Choose Your Alpha, Princess

chapter 8

POV Syrena

The Lycan King's mansion rose from manicured grounds like a monument to ancient power. Marble columns thick as tree trunks, windows that reflected nothing but golden light, and guards whose eyes tracked my every movement as the wardens escorted me through halls lined with portraits of dead royalty.

King Magnus's office could have swallowed Devon's entire meeting room. Mahogany panels climbed to a ceiling painted with scenes of wolf battles, and books older than the pack system filled shelves that required ladders to reach.

The man behind the massive desk stood as I entered, and my breath caught. The green eyes were mine. The sharp cheekbones, the stubborn set of the jaw—all mine, reflected in a face that carried decades of power and regret.

"Leave us," he commanded the Wardens, who bowed and retreated.

"Sit," he said, gesturing to an expensive leather chair.

"Go to hell!" I snarled, my wolf rising to the surface. "You drugged me, kidnapped me, dragged me here against my will—and now you want me to sit like an obedient dog?"

"Odette—"

"My name is Syrena!" I slammed my hands on his desk, papers scattering. "I don't know who you think you are, but I am Luna of the Silver Moon Pack. My husband is Alpha Devon, and when he finds out what you've done—"

"Your husband is currently preparing binding ceremonies with his three new wives," Magnus said quietly. "He doesn't even know you're missing."

The words hit like physical blows, but I refused to show weakness.

"You're lying. This whole thing is insane. That advisor woman said you're my father. My father is dead. My mother is dead. Elder Leon told me they died when I was three."

"Elder Leon told you what I ordered him to tell you." Magnus moved around the desk slowly, hands raised as if approaching a wild animal. "Please, let me explain—"

"Explain what? How you kidnapped an Alpha's mate? How you're holding me prisoner based on some delusional fantasy?" I backed toward the door, but it was locked. "Let me out! Now!"

"Look at me," he said, his voice carrying Alpha command that made my wolf whimper despite my rage. "Really look at me, Odette."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Look at my eyes. Look at my face." He moved closer, and despite my fury, I couldn't deny what I saw. The resemblance was undeniable—like looking in a mirror aged by decades. "You know it's true. You can feel it in your blood."

My legs trembled. "No. This is impossible."

"Your birthmark—the crescent moon with the star-point notch below your left collarbone. It's unique to the royal bloodline. Only my bloodline." His voice gentled. "You are my daughter, Odette. My only child."

"Even if that were true—which it's not—you had me kidnapped! Drugged with aconite! What kind of father does that?"

"A desperate one," Magnus said, pain flickering across his features. "The wardens weren't supposed to use force. When they reported you fought them, they panicked and used the aconite. They've already been disciplined."

"Disciplined? They assaulted Luna!"

"They retrieved a princess." He moved to an ancient map covering the entire wall, territories marked in different colors. "Please, sit down. Let me explain everything. You deserve the truth."

"The truth?" I laughed bitterly, but my anger was giving way to confusion, to the horrible possibility that this might be real. "Fine. Tell me your version of the truth."

I sat, every muscle coiled to run. Magnus returned to his desk, pulling out a thick folder.

"You were never meant to live the life you've had, Odette—" He raised a hand when I started to protest. "You were a wanted child. When your mother told me she was pregnant, I was overjoyed. My heir, my legacy."

He pointed to territories marked in deep red on the map.

"But from the moment you were born, you were promised to another. The Nightfall Royal Pack. One of the most powerful bloodlines in our world. Our families signed a binding agreement before you drew your first breath—you would marry their eldest son, uniting our territories, our power."

"You sold me before I could walk?" The anger flared again.

"I protected you!" He spun to face me, and for a moment, I saw not a king but a desperate father. "The Nightfall family are ruthless, calculating. They see alliances only as tools for power. I couldn't bear the thought of my precious daughter being used as a political pawn."

"So instead you made me live a lie?"

"I staged your abduction." The words fell heavy between us. "Made it look like enemies had taken you, killed you even. The Nightfalls raged for months, accused me of orchestrating it to break the arrangement. Nearly started a war."

My head spun. "But you'd hidden me."

"With people I trusted. Elder Leon owed me a life debt—I saved his son once. He agreed to raise you as a pack member, to keep you safe from a world that would devour you."

The pieces clicked into place with sickening clarity. Elder Leon's strange protectiveness, his insistence on certain traditions, the way he'd always looked at me with hidden knowledge.

"Twenty-six years," I whispered, the fight draining from me. "You let me believe I was nobody for twenty-six years."

"I let you be free. I let you choose your own mate, your own life—"

"My mate just took three wives because I couldn't give him children!" The words exploded from me. "I spent three years being called barren, watching him drift away, blaming myself—"

"I'm sorry, Odette." Magnus's voice softened.

"But not sorry enough to reveal the truth until now."

"I had no choice. Someone saw your birthmark, reported it to the Nightfalls. They never stopped searching for you." He pushed the folder toward me. "Twenty-six years of investigators, rewards, threats. They knew you were alive. They could sense you existed, just not where."

I opened the folder with trembling hands. Photos, reports, reward posters—all searching for a lost princess with a distinctive birthmark.

"And now they've found me." The weight of it crashed down. This was real. I was Princess Odette. My entire life had been a carefully constructed lie.

"The arrangement must be honored, or it means war. The Nightfalls have allies, armies. Without this marriage, both our bloodlines could be destroyed."

"Who is he?" My voice came out hollow. "This Alpha I'm supposed to marry?"

Magnus opened his mouth to answer, but the office door swung open without a knock.

My blood turned to ice.

The stranger from the bar walked in like he owned the world—the same dark eyes that had watched me over bourbon, the same hands that had traced my birthmark in that hotel room.

Now he wore a suit cut like a blade, fabric whispering wealth, his presence radiating predatory composure.

"Forgive the intrusion, Your Majesty." His voice was exactly as I remembered—smooth whiskey and dark promises. "But I heard my bride had finally arrived."

"You." The word scraped from my throat.

"Princess Odette." He bowed formally, mockingly. "Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Alpha Nathaniel of the Nightfall Royal Pack—your betrothed husband."

The room tilted. The stranger I'd used for revenge, the man I'd given myself to in a hotel room—he'd known. He'd known who I was the entire time.

I stared at the map on the wall, at the red territories that now owned me. Somewhere, Devon was preparing to bind himself to Mira, Celia and Jasmine, unaware his discarded wife was royalty. And here stood Nathaniel, who'd already claimed what Devon had abandoned.

I was trapped between two worlds, belonging to neither, owned by both.