Chapter 5 Mila
FIVE
MILA
Mila tucked her phone into her purse as she stepped through the law firm’s glass doors. The evening air hit her face, crisp with the promise of rain, but she barely noticed. Her mind was still spinning from the conversation with Gerri.
I said yes. I actually said yes to going to an alien planet to test it out.
The words felt surreal even thinking them. This wasn’t like test-driving a car or sampling a new restaurant. She agreed to travel to Nova Aurora—a place she could barely even pronounce properly—to stay in a castle with a wolf shifter prince who expected her to become his mate and future queen.
What am I, completely insane?
But even as the rational part of her told her she was acting impulsively, something deeper hummed with excitement.
That unexplainable pull toward Cade that had started the moment their eyes met, the way she’d come alive when he’d shaken her hand—it defied logic, but it felt more real than anything she’d ever experienced.
Eight years of the same routine. Eight years of being invisible and taken for granted.
Her soul was starving for adventure, for purpose, and for something that belonged entirely to her.
She’d never even left the East Coast, let alone Earth itself.
The thought of exploring another world, of living a life where she wasn’t just Mark Eldridge’s daughter or Riley’s boring sister, made her pulse race with anticipation.
“Mila!”
She froze at the sound of her father’s voice, turning to see him and Riley emerging from the firm’s entrance. Surprise flashed across her face—they were usually long gone by four o’clock, off to networking events or their respective homes.
“Dad? Riley? What are you still doing here?” She glanced at her watch. “It’s past six.”
“Last minute deposition,” her father replied, adjusting his expensive tie with the same precision he applied to everything in his life. “Ran longer than expected.” His sharp gaze fixed on her with that familiar disapproval. “Where are you off to in such a hurry? You look... flustered.”
Riley’s eyes narrowed with curiosity. “And you’re actually leaving at a reasonable hour for once. That’s suspicious. Does it have something to do with that earlier brunch meeting?”
The familiar weight of their scrutiny settled on Mila’s shoulders, but tonight it felt heavier than usual. Here she was, having just agreed to the most incredible proposition of her life, and they were already questioning her right to leave work at a normal time.
“It’s six PM,” she said, her voice sharper than intended. “I shouldn’t be here this late anyway.”
“Since when do you care about normal hours?” Riley laughed, but there was an edge to it. “You practically live here. Half the time I wonder if you’ve set up a cot in the file room.”
Something inside Mila snapped. The years of being overlooked, of having her dedication treated as a given rather than appreciated, of being expected to sacrifice her personal life for their convenience—it all finally boiled over.
“You know what? Actually, I’m taking a trip.” The words rushed out, fueled by eight years of suppressed resentment and the intoxicating promise of escape that Cade’s proposition represented.
Her father’s eyebrows shot up. “A trip? When? We have the Hendrickson trial next week, and the charity event—“
“I haven’t had a vacation in eight years,” Mila interrupted, her voice gaining strength. “Eight years, Dad. So, I’m finally taking one.”
Riley frowned, crossing her arms. “This seems awfully sudden. Where exactly are you planning to go?”
To an alien planet to potentially become a queen of wolf shifters.
The truth hovered on her tongue, but she swallowed it. They’d have her committed if she said that out loud.
“Does it matter?” she asked instead. “I’m long overdue for some rest and relaxation. You’ll be fine without me.”
“Fine without you?” Her father’s tone carried that familiar note of incredulous disappointment. “Mila, you handle the coordination for seven attorneys. The office runs on your organizational systems. This is hardly the time for something impractical.”
Impractical. The word stung more than it should have. How many times had she heard that from him over the years? Her dreams of writing were impractical. Her desire for recognition was impractical. Apparently, even taking a vacation was impractical.
“There are other paralegals in this firm,” she interjected, her voice steady despite the fire building in her chest. “Junior ones who would love the opportunity to prove themselves. Maybe it’s time you trusted them to step up.”
Riley looked genuinely puzzled. “Mila, what’s gotten into you? You never talk like this.”
Because I never had a reason to before. Because I never had a six-foot-two wolf prince with green eyes looking at me like I was extraordinary.
