I made it to the airport just in time. As I boarded the plane and prepared to switch off my phone, it began to vibrate. It was Malachi. I picked up, one last time.
“What do you want?” I snapped.
“I know you are angry about the pregnancy,” Malachi’s voice was lower now, trying to be persuasive. “Come home. Carry a pup for me, and I will put your name in the pack's lineage. You and your child will want for nothing.”
I let out a dry, cold laugh. “Go to hell, Malachi.”
I hung up and blocked his number before he could utter another word. The flight was long, spanning across territories I had never seen. I slept fitfully, dreaming of silver arrows and dead friends, but a sense of relief washed over me when the wheels finally touched the ground.
I stepped into the arrivals hall, and my eyes immediately found a tall man in a dark suit holding a sign: Rhea BLAKE.
I walked toward him. He bowed his head slightly, recognizing me instantly. “Miss Blake. I am Tony, your personal guard.”
“Thank you, Tony,” I said.
He took my luggage and led me to a sleek, black SUV. I sank into the plush leather seats, feeling the weight of the last eight years slowly lifting. We drove for a long time before pulling up to a massive, gated estate.
This was the ancestral home of the Blake family. My grandparents, John and Linda Blake, ran the most powerful empire in the West, and I was their only living heir.
Three years ago, they had found me. They told me my mother was their daughter—an heiress who had eloped with my father for love, abandoning her title. Before she died of her illness, she had sent them a letter telling them about me. Back then, I was so blinded by my love for Malachi that I had rejected their crown. I thought I could make a life in his pack.
“Rhea! Welcome home!”
My grandmother’s voice was warm. She and my grandfather stepped out of the mansion and wrapped me in a fierce hug.
“We are so glad you finally came to us,” they whispered.
I smiled, a real smile for the first time in years. “Thank you for taking me back.”
My grandmother wiped a stray tear from my face. “Nonsense, Rhea. Everything you see—the land, the wealth, the power—it all belongs to you.”
My grandfather nodded, his eyes sharp and proud. “Yes. You are now the Heiress of the Blake Empire.”
I looked back toward the horizon, thinking of the Zander pack and the people who treated me like a shadow.