The Alpha Princess

CELINA

I wince and turn to my left, realizing I’ve walked past the grand hall. My mother has decorated it with twinkling stars, trees, and rustic wooden tables. Carefully hidden mist machines near the ceiling add to the illusion of being outdoors.

Why can’t we just be outside?

My mother is standing next to a woman with rich, chocolate-colored hair. Judging by her golden eyes and warm smile, I can guess who she is: the lycan queen. She is striking, standing at five feet ten—nearly as tall as me.

My mother and I are both six feet tall, and I inherited her long, onyx-colored hair, but that’s where our similarities end. Her violet eyes are full of warmth as she looks at me with a pleased smirk on her pale-pink lips.

“Celina, come here,” she commands, already reaching out to me. I walk over, and she quickly envelops me in a loving hug.

She rubs my back as she sniffs me, then smiles, pleased. “Good, I can’t smell you. The scent blockers are already working.”

Lovingly, her hand runs down my sleeves as she pulls away, then she hesitates when she feels the gauze wrapped around my forearm.

Swiftly, she pushes up my long sleeve, making me wince. I managed to fool Dad, but I was naïve to think I could fool her.

She lifts my arm to reveal a long slash and gasps; it’s about the length of my forearm and two to three inches wide.

“What happened?”

I ignore her question, instead glancing at the amused lycan queen. “I apologize for my mother. I’m Celina, her eldest daughter.”

The queen gives me a gentle smile. “I’m Amelia. We were just discussing the security measures for the ball.”

“Celina…,” my mother starts, sniffing the wound, then she winces. “Wolfsbane?”

I touch her hand, giving her a reassuring smile. “It’s only a few hours old, Mother. We were investigating an attacked town when I encountered a rogue. He attacked me, but I killed him before he could do much damage. We only discovered the wolfsbane after he was dead.”

“Why would a werewolf even touch wolfsbane?”

“I didn’t say the rogue was a werewolf.”

Amelia’s eyes widen in realization.

“A lycan did this?!” my mother shrieks.

“Definitely lycan,” Amelia says, inspecting my wound. “And that’s wolfsbane, no doubt.”

“Marcus!” My mother’s shout makes both the queen and me flinch. She pulls me out of the room, while I flash pleading eyes at Amelia.

“Mom, please. I just saw Dad,” I say as she drags me.

“Marcus!” she bellows again, storming into the conference room. Damn it.

My cheeks burn with embarrassment, and I resist the urge to hide my face in my hand. But there’s another man here now, standing next to King Exzecial. Instantly, my wolf is on edge.

This, I presume, is Prince Christopher.

He’s taller than his father by half a foot, but his demeanor is much more…reserved. And he’s looking anywhere but at me. His tall form is primed, and his dark-gold curls are tidy. Curiously, his topaz eyes are hardened as he looks at my mother, as if guarding himself. He seems so serious and looks like he wishes to be anywhere but here. Is he that irritated to be in the presence of wolves?

My mom thrusts my arm out toward my father. “Why did you let our daughter go somewhere so dangerous?”

“Sandra.” My father’s voice is a low growl, a warning. He shoots a pointed look at Exzecial and the princes.

“Look at her arm,” my mother retorts, pointing at my injury. “You promised she wouldn’t get hurt.”

“I thought she was just going to check out the wreckage,” he defends himself, his gaze falling on my arm. His eyes darken. “Celina, who did this?”

“A rogue lycan,” I reply, trying to sound nonchalant. “Don’t worry. He’s dead now.”

“You killed a lycan?” King Exzecial’s voice is incredulous as he looks me over.

I bat my eyelashes at him. “Is it supposed to be hard?”

“She is the alpha king’s daughter, Exzecial. You can feel her power just as I can,” Amelia interjects, entering the room.

Her eyes move from me to her newly arrived son. “Christopher!” She beams, going straight to envelope him in a hug. For that brief moment, his demeanor seems to soften. His stoicism immediately returns when she lets go, though.

My father sniffs at my wound, grimacing. “Is that wolfsbane? I’ve never heard of wolfsbane being used in these attacks.”

“Nor have we ever found a rogue left behind,” Exzecial muses, glancing at me. “But you are still walking, I see.”

I wave off his concern. “The amount of wolfsbane was only enough to weaken me temporarily. The pack doctor treated my wound after I killed the lycan. It will be entirely healed within a few hours.”

“So, perhaps the attempt was not meant to kill you but incapacitate you,” Amelia offers. “Could this have been a targeted attack?”

Exzecial’s eyes narrow. “If they wanted the alpha king’s unmated daughter, I can guess why…”

A shiver runs up my spine as my father’s eyes darken further. “Someone tried to forcibly mate with my daughter?”

“It’s just a theory, Marcus.” He pauses for a moment, then says, “Might I see those images again?”

As Dad hands the king his phone with the pictures I took, I hide my arm behind my back, pulling my sleeve down.

Lycans, like wolves, can’t function without a pack. They start to go insane without a strong leader—so why was there one waiting for me?

Unless…he wasn’t insane.

I replay the events in my mind. I was investigating the wreckage of the Moon Dune Pack. The scent of the broken and mutilated pack members was strong, so much so that it was disorienting.

I’d also smelled a few lycans, which was unusual but not unheard of as of late. The unfortunate fact is that these types of attacks are becoming more and more frequent.

I was taking pictures of the damage when a lycan lunged at me. He had already shifted, a perfect blend of beast and man. I dropped my phone when he scratched me, trying to grab me.

