One

Golder's POV

 It was another day for all the betas (royal betas) to be forced to an Alpha. Even the alpha with the look of a frog will be forced to have a royal mate.  This has always been the custom in this pack. Nothing done by my Mother or any of the Lunas surprises us the young betas anymore.  It has become the new normal for everyone. Even the alphas most times don't escape it.

 Every beta no longer dreams of mating with a ‘prince charming’ alpha with riches and luxury. If your Luna wanted you to be with a poor pilferer then so be it, as long as it brought money to the family.

 This happens in both worlds: the human and the werewolf worlds.

 And this was about to happen to me. I was gonna be turning 18 in a week’s time. Due to the fact that my parents have started looking for a mate for me, I didn't even bother to be all jumpy but I also didn't want it.

  I wanted to be in the bosom of another. But my parents havedecided on another. I have over heard them talking about my mate and I heard it was a prince but that doesn't matter.

  I had one who caught the retina of my eyes some years back, Joseph. Joseph has always been my friend and I have always wanted to mate with him. But with the authoritative behavior of my parents I could not.

 They had laid down tons of reasons why he wasn't suitable for me. I beseeched them but they kept on insisting and finally I agreed. I didn't even know what I agreed to.

After weeks of preparation, the time finally came for me to meet my mate. Before meeting my mate I was first going to be forced to turn down the one that I desired so that I can accept the other that doesn’t align with my stars.

The door opened and a girl entered.

  "Are you ready?" Ariana my step sister asked me.

 Ariana has been with me through thick and thin and has been of great help. When her mother died I was also there for her, so we have been helpful to each other.

 "Well, I think I am." I replied with a feeble voice.

Knowing that I'll reject a boy in the presence of the whole pack and go and meet another who might not accept me, but who my parents wish for me to dwell with for the remaining years I shall live is a very distressing thought.

"I know that rejecting a mate, even if it is the love of your life, the one that you dream of every night, the person that you wish to wake up in his arms and feel his homoeothermic skin on yours keeping thy skin warm, is not easy. All these are just the things we think but it only takes fate not faith for it to work." Ariana said as she tried to offer me some consolation. Afterhearing this, I had to buckle up.

 Not knowing who my actual mate was, I was a little fidgety. What if it was my Joseph? Will I still have to turn him down?

All these questions ran through my brain receptors causing me to have a mental reaction. But I just had to.

There were lots of ceremonies, because it wasn't easy to belong to a royal family. Everything was always provided for us and we now had to be taken away from the house, into the house of another alpha. This was often a very emotional period.

Ariana went outside to get a cup of water and stayed for a few minute. Suddenly, she ran back inside with such speed I jerked up a little, emphasis on ‘ran’.

"Golder! I just heard the name of the prince Mom and Dad wants to mate you with when they turn this one down." I was soshocked and distressed. But I already knew it was a prince so why was she now so hesitant.  

"Isn't he a prince, I mean a princess must mate with a prince." I said with mild annoyance.

"Well it's not just a prince, it's the prince from Athens, the....."

"….The one that had the accident last year and got crippled." I completed the sentence for her, and immediately had an emotional breakdown. I didn't know that my parents would want me to be with such a prince.

It was said that he had lost a femur and an atlas in the accident. How would they now want me to mate with such a person? Although some said it's fake news; that a man cannot live without his atlas or his axis. Some even said he had leprosy and elephantiasis.

It was also said that Athens was enriched with gold and minerals. It had all the things a wolf needed. It even secretedwolfsbane from its soil. This could be sold to the humans for lots of money.

Aside this, it was still very weird and absurd. Even if I was to naturally get matched with a poor alpha I would rather stay there than with that cripple.

"Why on earth, would they do that to me? I have always been a good girl and they decide to punish me with this?" I sobbed.

"There is literally nothing I can say that will change the heart of our parents, but they say that their decisions are the best and thatit will be good for A****n."

A****n is the name of our pack.

"So they want to sell me for the well-being of A****n?"

"That's not it, I’m sure it might not be as bad as people say it is. What makes me wonder though is his inability to heal since he was not stabbed in the heart by a dagger with wolf's bane on it; he should have healed, right?"

"That is very true. I’ve heard rumours that he is not actually crippled but that he was toppled by his Luna."

"What's his name again?"

"Prince Simon."

"Simon, what a weird name for a prince."

We had a little chit chat and chiseled away at the feeling of despair as Ariana helped with all my facial preparations.

"Okay, let's hurry, the people are waiting to behold your beautyand know who they have chosen as thy mate."

The feeling of turning down a man began to bother me again, that I was going to break his heart.

We got down stairs to finds dozens of werewolf, all waiting for the royal princess to be matched with a mate. All eyes were on me.

"Oh, Golder, my sweet peach" my grandma Luna walked towards me as she said those words. She had always been a friend.

She even helped me wolf out.

"Hm.......Yeah I am......you know great?" I shakily answered her. Thankfully, she was able to see through me.

"I know how it feels, to be forced to mate." She said. I was surprised that she knew.

"Mom told you?"

"Of course she did, I am her mother-in-law"

She then continued.

"You know, this didn't start from you. It's been happening for a long time in the royal family. These are the things we have to bear. I was also forced on a mate, which is now your grandpa. I didn't like it at first, but I had to adapt. "

"Hmmm" I sighed despairingly.

"What if you like someone else?"

"Peach, I also liked someone else, but I had to adapt.”

“Even if it means breaking a man's heart?"

“Yes.”

I was becoming even more distressed, but that was how it was; I just felt like diving into the ocean.

She then continued…

“You will be fine, eventually. Now let's go and do the needful. I really wish I could do something, but right now it's your mother's choice. So you will be fine really. "

I just kept on sighing in disbelief and despair. Then we went on to greet other members of the pack.

And then, the time had finally come; my mate was announced.

"Joseph Norman" the man said.

Everyone began to cheer. I was sad and happy at the same time. It was hard to have just one emotion in that moment, knowing that I was going to break his heart into a million pieces and alsobeing happy because he was actually my match.

Joseph came out to accept me. He walked towards me and said,

"Will you accept me for the rest of the years you shall breathethe air of this land?"

I really didn't want to turn him down but I had no other choice than to do it and satisfy my parents.

I looked at the eyes of my mother and saw the fury in her eyes as I delayed my answer.

Tears rolled down my eyes as I said the words...