Chapter 10. Alpha’s Empty Throne

Leon’s POV

It had now been several months since Celeste vanished without a trace. Every day, I scoured every likely and unlikely place—turning over every stone, probing every hollow, and sifting through the densest parts of the woods—yet I found nothing. Not a single clue to guide me. Lira insisted I accept the worst—that Celeste was probably dead—but I refused to surrender to her pessimism.

When I replayed the footage I recorded before she disappeared, I saw her smiling, vibrant, healthy. That image pierced my heart all the more sharply because it reminded me of the last time I saw her: happy, oblivious to the pain I would cause her when I pushed her too far. I knew I had no one to blame but myself. If I were ever given a second chance, I would do everything in my power to make things right.

My gloomy reverie was shattered by a sudden knock at the office door. I looked up, annoyed, to see Marcus—my beta—stepping inside.

“What is it?” I snapped, unable