Her Broken Alpha Prince (Book 18 of The Regal Eclipse Pack Series)

Chapter 10

He wondered if the man had any other children. Zara, does Alpha Jensen have a son?

Zara looked up at Knox across the table. Yes he does, but he's only sixteen.

That had to piss the Alpha off. His son had nine years before he could become Alpha. Jensen could petition for his son to be Alpha earlier, but given that he had a daughter who was old enough and probably completely competent, he would have a difficult time convincing Malachi, the current Alpha King whose mother had been the Alpha Queen before him, that the position should go to his son instead of his daughter before he was of age. You think he's waiting around until his son is old enough to take over the pack? Some of these Alphas were so old-fashioned. The idea of a woman running their pack didn't thrill them.

Zara smirked at Knox. I'd bet on it.

Jensen sighed rather loudly. "I don't feel as though Caelan is ready to take over at this time, Princess."

Zara raised an eyebrow at him and Knox smiled. She was getting ready to lay into him. "If she's not ready to take over the pack, then that's on you. It's your job to prepare her to be Alpha. Have you dropped the ball?"

He glared at Zara. "I don't appreciate being questioned by a little girl, Princess!"

Knox sat back, amused.

"If you ever push your aura against me again, Alpha, I will throw you on your ass," Zara said calmly, though Knox could feel her aura out as well. She was getting pissed.

"Princess," he acknowledged.

"Tell me why she isn't at this meeting then, Alpha? She should be in attendance. How else is she supposed to learn if she's not here?" Zara stared at him, daring him silently to threaten her again.

Jensen clenched his jaw and then took a deep breath. "If you'll excuse me, Princess."

"Of course." Zara sat back in her seat, smiling pleasantly.

Daniel was right. She was born to do this.

Jensen stood up and walked out of the room. Knox had a feeling the man needed to calm down so he didn't try to strangle Zara. If he did, it would be the last thing he did. He had a feeling no one ever challenged the Alpha on any of his decisions, and the man probably resented the fact that Zara, a woman who was younger than his own daughter, was questioning him. If only the man realized how truly powerful Zara really was, he might think twice about his attitude.

***

Caelan lay on her bed, her eyes on her phone. The liaisons from Regal Eclipse were coming today, and as usual, she was being left out. It was annoying but happened more often than she liked. She was left out of a lot of things that she should be included in as the future Alpha of the pack, and while her father had never said so, she knew he would have preferred for her to have been born a male. 

It wasn't the way it was meant to be, but Caelan had learned to accept it as the way things were. All she could do was silently bide her time, waiting until he was ready to step down. She'd come to the conclusion that the only way he was stepping down was if he was stepping down into his own grave. Her father might never give up his tight grip on The Virginia Pack. 

She knew her father had been disappointed that his eldest pup was a girl. But he'd come up with a solution for it the moment Robert, his Beta's son, had been born. Caelan would be mated to Robert. And while Robert would be the Beta, and she would be the Alpha, Robert would be the one running the pack. Robert was the one who had been trained as the Alpha. It was stupid, but that was the way it was, and she had no choice but to go with it. Her opinion didn't matter.

Her father had refused to train her as Alpha. He seemed to think that if she was the Alpha, the pack would overthrow her, and she wouldn't be able to handle it. She knew he thought that, but she also knew he was wrong. They could try. She'd kill them. Every last one of them. She'd make an example of them all, and then dare them to try to do anything so stupid again. She had no problem making them pay. 

She did like Robert though, and she couldn't find any fault in the mating except that he wasn't her fated. Not that it mattered to her father. It didn't. The pack was more important than fate. But Robert was incredibly hot, and she didn't mind that she was mating him. She was just annoyed that it hadn't happened yet. 

She was twenty-six years old and unsure why her father wouldn't just let it happen. She wanted to complete the mating bond with him already, before she ran into her fated. She didn't get why her father was making her wait, but there was nothing she could say that would change his mind. Robert just went with it. He was Jensen's golden child. 

Caelan was also pretty sure that her father would kill her fated. She'd held her breath when she'd turned eighteen, hoping no one in her pack was her mate. She'd been relieved when no one tried to claim her, when she hadn't been able to detect him. Her heart had ached about it though, and she'd had to force those emotions out. There was no room for them. 

Alpha Jensen was a control freak, and he had every little detail of everything mapped out in his mind. He was Alpha, and his word was law. He ran the pack with an iron fist, and barely let anyone else in the pack do anything. His Beta barely had any responsibilities, and Caelan was fairly certain that Robert had done more for the pack than Russell had. Caelan barely even saw the Gamma. 

If it was her, she'd delegate more. She'd rarely seen her father growing up, and she knew her mother had hated it. When her mother had died, it had barely even seemed to faze her father. He was almost emotionless about it and hadn't seemed to miss a beat. He'd also berated her for being too emotional and had told her that wasn't how an Alpha acted. Which was laughable considering she was only going to be the Alpha in name only. He'd told her that she couldn't react emotionally ever. It would make her a bad leader. After that, she'd learned how to shut them off. She'd learned to be cold and calculating, which seemed to earn Jensen's approval. He'd turned her into himself, or at least he thought he had. 

Caelan glanced over at her laptop. She had so much work to do, but her father had warned her to not touch it until the liaisons from Regal Eclipse were gone. He'd rather they not know some things, and Caelan couldn't blame him. Their side business was mostly run by her. That was another part of the reason she was just going to be the Alpha in name only. She'd run their business while Robert ran the pack. The perfect couple. 

Their side business was the main source of income for the pack. While her grandfather had seemed to do an exceptional job of running Virginia Pack, Jensen had quickly found out shortly after taking over, that there were no funds in the accounts. His father had run through them all and bled the accounts dry. There was no money. Caelan had a feeling that was why Jensen was such a control freak. He'd had to pretty much built the pack funds back up after his father's destruction of them.

But it still irritated her to no end that she was being left out of the meeting. She was part of the pack leadership. Why wasn't she being included? She may be running their side business, but still. She felt like she should know what was going on. And she had a feeling their liaisons would question it. If Robert even thought he wasn't going to run things without her, he could kiss her ass. 

Jensen hated when Regal Eclipse came to visit though. He hated that their liaisons were both women, too. Caelan didn't mind though. She thought it was awesome that those two she-wolves were their liaisons. Those women were much tougher than Jensen gave them credit for, and she admired that about them. 

Caelan

The mind link started her from her thoughts, and she sighed softly. She'd thought he'd be too busy to be concerned with her. Yes?

I'm on my way to your room right now. I'll be there in a minute.

Okay. She stood, smoothing down her dress, and walked into her bathroom to check her reflection. Her mother had taught her the importance of always looking her best for the pack. Of always looking put together. It made her look like she had her shit together, whether she did or not. And she didn't always have her shit together.