Chapter 451
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AN: The next five chapters focus on Veronica and shed light on Alexander’s current situation. Feel free to skip them if you prefer to follow the main storyline. 17
Veronica POV
Seven years ago.
The Riverside Grill served the best fish in the region. But I wasn’t enjoying a single bite.
Julius sat across the small wooden table, completely absorbed in his phone. His face was lit up like a child staring at a new toy. This was supposed to be our anniversary dinner, but I felt invisible.
I had been with Julius for years, long before either of our wolves surfaced. But loving him was becoming exhausting. Every week brought a new obsession, a fresh grand scheme. One month it was a delivery service, the next month a hotel for tourism, and now he was convinced he needed to buy a fleet of boats for regional trade across the rivers.
He refused to attend the beta academy. He thought training to be an Alpha’s assistant beneath him, missing the point that it would give us stability. My father despised him for it.
“Sorry, babe, two minutes,” Julius muttered, laughing loudly at something his friend Nate said on the line. People at the next table turned to stare. Julius caught them, mouthed an apology, and drew a ridiculous little heart in the air toward me with his free hand.
I wanted to scream at him to hang up. We barely had any time together as it was.
Still, I couldn’t bring myself to hate him. My best friend Claire always insisted I would outgrow him, that I would realize he was never going to build a realistic life. But I stubbornly defended him. I wanted to prove Claire wrong. I remembered the afternoon we were kids, when Julius scraped his knee saving me from falling out of a mango tree. We had been inseparable ever since. He was sweet and kind, but as an adult, his scatterbrained ambition was driving me crazy.
My own future had rigid rules. Silverbrook had no sons. Under our pack law, if an Alpha’s daughter has an only son, the boy belongs to her family line to secure the seat. My father had no brothers, no male heirs, and he refused modern medical intervention to force a son. That meant the burden fell entirely on me as the older sister, trailed by my fifteen-year-old sister Haley. I had to marry an Alpha to save my family’s seat.
Julius’s phone buzzed again. He looked at it like a man torn between two lovers. “V, babe, it’s Nate. Two minutes. I swear on my fish p>
He didn’t wait for my answer. He stood up and walked outside the restaurant.
I let out a flat sigh and kept eating my fish before it went cold. That was when two young men walked into the grill and headed straight for the bar.
The entire room shifted. Waitresses found sudden excuses to hover near their path. They carried that heavy, undeniable Alpha aura that forced everyone to pay attention.
I recognized one immediately. It was Charlie, Alpha Kieran’s son. The other man was dark-haired, serious, and possessed an intense, composed posture. I knew his name was Zachary, the heir of Iron Wells, whose father had died young, leaving his mother to rule until he came of age.
They sat at the bar. Zachary ordered a drink while Charlie talked.
Watching them made my chest tighten with anxiety. Their lives had a clear, mapped-out path. They didn’t have to
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scramble or guess what tomorrow looked like.
st as I stared, Zachary turned his head and caught me looking straight at him.
My cheeks burned. I snapped my gaze back to my plate, feeling instantly guilty as if I had done something wrong.
Julius returned a few minutes later, completely oblivious. When the bill arrived, he patted his pockets with an apologetic grimace and mouthed that he must have left his wallet in his truck.
I gritted my teeth and opened my purse to pay. It was the third time that week.
The waitress dropped off our copies of the receipt. As she slid mine across the wood, she gave me a quick, knowing look and whispered, “Check the back p>
I flipped the paper over. Scrawled in neat, slanted blue ink was a short message.
When you get tired of waiting.
Underneath was a phone number, signed: Zachary, Alpha Heir of Iron Wells.
My heart slammed against my ribs. I glanced toward the bar, but Zachary was already turning away to speak to Charlie. I shoved the paper into my bag, my hands shaking slightly.
When we walked out toward the car, we had to pass right by the bar. Zachary looked up, his eyes locking onto mine as we walked past. A strange, prickling heat spread across my skin.
In the truck, Julius rambled on about his new boat venture, rubbing his hand heavily over my thigh. “This is the one, V. I can feel it p>
I forced a smile, but my mind was entirely consumed by the piece of paper sitting in my purse.
