The palace felt different today, the air heavy with something I could not name. I sat in my studio, sketching designs for the upcoming kingdom ceremony, but my mind kept drifting to Jack. He had been acting strange since yesterday, distant in a way that made my wolf restless beneath my skin.
My phone buzzed. John's name flashed across the screen.
"The rumors are spreading," he said when I answered. "Everyone thinks you're involved with the Second Prince."
I pressed my fingers against my temple. "Let them think what they want."
"Aurora, this could complicate things. Only Eduardo, the guards, and I know you're the Alpha King's mate. If word gets out the wrong way—"
"I understand." I ended the call and returned to my sketches, but the lines blurred together.
Across the kingdom, in the council chambers, Richard Delmark sat across from his father. The Alpha Senator looked older than Richard remembered, his usual commanding presence diminished.
"Father, what's wrong?" Richard asked. "You haven't been yourself since the gathering yesterday."
His mother, Jane, descended the stairs, one hand pressed to her chest. "Richard, get my medicine. My heart won't stop racing."
Adrian moved to her side immediately. "We'll get through this together."
"Someone needs to tell me what's happening," Richard said, his alpha voice breaking through.
His uncle Derick appeared in the doorway. "Tell him, Adrian. He's not a pup anymore."
Richard's jaw tightened. "So everyone knows except me."
Adrian gestured toward the sitting room. Jane and Derick stayed behind while father and son walked in silence. Richard could hear his father's heartbeat, irregular and heavy.
"You have a sister," Adrian said once they were alone.
Richard went still. "What?"
"Your uncle just told me. I have to find her, Richard. I have a daughter out there somewhere, and I didn't know."
Two days earlier, Eduardo had walked into Jack's office carrying a brown envelope. The Beta's face revealed nothing, but Jack's hands had trembled slightly as he took it.
He had ordered the blood test himself. The question had haunted him since the moment he met me—was I connected to Senator Adrian Delmark? The timeline matched. The age matched. Even my features, when he looked closely enough, held shadows of the Senator's bloodline.
Jack tore open the envelope.
Blood Bond Analysis: 99.999999% match.
He slammed the report on his desk and closed his eyes. I was Adrian's daughter. Richard's sister. The protective way Richard acted around me suddenly made perfect sense. It wasn't attraction or friendship—it was the call of blood recognizing blood, even when their human minds didn't understand.
When Jack arrived home that evening, I wasn't in our chambers. He found me in the guest room, surrounded by boxes of my mother's belongings. He had arranged for everything to be brought from my old apartment since he refused to let me return there alone.
I sat on the floor, documents scattered around me. Property deeds, bank statements, photographs of a life I barely remembered.
"Find anything helpful?" Jack asked, settling onto the sofa.
I held up a folded piece of paper, my hands shaking. "Just this."
If you ever find yourself cast out by Ned Bluey, go to Adrian Delmark. Tell him you are my daughter.
"Do you think she meant Senator Adrian?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. "Or is there another Adrian Delmark in the kingdom?"
Jack's expression didn't change. "We can search the records."
"Why didn't she leave me more?" The words burst out of me, sharp and painful, my voice breaking on the last word. "I don't know who her friends were, her pack, her family, anything about her life before me. Besides Ned Bluey, there's no one who knew my mother. Was she alone her entire life? Didn't she have anyone who could tell me who my father was? Anyone at all?"
My throat tightened. I set the note down and stared at it, at my mother's careful handwriting.
"I don't know who my people are," I continued. "Who my father is, who my family is. Do I have aunts, uncles, cousins? What pack do I belong to? What's my true bloodline?" I looked at Jack, tears burning my eyes. "I'm a wolf with no roots. I'm lost."
Jack moved to the floor beside me, pulling me against his chest. His heartbeat steadied mine.
"You have a family," he said quietly. "You might not know them as your family yet, but they already love you. You have me. You have Cody, Richard, Nonna, John. My parents would claim you as their daughter in a heartbeat."
"It's not the same."
"No," he agreed. "But we don't love you any less than your father would. And when you finally meet him, when you look into his eyes, you'll recognize each other. You'll see yourself in his face, and he'll see his blood running through your veins. The wolf always knows its pack."
I wiped my tears, managing a small smile. "You really believe that?"
"I know it." His hand cupped my face, thumb brushing my cheek. "Your search brought you this far. That means you're closer than you've ever been."
I nodded, leaning into his touch. Somewhere in this kingdom, my father existed. My blood called to his, even if neither of us understood it yet.
Richard stood in his father's study, his wolf pacing restlessly beneath his skin.
"How long have you known?" he asked.
"Two days. Your uncle kept it from me all these years, trying to protect everyone involved." Adrian's hands clenched into fists. "But I have a daughter, Richard. Somewhere in this kingdom, I have a daughter who doesn't know who she is."
"Then we find her," Richard said. "We bring her home."
But as he spoke, his mind drifted to Aurora, to the strange pull he had always felt toward her, the need to protect her that made no logical sense.
His wolf had known. Blood always recognizes blood.