I shifted into my wolf form and tore through his neck, killing him instantly. It was easier than I expected, almost like he was caught off guard.

“Why wasn’t he insane?” I ask myself, capturing the room’s attention. “The lycan that attacked me wasn’t mad like most rogues, which means he was following the orders of a strong lycan. He was waiting for me.”

I touch my arm. “He wasn’t expecting me to shift because the wolfsbane should have incapacitated me. That’s why he was an easy kill.”

“Why didn’t it work?” Exzecial questions, looking up from my father’s phone.

I shoot him a stern glance. “Even though my brother is older by a few moments, I’m the strongest wolf, second only to my father. It’s going to take more than a regular dose of wolfsbane to slow me down.”

The king raises an eyebrow, while his stoic son scoffs. I choose to ignore the obvious snub as Exzecial moves on.

“If you’re that strong, why are you declining the alpha queen position?”

I meet his gaze head-on. “At this point in time, pack life isn’t what I’m after. To keep my father at peace, I’ve agreed to step into Xander’s shoes if anything happens to him.”

Exzecial looks me over. “I doubt his beta is okay with that.”

At that, Xander steps in. “My beta is free to challenge Celina, but that would mean putting his life on the line.”

Amelia’s eyes widen as she looks at me. A female alpha is a rarity, and one who refuses to be an alpha queen is unheard of.

The truth is, I’ve always wanted to take over my father’s role. I’ve been training for it my whole life—until my eighteenth birthday. Since then, I’ve lost the desire to even stay in this world.

Dad clears his throat, redirecting the conversation. “King Exzecial, have you decided what measures you’d like to take regarding the rogue lycans?”

“Are you sure they’re involved?” Prince Christopher asks, sounding skeptical.

“Without a doubt, Christopher,” Exzecial answers quickly, sounding annoyed by his son. And I don’t blame him—I am too.

I feel like I want to kick the arrogant prince in the shin. And judging by Mara’s pacing, she’d like to do something a little more violent.

“The mark on her arm matches exactly one from a lycan. Also”—Exzecial slides my father’s phone back to him across the table—“she caught him on film.”

I did?

“She did?” Dad echoes my thought as he takes the phone back and looks down at the image left on the screen. “I didn’t see anything.”

“Your eyes would have missed it, but I thought I detected something amiss in that last picture. Upon closer inspection, I was right.”

I roll my eyes at that comment while Dad responds, “It’s just blurry.”

“Exactly. She dropped it when the lycan attacked her.”

My father takes the phone and connects a thin device to it, projecting the screen onto a blank wall.

“That one’s from before the attack,” I say as I study the picture.

The pack house has been reduced to rubble, with only a few walls standing. But amid the charred glass, burned wood, and ash, I notice something chilling.

A man with blond hair is watching me from behind a shattered window, a predatory smile on his face.

My mouth nearly drops open, and my heart quickens. Meanwhile, King Exzecial looks at his sons, a satisfied smile on his face.

“You see it, don’t you, boys?” he says.

“See what?” Xander demands, sounding irritated.

“The man in the window,” Christopher answers, almost reluctantly.

“Man?”

Exzecial walks closer to the projection and points to the figure in the window. “You wolves are too close to the source of pain in this picture. Lycans can look at destruction without even flinching, so abnormalities stand out more.”

I scrutinize it, noticing the colors of the man’s hair. His mouth is wide open, and there’s a hint of purple on his claws. Wolfsbane.

“She took a picture of her attacker moments before the assault.”

I glance at my Dad while the others try to make sense of the image.

“So, the attack was orchestrated. How is she alive?” Christopher asks.

My head whips toward him. Really? ~Okay, that is it.~

“I am the alpha king’s daughter,” I answer proudly, glaring hard at that asinine pig. “And it’s not like it’s hard.”

It actually is pretty hard to kill them, but I’m not letting this pompous prince know that. The jerk won’t even make direct eye contact with me. Maybe I can give him a quick slash before anyone notices.

“He was stalking my daughter? He planned to attack her?” Mom shrieks, cutting off any further response. She looks horrified, the reality of the situation sinking in.

“Yes, Cassandra,” Amelia replies, moving to comfort her. She wraps her arms around my mom, letting her cry.

“What do the rogues want with my daughter?” Dad growls, his alpha aura radiating power. It’s strong, making my wolf uneasy.

Exzecial answers with his eyes on the photo, not noting the hostility suddenly radiating from my father. “Surely being the alpha king’s only unmated daughter has something to do with it.”

“What are you implying?” he demands.

The lycan king looks at him plainly. “I believe that the rogue werewolves and lycans are planning on overthrowing both of us, and they’re trying to secure that position with the world’s most powerful werewolf female as their mate.”

“They’re going to use my daughter as a breeding bitch!” Dad snarls, his claws extending. His aura and voice become so powerful that the room seems to shake.

“Dad,” Xander says, grabbing our father’s arm in an attempt to calm him.

“My daughter will not allow some pathetic piece of trash to mate her!” Dad roars. “And I will break every pathetic rogue neck who tries!”

He’s on the verge of losing control of his wolf; his voice is echoing, blending into two tones. King Exzecial straightens, leveling my father with a dangerous stare.

“Dad,” I say gently, trying to soothe him, and my voice does seem to rein him in a little, but not enough to prevent the war he’s threatening.

I try again. “Dad, can you take me to the infirmary? My arm hurts.”

He doesn’t respond. His anger is still flaring. King Exzecial appears ready to speak, and Prince Christopher is squaring up too beside his brother.

This meeting needs to end now.