The Cruel Alpha's Daughter's Mate

Chapter 8

Lara

We had been cleaning the ensuite bathroom in my father’s bedroom when raised voices drifted up from downstairs.

I froze, cloth still in my hand.

There was something familiar about the woman’s voice.

I frowned, trying to place it.

Then Phoenix spoke.

“Isn’t that Tiffany?”

“I think so,” I whispered.

“Are they fighting?”

A giggle escaped me before I could stop it.

“Look at you. Nosey little wolf.”

“Excuse me? I prefer the term highly observant.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Besides, something tells me this is about to get interesting.”

Before I could answer, Tiffany’s voice floated up the stairs.

“So, I see you had an interesting evening.”

Phoenix immediately groaned.

“Oh no.”

I could practically picture her pressing a paw to her forehead.

“She really just said that to an Alpha.”

“What?”

“She’s either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid.”

A beat of silence followed.

Then my father spoke.

“What makes you say that?”

His voice sounded almost amused.

Phoenix perked up.

“Oh, here we go.”

I bit back another laugh.

We both listened.

“Oh, cut the crap, Grayson,” Tiffany snapped. “I came by earlier and saw the state of the house. Your little cleaner girl was trying to remove the evidence of your little slumber party.”

My stomach tightened at the way she referred to me.

“Your little cleaner girl,” Phoenix repeated with obvious disgust.

“She means me.”

“I know. I was trying not to say anything rude.”

“You’re doing a terrible job.”

“Thank you.”

Tiffany continued.

“So, who did you have over?”

I stared at the bathroom door.

She was demanding an answer from my father.

My father.

The most feared wolf in the pack.

And Tiffany was speaking to him as though he were some ordinary man who owed her an explanation.

I quietly gasped.

“For a Beta, she sure has an interesting understanding of the word respect.”

“This isn’t going to end well for her.”

“Nope.”

My father’s voice suddenly hardened.

“Tiffany, what makes you think you have any right to question me about anything?”

There was silence.

Then Tiffany sighed dramatically.

“Oh, Grayson. Come on. We have something. The two of us. Why would you want to mess around with other silly girls when I can give you everything you need?”

Phoenix went silent.

Then—

“This girl is definitely not the sharpest pencil in the box.”

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing.

“Does she seriously think she’s going to become Luna?”

Before I could answer, my father’s voice cut through the silence downstairs.

“We don’t have something, as you put it, Tiffany.”

My smile disappeared.

“I mess around with you just like I messed around with those girls last night. You have a mate. You’re the one betraying him by messing around with me.”

Tiffany didn’t respond.

“You’re probably hoping you’ll leave your mate for me and become Luna of this pack.”

My heart started beating faster.

“But that isn’t going to happen.”

His words were cold.

“You’re nothing more than a body I use.”

Phoenix’s sarcasm vanished.

I swallowed.

My father continued.

“So from now on, don’t barge into my house whenever you feel like it. Don’t question me. And don’t you dare disrespect my daughter.”

The silence that followed was almost suffocating.

For several seconds, neither of us moved.

Then Tiffany’s voice came softly.

“Grayson…”

She sounded different now.

Less confident.

“Don’t do this. Please.”

My father’s response was immediate.

“That’s Alpha Grayson to you.”

A pause.

“And it’s too late. It’s already done.”

I heard Tiffany begin to cry.

A moment later, the front door slammed.

Phoenix let out a satisfied little huff.

“Well. That went well.”

I giggled.

“Maybe they’ll finally stop hooking up.”

“Whether they do or don’t, it’s none of our business.”

“I know.”

She paused.

“But it was entertaining.”

I shook my head and went back to cleaning.

⸻

By the time I finished the ensuite, the house was almost completely restored to normal.

I headed downstairs to the laundry room and found the washing machine cycles had finished.

I transferred the bedding into one of the dryers before loading the bath towels into the washing machine.

The clothing from my father’s bedroom went into the second dryer, while another load of clothes went into the front loader.

One machine started.

Then another.

Then another.

Eventually, I stood in the middle of the laundry room and stared at the machines spinning.

“We have officially become a one-wolf cleaning service.”

I sighed.

“Let’s just finish.”

I made my way through the house one final time, checking every room for anything else my father had managed to destroy during his night of indulgence.

Thankfully, there were no more disasters waiting for me.

I tidied the kitchen, straightened the dining room and cleaned up the last few things in the living room.

Then I heard my father’s voice.

“All finished?”

I looked toward the sofa.

He was sitting there watching a movie as though none of the chaos of the last twenty-four hours had happened.

