Lycan King's Regret: Punished The Wrong Daughter

Lucien Volkov:

The meeting had dragged on for nearly two hours, and all this time I could think about was Arabella.

Five alphas sat around the council table discussing border security, trade routes, rogue activity, and territory disputes.

I swear, I tried to listen... most of the time. The Alpha of Silver Fang was complaining about livestock problems. Another alpha wanted additional warriors stationed near the Eastern border. One of them was arguing over taxes imposed on merchants crossing pack territories.

The same problems and complaints. Every fucking month.

I signed the final document absentmindedly and pushed it across the table. Ah! The meeting was finally over, and now I could see relief visible on several faces.

"The Alpha of Night Crest pack is talking to you," I straightened in my seat when I received a mindlink from Bradley.

Urgh. He was a chatterbox and wanted to move his mouth without realizing if the person before him was even interested in the conversation.

"We can discuss it later," I snapped without listening, quite sure that he was pissed. I told him the same thing last time too.

"The meeting is adjourned!" I slapped on the table and got to my feet. Chairs scraped against the floor as they rose to their feet before bowing to me and leaving the council chamber.

Only Bradley stayed behind. Thank Goddess the elders of the council were not here, or I would have had to stay longer.

"Brad. Any news?" I asked him, and he knew what I was talking about.

"About Maya?" he opened a folder in his hands, "I don’t have good news, Lucien. She used to be an Omega at Silverthorne pack but..."

My attention shifted to him immediately, "Go on. What else?"

Bradley glanced down at his notes, "Apparently, she disappeared a few days ago."

"Disappeared?" I narrowed my eyes while asking the questions.

He nodded, "Ran away according to the information we gathered. Nobody knows where she went."

I leaned back in my chair. The girl who happened to be Arabella’s closest friend suddenly vanished only days after Arabella was handed over to me.

The timing was too convenient.

"Anything else?"

Bradley only shook his head. The information wasn’t enough. I wanted to know more about my mate. There were things that didn’t make sense, and I wanted to find the right people who could tell me about her.

"Alright. Keep digging."

Bradley nodded, "Don’t worry. I already have people on it."

I got up from my seat and stretched my arms up. I needed to go to my palace, my room where she was residing.

"She is our mate!" Zorro tried to irritate me. I wanted to give him a befitting reply when a sharp static sound echoed inside my head.

A mindlink.

Very few people were permitted to mindlink me directly. Unless it was an emergency, nobody dared.

"Yes?" my eyes glazed back.

The voice that came through the mindlink belonged to my head of Security, and I didn’t miss the panic in his voice.

"Your Majesty, we’re under attack!"

Attack! How is this possible?

"What?"

Bradley was at once standing before me, "What happened?"

"Rogues!" I growled, not knowing which part of my palace was attacked first, "We need to leave, Brad. Now!"

We didn’t waste a second and transformed into our Lycan once we were outside the building. Before I could start running, another mindlink slammed into my head.

"Lucien!" This one was hysterical and terrified.

"Amy?" I whispered. My sister was barely coherent.

"Lucien! Zara! They took my Zara!" She screamed.

For a moment, I thought I heard her wrong. Zara. My four-year-old niece. My blood turned cold as my heart lurched violently against my ribs.

***

I stormed through the palace in my human form, barely acknowledging the warriors who were gathered outside.

By the time I reached the royal chambers, the doors were open. Mother and my sisters were already inside. They looked terrible.

Amy’s face was streaked with tears while Aliya was trembling, sitting on the floor. The moment they saw me, they rushed forward.

"Lucien!"

I caught Amy by her shoulders before she could collapse. Her entire body was shaking.

"Lyra..." I tried asking her.

"She is inside with her governess," Aliya informed me hurriedly.

Amy tried opening her mouth, but a sob escaped instead.

"Tell me... what happened? You need to tell me everything, Amy."

She sucked in a shaky breath, "Z...Zara... my baby... she got scared and started running towards the forest," she cried, "There were rogues after her... and ... and..." Her eyes squeezed shut as she looked at me helplessly. Before she could say anything, Mother’s voice came from behind, "That slave... Arabella..."

I turned sharply, "What about her?"

My mother dabbed at her eyes, "She chased after Zara...though I did warn her... to... to stay away from the children..." She sniffed, "just check her audacity."

Arabella? Why was she outside that damn room?

"Yeah..." Amy tried to steady her breathing, "she reached Zara... the rogue was about to catch my baby... but that girl... that slave got to her first and grabbed, and then they disappeared into the trees..."

The air seemed to have left my lungs. Zara wasn’t the only one who was missing. Zorro stirred violently inside me, and along with it, something dark broke loose.

"Find her!" He slammed against the walls of my head, "We need to find her, Lucien."

I closed my eyes. My family had barely survived Anika’s death, and if something happened to Zara and Arabella...

I clenched my fists.

It wasn’t just Zara. Arabella was out there too. Alone.

Maybe injured.

My eyes snapped open.

I opened the mindlink to all the heads of royal departments and ordered coldly, "Prepare the search teams. I want every warrior in those forests."

My gaze snapped toward the forest visible through the windows, "Bradley."

My Beta was beside me immediately, "Get ready. We’re going hunting."

Zorro was already restless beneath my skin. Give him the slightest taste of butter croissants, and he would tear apart the entire forest to find her.