The memory of Cade’s intense gaze sent warmth flooding through her.
He’d listened to her stories about Earth culture with genuine interest. He’d asked thoughtful questions about her work, treating her contributions as valuable rather than expected.
For the first time in years, someone had seen her as more than just competent—they’d seen her as remarkable.
“Maybe I’m finally tired of being invisible,” she said quietly. “Maybe I want to see what it feels like to be somewhere that I’m wanted rather than just needed.”
The words hung in the evening air between them. Her father’s expression softened slightly, confusion replacing irritation.
“Sweetheart, you’re not invisible. You’re essential to this firm’s success.”
“Essential to function, not essential to you,” she corrected. “There’s a difference.”
Riley’s defensive posture wavered. “That’s not... we don’t mean to make you feel that way.”
But you do. Every time you assume I’ll stay late. Every time you take credit for work I’ve done. Every time you’re too busy with networking and not spending time with me. Every time you act surprised that I might want something for myself.
“Look,” Mila said, pulling her car keys from her purse. “Right now, I need to do something for me. Something that makes me feel alive instead of just useful.”
Her father opened his mouth to argue, but she held up a hand.
“The junior paralegals can handle things. Sarah’s been wanting more responsibility, and Tracy knows the filing systems almost as well as I do. Plus, this firm existed before I got here, and it’ll survive while I’m gone.”
“How long are you talking about?” Riley asked, genuine concern creeping into her voice.
Mila honestly had no idea. She mentioned to Gerri about “testing it out,” but how long did one test out being a potential alien queen? A week? A month? Forever?
“I’m not sure yet,” she admitted. “But I promise I’ll be in touch.”
She turned toward the parking garage, but her father’s voice stopped her.
“Mila, this isn’t like you. You’re always so responsible and so practical. What’s really going on?”
She looked back at them—her father with his perfectly pressed suits and constant disappointment, Riley with her confident success and unconscious superiority. They’d shaped her entire adult life and kept her safely contained in their expectations.
But Gerri and Cade saw something in me. Something my own family never bothered to look for.
“Maybe I’m done being practical,” she said. “Maybe it’s time to find out who I really am when I’m not trying to be what everyone else needs.”
With that, she walked away, leaving them standing under the law firm’s glowing sign, probably wondering what alien had taken over their reliable, predictable Mila.
If only they knew how close to the truth that was.
Mila soon slumped into her car’s driver seat, her hands trembling as she gripped the steering wheel.
The tears came suddenly, hot and overwhelming—not from sadness, but from the sheer relief of finally speaking her truth.
Eight years of swallowing her needs, of dimming herself to keep everyone else comfortable, and she’d just torn through that facade in five minutes flat.
I actually did it. I finally stood up to them.
The engine hummed to life, and she pulled out of the parking garage, her reflection catching in the rearview mirror. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were filled with tears—but she looked more alive than she had in years.
As the law firm’s building disappeared behind her, something shifted inside her. The weight she’d carried for so long began to lift, replaced by something electric and empowering. She’d advocated for herself. She’d chosen adventure over safety, possibility over predictability.
Going to an alien planet to be a wolf shifter’s mate might be absurd, but it’s my choice.
The suburban streets blurred past as she drove home, streetlights casting golden pools on the asphalt. For the first time in forever, she wasn’t rushing to complete someone else’s agenda or worrying about disappointing expectations. She was driving toward her own future, whatever that might hold.
Her small ranch house sat nestled between two identical properties, the kind of safe, practical choice she’d always made. But tonight, even her boring suburban life felt different—like a cocoon she was finally ready to shed.
Inside, Mila moved through her bedroom with purpose, pulling out her old suitcase. She packed lightly but thoughtfully: comfortable clothes, a few books, her mother’s silver necklace—the one keepsake that had survived her father’s practical purge of “sentimental clutter.”
What does one pack for visiting an alien planet?
The absurdity of it made her laugh out loud, the sound echoing in her quiet house. But beneath the humor thrummed something deeper—anticipation that made her skin tingle and her heart race.
Every few minutes, her thoughts circled back to Cade.
The way his green eyes had seemed to see straight through her.
