The voice cut through the palace hall like a blade through silk. Deep, commanding, absolute. Every person in the corridor froze mid-breath. I felt the air shift, heavy with dominance that only one wolf in this kingdom possessed.
Alpha King Jack.
My stomach dropped. Of all the moments for him to appear, it had to be now. Lily's hand was still raised, ready to strike me. Daisy stood there with her accusations hanging in the air like poison. The other palace staff who had gathered to watch the spectacle scattered instantly, returning to their posts with heads bowed low. Nobody wanted to be caught in the Alpha King's wrath.
"Not a step further."
The command was directed at Lily. She froze completely, her hand slowly lowering to her side. I remained where I stood, my wolf instincts screaming at me to submit, to bow, to show my neck. But I kept my spine straight, even as my heart hammered against my ribs.
The Alpha King walked toward us with measured steps. His presence filled the entire corridor. He wore a black suit tailored perfectly to his frame, hands tucked into his pockets, his dark eyes scanning each of us with icy precision. Nobody spoke. Nobody dared.
"What the hell is going on here?" His gaze moved from Lily to Daisy to me. "Why is there chaos in my palace?"
Silence stretched between us until Lily found her voice. She always did have more courage than sense.
"Your Majesty, Aurora is having an affair with this woman's husband. The wife came to confront her about it. She went to his bed this very afternoon." Lily's words came out in a rush. "I was simply trying to counsel Aurora. Telling her that being a mistress to multiple men won't bring her happiness. That she should find one mate and settle down properly. But she became violent and disrespectful toward me. She said I had no brain, that I only had a hole where my mouth is."
I bit the inside of my cheek. That was not how it happened, but I knew better than to interrupt.
The Alpha King's eyes narrowed at Lily. "Who assigned you the role of royal adviser?"
Lily's face went blank. Her mouth opened and closed without sound.
"You were hired as a palace seamstress," he continued, his voice dangerously quiet. "Not as a moral compass for other staff members. You abandoned your post to lecture Miss Bluey on how to live her life?"
"I was only trying to help, Your Majesty."
"You were overstepping." He took one step closer to her. "You are dismissed from service. Effective immediately. Hand over all your work to the head seamstress and remove yourself from palace grounds. Permanently."
The color drained from Lily's face. Her eyes filled with tears, but she said nothing. She simply bowed her head and turned away, her shoulders shaking as she walked down the corridor. Two days before the month ended, and she had lost everything.
The Alpha King turned to me next. I forced myself to meet his eyes, though every instinct told me to look away.
"Miss Bluey, I do not concern myself with how you conduct your private affairs. What you do outside these palace walls is your business. But understand this clearly." He paused, letting his words sink in. "I will not tolerate disruptions caused by your choices. If you want to be someone's mistress, that is your decision. But keep it away from palace grounds and do your work properly. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." My voice came out steadier than I expected. I bowed my head slightly, just enough to show respect without complete submission.
Then he turned to Daisy, and the temperature in the corridor seemed to drop ten degrees. His eyes held a coldness that made even me shiver, and I was not the target of his anger.
"And you." He stepped toward her slowly. "You entered my palace. You disrupted my staff. You halted productivity in my kingdom's operations. How dare you?"
Daisy opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her face had gone pale, her earlier bravado completely vanished in the presence of true power.
"I do not care where you met Miss Bluey or how your husband became entangled with her. That is your marital problem, not mine. What I care about is my palace running efficiently. My staff working without distraction." He pulled one hand from his pocket and checked his watch. "From the moment you began your scene to the moment I arrived was twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of lost productivity. Twenty minutes of my staff standing idle instead of working."
Daisy's eyes widened. I could see the panic setting in.
"I am a businessman before I am your king," he continued. "I understand the value of time. Each second in my palace is worth one million dollars in productivity. Sixty seconds per minute means sixty million per minute. Twenty minutes equals one point two billion dollars."
My breath caught. Even I had not expected that.
"You have until the month ends to pay. Two days. If you cannot produce the funds, you will be placed in the royal prison until the debt is satisfied."
"Your Majesty, please," Daisy finally found her voice. "I do not have that kind of money. I only came to warn her away from my husband."
"That is not my concern." His expression did not change. "You made your choice when you entered my palace."
He turned away from her and raised his voice so every staff member on the floor could hear. "Listen carefully, all of you."
Heads popped up from behind desks and doorways. Everyone was listening.
"I hired you to work for this kingdom. Not to gossip. Not to involve yourselves in matters that do not concern you. Because you failed in this, you will all receive half wages this month with no bonuses. And if any of you ever creates another disruption like this, you will pay the same price this woman is paying now."
The collective gasp was audible. I saw faces go pale, eyes fill with tears, jaws clench in frustration. Half wages meant struggling to feed families, pay rent, survive. No bonuses meant no extra funds for emergencies. All because they had stopped to watch the drama unfold.
Daisy looked around at all the angry faces now staring at her with resentment. Her guilt was written clearly across her features. She had come here to confront me, and instead she had destroyed the livelihoods of dozens of innocent people.
The Alpha King's eyes found me again. "Get back to work."
It was a dismissal, but his gaze lingered on me for one second longer than necessary. Something flickered in those dark eyes before he turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing through the now silent corridor.
I stood there, surrounded by the wreckage of what had just happened, wondering if the Alpha King's protection would cost me more than I could afford to pay.