The Lost Lycan King

Chapter 9 - Ignoring the files

Anastasia POV

It had been three weeks since that fateful dinner with my dad and I can honestly say that I hadn’t looked at a single file. I'd thrown them in the bin several times, but this would just result in one of my security team bringing shiny new copies in and putting them back on my coffee table, so I had just left them where they were. Every day or so, my dad would text me asking how I was and whether I'd looked at any of them. For a few days I had ignored him completely, now I only answered questions that didn't relate to the files. I knew in my heart that I would have to look at them at some point, but I just couldn't stomach it right now.

As a strange sort of compromise, my dad had been giving me a little bit more freedom and part of me wondered if I should play the game and look at the files to see how much control he would relinquish. He allowed Nicole to come to the apartment whenever she wanted to and had even let me spend some evenings at her penthouse. It seemed strange to drink wine with her, eat takeaway and gossip like a normal person. I had never had a true best friend before and I loved it. Nicole thought that the files were hilarious, she regularly flicked through them, telling me that they were like an old fashioned dating app and that I needed to put the ugly ones to one side. Nicole was an heiress and so she lived in a penthouse on the other side of town that made my apartment look small. Her carefree attitude was most likely because she came from money and would always have money, so she wasn't bothered what anyone thought of her. She wouldn't ever have to marry someone she didn't like, I wasn't sure she would marry at all. Nicole liked to change men about as regularly as she changed her underwear, she didn't have a reputation to uphold like I did. A part of me was jealous, I wish I could be as wreck less as she could, but another part of me didn't think i could ever be like that. I'm not sure id ever be confident enough within myself to be so brazen with men. I had never flirted with anyone in my life. My very brief encounters with boys had always ended in disaster. Boys weren't interested in me, they were interested in my status as the alpha's daughter. My first kiss had been with a boy called Jeremy. I was 14 and I thought that he really liked me. He had started to send me notes in class, no declarations of love or anything drastic, but just compliments about how my hair looked that day or little drawings he had done. Then, he walked me home from school one Friday night and kissed me as he said goodbye. I spent the whole weekend on cloud nine, I could barely keep the grin off of my face. I couldn't wait for school on Monday, maybe he would even ask me to be his girlfriend. But when I walked into class on Monday morning, I was met with sniggers and people calling me "slut" under their breath. When Jeremy walked in, the boys started a chant of "Alpha, Alpha, Alpha". Jeremy looked smug and didn't look in my direction even once. I didn't mean anything to him, he just wanted everyone to think he was cool. After that, I had been asked on various dates, but the mood was always ruined when my dad insisted on my security tagging along. It's hardly romantic cuddling up in a cinema with your bodyguards sat behind you is it? Plus if we had kissed, the security team would definitely have reported it back to my dad and I just couldn’t face the embarrassment of it. The boys I dated were either scared off by this, or were only dating me for the popularity that came along with it. The rumour mill at school always seemed to involve me and the alleged things I had done with boys from school. When in truth, I had never done more than kiss anyone. It was depressing to think that I would most likely lose my virginity on my wedding night to someone I was being forced to marry.

I sighed and sat down on the sofa, just as there was a knock at the door. It was Nicole, she was coming round for dinner and I couldn't help but smile as I realised she was wearing the same thing that she was wearing yesterday.

"Good night then?" I smirk, pointing to her dishevelled t shirt.

"I'm not even sorry" she snorts "that boy can do magic in the bedroom".

I roll my eyes and walk towards the kitchen to poor us a glass of wine. That's something else that my dad has relaxed about, whilst I can't drink alcohol in public as it "affects my image". He's quite happy for me to get drunk with Nicole in my own apartment.

As I walk back over to the sofa, I notice that she's split the files on my coffee table into two piles.

"The ugly ones are on the left, just ignore those ones. The handsome ones are on the right and that's what you need, a super handsome husband"

"As long as he's kind too" I add.

Nicole laughs "girl, you need someone who's going to worship you in bed, kindness doesn't come into it".

I roll my eyes and sip my wine.

"If I have to spend my whole life with him, I want to actually like him and get along with him"

"Hmm I see your point" she frowns "but if he's super kind and then really boring in bed, that would be awful"

"I wouldn't know what boring in bed means"

"Well that's what we need to do first then, we need to get you laid! Billy has a brother you know" she smiles, raising her eyebrows at me and winking.

Billy is the latest person she is sleeping with, the one who she was with last night.

She’s been seeing him for a few weeks and whilst she is adamant that their relationship is purely s****l, she definitely seems to be keeping him around a lot longer than the others.

"Unless he's on the approved list of men, I'm not sure my dad would go for that" I moan.

"Forget your dad, why does he even need to know? He might have a say in who you’re marrying, but he doesn’t get a say in who you’re banging!” I feel my face flush scarlet.

"Unless you haven't realised, I'm basically a prisoner here, he has security follow me everywhere, he would definitely find out" I reply.

She puts her drink down and a thoughtful look comes across her face.

"Hmm, I bet I can find a way for you to meet him, leave it with me"

"I'm not going on a date with some random boy!" I say, feeling a bit panicked now. What would I even say to him? Would he just expect s*x immediately? Wouldn't it be awkward having s*x with a stranger?

My mind starts firing a hundred questions at me, so I pick up my wine again and take a big gulp to try and relax a little.

"I wouldn't just leave you with him!" She laughs "Billy and I would be there, like a double date".

This makes me feel marginally better, but I still think it would be awkward.

"A date with Billy even though it's just s****l?" I ask, smirking again. She can't fool me, I know she likes him. She scowls in return, picking up a pillow and throwing it in my direction.

"A double date! It's completely different! I'd only be there to support you"

"If you say so" I reply, throwing the pillow back in her direction and laughing. She definitely likes him, she's just using my situation as an excuse to see him. Not that it matters anyway, she would never be able to get around my dad and my security.