The Lost Lycan King

Chapter 4 - A Surprising Visit

Anastasia POV

The day seems to pass by quite quickly with Nicole whispering sarcastic comments to me every few minutes. For once, I leave university with a smile on my face.
"Your dad is coming to see you" says Lara, looking at her phone, as we leave the lecture theatre.
"Why?" I ask.
"I don't know, he's meeting us at your apartment" she says, putting her phone in her pocket.
I wonder if he wants to talk about our argument. I don't believe for a second that he had an Alpha meeting to go to, those things are arranged months in advance.

Lara walks me to my door and then leaves. Whilst my body guards accompany me any time I leave the apartment, they don't insist on coming in. They have installed cameras outside my flat and they take it in turns to do the night shift and watch the cameras from a smaller flat a short distance away. I imagine, it's a pretty boring video to watch as I rarely have people over and tend not to leave without them knowing. It all seems a bit much if I'm honest, but my parents insist that it's necessary for my safety.

As I open the front door, I see that my dad has brought our chef, Jenny, with him and she is in my kitchen busily stirring pans. I have no idea what she is cooking, but it smells amazing.
My dad looks up from his seat on the sofa and smiles.
"What do you think to your new place?" He says, standing up and pulling me into a hug.
"It's great" I respond, feeling relieved that he doesn't appear to be mad at me.
"Dinner is ready" says Jenny from the kitchen.
We take a seat at the dining table and Jenny places the plates in front of us, before leaving the room.
She has made Risotto and it looks incredible. I hungrily begin spooning the food into my mouth, it tastes incredible too.
"I thought I was only right that you had a home-cooked meal on your first night back at university" says dad. To most people, a home-cooked meal would be made by their parents, but I suppose Jenny's food is what I would get at home. I'm not complaining though, she is an excellent cook.
"There is a cheesecake in the fridge for afterwards too" he says, in between bites of his own dinner. I smile, cheesecake is my favourite.
We eat the meal in a comfortable silence, both of us enjoying the food too much to make much conversation. As Jenny reappears to remove our plates and replace them with smaller plates with cheesecake on, my dad clears his throat.
"There's something quite important I need to talk to you about" he says.
I look up from my plate and meet his eye, this sounds serious.
"Do you know how your mum and I met?" He asks, looking nervous all of a sudden.
"Yes, your parents arranged for you to get married to unite your packs" I say, unsure where he is going with this.
"That's right and it's getting to a stage where we will need to unite our pack with another one again, to keep our pack strong and safe"
There is a beat of silence as I digest his words. I don't think I fully understand what he is getting at.
"But we re still allied to mums pack aren't we? The full moon pack?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.
He puts down his fork and looks at me.
"Yes, but their pack is much smaller now than it was before and there has been an increase in vampire attacks recently. We need to make new allies, so that if blood moon is ever under attack, we will be helped"
I put my fork down too, my stomach suddenly feels uneasy. He can't surely be talking about what I think he is.
"What are you trying to say?" I asked, my heart drumming in my ears.
He clears his throat and looks down at his plate.
"We need to find someone for you to marry" he mumbles, but I hear what he has said.
I stand up, my heart beating wildly in my chest. It's too soon for this, I'm only 19. I thought I had more time. My eyes scan the room, trying to distract myself and I notice a stack of folders on my coffee table.
"What are those?" I ask, walking over and picking one up at random. I open it and find a photo of a man inside and an information sheet with his name, age and pack on it. There is a bunch of papers in the folder, but I don't bother to look. I drop the folder like it's on fire and whirl around to face my dad.
"You have got be kidding, I don't want to get married" I say frantically, taking deep breaths to try and calm myself down.
"Anastasia please, I'm not going to marry you off to someone you don't like" he says, walking over to me and handing me a cup of tea. I hadn't even noticed him making one.
"Then what are all these?" I ask, gesturing at the folders littered on the table.
"You do need to get married" he sighs "but I want you to be able to pick your own husband from the men in these folders. They are all high ranking wolves".
"It's hardly picking my own husband if there is a list I have to pick from!" I shout, feeling tears well up in my eyes. Why can't I meet someone and fall in love like a normal person?
"I know this feels unfair Ana, but whoever you marry will become the Alpha of our pack. Im trying to be as fair as I can by letting you pick from suitable people" he goes to hug me, but I pull away. Suitable
people? It sounds like are conducting interviews for my future husband. I wonder if their CVs are in these folders too.
I sniff, desperately trying to stop myself from crying.
"How long have I got?" I ask, knowing that I will be mentally counting down the days from now on.
"I don't want you to get married before you have finished university" he says. I breath a sigh of relief.
"But, I want you be engaged within the year"
My heart lurches uncomfortably in my chest. Within the year? This is all happening too fast.
"I want you to have a look through these folders Ana, not necessarily tonight, but soon. Get a feel for who you think would be compatible with you, look at what packs they belong to. Your mother and I will arrange dates with the ones that you like, then you can decide how you feel about them when you meet them face to face"
"Dates?"
"Yes. You need to meet these men, before you choose one to marry"
My heartbeat settles down slightly, I feel more comfortable knowing that I won't be marrying a complete stranger. But I still feel uneasy, what if I don't get on with any of them? How am I supposed to pick someone? What if I choose incorrectly?
"When you come to work this week, I will expect you to have had a look at least one or two of these" says Dad, passing one to me. I don't open it.
"You're giving me homework?" I ask, rolling my eyes. Homework to find a husband? Is he real?
"Yes. I want you to look at some of these folders and I want you to look into their packs. It's important that you find someone you like, but it's also important that you know their pack history. You don't want to find yourself in a pack that you don't like".
The thought of not staying in blood moon makes me feel ill. But I suppose it's a possibility, if I marry an alpha they will become the Alpha of blood moon but will also be Alpha of their own pack, they might want me to move to their pack.
I sigh and look at the stack of folders. My dad takes this as his signal to leave and stands up, I walk to the door with him, but as he leans in to hug me, I automatically stiffen. I can't believe he's doing this to me.