Serene
As much as I hate to admit it, things have been different since Lilith disappeared.
Apparently, even though she was worthless, the pack ran smoother while she was here.
Wolves outside of our pack are beginning to talk.
They are asking where the Alpha’s daughter is.
It is becoming, well, a problem.
I had hoped the rumors wouldn’t get back to Alpha Victor, but they have, and today everything hit the fan.
Over breakfast, he suggested that we bring Lilith back into the pack, and my mother lost her temper.
She stormed into her bedroom, claiming that Victor didn’t care about our feelings.
I whipped up some fake tears and cried into my napkin.
It was quite the production.
Victor chased her into her bedroom, and they have been in there for hours.
I have parked myself outside, leaning against the wall of my mother’s bedroom, and am listening to the argument that is happening on the other side of the door.
“I won’t allow it,” she hisses.
“Not after everything that girl has done.”
Victor sighs.
“Vanna.
She is my daughter and the rightful heir to the pack.
I have to try to mend things with her.”
”You don’t,” she shouts.
“Not when my daughter is perfectly capable of picking up where Lilith left off.
I am sure even Casper would take her as a second chance mate.”
”She is not my daughter,” Victor growls, and it makes me flinch.
“Only my blood can take over the pack when I die.”
”Serene loves you as if you were her real father.
Are you saying that you don’t feel the same way about her?”
My mother’s cry filters through the door, but I know they are fake.
It would take more than a raised voice or growl to make her upset, but Victor falls for it anyway.
He always does.
“Vanna, my love,” he coos. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
“I didn’t mean it like that.
I just meant that I would like to use Lilith’s birthday to try to mend what has been broken between us.
I owe her that much.”
My mother gasps.
“How can you be so heartless?
The date of my sister’s death, and you plan to throw a party for the one who killed her?”
I smirk.
Victor won’t be able to deny that.
Since my aunt, Yvette, died on Lilith’s eighteenth birthday, they stopped celebrating Lilith altogether.
Every year, her birthday was passed over like it was another day, and all of the focus was put towards me and my next birthday.
Why should this year be any different?
“Vanna,” Victor says a little too coldly.
“You have seen the impact that Lilith’s absence is having on the pack.
She is my true daughter and Casper’s mate.
She may have rejected him, but we have to bring her back, or the alliance with the Red Moon Pack will be void.
We can’t afford that.
Not now.”
My mother sighs, and I wait for him to fake cry again, but she doesn’t.
“What do we have to do?”
”You need to let me throw this party for Lilith,” he continues.
“It is the only way.”
My heart drops.
They are really going to try to bring her back.
I pace the floor outside their door, trying to formulate a plan.
I can’t let this happen.
Suddenly, the door swings open, and Victor is standing before me with a smile on his face.
“I thought you might be out here.”
”I…”
”It’s okay, Serene, but there is something we need to discuss with you.”
”Yes, Alpha?” I reply in my sweetest voice.
“We want to hold a party for Lilith,” he says quietly.
“How would you feel about that?”
“We want to take your feelings into account.”
I have two options.
I can throw a tantrum and refuse to allow it to happen, or I can be the perfect daughter once again.
I hold my head high.
“I think you should throw a party for Lilith.”
Victor cocks his head to the side and eyes me suspiciously.
“You do?”
”Yes,” I stumble over my words.
“The Moonclaw Pack needs her.
We need to do what is best for the pack.”
Victor reaches out for me, and I let him hug me, even though my heart is thundering in my chest.
“You have always been so good to Lilith.”
I bite back the venomous words that I want to say about his daughter, and smile up at him.
“I just wish she loved me as much as I love her.”
Victor holds me at arm’s length and forces me to look into his eyes.
“I think she does.
Deep down.”
I let out a pitiful sigh and pretend to wipe a tear from my cheek.
“I hope you are right.”
When he lets me go and disappears down the hall, I turn toward my mother.
She looks tired.
Her lips are pressed together into a hard line, and I think she might be on the verge of actual tears.
Not the fake ones she uses to get what she wants.
Before I can speak to her, she shuts the door, leaving me alone in the hall.
Fear, jealousy, and hatred bubble in my stomach, and bile rises in my throat.
If Lilith returns to the Moonclaw Pack, everyone will remember that she is the Alpha’s real daughter, and I might be pushed back to the side.
What if she becomes the golden daughter once again?
I can’t let that happen.
No, I won’t let it happen.
I push my way into my bedroom, and close the door behind me.
If they are going to throw Lilith a party, I will make sure that I am the one who plans it.
An evil smile spreads across my lips, and I will make it a party she won’t ever forget.
If she thinks she can come in here and take what is mine, I make sure she remembers exactly who she is dealing with.