Chapter 22: The Beta
AYLA
"I asked him not to attack yet until I have the information he needs."
I froze in my tracks.
I had just all but ran out of the dining room when the voice reached me from one end of the hall.
"My king was getting tired of your excuses. He believes the attack was necessary to distract Alpha Kieran and it served its purpose, Alpha Kieran’s attention is exactly where we want it"
I hid myself as the shadow of a man came into view. He was speaking to someone but the person was hidden from me.
"No, your king thought wrong. You have only given him more reasons to look into it and tighten security now more than ever. I never signed up to have my people killed."
"Beta Soren..."
Beta? I gasped. My father?
"There will always be casualties in war, my king knows this more than anyone."
What was my father doing speaking to this man?
They were definitely talking about the attack at the border and the king in question had to be the rogue king whom everyone could not stop talking about. The man who was launching attacks at the border and killing pack warriors.
I had also heard his people had managed to infiltrate a small group of wolves in a neighboring town and had wiped them all out, taking residence there.
No one knew what the rogue king wanted. He never made demands or asked for ransom for the warriors his people managed to catch. He only made sure to kill them and string them up for all to see and fear.
Why would my father be in league with them?
I listened closer.
"Except of course you want him to send a message to your Alpha and reveal the truth about..."
"That will not be necessary." my father cut in. "I will get you the information you need."
I pressed myself flatter against the wall, my fingers curling into the fabric of my dress then I crept forward, wanting to catch a glimpse of the man in the shadows.
Surely, I had to go to the Alpha with what I had just learned.
But would be believe me?
He and my father have known each other since childhood.
What is to stop my father from calling me a liar and what would stop the Alpha from believing him completely.
"No." The shadow man’s words reached me. "You do not need to get us anything. As per my instructions, I am to gather the information myself and when it is time for me to leave, you will see to it that I am able to exit the pack without encountering any problems whatsoever."
"I cannot trust that your Alpha will still keep the information he has to himself after getting what he wants."
I could see my father’s face now and he appeared angry but the man was turned away from me so that the only thing I could make out was his brown hair and how tall he was which was very tall.
"You have his word that there will be nothing for you to worry about once he gets what he wants. Your secret will die with him"
"I don’t trust the words and promises of rogues."
"You do not have much choice, Soren."
I pressed my hand against the pillar, my pulse pounding in my ears.
What secret? What was my father hiding?
I watched the man step closer and inclined my head to the side to catch whatever glimpse I could of him.
I did not realize how unsteady my stance was until I stumbled, falling straight in the open behind them.
They both turned to me as I struggled to rise, my eyes darting to the man’s face.
He is masked, I thought in dismay.
The only thing that I could see were his eyes and in the dim light, I could barely make out what they looked like.
He turned away from me so fast and was gone before I could blink, leaving myself and my father.
I scrambled to my feet, but my father was already advancing on me.
His hand shot out and his fingers wrapped around my arm with bruising force. He yanked me forward, pulling me out of the shadows.
"What do you think you are doing?"
"Nothing" I muttered.
"How dare you eavesdrop on me, Ayla. What did you hear?" He growled.
"I wasn’t eavesdropping. I was..."
"WHAT DID YOU HEAR?"
His grip tightened on my arm and he twisted. Pain shot through my arm like fire.
I cried out but he did not let go.
"Nothing." My voice cracked. "I heard nothing. Only something about a border attack. That is all."
"You heard nothing else?"
I shook my head frantically.
"No, I swear."
He stared at me then released me so abruptly I stumbled.
"It does not matter what you heard. No one would believe the words that come out of your lowly mouth."
His gaze swept over my face and then took in the rest of me with a snarl of disdain.
"You clean up well but you are no mate to such powerful princes." He said the words slowly, as if savoring them. "And you will never be. Whatever the Moon Goddess has planned is a joke. That is all. A joke."
My eyes stung.
I had never understood why he hated me so much.
He never spoke to me. Not once in eighteen years had he acknowledged me as his daughter and when he did speak, it was like this.
He stepped forward, his eyes never leaving mine. They held an expression I had seen countless times growing up.
Disgust.
Then he lowered his head and spat on the ground beside my feet.
I pressed my hand to my mouth, muffling the sob that clawed its way up my throat as I watched him walk away without another word.
My knees gave out and I sank to the floor, my back sliding against the cold wall and my dress pooling around me.
What had I ever done to make my own father hate me so much?
But most importantly, what was my father hiding?