"Why? Can I not choose my mate in the pack? "

 

"It's not like that. Listen to me, Kennedy... " 

 

Hendrick stopped when the back of his neck suddenly ached. He massaged his neck lightly until he got better. When he turned and glanced back at his daughter, Kennedy, she looked like a child, asking why he would not allow her to eat sweets.

 

She really looked like his mother when she was a bit younger.

Hendrick already knew what was on his daughter's mind: the moment Kennedy mentioned that she was choosing her mate in the pack, he knew who might be that bastard who caught her attention. He was just not expecting Kennedy's infatuation with that man to grow deeper and to the point of wanting him to be her mate.

He should not let Kennedy get close to him.

 

"Are you trying to sell me off?"

 

The wrinkles on Hendrick's forehead increase.

 

Where did she get that idea?

 

"I'm not going to do that to you. What made you think of that? " 

 

His daughter averted her gaze from him. She was murmuring something, and Hendrick heard it clearly.

 

"You're no different from mother. You also wanted to get rid of me. Am I right? Was this your plan when you asked me to choose my mate? " Kennedy couldn't help but raise her voice at her father.

 

I'm not going to cry... Kennedy said to herself.

 

She didn't notice her father moving closer to her. "Even though you won't tell me who this man is, I already knew that he was Duncan DelaMerce?" Kennedy's eyes widened in shock.

"H-How does Father know?" She stammered in front of her father.

 

She remembered that she had not told anyone except for her only friend, who was not here. 

 

Is her face so obvious that her father notices her feelings about Duncan?

 

She hides her face by lowering her head. 

 

Kennedy had no idea that Hendrick, had instructed someone to report everything to him, including what Kennedy was doing and whom Kennedy met. Hendrick was also the one who personally picked the maid for Kennedy, even if it was supposedly Katherine's job.

 

One of the reasons Kennedy was safe roaming around even outside the castle was because of Hendrick, who made sure no one would lay a hand on his daughter.

 

Kennedy glanced at her father. "How do you know that I like Alpha Duncan?" Her father did not answer her. Instead, she felt his warm embrace as he hugged her. He lightly patted her back and caressed her head. Her father never did this to her, even when she was a child.

 

The way her father was patting her back gave a comfortable and familiar feeling to Kennedy.

"Kennedy, I wouldn't ask you anything, but I wish you happiness with whoever you choose, but not with Duncan DelaMerce. I would not allow him to be your mate. " There was a hardness in the tone of her father's voice when he said it. "Just follow me as your father."

 

She looked at her father with a displeased expression. It appears that no matter how badly she wants Duncan to be her mate, her father is not going to accept Duncan. 

 

And she wondered what her father's reason was.

 

She took a few steps away from her father and bowed her head. "I'm going ahead, father. I will keep in mind what we talked about and will think about it. I hope Father will understand, as I could not decide for now. " She didn't wait for her father's response and turned around and left.

 

******

 

The fifth prince could be a perfect mate for Kennedy. If only his daughter wouldn't fix her gaze solely on one man.

 

She was Katherine's daughter, so of course she would be as stubborn as her mother, and what Hendrick didn't want to happen was if Kennedy made a mistake just to get what she wanted.

 

Hendrick has a reason why he doesn't want Duncan DelaMerce to be his daughter's mate. Despite the fact that Duncan is one of the best Alphas in the pack, Kennedy will one day understand. For now, it's not the right time for Kennedy to know.

As Hendrick investigates Duncan, who saved his daughter years ago, he learns a few things from him.

 

Duncan DelaMerce was connected to Lucia, the woman he had loved and his fated mate. But it's not the only thing he found when he did a background check on him.

 

Duncan was raised in a small pack, and he was the son of Malvin DelaMerce, his old comrade.

 

Hendrick, after learning of it and the possibility that Duncan went to his pack to avenge his father, wanted to send him out and not let him set his foot back in the pack.

 

But Duncan held something so important to him that it was impossible for him to kick him out of the pack.

 

Hendrick never expected that he would have a daughter named Elise with Lucia.

 

Duncan DelaMerce was cunning that he used Elise to him just he get what he want.

 

The Silver Cross pack.

 

When Lucia died, Duncan said that he was the one who took care of Elise and hid his daughter somewhere to protect her from Katherine.

Hendrick had no idea that he had another child. But the fact that Katherine also knew about Elise and was looking for her until now, Hendrick doesn't want to think badly, but he knows Katherine might be capable of doing something or she might use Elise against him.

 

If Katherine can hurt her own child, how much more if this is his child with Lucia?

 

Duncan said to him that he was willing to show him where he hid Elise. In exchange, he wants the Silver Cross pack.

 

The cunning wolf who lived with the Rogue became one of those. He had the audacity to use his daughter, whom he had never seen, to make a deal with him.

 

In the end, he agreed. In exchange, he will keep her daughter safe.

 

Hendrick remember what Kennedy said before she leave in his office.

 

"There's no way! I will love someone... He was the only man I wanted to be my mate's father. "