Claimed by the Alpha I Hate – Episode 35
The western boundary yielded no footprints, only a strip of dead grass leading toward an abandoned road. Nolan ordered patrols outward while Daisy examined the place where the trail disappeared.
Her returning senses caught something the wolves missed: a trace of cold stone and old blood, the same presence she half remembered from her bedroom.
“He was here,” she said. Nolan moved in front of her at once.
“The intruder?” Daisy nodded, frustrated by the instinct that made Nolan shield her even when she wanted to help.
A voice came from the trees. “Your senses recovered sooner than expected.” Lucien stepped into view with empty hands and an elegant calm that made the guards reach for weapons.
Daisy recognized him without having seen his face before. Her blood recoiled from the same power that had closed around her while she slept.
“You entered my room.” Red light flickered around her fingers.
“I prevented an uncontrolled awakening from destroying your host pack,” Lucien replied. His gaze shifted to Nolan. “You should be grateful, Alpha.”
Nolan’s wolf surfaced in his eyes. “Give me one reason not to tear you apart.”
Lucien smiled. “Because Daisy wants answers, and I was sent by the only man who can provide them.”
The guards closed the circle. Lucien showed no fear. He had chosen open ground where escape routes multiplied and Nolan could not attack without risking Daisy.
“Who sent you?” Daisy asked. The question carried eighteen years of silence.
“Your father.” Lucien watched the revelation strike her. “He has waited a long time for you to awaken.”
Daisy thought of Vera hiding her identity and dying before explaining why. “What’s his name?”
Lucien’s attention settled on Nolan before he answered. “Lord Klaudius.”
The name transformed Nolan. Rage tore through the mate bond so violently that Daisy staggered. He shifted forward, claws extending.
Elias caught Nolan’s arm while Daisy moved between him and Lucien. She did not protect the vampire; she protected her chance to learn the truth.
“You know him,” she said to Nolan. It was not a question.
Lucien used the distraction to retreat toward the trees. “Ask your mate what Klaudius took from him. Then decide whether a Fenrir will ever accept you once he knows whose daughter you are.”
He vanished before the guards reached him. Daisy turned toward Nolan, whose expression held a hatred older than their bond. Her father’s name had opened a wound Nolan had spent years preparing to avenge.