How his voice had gone rough when he’d said her name, like it meant something significant to him.
The electric shock when their hands touched that still seemed to pulse through her veins.
There’s something between us. Something I’ve never felt before.
A sharp knock interrupted her thoughts. Mila glanced at the clock—nearly ten PM. Who could possibly—
“Coming!” she called, hurrying to the front door.
Gerri stood on her porch, looking impossibly energetic for the late hour, her white bob perfectly styled and her eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Ready for your adventure, dear?” Gerri’s voice held that familiar note of knowing amusement. “Time’s a-wasting, and certain wolf princes are notoriously impatient.”
Mila’s pulse quickened. “Now? But I thought—I mean, don’t I need more time to prepare?”
“Honey, if you wait for the perfect moment, you’ll be waiting forever.” Gerri stepped inside, her gaze sweeping over Mila’s packed suitcase with approval. “Besides, the moon’s perfect tonight. Trust me on that.”
Ten minutes later, Mila found herself in Gerri’s sleek car, speeding through empty streets toward the industrial district. The moon hung impossibly large and luminous overhead, casting everything in silver light that seemed to pulse faintly with energy.
Mom always said the moon has a way of guiding us.
The memory surfaced unexpectedly—her mother standing at their kitchen window, watching the moon rise with wonder in her eyes. “The moon calls to women like us, Mila. One day you’ll understand why.”
She’d been six years old then, too young to comprehend the wistfulness in her mother’s voice.
But now, watching the lunar glow through the windshield, she felt that same magnetic pull her mother had described.
As if the moon were a beacon, drawing her toward something she’d been searching for her entire life.
“You feel it, don’t you?” Gerri’s voice was gentler now, less teasing. “The call.”
“I don’t understand it,” Mila admitted. “But yes. It’s like... like I’m being pulled somewhere I’m supposed to be.”
“Your mother felt it too, didn’t she? That restlessness, that sense of not quite belonging in the ordinary world.”
Mila’s breath caught. “You knew my mother?”
Gerri’s smile held secrets. “Not directly. But women like you, like her—you carry something special.”
The power plant loomed ahead, all stark concrete and humming electrical lines. Gerri parked near a side entrance, producing a keycard from her purse as if she owned the place.
“City romance at its finest,” Gerri quipped, leading Mila through corridors that smelled of ozone and machinery until they came to an elevator.
Once inside, they descended far longer than seemed possible, Mila’s ears popping from the depth.
When the doors finally opened, they emerged into a chamber that defied physics—carved from natural stone despite being hundreds of feet underground, with symbols etched into the walls that seemed to shimmer with their own light.
“Wormhole transportation,” Gerri explained, producing a small metal egg from her purse. “Much faster than space travel, though considerably more exclusive.”
She whispered something into the device, words Mila had never heard but somehow felt familiar. The egg began to glow with brilliant blue light, expanding until it formed a perfect circle against the stone wall.
Beyond the glowing portal, Mila glimpsed towering snow-capped yellow mountains and auroras dancing across an alien sky.
“Last chance to change your mind,” Gerri said, though her tone suggested she already knew Mila’s answer.
This is so foolish. This is the most impulsive thing I’ve ever done. This might change everything.
But as Mila stared into that otherworldly landscape and saw the twin moons, she felt the lunar pull intensify, as if it were urging her forward.
Her mother’s voice echoed in her memory: One day you’ll understand.
“Let’s go,” Mila said, stepping into the circle.
Energy whirled around her, weightless and exhilarating.
The sensation was like flying, like dissolving into pure light, like being remade at the molecular level.
When the light faded, they stood on a cliff overlooking the most breathtaking landscape Mila had ever seen.
Twin moons hung in the star-scattered sky, their combined glow illuminating forests of deep purple and amethyst. In the distance, a pink ocean reflected the dancing auroras, while crystalline snow blanketed yellow peaks that sparkled like diamonds.
The air itself felt different—cleaner, charged with energy that made her skin tingle and her senses sharpen. She could smell pine and snow and something wild and earthy that called to instincts she hadn’t known she possessed.
This is Nova Aurora.