“Almost. There are two loads of laundry that still need to go into the dryers when they’re finished.”

“Okay.”

He hesitated.

Then something happened that caught me completely off guard.

“Lara…”

I looked at him.

“I just wanted to say thank you.”

I blinked.

Phoenix went completely silent.

My father continued.

“You did well today. You got everything cleaned up quickly.”

He smiled.

“So don’t worry about the laundry. I’ll put the loads into the dryers when they’re done.”

Another pause.

“Why don’t you go and enjoy the rest of your day with your friend, Heidi?”

I stared at him.

“Did he just thank us?”

I didn’t answer.

“Lara…”

I continued staring.

“Did our father just thank us?”

“Are you sure?” I finally asked.

“I’m sure.”

He smiled again.

“Go. Have fun.”

I didn’t need to be told twice.

“Thank you, Father.”

I practically escaped the house before he could change his mind.

⸻

I hurried back to the Omegas’ accommodation and slipped into Heidi’s room.

She wasn’t back yet, so I stretched out across her bed and waited.

For the first time all day, I could breathe.

Phoenix, however, apparently wasn’t interested in relaxing.

“So…”

I closed my eyes.

“What?”

“Where do you think Tiffany is right now?”

I sighed.

“I don’t know.”

“Crying?”

“Probably.”

“Planning revenge?”

“Possibly.”

“Faking a pregnancy?”

I opened one eye.

“You’ve been spending too much time listening to gossip.”

“I’m simply preparing for every possibility.”

I laughed softly.

“She might be trying to come up with some desperate plan to get her hooks back into our father. I wouldn’t put it past her to fake a pregnancy.”

Phoenix hummed thoughtfully.

“Maybe.”

Then she surprised me.

“Or maybe our father is going to apologise and take her back.”

I sat up.

“What?”

“Think about it.”

“Why would he do that after everything he just said?”

“Because he let us leave.”

I frowned.

“What does that have to do with Tiffany?”

“Everything.”

Phoenix sounded far too certain.

“He let us leave before our chores were finished,” she continued. “Why would he suddenly do that?”

“Maybe he’s tired.”

“He’s an Alpha. He’s always tired.”

“Maybe he wants some time alone.”

“Exactly.”

“Phoenix…”

“Or maybe he wants privacy.”

I stared at the wall.

“You think he’s planning to take Tiffany back?”

“I think something is going on.”

Her certainty unsettled me.

“Maybe he just wants to catch up on his sleep after last night.”

“Maybe.”

But she didn’t sound convinced.

Then, just as quickly, Phoenix changed the subject.

“I can’t wait until we start moving up the mountain.”

I smiled despite myself.

There was that dream again.

Freedom.

A life without my father.

Without rules designed to control us.

Without constantly wondering whether the next mistake we made would cost us everything.

“It is going to be good,” Phoenix continued excitedly. “We’ll be free. We can do whatever we want, whenever we want. We can sleep when we want, eat when we want—”

“Assuming we don’t starve.”

“Details.”

“And freeze to death.”

“More details.”

“And get attacked by something.”

There was a pause.

“…We’ll deal with that when it happens.”

I laughed.

“I know you want to live up there, but I’m still not convinced it’s practical. We could spend a few hours there, maybe even a day, but living there permanently is another matter.”

“I still vote mountain.”

“I know.”

I sighed.

“But we can look at other places too. Somewhere away from the pack. Somewhere we can actually build a life.”

Phoenix’s excitement softened.

“I know you’re right.”

She was quiet for a moment.

“It’s just… the thought of living up there feels so freeing.”

I understood.

“Being out in the wild. No rules. No answering to anyone.”

“Exactly.”

Then she added,

“And no cleaning up after randy Alphas.”

I burst out laughing.

“Definitely a bonus.”

“A very important bonus.”

I shook my head.

“Yeah. I can’t wait to get away from here and finally live my own life.”

My smile faded.

“It isn’t like Father will miss us.”

The words hurt more than I wanted to admit.

“All he’ll have to do is find a few Omegas to replace us. Then he’ll probably forget we ever existed.”

Phoenix was silent.

Then—

“Then we’ll make sure we never need him again.”

Something inside me tightened.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow we’d start looking.

Not dreaming.

Not pretending.

Actually looking.

“We’ll start tomorrow,” I whispered.

“It’s a plan.”

I stared toward the window, imagining the mountain rising beyond the pack.

For the first time, leaving didn’t feel like an impossible fantasy.

It felt real.

Dangerously real.

And somewhere deep inside me, I couldn’t shake the feeling that once we started looking for a way out…

there would be no going back.