Chapter 146

Carol’s POV

My heart fell deep into my stomach. My biological father was coming to my mating ceremony. Why would he do that? My heart was hammering in my chest as I met the concerned eyes of Aiden.

“Mom, do you think we can talk about this tomorrow? We just got home and I’m tired,” he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer finger.

“Do you have any idea how it’s going to make this family look?” His mother scolded, disregarding Aiden’s request. She clearly didn’t know he was on speaker and that I was listening; or maybe she did know, and she wanted me to hear. “As soon as the Alpha King sees your supposed mate, he’s going to think our pack is weak. I told you from the beginning you needed a strong Luna to help protect and lead your pack and you completely ignored me.”

“Mom, honestly. Can we talk about this another time,” Aiden said again, sounding more aggravated than the first time.

“No, we are going to talk about this now,” she hissed into the phone. “We need to fix this. It’s not too late to mate Katrina. She’s the best voice for Luna anyway. You mate her and the Alpha King will still respect our pack.”

My heart hurt from her words; I know Aiden’s mother hated me, but to ask him to mate another woman a few days before my mating ceremony hurt. I lowered my gaze, trying not to let her words affect me as much as they did.

Aiden looked aggravated.

“I’m not going to mate Katrina,” he said through his teeth. “I will never mate Katrina. It’s Carol that I love; she’s my one true mate and I won’t have anyone else. You can either accept that or stay away from the ceremony.”

“You can’t banish me from the ceremony,” she gasped, horror in her words.

“I can do whatever I want,” he said in return. “Don’t test me. I’m going to mate and mark Carol whether you like it or not.”

“But the Alpha King will think of us as a laughingstock. He might even pull all funding that’s given us to help us get started,” she said dreadfully. “What are we going to do to fix this, Aiden?”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” he said, shaking his head with dismay written all over his face. “It’s no longer your concern.”

“Aiden!” She yelled but it was too late, he had already hung up the phone and shoved it back into his pocket, grumbling about something incoherent.

I put my hand on his shoulder and made him gaze into my eyes.

“Is everything okay?” I asked him.

He nodded.

“Don’t let her words hurt you,” he told me, his tone softening as he met my eyes. “I love you and I’m not mating anyone else. That’s a problem.”

“I don’t want to come between you and your family,” I told him honestly, hating how weak I sounded. I didn’t want our relationship to end; I don’t think I could actually bear it. But if I needed to walk away to keep the peace between Aiden, his pack, and his family, then I would do just that.

Aiden looked startled by my admittance and grabbed a hold of both my hands, lifting them to his lips and peppering my knuckles with kisses.

“You are my family, Carol. I love you more than anything and I’ll always love you,” he assured me. “Don’t let what she said bother you or make you second guess how I feel about you. You are the one I’m mating.”

I nodded, but I still felt a bit of uncertainty in my chest.

“I should probably call the King,” I told him, biting my lower lip. “I didn’t know he was coming here.”

He nodded and gave my lips a gentle kiss.

“I’m going to shower,” he told me.

I nodded and watched as he disappeared into our bedroom. I grabbed my phone and found King Bennet’s personal phone number; a number he had given me before we left so I didn’t have to reach him through his assistant, Kendra.

I pressed his name and put the phone to my cheek, waiting with bated breath until I heard his gruff voice on the other end of the line.

“Carol?”

“Hey,” I said lamely, then immediately hating how soft-spoken I sounded.

“Is everything okay?” He asked, sounding a bit concerned. It warmed my heart knowing he was worried about me, even though I wasn’t sure why.

“Yes,” I told him. “Or no…” I stuttered. “I’m not really sure,” I relented.

“Tell me what’s going on,” he said calmly.

“Would you like a glass of champagne?” I heard a woman ask in the background.

“Yes, please,” he answered and then he cleared his throat, turning his attention back to me. “Sorry, that was the stewardess. What’s going on?”

“The stewardess?” I asked. “Are you going on a trip?”

He was quiet for a moment.

“Um, yes,” he finally answered. “Did your ceremony planner not inform you that I was coming to the mating ceremony?” He asked.

My heart fell into my stomach; so, it was true. My father, the Alpha King, was coming to my mating ceremony.

“She might have mentioned it,” I lied. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

“She sent me an invitation,” he explained.

My mouth gaped open; did Madison somehow know that the Alpha King was my biological father?

“Why would she invite you?” I blurted, not realizing how rude I sounded until the question was out of my mouth.

“Because I’m the Alpha King,” he answered as if that was the answer to any and all questions I might have. “I receive invites to all sorts of events that I don’t always respond to. But as soon as I saw your name, I knew I had to be there. You are my daughter, Carol. Even if I haven’t been part of your life until now, I’d like us to have that type of relationship. I would never take away from the people who raised you. I just want to be a part of your life.”

I realized I was sounding rude to him. I was grateful that he was making an effort and wanted to be there for me. I smiled at the thought and my heart warmed a little.

“I appreciate it,” I admitted. “Thank you. Will the Queen and her daughter be attending as well?”

“They will be flying in the morning of the ceremony. They had some other engagements they needed to attend to. But I’ll be there in the morning. I already have a hotel suite waiting for me so I’ll get checked in. Maybe we can do something just the two of us?”

I thought about it, chewing my bottom lip nervously.

“I don’t know if I’m ready for people to know my identity here,” I confessed. “So, if we did anything, maybe we can be low-key?”

He was quiet for a moment.

“Are you ashamed of where you come from?”

I was surprised by the question and felt the need to reassure him.

“No, of course not,” I said quickly. “I just don’t want anyone to treat me differently.”

That much was true; I wanted to gain their respect because of my skills and heart, not because I was the daughter of the Alpha King. I was determined to win this pack over and maybe even win Aiden’s family over. But revealing myself to them as the daughter of the Alpha King and the possible high priestess, won’t do me any good.

“I understand,” he finally said. “I know Aiden is into hockey. Perhaps we can go see a game?”

“Yeah, we’d like that,” I agreed. “I believe there’s a home game tomorrow night we can see.”

“Sounds great. I’ll try to dress less obviously,” he teased. “I’ll see you in the morning, Carol.”

“Good night,” I said, smiling as I hung up the phone.

This was really happening, I thought to myself. I’m really going to have a real relationship with my biological father.

“Did you talk to the King?” Aiden asked as soon as I walked into the bedroom.

I wrapped my arms around him and brought his lips to mine, kissing him deeply and passionately.

“He’s going to be here tomorrow night,” I told him, smiling at him. “He promised that he would be low-key because I’m not ready for others to know about my relationship with him.”

Aiden nodded thoughtfully.

“I understand,” he said, kissing me again. “When will he be here?”

“He’s heading this way now and should be here by tomorrow morning,” I told him.

He nodded again.

“Will he be staying here?”

I shook my head.

“He says he has a hotel,” I told him, shrugging. “But I’d like us ot hang out with him tomorrow. How do you feel about going to see a hockey game tomorrow night? The Capitol I think is having a home game.”

His face lit up at the idea; I thought seeing him happy like that would make me immediately happy, but it did the opposite. A ping of pain hit my chest and I found myself sad. I was sad because I knew as much as Aiden wanted to do his family right and be the Alpha of this pack… I knew he missed his old life.

I knew he was missing Hockey and there was nothing I could do to help him.