Chapter 4: Family First

-Daphne-

My mother’s voice practically echoed off the walls and her shouting drew my father to enter the room. He must have been walking by, and while he often didn’t want to deal with my mother’s moods, he seemed to know I might need some assistance. While my father had treated me like his little princess, I knew he wouldn’t be on my side when it came to this.

“What’s going on here?” my dad asked.

“Our daughter is in love.”

“Oh?”

“With a werewolf.”

“With a what?” my dad asked, and I glanced over my shoulder, seeing him come closer. “I’m sure I heard wrong.”

“No, it’s true…”

“Why? How?”

“We are… mates,” I said. “True mates.”

They surprised me that I was even able to keep it a secret for as long as I had, but I knew how my parents would react. It wouldn’t be pretty. I couldn’t keep it in any longer, though. If there was any hope that I could be with Jackson, then I had to take it.

“True mates?” my dad asked. “With a werewolf?”

I could see the smile on his lips. He found it amusing.

“And?”

“And I am sure we heard wrong.”

“No,” I said. “And he is not just any werewolf. He does come from a powerful family. He is alpha! Shouldn’t that matter?”

I hoped by saying these things it might change something, but to my family the most important thing besides status was blood. There was power in blood, which was completely crazy, but that was how traditional werewolf and lycan families were. I knew it wasn’t just lycans who were bad. There were wolf families who were too.

“Not when it comes to him being a werewolf,” my dad said.

“But we are true mates! Mates go above everything!”

“Not this time,” he said.

“What if he was a low-status lycan? Would it change something?”

My parents glanced at each other, and I had my answer. “You’re unbelievable!”

“Daphne, your reputation can’t take any more!” my mother said.

“I don’t care about my reputation. He is important to me!”

“How well do you even know this werewolf?” my dad asked.

“Not… that well. We met only a few months ago.”

“Months?” my dad asked, shocked.

“At the queen’s introduction party,” I told them.

“Oh, I knew something awful was going to happen once we got a werewolf as our queen,” my mother sighed, shaking her head.

“They are actually bringing in wonderful changes,” I told her. “They are bringing us together.”

“Is that what we want?” my mother asked.

“I don’t see the bad in it.”

“That’s because you have always been a bit funky, Daphne.”

I looked at my mother, shocked, though I shouldn’t be. Criticizing me was something she had taken classes in and had become the star student in doing it. She knew how to bring me down and I felt the sting of it. I knew neither would listen. They never listened to me…

“Dad?” I asked.

“What?”

“I want to be with him.”

“You heard your mother,” he said.

“But that lycan will not make me happy,” I said.

“Happy?” my mother laughed. “We are talking about power here and bringing your status back.”

“I can live with how it is now.”

“But you shouldn’t.”

“But isn’t that up to me?” I asked.

“Daphne, we are a family and what you do reflects on us,” my mother told me, and I sighed, shaking my head a bit. They never listened, and I shouldn’t have expected more. My dad might have given me anything I pointed at, but when it came to the family and our status, that still weighed more than me. More than my happiness. Was that how parents just were? I didn’t remember Roman’s parents being that way, and I didn’t believe Jackson’s parents were giving him the same speech. I had not met them, but Roman and Ana spoke highly of them. They were the only ones I was really seeing these days. They were the only genuine friends I knew I had, and who would be on my side. Ana told me Jackson wasn’t doing well, and I knew it was because I had stayed away from him. I didn’t want to, though. I wanted to be with him, but I couldn’t get out. I felt tied by the family, and I knew I would lose everything going to his side.

“But what about me?” I asked.

“As if we haven’t given you everything,” my mother said. “What more could you want?”

“Love!”

“Love,” my mother laughed, shaking her head. “It is something that can occur with time.”

“I understand that, but maybe I want love with someone else! Maybe I want the werewolf!”

“No!” my mother said harshly. “We have come too far with this union. You’re going to get tied to the lycan!”

“I don’t want to!”

“Well, that is not up to you!”

“But I am the one getting tied to the arrogant man!” I growled.

“Daphne, you have to do this,” my father said, speaking more calmly than me and my mother. “It’s for the family.”

“I can still bring us status. Being with this werewolf is not a bad thing. He is powerful!” I said.

“Who is he even?” my mother asked.

I didn’t want to tell them. I was afraid of what was going to happen if I did, but then my mother stepped closer and grabbed my arm so hard that I winced.

“Ah! Mom!”

“Who?”

“Stop!”

“Who?” she asked again and grabbed my arm harder, digging her nails into my skin.

“The queen’s cousin! She introduced us!”

“I knew that queen would make trouble!” my mother hissed and let me go, so I could rub my arm and get the pain to subside.

“She is doing a lot of good. She removed murderers from our council,” I said. “And is this not more reason to let me be with her cousin? She is queen. It makes him even more powerful.”

My mother shook her head and laughed. “She is a joke and so is your mate.”

I drew back, shocked, and then turned to my father, who seemed completely shut off.

“Dad?” I asked.

“The family comes first.”

“But he has power! I am giving you all power. Why can’t I be with him?” I asked.

“Do we want tainted grandchildren?” my mother asked. “No, we do not.”

“So this is about tainted grandchildren? You would not love them if they had werewolf blood in them?”

“Weak blood,” my mother hissed. “It’s disgusting. So no.”

I looked at her, shocked, then turned to my father, who kept the same kind of stone face through it all. I couldn’t quite say if it was the traditions he had grown up in that made him look like that or if it was because he truly thought the same thing as my mother.

“Dad…”

“Family first,” he repeated, like it was the only thing he could come up with to quiet me down and get me to do as they wanted.

“Please…”

“It’s over, Daphne. You will marry this lycan and forget all about the werewolf.”

My father walked away and sent the tailors in and I felt tears sting in my eyes. I didn’t want this. But how did I get out of it?