The prophecy of Princess Zaia

"Deep breaths, Zaia. You can do this. What's the worst that could happen?" Zaia hyped herself in the mirror as she stared at her reflection with a pitiful gaze.

"I look like a homeless person right now. Come on, Zaia. You can't go down there looking lifeless". She thought as she put on the earrings before her with a slight smile. It was her twenty-third birthday today. Although she didn't see any reason to celebrate it since she still hadn't met her mate, she was her father's only child which meant being spoiled to the core.

Zaia turned and left the room happily knowing she had the chance to meet her mate again. This year was a special one since all the other alphas were here with their beta and deltas. She has a better chance to get to meet her mate today.

Her getting her mate this year according to tradition would also bring her relationship with him great luck and joy which she looked forward to.

Although her father hadn't told her the reason everyone was here she knew another reason beyond her birthday was behind their presence but she just wanted to enjoy this first.

"Everyone, please welcome Her Royal Highness, Princess Zaia." The host announced as the spotlight fell on Zaia who was standing at the top of the grand stairs.

Everyone's attention was turned to the beautiful young lady standing there with her brown hair beautifully adorned with gold and diamonds. Whispers filled the hall as everyone looked up in curiosity.

"Wow, Princess Zaia is that beautiful?

I heard the king has a daughter but no one has ever seen her.

I never expected her to be this beautiful".

"I would like to thank everyone for honoring my invitation to attend my daughter's twenty-third birthday. We all know it is an opportunity to see who the moon goddess has picked to be sacrificed to her this year too. It has been two centuries since our pack hosted the sacrifice and it is an honor to finally hold it." Zaia's father, Alpha Brett , had a smile on his lips as he took gentle steps towards his daughter who was cautiously coming down the stairs.

"So it's the full moon sacrifice year. I knew Father wouldn't invite every one of the alphas I have learned about to my birthday party. Zaia thought as she let out an audible sigh.

"Do I have to celebrate it with everyone here?" Zaia asked her father with a hint of nervousness in her tone. She has barely stepped foot out of her father's pack house since she was born. She didn't know how to relate well with people.

"You'll do well my sweetheart." Alpha Brett assured his daughter sweetly. The look of love in his eyes said it all, she was all he needed to be happy and if he wanted her to do something to make him happy, she most definitely would do it.

"Princess Zaia." An old voice came from behind, making her turn to look at the individual. A man from his looks, a decade older than her father was standing behind her with a champagne flute in his hand.

"Greetings to you, your majesty." She curtsied politely, her gesture showing her his presence was making her uncomfortable.

"You are even more beautiful than your father described you. Don't you think, Brett?" He asked, letting out a low chuckle which made the hair on Zaia's skin stand uncomfortably.

"Thank you for your compliment, Alpha Doreen." Brett smiled warmly, already discerning his daughter's discomfort. "I am pretty sure we discussed matters the last time we met."

"Brett . Definitely." The look on Doreen's face made it evident he wasn't satisfied with whatever it was they discussed but he left them anyway. "Well, happy birthday to you, your highness. I hope you love the presents I have prepared for you."

"I sure will, thank you very much for being thoughtful, your majesty." A sense of calmness settled over her as soon as he left. "I still really do not want to meet with new people, father." Zaia whined playfully.

"Zaia, you're twenty three now, my dear. You can't stop running from meeting people." He took her hands as he led her towards his throne which was meant for every alpha to ever come since the beginning of the pack. "One day, you'll be sitting there and ruling over everything I leave behind."

"Can I not?" She asked with a pout, but he only chuckled as he ran his fingers through her hair gently. "I always want to be your baby."

"Sadly you can't..." Before he could finish his sentence, he could sense distress in the air and he instantly knew it was from his beta.

"My alpha, we have to deal with a very bad issue without alerting anyone" His beta informed him through their mind link.

"Meet me in my study. I'll be right there". Alpha

Brett replied through the mind link. "I'll be right back, sweetheart. Just sit and wait for me if you don't want anyone to relate with you." Alpha Brett assured her before kissing her forehead.

Zaia knew something was seriously wrong to make him look that tense. Although she wanted to know what it was as she always knew everything that was going on in the pack, she decided she wanted to stay out of this one and just relax on her birthday. It was a special day for her after all.

Alpha Brett rushed into his study where his beta, Julius, and his delta, James, were impatiently waiting for his arrival.

"What's wrong? Are we being attacked?" Alpha Brett asked them, concern laced in his voice, but the duo looked at each other like they had a piece of very bad news to deliver and were waiting for the other to deliver it solemnly.

