MARCUS
I exit Carl's room, closing the door softly behind me. The hallway is vacant, but my head is anything but.
Annalise Keaton.
I've never seen Carl react to a woman like this. And that's saying something. He's the Wolf King. The apex predator. Women throw themselves at his feet, desperate for even a second of his attention. And yet… she just walked out of here as if he was nothing.
As if she didn't just save his life.
As if she wasn't his mate.
I push my fingers against my temples, gasping sharply. Three hours. That's all I have to learn everything there is to know about her—her past, her background, her secrets.
I already know it won't be easy.
The moment we found her, we realized something was amiss. She was concealed. Secreted out way out in the human world, actively distancing herself from pack life. Not rogue, not expelled—just… gone.
A trained wolf with medicine talons keen should have been serving the packs, mending warriors, by the side of alphas. But she was living as a human, a spirit among them.
Now she's trying to do it again.
Not on my watch.
I run up the stairs two steps at a time, straight to my office. The moment I'm inside, I make my comms live.
"Ben," I command, voice crisp.
"Yes, Beta?"
His response is swift.
"I need a whole file on Doctor Annalise Keaton. Every record she's got, everything she ever did, any mention of anything in her life from the time she was a kid to the current day. No stones unturned. You have three hours."
A pause.
".I don't know if that's possible, sir."
I raise an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because I already ran a preliminary search. Half her records don't exist. Like someone erased them."
A creeping, ominous realization settles over me.
Someone covered her.
And that only makes me more curious.
"Do what you have to," I instruct him, my voice low. "I want all the information on my desk. And Ben?"
"Sir?"
"Start with the Winnor Pack."
Another pause. This one thicker.
"Understood."
I end the connection and lean back in my chair, drumming my fingers on the desk. Winnor. That last name is not new. They're one of the older packs, but not a ruling one. Not anymore.
And if Annalise was one of them. why the devil's hells did she abandon the life she was born to?
What was she running from?
The door creaks open and Lena slips inside, a frown on her lips. "Marcus," she says, slamming the door behind her. "I need to talk to you."
I struggle against the desire to sigh. "Not now."
"Now's the time," she says, advancing, crossing her arms. "What in the world is wrong with Carl?"
I bring my elbows onto my desk. "The King just had a brush with death, Lena. Maybe give him some room."
She snorts. "Bullshit. I went over to see him last night, and what did he do? He threw me out. Me."
I don't even flinch. "And?"
"And? And I should be informed why! I've never seen him gaze at a woman the way he gazed at that doctor." She paces, puffing. "And you're informing me she's staying here?"
"For now."
Her lips curl. "Is she his mate?"
I say nothing.
That says it all.
She laughs, harsh and biting. "That's it, then. That's why he changed."
I meet her gaze. "He's the Wolf King, Lena. He doesn't change."
"Right," she replies, her tone cold. "Then what are you doing, digging around in her past?"
My hands remaining on the desk.
Lena's smart. Crafty. She's played Carl for a reason, and now she's being cast aside, she's pushing back.
I stand, my greater height over her. "Stay out of this," I say, my voice smooth. "This is a matter of the King."
Her nostrils flare, but she realizes she has no control here.
With a final glare, she whips around on her heel and storms out.
The instant she's gone, I sit back down, rolling my shoulders.
Three hours.
By then, I'll have the truth.
And when I do, Annalise Keaton won't be running anymore.
The knock on my door is exactly two hours and forty-five minutes later.
"Enter," I say without looking up.
Ben enters, carrying a thick, sealed file. He puts it on my desk silently, but his face is serious.
"You've found something," I note.
Ben pauses. "More than something. I don't believe she just departed from the Winnor Pack, sir. I believe she escaped."
I look up, intrigued. "Tell me more."
Ben opens up the file, flipping to the first few pages. "She was the Omega of her pack. The lowest rank. Bullied, abused, little noticed. No family, no friends. Then, at the age of fourteen, she disappeared. No official report, no search parties, no notice of exile. Simply… gone."
I read the records—there aren't many. Thin medical files. A school transcript cut off mid-year. A missing person's report that was quietly discontinued a month after it was filed.
Someone did not want her to be found.
"And then what?" I ask.
"She re-entered the human world at the age of sixteen. Legally emancipated. Used forged credentials to gain entry to a school, then fought her way into medicine. At twenty-five, she was one of the leading surgeons in the region, with no real ties."
Impressive.
I close the file and stand. "Carl needs to see this."
Ben nods, but as I turn to leave, he speaks up, "Sir… if she was really badly treated by her pack, she may not take kindly to being pushed into another."
I smirk. "That is not our concern."
And with that, I head to the King's chambers.
Carl is awake when I enter. He's propped up in bed, bare-chested, his amber eyes watchful even as weakness still clings to his frame. His wolf, Thaddeus, is barely contained beneath the surface.
He doesn't glance up when I place the file on the nightstand beside him.
"You have what I requested?" he growls.
"Everything."
Eventually, he turns, accepting the folder and flipping through it. His face doesn't change as he reads, but I know him well enough to see the tightening of his jaw, the way his fingers tighten slightly on the papers.
By the time he reaches the final page, he breathes out through his nose, slow and deliberate.
And then he slams the folder shut.
"Buy the hospital she works at," he instructs me.
I blink. "What?"
"You heard me. Buy the hospital." His voice is level, authoritative. "And the building she lives in."
I hesitate. "Won't that frighten her off?"
His lips curve in a sharp, almost entertained smile. "She will never know. Leave the ownership in the same names. Let everything remain just as it is. I want her to go on living her life in precisely the manner in which she has been."
I understand immediately.
Control.
She may not accept him yet. She may not even admit the bond. But Carl Draco doesn't let what's his slip through his fingers.
And whether Annalise realizes it or not, she is his.
"I'll take care of it," I say.
Carl leans back, closing his eyes briefly. "Good. And Marcus?"
"Yes?"
"When I'm back on my feet, bring her to me."
A slow smile tugs at my lips.
"With pleasure, Your Majesty."