The Billionaire Alpha's Abandoned Omega Mate

Ariana POV:

I waited eight years for Kaiden Romero. The day he walked into the Enforcer Station, he came to bail out the bastard who had violated my best friend.

"I demand to see your Alpha! That animal Darryle almost ruined my Gemma!" My mother, Brenda Melendez, slammed her palm onto the front desk, her voice already hysterical.

The Beta officer behind the counter didn't even look up from his files. "Ma'am, Darryle Romero is a high-ranking bloodline member of the ruling family. We have to follow protocol."

"Protocol doesn't mean shielding an attempted rapist." I stepped forward and pulled my mother's trembling arm back.

I was an Omega that the Melendez pharmaceutical clan had judged genetically frail since childhood, with chronic low blood sugar that made my vision swim if I stood too long. After my father betrayed us and ran off leaving a mountain of debt, my mother raised me alone. She feared high-ranking pack politics more than anything, and she couldn't stand to see me wronged.

At the end of the hall, the heavy iron grate of the holding cell clanged open.

Darryle Romero swaggered out, his bleached blond hair slicked shiny, adjusting his French cuffs while dragging his greasy gaze over us. "Well, well, the two charity cases of the Melendez family, daring to make a scene here?"

My mother shrieked and lunged at him. I wrapped my arms around her waist, my boots scraping harshly against the floor as I barely held her back.

Darryle sneered. "Keep that rabid bitch of yours on a leash, Ariana. This is Romero territory."

I dug my nails into my palms, glaring at him through gritted teeth. "What you did to Gemma at that hotel-you will pay for it."

He rolled his eyes. "That lowly Omega threw herself at me. Isn't your kind always desperate to latch onto a high-ranking wolf's knot?"

I was shaking with rage, about to fire back, when the air in the lobby suddenly sank, as if someone had sucked all the oxygen out of the room.

A domineering scent of cedarwood and morning dew slammed into my nostrils. My heart rammed against my ribs, my blood heated, and goosebumps erupted across my skin. The fated mate recognition hit hard and precisely-even after all these years, my body recognized him first. My legs went weak, my arms lost their strength, and I had to brace myself against the reception counter. Inside me, that frail little wolf whimpered softly: Mine!

I turned my head stiffly.

Kaiden Romero walked in, backlit by the moonlight.

The fated Alpha of the Silver Peak Romero Pack, the billionaire CEO of a multinational conglomerate. Eight years ago, after our first shift, he took my hand and said we'd go to Imperial Academy together. Then he vanished, severed our mind-link, and left without a single word. Twelve years of secret devotion, and I became the laughingstock of the entire territory.

Now, in a black suit, his silver-gray eyes swept across the lobby, and the sheer genetic suppression of a pureblood Alpha forced every Beta officer to bow their heads.

"Kaiden..." The name slid from my dry throat, carrying twelve years of hidden feelings and resentment.

Seeing him, Darryle's arrogance vanished instantly. He hurried over, knees trembling. "Cousin! You finally came to bail me out. These lowlifes have all gone insane!"

My heart sank to the bottom. I stared at Kaiden in disbelief. He was here to bail out a rapist?

Kaiden's gaze passed over Darryle and landed coldly on my face, as if looking at garbage on the street. He scanned my pale cheeks and clenched fists, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Brenda yanked me behind her like a mother hen shielding her chick. "Don't think being the Alpha means you can get away with everything!"

Kaiden ignored her completely and strode closer. The crisp sound of his leather shoes hitting the floor trampled on my frayed nerves. The cedarwood scent grew closer, nearly drowning me. I bit my lower lip hard, refusing to show weakness in front of the man who had abandoned me.

He stopped half a step away, his tall shadow swallowing me whole.

Behind him, Darryle gloated. "Cousin, this shameless Omega is causing trouble. Throw them out!"

Kaiden tilted his head, his silver-gray eyes cold and sharp, and spoke his first words to me in eight years:

"Finish the bail paperwork, take your people, and get out of my sight."