"The priests confirmed the sacrifice is going to be from our pack and it'll be a person that would leave an impact in the pack." Julius finally spoke up.

"But the bad news is, my alpha. The sacrifice demanded was Her Highness, Princess Zaia."

Alpha Brett stared at them both like he would unleash his wrath at any time and the duo secretly braced themselves for it. Deep down they knew he wouldn't want anyone from outside knowing about this situation either.

"What do you mean my daughter?" Alpha Brett snapped right after they thought he wouldn't. "Are you sure the priest isn't seeing something wrong? Are you sure he's not lying about my daughter?"

"We asked him the same question, Your Highness." Julius tried to explain to him solemnly that it might be what the moon goddess wanted for a sacrifice but he wouldn't hear any of that.

"Bring the priest to me now immediately. And let no one hear about this. If they ask about it, tell them the priest is yet to see anything concerning the person." Alpha Brett ordered them and they nodded before leaving his sight.

His expression failed to hide the anxiety in his expression and the worry. Why would the moon goddess want his daughter, his only daughter, his only child, and the future of his pack as a sacrifice? If she died, that would be the end of their entire bloodline. He didn't want that to happen at all. His bloodline depends on his child, even though it was a girl.

"This can't be possible, right? It can't be our Zaia." His wolf mumbled to him, also really panicked by his voice.

"What would be of the pack if she dies? What about her life and everything she loves doing?"

"This would cause a great war if anyone realizes that she is the one to be sacrificed. They would want to kill me since they know no one to carry the torch after me." Alpha Brett spoke back to his wolf with equal worry.

After what felt like an eternity to him, the priest was finally brought into his study. "My alpha." He bowed respectfully. "I'm sure the news has reached you by now that Her Highness is the sacrifice demanded by the moon goddess."

"Are you sure about your reading? The moon goddess gave us many promises about our pack and half of it isn't fulfilled yet. Zaia is the last of my bloodline and if she dies, everything dies after me." Alpha Brett tried to explain to the priest who just shook his head in pity.

"My alpha should just try for another child with a young maiden still fit to bear a child." The priest suggested and it took Alpha Brett his whole self-control not to hit him for what he just uttered.

"We are talking about my only daughter here, man. She is the only legal child I have and everyone knows I can't have another child." Alpha Brett thundered angrily, making the priest take a step backward in fear.

"Pardon my stupidity, my alpha. Please forgive me but what has to be done must be done or there will be very bad consequences. For you, for her, for the entire pack and other packs too, my alpha." The priest warned before looking back at Julius, telling him to return him where he picked him from.

"What should we do my alpha?" Julius asked, totally ignoring the priest.

Everyone knew if the pack head dared to go against the traditions of the sacrifice and failed to do it, there would be a great repercussion after. It was always worse on the alpha and his family and then the pack members.

It would severely affect the other packs too no matter how hard they tried to avoid it. It was the only tradition that united the entire pack together. "Who on earth came up with this nonsense in the first place?" Alpha Brett asked angrily. "Did the moon goddess demand sacrifices every decade or did they find a way to just lie about something."

"My alpha, don't say that."

"We are not doing this. I am not letting anyone kill my daughter for any reason whatsoever."

"But you can't do that, my alpha. Think about yourself. Think about the repercussions it would have. None of the alphas would want to agree to it and that will mean war right here in the pack house." Julius tried to reason with him but he wasn't listening to anything.

"Take Zaia to the other house this instant. Tell her to stay there till I come over and tell her to leave for any reason at all. And no one should go near her territory." Alpha Brett warned before barging out of the study, trying to keep himself together.

He walked over to Zaia who was surprisingly speaking with someone. "What's wrong father?" Zaia asked him as he gently excused her, taking her to a side where no one would suspect anything and wouldn't hear anything either.

"Julius would take you out of the pack house now. Do not come back till I come to get you for any reason at all." He tried explaining to her but she shook her head, knowing something was wrong and it had to do with her.

"I won't go anywhere, father. I won't." She tried to protest but Alpha Brett knew she wouldn't want to do it easily so Julius sneakily pulled her out of the event.

"Julius, I order you to drop me at once." She tried to scream as he placed her into the car.

"I'm sorry miss, but I have direct orders to protect you till you reach your destination, Your Highness. Please don't make this hard for us, especially your father. He is doing all this for you." Julius explained. Something in her wanted to protest while the other just kept quiet, waiting for the perfect explanation.

"Does it have something to do with the sacrifice, Julius?" She asked as he got into the car and the look he gave her already confirmed it. "I am the sacrifice and he doesn't want that? No, Julius, the alphas would kill him."

