Alpha’s Stepdaughter

Chapter Five

Alpha Azrael

I couldn’t find her, and the failure was driving me toward the edge of insanity.

I was going insane every second I spent away from her.

I had always been a man of control. A man who held an entire kingdom in the palm of his hands, a king whose word was law, a man who never had to repeat an order before it was executed with haste. Yet, for the first time in my life, there was something beyond my reach.

Her.

And I found myself repeating the same order over and over again.

“Find her. Search every corner of the pack. Do whatever you must, just bring her to me.”

Still, nothing.

There was no trace of her, no face that matched hers, no scent that led anywhere. It had just been silence, and my patience was bleeding thinner every passing second.

I needed to find her. I needed to drag her back into my reach and keep her there where she belonged. She had continuously infested my thoughts like a plague, sliding into my heart even at the moments I thought I was guarded. I was haunted by a scent permanently carved into my memory and a face that had refused to stop stalking my dreams. She had left me with this burning longing that made me feel out of control for the first time in life, and I despised how badly I wanted more.

I wanted to claim her.

Heck, I wanted to do all the filthy things I never got to do that night. I wanted to feel those perfect curves beneath my palms again, to busy my face between her legs and watch her squirm exactly as she had in the booth that night. I wanted to fuck her, just like I had promised.

I wanted her more than I wanted my next breath.

I had sent my men across every inch of my territory hunting for a woman whose name I didn’t even know. All I had was her scent and the imprint she’d burned into my mind. That night, I had intended to let her sleep. Intended to wake her slowly the next morning and spend the next hours ruining her properly until she forgot how to breathe without me.

Until that one cursed phone call brought news of tragedy, one that needed to be kept secret, from even the pack council. It was one moment that changed everything. I had thought it would be simple, that I’d return to her after dealing with my duties, convinced that time would obey me like everything else did.

But it didn’t.

A decree came after I got to the castle, and I was bound to the stone walls for a hundred days, performing the necessary rites. I had been through war and come back unscathed, I had fought the enemy and come out victorious, I had been through the toughest battles and stepped out with a smile. Men feared my name. Kingdoms respected my strength.

But nothing had tested me the way those hundred days did. Every day was torture knowing I had walked away from the woman who felt carved from my soul itself.

Every time I closed my eyes, I was dragged back to that moment in the booth, the way she moved like she was made just for the purpose of ruining me, and that maddening crawl she made toward me when I called for her… it still sent a pulse of lust to my cock even now.

I had spent over twenty years waiting for my fated mate. Twenty fucking years. Then the Moon Goddess finally rewarded my patience with a woman so perfect I marked her within a single night. I ignored all the necessary formalities and made her mine that same night, joined her with me in the strongest bond alive. Then, she vanished.

My search for her turned into frustration and frustration into a mess I never intended to create. Clarissa, the woman who was meant to be nothing more than my secretary was now carrying my blood.

Two months ago, I woke beside her with no memory of what had happened that night. A month later, she stood before me carrying proof of pregnancy. The entire situation disgusted me with how little sense it made. But I couldn’t ignore the questions that continued to invade my mind: What if it was really mine? The heir to my throne? The one who will carry my legacy? The one thing that would finally silence the council and end their endless threats of impeachment?

So, I had to play the hand fate forced into my grip.

I accepted Clarissa. Accepted the child. Accepted her other daughter. Accepted the performance of love the pack expected from me. They questioned why I would choose a woman who already had a daughter, and every single time, I had to swallow the truth sitting on my tongue.

I never wanted her.

But the kingdom needed stability. My mother needed peace and certainty for the continuity of our bloodline. The council needed an heir before them like a leash around their greedy throats.

And now, after everything—after disappearing like she never existed, after making a man like me search the entire territory over and over again, after making me burn in wait—she was standing in front of me, as Clarissa’s daughter. She was the woman who was going to be my stepdaughter.

I had promised Clarissa I’d protect her, that I would cherish her as my own blood, but the moment her deep hazel eyes locked onto mine, I knew I was a goddamn liar.

How the hell was I supposed to play father to a woman I’d already marked? How was I supposed to treat her like a daughter when the only thought in my head was pinning her to the table and fucking her senseless for making me wait this long? How in the world was I supposed to cherish her as my own blood when my tongue still remembered exactly how she tasted?

Mmm, she tasted so damn perfect.

“Yes, she’s my daughter,” Clarissa’s voice cut through my thoughts, filled with pride. “Greet and introduce yourself to the Alpha.”

I watched as she leaned over to bow, my eyes catching the way her boobs strained against her shirt, a silent invitation that sent my cock pulsing and made my wolf roar in frustration.

Fuck.

I had to stop this.

I had to bury whatever madness was trying to consume me before it destroyed everything I had built. This was forbidden, a taboo. The council would tear me apart if they found it. They had spent years waiting for a weakness, and this would hand them the blade personally.

But none of that stopped the darker side of me from wanting her anyway. That side didn’t care about laws or titles or bloodlines. It only wanted to be buried between those legs again, tasting her.

“Your Majesty, the Alpha. I… I am Safira Hale,” she said.

Her voice hit sharply like a dagger being dragged slowly through my chest. Sweet, melodic and ruinous. Exactly as I remembered. The exact voice I had spent months searching for.

I forced my expression into a controlled smile, even when my wolf snarled within me. “Welcome, Safira.” I whispered, my voice barely audible, unable to keep my eyes off her.

I had spent months trying to learn that name. I had spent a year craving that voice. But I never imagined hearing it like this. I wanted to hear it trembling beneath me and moaning my name, not speaking to me with this cultured respect.

Clarissa suddenly wrapped her arm around mine, smiling brightly. “Will we be staying in the same room, Alpha?”

The question snapped me back into reality. I was to marry Clarissa. I was supposed to give the kingdom an heir, supposed to forget the woman standing only feet away from me looking like every temptation I was ready to give in to.

I cleared my throat, trying hard to focus on the woman I was supposed to marry. “Not yet.” I cupped her face gently, forcing myself to play the role expected of me, “We will after the ceremony. In three days.”

Her hands slid around my waist, pulling me flush against her chest as she pouted. “We could at least spend the night together.” She whined.

Ugh, she was getting too comfortable. She was beginning to mistake tolerance for affection. The only reason I was playing along with her was to clear every doubt the council might have. These bastards had spies in my own castle. I had executed many, banished some, but they still found ways to plant more around.

“I’m going to get fresh air.” Safira’s voice echoed through the room before she turned and stormed away without waiting for permission.

No one moved until I permitted, but that wasn’t what struck me. My heart pounded in my chest, every instinct inside me rising the second she walked away. My wolf stirred violently, restless and vicious, clawing toward the same direction she had gone, howling to follow her.

The pull was so strong it felt like invisible chains had wrapped around my chest, dragging me toward her existence. Every step she took away from me felt wrong, like my body itself rejected the distance growing between us.

Clarissa’s hand was still resting possessively on my waist, but I barely felt it. All I could think about was Safira walking away from me again and I wouldn’t let that happen. Not again. I didn’t search for months just to let her walk away again.

I slowly turned my gaze toward Clarissa, forcing calm into my expression

“Evan.” I called.

The head court lady appeared beside me within seconds, bowing immediately. “Your Majesty.”

“Take Lady Clarissa to her quarters,” I ordered. “Ensure she is prepared for the dinner tonight. Assign servants to attend to anything she needs.”

“Yes, Alpha.” Evan answered, guiding Clarissa away, the sound of their footsteps fading down the corridor while my eyes remained fixed on the doors Safira had disappeared through.

The moment they vanished from sight, I went after her.