The Royal Legacy 4: Moonlight on the Water

“Don’t start, Dad,” I grumbled as I stepped out of my office.

He let out a heavy sigh, already gearing up for the same lecture I’d heard a hundred times.

“I just don’t understand why you insist on wasting your time with this.”

“Alto, let it go,” my mom’s voice floated in as she joined us in the pack house lobby.

There was no point in trying to defend my surfboard business to him again. He never listened.

It didn’t matter how high my profits climbed, or how many magazines and talk shows raved about my boards. Even celebrity endorsements didn’t impress him.

My business would never be good enough for him, just because it wasn’t the family business. When I turned eighteen and took over as alpha, everyone expected me to step in as CEO of the family company too.

But instead of crunching numbers, I went to art school and started my own custom surfboard company. Five years later, we were a Fortune 500 company, with pro surfers all over the world riding my boards.

I was proud of what I’d built, and my pack supported me. But none of that mattered to my dad.

No matter how old I got or how successful I became, he’d never admit he was wrong. He’d never let go of his dream of me running the family business, instead of just passing it to one of my younger siblings.

If nothing had changed in the last ten years, I doubted it ever would.

“I’m heading into the office. Clay and Dover are around if you need anything,” I said, slamming the pack house door in my father’s face and storming out to my car.

I drove to the corporate office, my mind stuck in a frustrated haze. The building was just a few blocks from Samoa Beach.

“Good morning, Mr. Greystone,” the receptionist chirped, way too perky for this early.

Most of my employees were human, and they had no idea I was an alpha werewolf. But I also offered internships to pack members interested in art or business and hired a lot of them straight out of college.

It was a tricky balance, but so far, it worked.

“Good morning, Alicia.” I nodded, waiting for the elevator.

I swiped my key card and rode up to the fifth floor.

Megan, our executive security, greeted me as I stepped out. “Good morning, Alpha.”

She was a college student, majoring in business, and a member of my pack.

“Morning, Megan. How do we look today?” I asked.

“Everyone’s waiting for you in the boardroom. The coffee is flowing, sir, and the spirits are high,” she said, smiling as she walked beside me.

“Thanks. Wish me luck,” I muttered, not exactly excited for another long meeting with a bunch of suits.

I entered the boardroom. “Good morning, everyone. Let’s get started,” I said, jumping right into business.

Four hours later, the meeting finally wrapped up, and I made my escape. Alistair, my wolf, had been pacing and jumping in my head all morning, and my patience was running thin.

He wouldn’t tell me what was going on, which only pissed me off more. I dodged everyone else and walked a few blocks to the beach.

I kicked off my dress shoes and socks, letting my feet sink into the sand. Alistair started howling in my head, and I got an instant headache.

It had been more than ten years since we were old enough to meet our mate, and honestly, I’d almost given up. There were plenty of potential lunas in the pack, and my dad had been pushing me to pick one for years.

I started sniffing the air, desperate to find whatever had Alistair so worked up. The beach was packed—humans everywhere, a few werewolves mixed in, everyone soaking up the first real day of summer.

I picked up my pace, scanning every face, every group, searching for the thing that had my wolf practically vibrating with excitement.

Then it hit me. The most inviting, intoxicating scent I’d ever known.

It was like crisp sea air mixed with raspberry ice cream—sweet and sharp and impossible to ignore. I couldn’t explain how ice cream even had a smell, or why her scent was so different from the usual California ocean breeze.

All I knew was that it was driving me absolutely wild.

Time just…stopped when I saw her. She was tiny—like, seriously tiny, even for a human.

She couldn’t have been more than five feet tall, maybe a hundred pounds if she was soaking wet. Her hair was the whitest blonde I’d ever seen, falling down her back like a waterfall that caught every bit of sunlight.

Her skin looked soft and fair, almost like fresh snow. And then, as if she could feel me staring, she turned.

That’s when I saw her eyes—ice blue, so bright they almost didn’t look real. Her gaze locked with mine, and her eyes went wide.

She spun around so fast I barely had time to react, disappearing into the crowd. But I was already locked onto her scent. There was no way I was letting her get away.

She moved through the sand like she was floating, not walking. She wasn’t a werewolf, but she wasn’t just human, either.

Everything about her was a mystery, and I couldn’t decide if it scared me or thrilled me.

“Wait!” I shouted, but she was already breaking free of the crowd, running straight for the woods.

She didn’t even slow down as she slipped into the trees that lined the edge of the beach.

I sprinted after her, heart pounding, but I was too slow. Her scent led me to a little cove tucked away in the trees, right where the sand met the ocean.

I searched everywhere, even checked the water, hoping she’d pop up from a swim or something. But she was just…gone.

I sat down where the woods met the sand, waiting so long that the sun started to dip below the horizon.

I sighed but didn’t bother answering. Instead, I forced myself to get up and started the long walk back to the car.

Clay and my sister Jenna both found their mates right after they turned eighteen. My youngest sister, Meredith, would be eighteen soon, and she was convinced her boyfriend was her mate. I wasn’t so sure.

My dad never understood why I hadn’t just picked a mate already. He chose my mom when he was nineteen and still mateless.

Their relationship was exactly why I refused to settle for a chosen mate. My dad was cold and heartless, even to his own mate.

I knew my mom found comfort with other men, just like my dad did with other women, but no one ever talked about it.

I didn’t want that for myself, or for my mate, or for my pack. If my siblings could find their mates, then so could I.

I sulked all the way to the car and drove back to the pack house, not in the mood to talk to anyone.

I had a feeling this sour mood was going to stick around for a while—or at least until I saw my silver-haired, blue-eyed mystery mate again.