Page 9 of Abandoned By My Alpha Husband

I checked surveillance from every street near the bar. Bad angles or broken cameras.

I couldn't find her.

But I couldn't forget her scent. Lily and bay leaf, layered beneath lavender and sandalwood. Without the bond, without kissing her deep enough, I never would've caught it. For five months, I'd walked every street in Silver pine Kingdom. Passed hundreds of women. Not one matched.

Marcus glanced at me in the rear view mirror. "Your Majesty? You don't look well."

"I'm fine."

"We're still tracking down the one who drugged you that night." He paused. "Whoever did it was a professional. Cleaned up every trace before leaving."

"Keep looking." I suppressed the rage building inside. Someone had the audacity to drug me—a direct challenge to my authority.

"Also," Marcus flipped a page in his file, "the Guard Station is just ahead. The commander said the Butcher Squad files are ready. You can pick them up when we arrive."

I grunted, about to close my eyes, when my nostrils caught something.

Faint. Barely there. Like the last shredded remnant carried from far away on the wind, mixed with street dust and exhaust. But I still caught it. My body moved before my brain could—hand already on the door handle.

"Stop the car."

"Your Majesty—" The driver panicked.

"Stop the car!"

The tires screeched against pavement. I shoved the door open and jumped out. The driver yelled. Dangerous, but I didn't care. Wind rushed into my lungs. I stood in the middle of the sidewalk like a beast catching the scent of prey, searching in every direction. Lily and bay leaf. No mistake. Close. Very close. And the direction of that scent—I whipped around to look at the gray-white doors of the Guard Station behind me.

She'd been here.

I quickened my pace across the street and pushed through the glass doors. White ceiling lights made the whole space feel cold. Two she-wolves at the front desk had been leaning against it, chatting quietly. They looked up when the door opened.

The one on the left was chewing on a pen cap—her pen dropped the second her eyes landed on me.

"Your Majesty?" The one on the right recovered first, voice jumping an octave. "You—what are you—"

"I have an appointment with your commander." I'd been dealing with the Butcher Squad cases frequently. I needed to have a serious talk with the commander about how he was managing security. But right now, I only cared about one thing.

"The commander's on the second floor." She jumped up, fumbling for the walkie-talkie on the desk. "I'll notify him right away."

"No rush." I approached the desk, looking down at them. "Was there a woman here just now?"

The two women exchanged glances. The one on the left picked up her pen, voice still shaky. "Quite a few people came in this morning... What did she look like?"

I couldn't describe my mate's face. That night I'd never gotten a clear look—the lighting too dim, the drugs too strong. All my senses had focused on her scent and her body. And I'd left in such a hurry.

My wolf let out a cold snort, furious that I hadn't even looked at our mate's face.

"Young woman," I said. "Maybe twenty-two, twenty-three. Very young."

They exchanged another look. Different this time. The one on the right hesitated, then spoke carefully. "There... there was one. About half an hour ago. Brought in a baby."

My fingers tightened.

"What baby?"

"A baby boy." The one on the right said. "She said she found him on the street. Couldn't care for him. So she brought him here. Left in a hurry after dropping him off. Didn't leave any information."

"Where's the child?"