The Moon’s Forsaken Daughter: The Queen Returns Chapter 04

The Moon’s Forsaken Daughter: The Queen Returns Chapter 04

The black Maybach stopped in front of the hotel.

Logan dragged me inside against my will.

At the head table in the center of the hall sat my biological father, Alpha Marcus Vance, dressed in a red tuxedo with a pleasant smile on his face.

He had aged in the five years I hadn’t seen him, his Alpha aura softer now.

If the memories weren’t so painful, I might have forgotten the time he forced me to kneel in a storm all night because he was angry with me over Bella.

“Father, I brought Lily,” Logan announced, pulling me through the crowd to Marcus. Asher sat beside him, but Bella was nowhere to be seen.

“Dad knew you were coming back today, so he sent Bella on a trip,” Logan explained, as if reading my mind.

“He’s missed you all these years.”

I twisted my lips into a smirk. It was almost funny.

“You’ve seen me. Can I go now?”

My adoptive family’s private jet was about to land. They would wonder where I was.

Logan was stunned. He was about to speak when the surrounding pack members turned to look at us.

“Isn’t Lily Vance dead? How is she still alive?” one of my aunts muttered. She used to dote on me more than any other relative.

She sighed and complained to the wolf next to her, “Good thing Bella isn’t here, or she’d be upset seeing her.”

“Showing up out of nowhere on such an important day. That girl is so thoughtless.”

“Tell me about it,” chimed in another aunt, who once praised me for being a good girl and wanted me to mate with her son. She rolled her eyes at me now.

“I always knew Lily was manipulative. Look at her, lying to her own Alpha just to get attention. She’s just like her dead mother!”

They went on, one after another.

All judgment, no concern. Not a single wolf asked where I’d been for five years.

If I was okay. If I had been hurt.

It was all so pointless. I pulled my hand from Logan’s grasp and turned to leave.

“Stop!”

Marcus called out, his expression complicated. “Lily, you’re not even going to stay for the feast?”

As if he wasn’t the one who’d banned me from eating for a week five years ago because I wouldn’t give my room to Bella.

Asher stood up and grabbed my arm, feigning concern. “It’s our father’s birthday. You’re finally home, don’t be difficult.”

I pushed him away and spat out two words.

“You’re sick.”

I headed for the hotel doors.

A hand tangled in my long hair, and a sharp slap struck my face.

The wolf who hit me used his full strength. My head snapped to the side, my scalp and left cheek burning. My lip split open.

My uncle, the same one who used to let me ride on his shoulders when he was in his wolf form, released me and roared, “You little brat, how dare you speak like that! Do you have any idea how many times your father almost lost control of his wolf form because of you?!”

“Get on your knees, bow to your Alpha, and apologize properly.”

“So young, yet so feral…”

Five years ago, at my mother’s funeral.

Marcus had walked in with Bella, who was only a year younger than me. In front of my mother’s memorial, he proudly announced she was his long-lost daughter and that he was bringing her into the family.

My eyes turned red with fury. I was like a madwoman, trying to tear them apart.

I screamed at them to get out, to not defile my mother’s resting place.

My aunt held me back, scolding me for being difficult. Isn’t it nice to have another sister?

Another aunt comforted a frightened Bella, telling her I was crazy and to ignore me.

My uncle clapped Marcus on the shoulder and said gravely, “I told you, you can’t spoil female pups. Look at the state of Lily now.”

“What a disgrace!”

The past flashed before my eyes again. I shook my head, a wave of nausea washing over me.

If I was going to be uncomfortable, then so were they.

I lowered my hand from my face, grabbed a wine bottle from the table, and smashed it at their feet.

“I’ll say this one last time. My name is Seraphina Thorne, not Lily Vance. I have nothing to do with the Crescent Moon Pack!”

My uncle pointed at me furiously. “Marcus, look at your precious daughter! Daring to disrespect her elders!”

“Throw her out! This pack doesn’t want her!”

Marcus stopped him. “Brother, calm down. She’s still my daughter, Logan’s sister. She’s just a kid who doesn’t know any better. I’ll teach her.”

Logan stepped in front of me, his expression a mix of anger and disappointment. “Lily, can’t you just behave for once?!”

Asher leaned in, his voice urgent. “I told you not to cause a scene. These are the pack elders. Why are you still so stubborn?”

“Look, just go outside for a bit. I’ll call Bella back. Once she smooths things over with the elders, you can—”

Before he could finish, the doors to the hotel lobby swung open.

My mate, Damian, and my brother, Elias, flanked my adoptive father, the Alpha of the Stormcrest Pack, Alistair Thorne, as they walked in.

“This is a Stormcrest Pack hotel,” Alistair’s voice boomed, cutting through the tension. “I’d like to see who dares to throw my daughter out!”