The Alpha's Unwanted Daughter

CHAPTER ONE The Daughter Nobody Wanted "Get out of my sight, Elena!" My father's voice shook the dining hall. I stood beside the long mahogany table, clutching the broken plate against my chest. Soup dripped from my fingers onto the polished floor. "I'm sorry, Father. I didn't mean to—" "Did I ask for your excuses?" Alpha Richard Blackwood rose from his chair. His powerful presence made even the guards standing beside the doors lower their eyes. I lowered mine too. I had learned a long time ago that looking my father in the eyes only made things worse. "Today is your eighteenth birthday," he said coldly. "Yet you remain a disgrace to this family. Your sisters shifted into their wolves years ago. What exactly are you waiting for?" I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I don't know, Father." "Of course you don't." My stepmother, Lady Catherine, laughed softly behind her wineglass. "Perhaps the Moon Goddess forgot to give her a wolf," she said. "It would explain why she is so useless." My older sister, Isabella, covered her mouth to hide her smile. Nobody defended me. Not even my father. "Take the broken dishes away," he ordered. "Then go to the servants' quarters. You will not attend tonight's birthday celebration." "But, Father—" "One more word, Elena, and you will spend the night outside the pack gates." I closed my mouth. "Yes, Father." I knelt to collect the broken pieces. One sharp edge sliced my finger. A drop of blood landed on the floor. At that exact moment, every candle in the dining hall went out. Someone screamed. A deep growl rolled through the room. It was not the sound of an ordinary wolf. It was something ancient. Something powerful. Something that made every werewolf in the hall fall to their knees. I remained standing. My heart pounded as a strange warmth spread through my chest. Then a voice whispered inside my head. "At last, my daughter. I have found you." I froze. The voice was unfamiliar, yet something deep inside me recognized it. Outside the windows, the moon turned red. And for the first time in eighteen years, my father's face filled with terror. He stared at me as though he had seen a ghost. "No," he whispered. His wineglass slipped from his hand and shattered. "That is impossible." I looked at him. "What is impossible, Father?" He took one step backward. Then another. And for the first time in my life, the most powerful Alpha in the Northern Kingdom looked afraid of his own daughter