The Alpha’s Only Daughter

Chapter 6

Zane’s POV

I stormed out of the banquet hall, ignoring the fact that I had just been very rude.

“Zane! Stop!” my brother called out from behind me.

I stopped, not because he used his Alpha tone on me, but rather because I owed him an explanation.

“Zane,” his face was stern. “There is a perfectly good she-wolf in there who can provide us both with immense benefits.”

I rolled my eyes, “Are you talking about Princess Tiffany? Or is there another princess I missed in there?”

It was Tristan’s turn to roll his eyes, “She’s not that bad.”

“You have got to be kidding me, Tristan. How could I stay mated to someone like that?”

“Brother, what are your options?” he asked matter-of-factly.

“Tristan, I need someone with a brain who can help me—.”

“Help you what?” he interrupted.

I stopped. Stood still.

“Help you what? Help you lead?” My brother’s tone was dangerous. I knew I needed to back down.

“Where will you lead, brother? I am the King here! You are denying the Princess of the Western Lycans who could give you a place to lead. So, please, tell me where you plan to lead?” his eyes glowed red, almost challenging me to try and take his place.

I took a deep breath before answering, “I do not mean lead here. We both know that eventually you will place me somewhere that you need me. Either within this kingdom, or outside of it.” I looked up at his softening eyes. “All I want is to find my true, Goddess-given mate.”

My brother’s jaw clenched noticeably. I knew that he wanted to secure the Western Kingdom without war or fighting. Marriage, or mating in this case, was the easiest way.

“Tristan, I know she is out there. She has to be,” I am pleading with him, hoping he will soften enough to send her away or to pair her with his Beta instead.

He stands up straight and looks me dead in the eyes, “I do not agree.”

I take a step back, blinking through my confusion, “What did you say?”

“I do not agree. I believe that you have wasted this kingdom’s resources trying to find this ‘true mate’ with nothing to show for it.” His eyes looked sorrowful as he said it, but his tone was sharp and unrelenting.

“Surely I have not checked all of the Lycan packs within your kingdom,” the notion that this was simply over was absurd.

Tristan looked a me, “You have. I had my Delta keep track while he traveled with you. He found his mate while you did not.”

“I won’t mate with her,” I said defiantly.

“You will or you will be cast out. Within the next month you will offer to be her mate and then mark her.”

“But she likely already has a mate as well. What’s to say she will not break off this agreement the moment she finds him?”

Tristan shook his head, “Her father made her reject her mate. He was the son of a traitor.”

He really had all of this planned out. I was merely a pawn in his scheme to become king of all Lycans.

There was nothing else for me to do. “Okay.”

Tristan raised his eyebrows at me. “Okay?”

“Okay, I will do as you say.”

He shook his head, almost confused by my compliance, “I’m sorry you never found your mate, but this is for the best.”

I nodded as I watched my brother return to the banquet hall. I could hear him in the distance, “Excuse my brother, he was feeling a little under the weather. Now where were we?”

So he left me with only one option now.

Going rogue.

My brother had made it clear that it would be impossible for me to continue living in the North with him and our family in the palace by setting this ultimatum.

I would not marry that daft princess. Not when my Goddess-given mate could still be out there.

While the others finished dinner, I packed what non-prince items I could, besides one signet to hopefully one day return with my true mate. I left my phone on the nightstand. I would not have another way for my brother to track me.

Later that night, I snuck out of my room and made my way down the hall. Before I reached the doors to my freedom and finding my mate, I had to stop in the kitchen to find food for my journey. There I noticed my mother.

“Zane,” she said softly as she stepped out of the shadows. She grabbed my hands.

I looked at her sorrowfully. “I have to do this. She’s out there. I can feel it.”

“I know, son,” a tear fell from her cheek as she touched my auburn, curly hair. “Be safe and when you find her, please come home.”

I shut my eyes tight, trying to keep from crying. My mother meant the world to me. She made me feel that my mate was worth searching for. Worth waiting for. How could I leave her behind?

As if she could read my mind, “Every pup must depart from their mother eventually.” Her blue eyes stared into mine telling me it was okay.

I went to say one more thing, but I heard movement in the distance. She heard it, too, “Go. Now.”

And so I left.

While beginning my journey, I thought about my reasoning. I tried to find any reason to go back and just do as my brother told me. Nothing pulled me back as much as the push to find my mate.

I had just turned 21 and I felt like three years was not an unreasonable time to have not found my mate yet.

I became enraged at my brother for thinking that he could have a say over my life and my mate. Just because he found his mate within days of his 18th birthday did not mean that I could not deviate from that timeline.

Being rogue and human was hard once I got to the forest, so I removed my clothes and put them into the bag I carried on my back and shifted into my wolf form. I raced through the trees and kept moving until the next day at dawn. I stopped to rest, but only momentarily, finding a small shelter where I could return to my human form and eat some of the food I had packed. I dozed off.

This routine continued for a few weeks as I kept moving south. Just as I was about to give up and return home, I smelled something heavenly. Like roasted nuts and caramel. I felt my whole body become warm and my body pushing me forward. I stopped as I looked straight ahead, seeing a pack of five werewolves seemingly coming straight at me. I crouched down to avoid being seen. Two took off to the east, followed by two going west. A tri-colored werewolf stopped before veering west. I felt my breath hitch as the werewolf began searching around the wooded area, though I couldn’t tell for what.

As a Lycan, I could easily take all five of them if need be, but I had no desire to reveal myself or to fight anyone. So I sat and waited. The werewolf eventually stopped searching and trotted off to the west, though much more slowly than before.

I went to where the werewolf had stopped and began their search. I smelled the roasted nuts and caramel again. My heart lurched forward. Was this my mate?