3. Alpha king

Chloe

A tall, thin man stood behind me, a black cloak wrapped around his shoulders. He looked like he was a villain who’d stepped right out of one of the cheesy romances Mom had always had lying around, half-started. The memory shot an arrow of pain through me, and I only realized after a heartbeat that he’d been speaking, and I hadn’t heard a word he’d said.

“Pardon?”

The cloaked man gave me a small smile. “I asked if you are Susanna’s daughter?”

“I am,” I said slowly, rising to my feet to put myself on a more even footing. I smelled him, and I knew he was a wolf, but he wasn’t a member of our pack, which led to the question – who’s pack was he a part of? Or was he a rogue?

“I’ve finally found you!” He said under his breath, more to himself than to me. “You are a hard woman to track down, Chloe.”

I stared at him, the lack of sleep and emotional pain I’d been suffering from for weeks making me dumb. I wished we were having this conversation after I’d had a good night’s sleep – maybe I would have understood it. “What’s going on?”

The man looked vaguely surprised. “I always assumed your mother had told you some of it if not all of it. I’m a bit shocked she hasn’t.”

I gestured to the grave behind me. “She obviously can’t now, so perhaps you could explain to me what is going on?”

His gaze softened as it took in her grave and the lack of attendees at this makeshift funeral. “My apologies, Chloe. Alpha Kind Charles has been searching for you and your mother for years.”

I stared at him blankly, sure I’d heard him wrong. “I’m sorry, King Alpha Charles has been searching for who?”

“You and your mother.”

I was shaking my head before he’d even finished the sentence. “No, you’ve got to have the wrong people. King Alpha Charles doesn’t want us – me – we are nobodies. We were rogues before the Blackstone Pack took us in.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. I realized as he unfolded it and offered it to me that it was actually a picture of my mother, albeit it’d been taken when she was much younger. Probably around my current age, actually.

“Where’d you get that?” I’d never seen it before, so I knew it wasn’t stolen from our house.

“It was given to me by the King.”

I raised an eyebrow, not at all convinced by his mad story. “And why would the King have a picture of my mother?”

The stranger frowned and tucked the picture away again. “I’d hoped your mother would be here to help explain…” he trailed off as if realizing how insensitive his words were. “I’m sorry for your loss, Chloe, and I’m sorry that I’m the one who has to tell you this.”

Crossing my arms, I glared at him, daring him to continue.

“You are the daughter of Susanna and King Alpha Charles.”

My mouth fell open of its own accord. “That simply can’t be true,” I stuttered, shock getting the best of me. “My mother would have told me if King Alpha Charles was my father. She would have.”

He was silent, but I heard the question in the space between us. Would she have?

“My father was a warrior who died in battle when my mother was pregnant with me. Not the King Alpha.” It was crazy—absolutely bonkers.

“That isn’t quite the truth. Twenty-one years ago, King Alpha Charles was in a loveless marriage. While he respected his wife, they were never mates. Their marriage had been a political one, and while they were well matched, love never grew between them.”

“What does this have to do with my mother?” I hissed. This man – or, more accurately, his statements – were making me uncomfortable on an otherwise terrible day. But as much as I wanted to walk home, there was something in his words that made me stay. It wouldn’t hurt to hear him out, right?

“Oh, it has everything to do with your mother. King Alpha Charles happened into a local bar on one of his solitary wanderings and saw your mother from across the room. I think it’s safe to say it was love at first sight. It was clear to both of them that they’d found their mate.”

I wanted to tell this man that he was crazy, but I couldn’t because that was the exact same story Mom had told me when I asked. Minus the King part – she’d conveniently left out of the narrative.

“And what happened then?” It took me a second to realize that small voice was mine. I hadn’t even realized I’d been speaking.

“Well, they did what mates are destined to do – they fell in love.”

“But something happened.” My voice was flat and entirely my own again.

The man inclined his head slightly. “You would be correct. For his own reasons, King Alpha Charles did not tell your mother who he was initially, and by the time he needed to, the moment had long passed. Your mother was a bright woman, Chloe. She knew her worth, and she wasn’t willing to be second best in her own life. King Alpha Charles knew this and tried his best to keep the truth from her.

“It was a losing battle, however. Some things can stay hidden for decades, but being King is not one of them. Eventually, Susanna found out. In fact, if my intel is correct, she found out who your father was mere hours after she found out she was pregnant. She didn’t share that she was with the child before she left.”

So King Alpha Charles hadn’t known about me initially… that explained quite a bit, even if it did hurt my head to understand. He could have commanded my mother to stay if he’d known I existed, and she would have had to, even if it was against her will. I didn’t want to think of my biological father as someone capable of that, but parents are very protective of their cubs. If he had gone that route, no one would have blamed him.

“Why did she leave?”

The man glanced over me to the fresh-turned earth that now cradled my mother. “She wasn’t about to accept being a third party in someone else’s marriage. If she had known the King was married to begin with, she never would have initiated a relationship with him, even if they were mates.”

I turned my back to the man and gazed down at my mother’s grave, pride warming my veins. My mother had always been a good person, even when it was so hard. A wave of grief threatened to consume me, and it took a few seconds for me to collect myself before turning back to the man.

“If he didn’t know I existed, why has he been searching for me?”

“In the beginning, he was only searching for Susanna. He had no idea that you even existed. He always seemed to be one step behind her, no matter what he did. I know you two moved around a lot before she settled here, and at some point, information was gathered that Susanna was traveling with a child. He didn’t know your age exactly, but you were the right age to be King Alpha Charles’ daughter. Until she met your stepfather, Susanna never dated.”

“So, there is a chance I’m not his daughter?”

The man cleared his throat. “I fear that that is an unfounded hope. You are his spitting image. I have no doubt in my heart that you are King Alpha Charles’ daughter.”

I deflated at this, slightly annoyed.

After several moments of silence, the man continued. “Are you willing to return to your father’s court and take your place?”

I remembered the little girl I’d been who’d played princess and dress up continuously, never knowing it wasn’t pretend for me. A selfish part of me wanted to jump at the chance to leave this place, but the rest of me couldn’t forgive the King. If he had just tried harder or divorced his wife, my mother probably wouldn’t be dead, and that was a hard pill to swallow. If he had just cared more, my mother would be holding my hand right now, and we’d be figuring everything out together. My mother never would have suffered working three jobs at a time, constantly bone tired and masking a sadness that ran bone deep. It was a hard pill to swallow, but my mother’s life had been tragically unfair.

But she was dead, and there was no magic in this world that would bring her back.

“Will you go with me?”

I didn’t bother turning back around. “No, I don’t think I will.” With one last glance at my mother’s unmarked grave, I started walking home.

The man didn’t follow me, but I couldn’t help but think that if he’d simply come a few days earlier, my mother would probably have survived. What a bitter, hateful thought.