

After dinner, he said, “Maeve. There’s something I never told you.”

“What?”

“I didn’t come to Blackridge on a company transfer. I ran here.”

“I know. You said you escaped.”

He dried his hands, set down the towel. “You never asked what I escaped from.”

I turned off the faucet and looked at him.

He leaned against the counter, expression uncertain. “My family arranged a mating alliance for

me.”

My heart stuttered. “With Blackwood Pack’s princess. I didn’t even know what she looked like, and my dad had already set the ceremony date. I didn’t want to be a priced item, so I came here.”

He looked at me. “You okay? You look pale.”

I opened my mouth. Blackwood Pack’s princess. The alliance.

“Lucien.”

“Yeah?”

The fluorescent kitchen light hummed. I gripped the edge of the counter, knuckles white.

“That was me.”