Before she could react to anything around her, Julius started the car and sped off at high speed. As they left, sounds of glass shattering could be heard from the pack house, and with tears rolling down her cheeks, her eyes filled with different emotions, she turned to look back.

"Julius please, just take me back to my father."

"I'm sorry miss, this is for your own safety."

"Your Highness, you haven't eaten anything in three days. Please don't do this to yourself." The maid in charge of her since she arrived in the hideaway house said to her with so much worry in her eyes.

Zaia just sat at the window seat, her knees drawn up to her chest as she looked out the window at the desolate area around. Her father hadn't called or sent Julius to her and she was starting to seriously get worried that they might have done something to him.

"Please leave." She demanded and the maid did as she asked so she would not provoke her. Zaia sat there for a few more hours before the door leading to her room was pushed open but this time, Julius was the one who entered the room.

"Julius, where have you been?" A sense of urgency filled the air as she rushed over to him, demanding answers from the man who would know everything that was happening at this particular point in time. "How is father? Where is he? Is he here?"

"His Majesty has been severely sick, your highness." Julius broke the news to her as calmly as he could sound. "The doctors said no cure and we suspect it's because he refused to sacrifice you"

"Where is my father?" A frown creased her forehead as she tried to walk past him to leave but he grabbed her by the waist, returning her to the window seat to calm her down. "What are you doing Julius? I want to go see my father."

"You can't do that now, your highness. Not everyone is happy at the sight of you because people have been dying since that night and they all knew about the fight between the alphas over your father not wanting to sacrifice you." Julius explained as calmly as he could.

"If sacrificing me would make Father better, please just do it already. It won't affect anyone's life, so just do it already. I don't want to lose my father while I'm still alive." She screamed with desperation in her voice. She would choose death a hundred times if it should be in place of her father.

She didn't want to imagine the pain he might be going through and it was all because of her. "Although no one is searching for you amongst the alphas, if they find you now, they might willingly sacrifice you. The full moon ends in town days, so you'll have to stay away till then."

"I want to see my father. What if he dies, Julius? Do you know how I'll feel about my father and the only one I grew up loving dies because of me? No, just let me go and let them sacrifice me."

"LISTEN, Zaia. If you die, your entire bloodline dies. You and your father are the last alphas in our pack remaining and it'll make us the perfect target for every single enemy alpha because the Blood Moon pack is filled with a lot of diamonds with high worth in our mines. Everyone wants to be us. We can't let you die if we don't want to die either." Julius tried explaining to her as best as he could. She couldn't die if she didn't want the rest of them to do so too.

Her death and no future for the pack were even worse than her dying to the sacrifice. "Your father will be okay, he will be for you." He assured her as he ran his finger through her hair lovingly.

Julius had always been like her second child while she was growing up. He had a lot of knowledge about things she wanted to know so every time she needed something about history or anything at all, she went to Julius who happily helped her.

"Please, Julius. Don't let my father die." Zaia pleaded, blinking tears away from her eyes. "I don't want to lose him, please."

"Don't worry, Zaia. I'll try my best to make sure everything goes well okay? You'll be safe and he'll be fine." He assured her although he was uncertain about how he would do that exactly. "Everything will be fine."

"Beta Julius." A voice called from outside the door. "It is an emergency."

Julius hurriedly rushed out of the room, closing the door behind him. Zaia trembled, fearing something bad might have happened again in the pack. She didn't even want to think of her father dying. She convinced herself that it was just his normal one-day sickness and it would go away very soon.

Zaia watched as Julius' car drove out of the compound at high speed. Deep down, she knew it had something to do with the alpha because that was the only reason Julius would be that panicked.

"Beta Julius asked us to bring you something to eat, Your Highness. You have to eat or something might happen to you too." The maid said, worry evident in her voice. Both worry about Zaia and worry that she will lose her job if Julius finds out she still hasn't eaten.

"Just take it back"

"No way, Your Highness. Beta Julius commanded you to have something to eat and I won't leave till you do so."

A sigh escaped her lips and she started to eat her food anyway. It took her a whole hour to finish the little plate of food but at least she ate something.

"Any news about my father yet?" Zaia asked the maid who shook her head negatively. Just then, she saw her father's gamma's car drive into the building. She knew they came to deliver her news because James never came to her no matter what unless it was news Julius didn't want to deliver.

She was already curled up in a ball, waiting for the worst news to come to her. It was all her fault and she knew it already. She didn't have to be reminded of it at all. "Your Highness."

"He's dead isn't he?" Zaia asked before he could finish his sentence. "My father is dead."

"I'm so sorry, Your Highness."