The Alphas Forgotten Daughter

Episode 5: The Night Before

Amaris POV

Two days had passed since my run-in with Sylas in his office. I had thrown myself into my work, hoping the distraction would numb the pain. My work was definitely cut out for me. I got less than 3hrs sleep both nights and that was only because I had run out of work that I could do without calling people or suppliers until the next day so sleep seemed like an easy way to pass the time.

On the rare moments where I had time to let my mind wander, I couldn't stop thinking about that gorgeous red-haired man that I bumped into the same night. His eyes were burned into my memory, I just couldn't stop thinking about him. It was strange, I felt drawn to him. Not in an attraction sense; although he was devastatingly handsome. The feeling was more magnetic. Like he was a part of me I didn't know was missing. I don't have a wolf, so he can't be my mate. Sylas had taunted me hundreds of times about this little known fact of wolf biology.

Tomorrow was going to be the day from hell. The blood moon ball; Halloween; my birthday and another year passing to remind me I am a failure. Sometimes, in my more depressed moments, I wallowed in self-pity, wondering why the Goddess had cursed me so. Being an Alpha's daughter and wolfless was a very cruel irony. As sad as I was, though, I worked hard and kept my head down, hoping it might earn me some time to myself on my birthday. At the very least, I was hoping it would earn me a reprieve from any unwanted visits from sylas or his cronies.

I lay in bed awake in the pitch black, mentally preparing myself for the day ahead. Today was the day I would have to over see the official arrival of the VIP guests ready for the ball tomorrow. It was expected that, as the previous Alpha's daughter that I was acting Luna. Nobody outside of this pack knew that I was no better than a slave and that Sylas had usurped me years ago and declared me non wolf, therefore not eligible for the line of succession. Except, according to pack law, he didn't actually have the power to do so. Only the King could make such a decree.

So, naturally, for the duration of the ball, I would have to play act as the dutiful neice and humble princess at my uncle's side. Sylas hadn't seen the king since my father's funeral, where he was officially declared the Alpha Regent by the King. This meant that legally, he was allowed to be Alpha until I was claimed by my mate or I got my wolf. Both of which I feel will never happen. Can't have one without the other.

A younger, more optimistic girl would have revelled in the fact that for the next two nights, she got to stay in the Lunas apartments again. Sylas had said that it was only while the King was here, and at least it meant he had less of a walk to come visit me. My blood ran cold as I remembered him sneering that part.

I sighed and rolled over in bed, giving up on the idea of more sleep. I picked up my phone and looked at the clock; 4:06am.

"Well." I thought to myself, "better grab my sh*t and begin this farce."

I quickly got dressed and threw some underwear, toiletries, books, nightwear, and other essentials into the ratty old gym bag Kevin had given me. If I had to stay up there in the ghost ridden penthouse of my youth, I at least wanted to not have to sneak back down here when I needed stuff.

Under the cover of darkness, I scurried through the darkened halls of the castle and headed towards the Lunas apartments. It was long before I was stood there at the familiar mahogany doors at the base of the tower. When I was a child, the doors were locked with this beautiful, intricate, solid silver key. My mother kept it on a black ribbon that she had looped over her wrist. Now, it has been upgraded with a state of the art security system that required a thumb print and 4 digit pass code.

I had always known the pass code and sylas had never deactivated my access so I could still technically have come up here but he did something far more secure and cruel; he forbade me, as my Alpha from ever coming here. I knew that these next two nights would be my only chance, but part of me was still terrified of the stinging pain I would feel in my entire body if I tried to defy an Alpha's order. My hand hovered of the thumb pad when suddenly someone behind me cleared their throat.

The sound was low and grumbling as it echoed off the stone walls around me. I yelped and jumped nearly out of skin as I dropped my bag to the floor and whirled onto the culprit in a blind panic. I half expected to see sylas there ready to scold me and give me a beating for my defiance, but my heart skipped a beat as I saw the gorgeous red-haired man from before.

He looked at me with soft, concerned eyes. He was wearing a rumpled yet expensive tank top and jogging bottoms and had that sexy ruffled hair guys get in the movies when they've just woken up. My heart pounded as i stared deep into his eyes, not knowing what to say or do next.

As if he could sense my hesitation, he dropped his shoulders and relaxed into a nonchalant, un threatening stance with open body language.

"Hi, um, I'm Dacre. I don't think we've met. You're Amaris, right? Uh, sorry about your mum and dad." He stammered out his sentence, holding out a slightly trembling hand towards me for a handshake.

"This is just grand!" I thought with a sneer. "Who just thinks to themselves, Hi im a handsom underdressed prince who just happened to be sneaking around your home at 4am so I thought I'd introduce myself, oh and sorry about your dead parents orphan Annie" I pushed my thoughts to one side and placed the mask of the dutiful Alpha's Neice firmly in place as I straightend up and stepped towards him and gave him a firm handshake.

As handshakes went, it was ... odd. Our hands were clammy and far too gentle with one another, and it last uncharacteristically long for just a handshake. As I came to the realisation and pulled my hand away, Dacre smiled at me with a cheeky grin and said, "So you think I'm handsome, huh?"

My hand dropped to my side like a dead weight, and my mouth fell open in shock.

"What?" I said. Before he could answer my rhetorical question, I hastily picked up my things and entered the apartments, slamming the door behind me.

"What the hell just happened?" I whispered to myself.

To be continued...