Chapter 67 Father, I Need Your Help

Chapter 67 Father, I Need Your Help
KING THEORON'S POV

Suddenly, the bond with my daughter surged like a river breaking through stone. It struck me so fiercely that I staggered where I stood, my chest tightening as though the Moon Goddess herself was pulling at my heart. I turned and there she was.

A young woman stepped into view, and for a moment, I forgot how to breathe. She was the very image of her mother, my beloved queen, the one I had lost too soon. The same eyes that carried both light and fire, the same delicate but unyielding strength in her bearing. Every line of her face echoed the woman who had once been my world, and for the first time in years, I felt as if I was staring at both past and present.

It was her. My little moonlight.

Our eyes locked, and the world around us ceased to exist. The guards, Orion, and Kalel, none of them mattered. Time itself seemed to bow, leaving only the unbreakable thread between father and daughter. A silence stretched between us, heavy yet beautiful, filled with everything we could not say, everything stolen from us.

“My little moonlight,” I uttered, my voice rough with emotion I had not allowed myself to show in decades.

Her lips parted, her eyes glistening with unshed tears as she whispered, “Father.”

The sound of that word nearly broke me. My arms opened wide, trembling despite my strength, welcoming her without hesitation. And she came to me not as a stranger, not as a lost child cautious of what she might find, but as my daughter who knew, through the bond of our Lycan blood, exactly who I was.

Her steps quickened, her eyes never leaving mine, and then she was in my embrace. I pulled her into me, holding her as though letting go would mean losing her all over again. The scent of her, the feel of her warmth, the undeniable truth of her bond, it was everything I had yearned for through endless nights of grief and rage.

“My little moonlight,” I whispered again, my voice breaking as I pressed my hand against the back of her head, clutching her close.

Her arms wrapped around me tightly, no hesitation, no fear, only certainty and belonging. Through the surge of our shared Lycan power, the bond flared bright, and I knew she felt it too. She was mine, my blood, my daughter, no matter how many years had been stolen from us.

“Father,” she said against my chest, her voice steady yet laced with emotion, “I have longed to see you.”

Tears pricked my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. A king does not weep before his men, but a father… a father nearly did. I squeezed her tighter, burying my face in her hair, as if to memorize this moment before it could vanish.

"My little moonlight, your father has been yearning to hold you since you were taken away from us."

In that instant, nothing else mattered. Not Apollo, not the Thunder Howl pack, not the betrayal of Alpha Martin. The only truth I cared for was in my arms, the living proof that the Moon Goddess had not abandoned me.

After years of shadows, I finally had my light again.

I cupped my daughter’s face in my hands, scarcely believing she was here with me after so many years of torment. My heart clenched as guilt gnawed at me. 

“I am sorry, my little moonlight,” I whispered, my voice thick with regret. “I am sorry it took me so long to find you. I thought you were gone forever, because after you were taken from the kingdom, I could no longer feel our bond. It was as if the thread between us had been severed. I searched, but the silence nearly destroyed me. Since the day of your abduction, I have been nothing but miserable.”

Her eyes lifted to mine, wide and luminous, carrying no trace of anger or blame. That gaze, so innocent, so unyieldingly kind, was the same look her mother once gave me whenever I faltered. My chest tightened as if Lyanara herself were standing before me. My daughter was her mirror in every way, from her gentleness to her quiet strength.

“Forgive me, my child,” I uttered, my voice breaking despite the iron I tried to wrap around it. I bowed my head slightly, something I had never done before another soul, but before her, I was not king; I was only a father begging for her mercy.

Her lips curved into the faintest, softest smile. “I forgive you, Father. It wasn’t your fault. There is evil in this world, but it wasn’t you. It was Alpha Martin who did this to all of us.”

Her words soothed me, but they also ignited a fire within. My jaw tightened, and I could hear the faint grinding of my own teeth as I repeated the name. 

“Martin.” I almost spat it. “So Beta Orion spoke the truth. It was not Apollo who stole you away. It was indeed Alpha Martin of the Shadow Claw pack.” My blood roared with rage as I spoke, every muscle in my body coiling with the urge to destroy. Even before my men, I did not hide the darkness that passed through me; I wanted them to feel it. In my mind, I was already plotting his demise.

I would not rest until his name was struck from the world. But my daughter’s voice broke through my storm. “It wasn’t him,” she said softly, her hand brushing my arm as though her touch alone could calm me. “In fact, Apollo saved me. He… he is my mate.”

The word struck me harder than any enemy’s blow. My head snapped toward her, my eyes wide. “Your mate?” My voice was harsher than I intended, but shock had taken me by the throat. “You already have a mate?”

I felt robbed. The years stolen from me had not only taken her childhood but also the milestones a father should have witnessed. I had not seen her on her first shift, nor had I watched her grow into the strong, radiant lady she was now. And now she stood before me, bonded to another. My little moonlight was not a child any longer, and I had missed it all.

My hands clenched into fists at my sides, not in anger toward her, but in fury at the injustice that had stolen those years from us. “Martin has to pay for what he has done,” I growled low, my voice carrying the promise of blood.

I would burn the Shadow Claw pack to the ground if it meant avenging her stolen years.

Another thing that bothered me was Alpha Apollo's curse. Would it be safe for my little moonlight to be with him?

"Father, I need your help!"

The desperate cry of my daughter for help took me out of my reverie. Does she want me to save Apollo?