As I stood outside the grand, ornate door, my heart raced with anticipation.
This was it, the moment I had been waiting for my entire life – the moment I would finally meet my father, Alpha Michael Knights.
Akira's explanation made little sense and it was so full of the usual cliches that it was maddening - Girl falls for a married Alpha and they have a one night stand.
Girl gets pregnant by one night stand and births a rare cursed wolf that's worth a fortune.
Even though my blood can heal anything and my womb can strengthen even the weakest bloodline…I am cursed too because rare wolves like me can spend a lifetime without finding our mate and without our mate's bond, our pheromones gets so out of control that most people like me gets fucked to death before their eighteenth birthday.
We have no control over our bodies, Akira said.
In the days of the olds, people like me were sold to kings and lycans as sex slaves and blood whore.
Life expectancy of a silver Fur wolf was sixteen years old. Not so great for me!
Anyway, Akira decided to keep me but faced poverty and backlash from her own pack.
When I turned four, the Alpha's wife died without an heir and suddenly what my mother wanted was finally within her reach except she birthed a rare cursed baby wolf that no Alpha would publicly acknowledge as blood.
Akira panicked and sold me to the highest bidder and she used the money to acquire another baby as replacement.
And so it goes, she became Luna of the second largest wolf pack and lived happily ever after and I became a slave.
But it didn't matter anymore. Akira was a pathetic mother, surely, the goddess would even out that misfortune by giving me a great father.
And when he sees me, he would love me and take care of me, tell me everything will be alright.
He will hold me as I heal from all the harm Ryder's rejection caused.
I took a deep breath, smoothing out my dress and trying to calm my nerves.
I had imagined this moment so many times, had dreamed of the warm embrace, the loving words, the acceptance.
The door swung open and I saw my father standing before me.
He was tall, imposing, with piercing eyes that seemed to bore into my soul. He had my eyes...or I had his eyes and his nose...and his brows.
He was a beautiful papa.
"Who are you?" he asked, his voice low and gravelly.
"It's me" I took a deep breath and braced myself for impact "I'm Kaidaira. I'm your…" my voice trembled a little.
"You are my what?" He asked. His voice lined with impatience that it sent chills down my spine.
"... I'm your real daughter" I choked out and a faint smile appeared on my face, it wasn't what I set out to do but it appeared. "And you are my Dad"
I watched his face go from disdain to shock and back to pure undiluted surprise.
"What?" He blinked.
I didn't explain further. I simply walked right into his arms.
It felt like home and I told him everything. How Akira sold me and got herself a replacement. I left nothing out and I didn't let go of him too.
He didn't hug me back and he didn't push me away either.
I knew that Akira was right behind me even before Alpha Michael…I mean my Dad turned to look at her.
"Please tell me that everything that came out of her mouth is false and this girl is an emotionally disturbed person and not my daughter you sold to the highest bidder" Dad asked her.
I waited for Akira to come up with another outrageous lie, I waited for her to look my father in the face and tell him I was indeed an emotionally disturbed person but all she did was nod.
"I...I didn't expect her to come here." She said in a way of an excuse and her glare landed on me. "Why did you come here?" She asked like she genuinely wanted me to answer her ridiculous question.
"Because this is my home!" I screamed at her " This is my pack! This is my life!"
"What life?" She asked me. "All you've succeeded in doing is blowing up both our lives, little girl. Did you ever stop to ask yourself why on earth would a mother sell her own child? Sure, I wanted an easier life but I also wanted you to live your life…"
"What life, mama?!"
"You are twenty four years old, I must have done something right because people like you don't live to see their eighteenth birthday, Kaidaira!"
I felt a sting from her words, but I tried to push past it. "I've come to meet my father," I said, trying to keep my voice steady before turning to look at Alpha Michael who has his neutral face on. "I've wanted to meet you my whole life"
He looked at me, his expression unreadable. "I'm afraid that's not possible," he said. "You can't just...appear here, out of nowhere"
I felt a lump form in my throat as I realized that he didn't want me. He didn't want to acknowledge me, to accept me as his daughter.
"Why not?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from shaking. "Why can't I be here?"
He sighed, rubbing his temples. "Kaida, you don't understand. You're...you're a complication. A problem that I don't need right now. I am this close to mating my daughter to the lycan prince. The gala is just a few weeks away and all that goes 'puff' in the air with you here. Wolves like you draw attention and not the good kind"
I felt like I had been punched in the gut. A complication? A problem? That's all I was to him?
I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My reflection stared back at me, calm and serene. My eyes were dry, my face was composed, and my shoulders were squared. I looked like I had just been out for a stroll on a sunny day.
I could have swore I was crying but my reflection said otherwise.
Inside, my pain hacking me apart like a thousand razor-sharp knives but on the outside, I was a mask of calm.
It was a shock, even to myself. It seemed like while my heart broke, my head held me together.
I watched both of them. They were my second loss of the day. But I refuse to beg. I turned around to walk away, I made it a few steps before he spoke.
"Stop" he said.
I turned around to look at him
"Do you have anywhere to go?" He asked me.
"No" I stated as a matter of fact.
"You can stay here..." Michael started to say but Akira interrupted him.
"Having her stay here might affect Our Kaidaira's chance with the Prince, she's waited so long to be married…" Akira started to say but Michael silenced her.
"Quiet! I'm not about to toss my kin out into the cold. She can stay here. If she needs room and board, I will give it but I have a demand. No one must know we are related to each other"
My heart pounded in my chest, begging to be let out of the enormous grief that was suffocating it but I kept it in.
"if you decide to stay, you will have food, shelter and protection from me. And once I get Diara situated. We will find you a man…any man that's willing to take you as wife and mate. But you must heed my rule, do you accept?" He asked me.
I was silent for a very long time, trapped between the devil and a serpent in father's clothing.
But there was nowhere else to run to and so I said…. "Yes"