Alpha’s Regret After Putting Me In Jail novel Chapter 139

Chapter 139: Unexpected Visits

Chapter 139: Unexpected Visits

Chapter 139: Unexpected Visits

(Celeste’s POV)

Katherine’s violet eyes bore into me, brimming with disdain and amusement as if she’d unearthed the punchline to an elaborate joke only she understood. The Alpha King’s only daughter had always exuded a presence that demanded submission.

Her aura was suffocating, electric with authority, her wolf asserting dominance without event

trying.

“Did you recognize me from the start?” Katherine asked silkily. She tilted her head slightly, lips curving into a smile that danced on the edge of cruelty.

Her nails tapped rhythmically against the armrest of the antique chair she’d claimed, each click deliberate, like the slow, methodical ticking of a bomb.

I straightened, ensuring my posture was respectful but unyielding. I clasped my hands in front of me, every inch of me projecting deference without appearing groveling. Salutations were key–polished, familiar, yet careful. The kind that wouldn’t provoke, but wouldn’t diminish me

either.

“Your Highness,” I began, my voice composed in tone but deliberate in diction, “as you

concealed your identity first, I dared not presume.”

Her violet eyes narrowed sharply. Her wolf stirred faintly in response, pushing the sheer weight

of her dominance into the air between us.

“Concealed?” she echoed softly, testing the word, her voice feigning casual bemusement. But

her sharp gaze sought cracks in my controlled composure.

I inclined my head just slightly, knowing I couldn’t afford to falter under her scrutiny. “Yes, Your Highness. It would have been inappropriate to assume otherwise.”

“Hmm…” Katherine’s violet eyes flickered briefly to the corners of the boutique before returning

to me. Her soft tone turned venomous. “Inappropriate.” She emphasized the word mockingly, her lips twitching in barely restrained disdain.

Her wolf’s energy shifted, rolling over the room in a carefully restrained wave of aggression.” Well,” she began, dragging out the word, “it seems Moon Shadow Prison has taught you one thing… moderation.”

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Chapter 139: Unexpected Visits

The thinly veiled condemnation within her voice sliced deeper than any silver chain ever could. My silver–scarred wolf instinctively bristled, curling tightly within the depths of my mind,

seeking to bury the wounds that Katherine’s very presence threatened to unearth.

She let her words hang in the air, waiting to see if I’d respond. I chose silence, keeping my

expression utterly placid.

Her gaze darkened at my lack of reaction, frustration flickering behind the hardened glass of her facade. She wanted me cowering. She wanted the broken prisoner from years prior, the

one she’d made scream in Moon Shadow Prison, pleading for mercy she’d never had

intentions of granting.

But I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.

Katherine scoffed audibly, her laugh laced with contempt. “Not a single word? How dull,” she remarked, her fingers resuming their rhythmic tapping against the chair’s surface. And yet, her wolf still tested every fiber of my resolve, pulsing waves of dominance to force submission.

“How disappointing,” she concluded, watching me with renewed irritation. “Did your pathetic stay in the silver cells teach you anything, I wonder? Because from here, it seems it’s made you both bolder and stupider.”

I kept my gaze neutral, my silence purposeful. I offered only the occasional polite nod, timing each gesture carefully to match her shifting tone. I knew her well enough to understand this was another performance–an attempt to flaunt her superiority.

Katherine’s lips parted as if to deliver another cutting remark, but her attention darted momentarily, catching glimpses of the boutique’s lavish interior. The over the shop carried more evaluation now than raw disdain.

way her

gaze

flickered

And then, her tonal shift came, smoother than any political pivot I’d seen. The cruelty faded slightly as curiosity took hold. “I see Regina has been rather… generous,” she remarked lightly, gesturing vaguely toward the boutique’s ornate displays.

“This?” She chuckled outright now, her amusement tinged with implication. “She gifts you all this? Before you’ve even completed the mate–marking ceremony to my dear cousin Marcus?”

My stomach tightened reflexively, though I maintained my outwardly calm facade.

“But then again,” Katherine mused, tilting her head toward me, her voice taking on a honeyed

lilt, “after what her charming son did…”

The pointed pause that followed immediately colored the air with suggestion.

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Chapter 139: Unexpected Visits

Her laughter broke through once more, melodic yet razor–edged, dripping with calculated cruelty. “Ah, such lovely gifts to soothe the scars, I suppose.”

She finally dropped the subject after watching my stoic expression with childlike fascination, as if daring me to betray a flicker of anger. She pivoted the conversation sharply but deliberately, like an orchestrator dragging attention to the next scene.

“Speaking of my dear cousin,” she said, adopting a mockingly casual tone, “tell me, have you seen him this morning?”

I blinked, partially surprised, partially cautious. “Not yet, Your Highness,” I replied evenly.

Her lips curled sharply upward at my sincerity. “Oh, really?” she mused, her words dripping with false curiosity. “Not even a whisper? Not even before he left so early this morning for the Northern territory?”

The weight of her words seemed to press down harder than the air already buzzing with royal dominance. My facade slipped just slightly. I couldn’t prevent the faint flicker of shock that

betrayed me for the briefest moment.

Katherine noticed. Of course, she did.

“Oh,” she cooed mockingly, her violet eyes widening with exaggerated surprise. “You mean he

didn’t tell you he was leaving? Why, how very… insignificant you must be to him.”

Her laughter rang again, clear and sharp like splintering glass. She feigned a softer expression

for precisely half a second before turning away, addressing her disguised royal guards with a

flick of her wrist.

“We’ve wasted enough time,” she said crisply, her voice commanding even as she left with the

ease of someone entirely unchallenged. “This little shop, charming as it is, holds nothing so worthy of my further attention.”

The door chimed as her guards followed after her promptly. Once the boutique fell silent

again, the store manager stepped timidly out from behind the counters he’d taken refuge

behind.

“My Lady?” he began, clearly fearful of the lingering tension. “The damages…”

I cut him off gently with a dismissive wave. “Tend to what needs repairing,” I instructed simply.

“That is all.”

But my thoughts were far from textiles and fabric displays now.

Marcus had left. Today. Without telling me, despite our impending mate–marking ceremony.