Page 70 of Once You Go Pack
Mila’s vision blurred as tears spilled over her cheeks.
“You’re extraordinary, Mila,” Cade said, his thumbs brushing away her tears with infinite gentleness that contrasted beautifully with the raw power radiating from him. “You walked into my world and made it better just by existing in it. You faced the Moonfire Trial and proved what I’ve known since the moment I met you—you belong with me.”
I can’t breathe,she thought wildly.This is really happening.
“You challenged a psychopathic wolf king to protect our bond,” he continued, his alpha dominance bleeding into every word. “You trusted me to save you when everything looked hopeless. You fought for us, for our future, with everything you had.”
Lyra let out a soft sob from her position on the floor, but Mila couldn’t look away from Cade’s face, from the vulnerability and fierce determination burning in his expression.
“I love you,” he said simply, and those three words hit her with the force of an avalanche. “I love your strength and your compassion. I love how you make me want to be better thanduty demands. I love that you see past the crown to the man underneath.”
His hands tightened on hers, grounding her in this moment that felt suspended between heartbeats.
“Mila Eldridge,” he said, his voice dropping to that commanding tone that made her knees weak, “will you marry me? Will you be my queen and rule beside me? Will you help me build the future our ancestors dreamed of?”
The archives fell silent except for Lyra’s muffled sniffles and the distant sound of aurora winds outside the castle walls. Mila stared down at this incredible man—this Alpha wolf king who could command armies but knelt before her with his heart in his hands.
This is my destiny.This moment, this choice, this love—it’s what every instinct has been leading me toward.
“Yes,” she whispered, then louder and stronger, “Yes, Cade. Yes to all of it.”
His relief was palpable as he surged to his feet, lifting her with him and spinning her around the archives while Lyra cheered and sobbed simultaneously from the floor.
“You’re going to be the most incredible queen,” he murmured against her ear as he set her down, his arms still wrapped around her waist. “My queen.”
The possessive satisfaction in his voice sent delicious shivers through her entire body.
“I need to call Riley and my father,” Mila said breathlessly, reality starting to creep back in around the edges of her euphoria. “Tell them I quit. That I’m not coming back to Earth.”
But even as she said it, she felt no anxiety about their reactions. Somewhere deep in her soul, she knew they would understand. They would see that this was always meant to happen.
“Let them try to argue with destiny,” Lyra declared, climbing to her feet and wiping her tear-streaked face. “You two were written in the stars.”
MILA
The knock on her old guest suite door jolted Mila from her restless sleep. Sunlight shone bright through the large windows, painting golden stripes across her rumpled sheets, and she realized with a start that her wedding day had finally arrived.
Today I become queen.
She’d barely slept, tossing and turning in the empty bed that felt impossibly vast without Cade’s solid warmth beside her. They’d agreed to spend their final night apart—some ridiculous tradition Lyra had insisted upon—but Mila had underestimated how much her body had grown accustomed to his presence. Without his steady heartbeat beneath her ear and his protective arms wrapped around her, sleep had remained elusive.
Her mate mark tingled with phantom warmth where his hand usually rested against her shoulder, and she pressed her fingers to the spot with a soft sigh.
“Mila!” Riley’s voice rang out from behind the wooden door, bright with excitement. “Time to get moving! Your coronation awaits!”
Before Mila could respond, the door burst open and Riley swept into the room like a hurricane of energy, her dark hair perfectly styled despite the early hour. Behind her, Lyra bouncedthrough the doorway with characteristic enthusiasm, her green eyes sparkling with mischief and joy.
“Finally,” Lyra declared, her hands on her hips as she surveyed Mila’s rumpled form. “I was starting to think you’d fled back to Cade’s chambers.”
“The thought crossed my mind,” Mila admitted with a laugh, stretching her arms above her head. “Because sleeping alone is apparently impossible now.”
Riley perched on the edge of the bed, her expression softening with genuine affection. “I still can’t believe this is real,” she said, shaking her head in wonder. “My little sister, becoming queen of an alien territory. Four weeks ago, you were filing legal briefs and now...”
“Now she’s about to rule alongside the most devastatingly attractive wolf shifter in the known universe,” Lyra finished with a wicked grin. “Honestly, Mila, the rest of us are going to look pathetic by comparison.”
Heat bloomed across Mila’s cheeks as memories of the past two weeks flooded her mind—intensive training sessions with Lyra and Martin, council meetings where she’d slowly earned the respect of even the most skeptical elders, and passionate nights in Cade’s arms where he’d worshipped her body like she was already his queen.
His queen.The title still felt surreal, but the anticipation thrumming through her veins was entirely real.