The regional Alpha meeting was hosting every pack leader in the territory at Silverbrook, which meant our estate was flooded with visiting elites.
When I got home, I tried to slip in through the side doors to avoid my father, but I ran straight into him at the top of the grand staircase. He gave me a stern, warning look, telling me to look my best for the evening dinner and reminding me not to disappear.
“Yes, Father,” I muttered, hurrying past him to my bedroom.
I vented to my mother later, complaining that I didn’t want an arranged match with an Alpha. My mother just shook her head, her face lined with sorrow.
“You’re eighteen now, Veronica,” she said softly. “You know our situation. Silverbrook has no son. When your father is gone, this seat goes to whichever daughter marries an Alpha. That’s the law p>
Up in my room, Claire arrived later to borrow a dress for the dinner. When I told her about the receipt Zachary left me, she nearly shrieked.
“Zachary of Iron Wells gave you his number, and you didn’t call him?!” Claire hissed, throwing her hands in the air.
“I have a boyfriend,” I snapped.
“Forget Julius!” Claire waved her hand dismissively. “Julius is an ordinary boy who is going to end up with an ordinary life. Look at you! You have Alpha blood. Why waste it on a glorified bum p>
“Stop it,” I warned, crossing my arms. “I love Julius p>
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“I know you do,” Claire softened slightly, sitting on the edge of my bed. “I’m just saying you’ve been waiting for him to grow up for years. Zachary is already a man p>
“He’s only a year older,” Į muttered.
“He’s an Alpha,” Claire countered. “If your father finds out you threw away an Iron Wells alliance for Julius, he’ll lose his mind p>
I spent the rest of that night dodging Zachary’s presence in the crowded dining hall, convincing myself I was doing the right thing.
The next morning, I woke up feeling lighter. I helped the staff clean up, and later I met Julius. For once, he gave me real attention. We went to his cramped room, and we made love. Lying there afterward, staring at the ceiling while he panted beside me, I poured all my love into him, pushing away the guilt of the receipt hidden in my bag.
That afternoon, I went back home.
As soon as I walked through the front doors, my father called me into the formal dining room. Zachary was sitting there, casually having lunch with my parents.
And sitting right beside them, looking entirely too smug, was Claire.
My stomach plummeted. Claire had set this up.
My father beamed, introducing me to Zachary as if I were a prize horse. I had to sit there like a statue, watching my mother-who usually despised when Julius visited-smile brightly at Zachary. Zachary looked infuriatingly perfect. His manners were polished, his dark hair neat, and his clothes immaculate.
Later that afternoon, Zachary and I took a mandatory walk through the garden.
“I have a boyfriend,” I blurted out immediately, unable to stand the suffocating politeness.
Zachary stopped walking, turning to look down at me with an amused, knowing smirk. “Is that so? Who is he? I don’t recall seeing him listed among the regional Alpha heirs p>
“He’s not an Alpha,” I said defensively.
“Then why are you wasting your time?” Zachary asked smoothly, stepping closer. “You are far too special for a half-hearted arrangement. Is he your fated mate p>
I stayed silent. We both knew fated mates were rare, and if Julius was my true mate, my father wouldn’t be parading me in front of Iron Wells’ heir.
Zachary reached out, taking my hand. His fingers were surprisingly soft, his nails neatly manicured. I hated myself for noticing how nice his touch felt.
“I meant what I wrote,” Zachary said softly, his dark eyes holding mine. “I like you, Veronica. I want to take you out. Keep your options open p>
Within a week, my life blew apart.
Julius suddenly stopped picking up my calls. When I went to his friend’s house to find him, he glared at me with red, angry eyes, his mouth spilling venom.
“You’ve been going behind my back with some spoiled Alpha brat!” Julius yelled, refusing to let me get a single word in. “That’s why you were complaining about my plans! That’s why you were always rushing home p>
“That is not true!” I screamed back, tears hot on my cheeks. “I didn’t do anything with him p>
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“Go, then!” Julius shouted, his voice breaking as he pointed toward the door. “If you’re ashamed of me, go to your
ich Alpha! But I promise you, one day my ideas won’t look so stupid. One day you’ll regret this p>
I slammed his door, running out into the street and crying until my chest felt bruised.
That night, I went on my very first date with Zachary.
P
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