Page 14 of Once You Go Pack
But first, she had to choose him. Choose a life so far removed from everything she’d known that it might as well be fantasy.
When Gerri’s phone finally rang, all three of them froze. Cade’s fork clattered against his plate as his enhanced hearing caught the cadence of Mila’s voice through the speaker.
Please say yes.
“Of course, dear,” Gerri was saying, her tone perfectly calm and measured. “That sounds fine.”
Cade’s hands fisted against his thighs. Her cryptic responses gave nothing away.
“Yes, I understand,” Gerri continued. “We’ll be in touch soon.”
The call ended. Silence stretched between them like a held breath.
“Well?” Lyra whispered.
Gerri’s eyes flashed that telltale gold as a smile spread across her face. “Mila has agreed to travel to Nova Aurora and test it out. Her exact words were that her curiosity and some inexplicable pull she can’t explain have convinced her to give it a try.”
Relief crashed through Cade’s system so violently his vision blurred. His wolf threw back its head inside him and howled, the sound echoing through his bones even if it didn’t escape his human throat.
She said yes. She’s coming to our home.
“I told you she was courageous,” Lyra said, bouncing in her seat. “This is going to be so perfect!”
But even as exhilaration flooded his veins, a small voice whispered doubt in the back of his mind.What will the council think about a human queen? What will my father say when he realizes I’ve found my fated mate in someone who knows nothing about our shifter world?
He shoved the worries aside. Right now, only one thing mattered.
“We need to get back to Nova Aurora immediately,” he announced, already rising from the table. “I have preparations to make for her.”
FIVE
MILA
Mila tucked her phone into her purse as she stepped through the law firm’s glass doors. The evening air hit her face, crisp with the promise of rain, but she barely noticed. Her mind was still spinning from the conversation with Gerri.
I said yes. I actually said yes to going to an alien planet to test it out.
The words felt surreal even thinking them. This wasn’t like test-driving a car or sampling a new restaurant. She agreed to travel to Nova Aurora—a place she could barely even pronounce properly—to stay in a castle with a wolf shifter prince who expected her to become his mate and future queen.
What am I, completely insane?
But even as the rational part of her told her she was acting impulsively, something deeper hummed with excitement. That unexplainable pull toward Cade that had started the moment their eyes met, the way she’d come alive when he’d shaken her hand—it defied logic, but it felt more real than anything she’d ever experienced.
Eight years of the same routine. Eight years of being invisible and taken for granted.
Her soul was starving for adventure, for purpose, and for something that belonged entirely to her. She’d never even left the East Coast, let alone Earth itself. The thought of exploring another world, of living a life where she wasn’t just Mark Eldridge’s daughter or Riley’s boring sister, made her pulse race with anticipation.
“Mila!”
She froze at the sound of her father’s voice, turning to see him and Riley emerging from the firm’s entrance. Surprise flashed across her face—they were usually long gone by four o’clock, off to networking events or their respective homes.
“Dad? Riley? What are you still doing here?” She glanced at her watch. “It’s past six.”
“Last minute deposition,” her father replied, adjusting his expensive tie with the same precision he applied to everything in his life. “Ran longer than expected.” His sharp gaze fixed on her with that familiar disapproval. “Where are you off to in such a hurry? You look... flustered.”
Riley’s eyes narrowed with curiosity. “And you’re actually leaving at a reasonable hour for once. That’s suspicious. Does it have something to do with that earlier brunch meeting?”
The familiar weight of their scrutiny settled on Mila’s shoulders, but tonight it felt heavier than usual. Here she was, having just agreed to the most incredible proposition of her life, and they were already questioning her right to leave work at a normal time.
