I forced a smile and waved, and the wolves responded with another round of bellowed applause.
Where was Nai? I wanted my mate to share in this moment with me. Maybe I’d just run back and check on her quickly—no one would even miss me. I stepped toward the stage—
“Speech! Speech! Speech!” the crowd chanted, and I chuckled.
I nodded to my brother.‘Honor, go tell Nai to come out here. She’s going to miss my amazing speech.’
His sleek black fur darted through the crowd and to the back of the room as I cleared my throat and stepped up onto the stage.
“Wolves…” I took a deep breath and reached for my rehearsed words. This was it… “Wolves of Alpha Island.” The crowd hushed. “I stand before you now as your alpha king”—cheers erupted once more, and I waited for them to die down before I continued—“I want to thank you, not only for your support but also this opportunity to serve you. While there are many things I could say today, plans I could share for our future … I want you to know my goal is not to rule over you, to invoke fear or repress any of our kind. I want to be a just and loyal king. I believe we are better, stronger, and more powerfultogether. My singular goal as your leader is to bring unity to our packs and for all our kind. Thank you!”
The people cheered wildly.
“Now, let’s celebrate to our future!” I raised my fist into the air, and Noble stepped up behind me and slipped a crown on my head.
The wolf shifters howled and cheered, and the din became deafening.
‘Now that you’re alpha king, youcouldtell them all to settle down,’Noble said into my mind.
As alpha king, I could do a lot more than that. I could speak into any wolf shifter’s mind, regardless of whether they were in human form or wolf and regardless of which clan they belonged to. Not only that, my human mind would be present when I was in my wolf form. No more wolf instinct overruling human reason. No more speaking by instinct either.
I grinned at Noble. ‘But where’s the fun in that?’
The lights dimmed, and the music started, a deep bass reverberating through the floor. My gaze slid to the empty throne beside me, and I frowned. This moment wasalmostperfect; I only needed my mate at my side.
‘Nai?’I called out to her, opening myself to try to sense where she was. We hadn’t completed our mate bond yet, but we were close enough that—
Shock wormed through me, followed by sadness and fear. The feelings were not mine, which meant…
What the hell?
I stiffened with understanding and shot Justice a look.
‘Find out what’s going on with Nai,’ I snapped, sending the order to my brother before I’d considered my words, and I tacked on a hasty, ‘Please.’
She hadn’t responded, but I felt slightly better watching Justice run out the side door to find her.
It was tempting to reach out to her again, but whatever she was going through had her in an emotional knot, enough so that her anxiety coursed through our unfinished mate bond. I wondered if it had anything to do with her ill grandfather. She was tough. She didn’t take shit. But … I had no idea how much she could handle before she broke.
Everyone had a limit, and I wanted to be there if something devastating had happened.
‘Where is she?’I asked Honor while wondering how rude it would be if I left my own coronation party to go look for her.
‘She’s walking with her grandfather into the library,’Honor said.
My chest squeezed, and I forced a deep breath.
‘The library? Follow her!’I shot the thought out to Honor and started down the stage steps.
‘On it,’Honor replied.
Why was she going to the library in the middle of my coronation party?
Regardless of how I felt or even how Nai felt, I needed to show strength to my people—especially right now. These first few days, and likely weeks, were precarious. I knew it. Hell, I’d trained my entire life for this. I knew every rule and social nicety, what behavior was acceptable, what would be tolerated, and what would earn me the scorn of my new subjects—like me disappearing at my own coronation. But when it came to Nai, I was willing to break all the rules.
I gave the biggest fake smile I could muster as I attempted to pass through the crowd, but they pushed in on me, wanting to shake my hand or say a few words. I tried to oblige them as quickly as possible, but they kept coming.
‘Honor? What is she doing?’
