Chapter 2: Why Is It Him?

Gamma Logan, Dominic’s trusted elite executive assistant, was standing rigid at the entrance of the VIP lounge.

Behind him stood the uniformed administrative staff of the Imperial Terminal.

When Logan first received word ten minutes ago that the supreme Alpha King had personally taken in a wandering child, his jaw had nearly hit the floor.

To be absolutely safe, he had pulled the terminal's senior management along to intervene.

Dominic Vance was universally feared across the vast territories as an impenetrable, thousand-year-old glacier.

In the command center of the pack, he ruled with a lightning-fast, merciless hand, never showing a single shred of vulnerability; lesser wolves literally trembled in silence at his very presence.

The sheer concept of him looking after a soft human toddler was an absolute impossibility.

Yet, the visual scene greeting Logan as he stepped inside completely shattered his reality.

The ruthless, dangerously lethal Alpha King sat clothed in his sharp tailored suit, looking astonishingly patient as a soft, messy-haired pup nestled perfectly on his muscular thigh.

Somehow, the bizarreness of the scene blended into a flawless, unified harmony.

Meanwhile, inside the crowded main security office of the terminal.

Clara Thorne sat frozen on a long metal bench, her eyes rimmed with a fragile crimson hue.

A dense layer of unshed tears swirled within her gaze, but her fierce pride refused to let a single drop fall.

The overhead amplification system continued its endless loop, projecting her description into the vast halls.

"If any traveler has spotted the missing pup, please escort him to the central pack guard station immediately."

Leo was gone.

The absolute moment she finalized their international transit documents and turned around only to find an empty leather seat, her soul had nearly detached from her body. She frantically cross-examined every bystander, but no one had noted the little wolf pup's departure. Stricken with pure dread, she had no alternative but to trigger the terminal's emergency grid.

Ever since she fled into the human realm three years ago and brought Leo into the world entirely alone, through every brutal betrayal and agonizing trial, she had never permitted herself a single tear.

She understood with absolute certainty that within this ruthless world, tears were the currency of the weak.

But with Leo missing, her very spirit felt hollowed out. All of her calculated, deadly efficiency as a relic hunter vanished into thin air, leaving her struggling to suppress the raw ache in her chest as she sent a silent, desperate vow into the universe.

Please, by the ancient gods, let him be safe.

Leo was her entire world, the only tether linking her to sanity; she could not survive if he was ripped away from her.

Just then, a female terminal official cut through the shadows and hurried toward her.

"Madam Thorne, our perimeter scouts may have located your pup."

Clara lunged forward, locking her fingers around the woman's arm with lethal intensity. "Where is he? Is he harmed? Tell me!"

"Control your aura, please, Madam. We need you to accompany us to the private domain suite for a direct bloodline verification."

Guided swiftly by the security detail, Clara reached the heavy obsidian doors of the VIP lounge.

The exact second the barrier slid open, her eyes locked onto the towering male silhouette seated at the central table.

He wore a pristine, custom-made midnight-black suit, his sapphire-striped silk shirt unbuttoned slightly at the collar to reveal a hard neck, paired with a profile so flawlessly chiseled it looked as though it were carved from ancient stone. He radiated a supreme, untouchable authority that actively warned the world to keep its distance.

Clara’s heart suffered a violent, suffocating arrest.

Why was it him?

"Mommy," Leo mumbled around a mouthful of gelato, his voice carrying a soft, milk-toned register.

Dominic instinctively tracked the child’s gaze toward the door, and an inexplicable, magnetic jolt vibrated deep within his core.

The woman standing before him possessed breathtakingly exquisite features and skin as flawlessly white as winter snow. Her soft gown draped elegantly over a slender, curved silhouette that was impossible to ignore, while her cascading, midnight-dark espresso hair tumbled loosely over her shoulders. She carried an intoxicatingly vivid, magnetic aura that would permanently anchor the gaze of any predatory male in the room.

A phantom sensation brushed Dominic's instincts; why did he feel as though his wolf had encountered her scent somewhere deep in his past?

"Leo, come to Mom right now."

Clara fought with every ounce of her mental fortitude to stabilize her racing pulse, stepping forward to retrieve the pup.

Seeing Leo sitting so comfortably on Dominic’s powerful thigh struck an overwhelming cord of terror deep in her chest. More than that, a wave of profound guilt and panic consumed her; she was utterly terrified that the Alpha King would look at her and recognize the fated mate he had once cast aside.

Four years ago, on the morning following that catastrophic, drug-fueled night, she had awakened first. Before vanishing into the shadows, she had captured a sensory scan of his features, later utilizing the human network to unearth his supreme identity—confirming Dominic Vance was the absolute, designated ruler of the global Vance Empire.

When she subsequently discovered her pregnancy, her initial survival instinct had been to terminate it. However, the pack medic had solemnly informed her that her uterine walls were naturally delicate; an extraction procedure carried fatal risks and would permanently strip away her ability to ever bear life again.

After agonizing internal warfare, she simply could not bear to destroy the tiny heartbeat within her, forfeiting the surgery.

Through a stroke of miraculous destiny and ancient magic, she had managed to break through the border lines, slipping into the human realm to secretly give birth to her perfect little wolf pup.