Three

Golder's POV

Turning down Joseph in the presence of the whole pack had been a night mare. I know Joseph was supposed to be the humiliated one, but I felt so embarrassed and emotionally down. I needed a friend to lean on at this point. I even contemplated going to visit Joseph to check on him, but remembered just in time that such will be prohibited by mom and dad.

 Besides, I really didn't even have the heart. After the party every werewolf was there watching, judging and making me feel so bad. But what was done was done, it was irreversible.

 Then they announced that there would be another mate for me. The crowd cheered up again. I didn't even like the fact that matching with a mate was made a ceremony.

 I got down from the podium and ran quickly without hesitation to my bed room and threw myself on my soft duvet. Then I soaked my pillows with my salty marine tears. Remembering all the moments we had shared together. I was now going to have to spend the rest of my years and moments with another who might not love me for who I am but for the financial assistance from my kingdom.

Ariana then came to the room to cheer me up.

"Yo.....yo yo yo dog. Don't cry. Why would you?" She started.

"No part of me is at peace and I can feel my heart on the floors of my diaphragm."

"That shouldn't be, you are one of the strongest beta that I know and it hurts to see you like this. You are such an independent fellow. The prince might not be as bad as you think." Arianacontinued to console me.

But she didn't get the main issue.

"The problem is not about the prince. It is that I just destroyed the heart of the one that I truly loved and humiliated him in the presence of the whole pack. That's the problem here, not that I don't want to see the horse’s face."

*Knock knock*

"Come in" Ariana replied.

A maid rushed in and said:

 "The king and Queen wish to see you, ma'am." She quickly passed the info.

Ariana then used her hand to wave her away, which meant that she could leave.  

 "I guess they want to talk further on the wedding preparations." Ariana chipped in.

"How do I tell them that I don't want to go ahead with this without hurting their feelings? It just seems so impossible. "

"Even if you wanted to, it’s already too late."

I turned to her with derision.

"What do you mean by too late?"

"Okay, I overheard your parents saying that the prince has requested for a rendezvous with you."

There was so much trepidation in my heart on hearing that statement that it was obvious to Ariana.

"Hey" she said with a soft tone. "It's all right, you will be fine."  

It's not that I wasn't fine, it's that I hadn’t even healed from what I was passing through and he wanted to meet with me already? Why are alphas like this?

The bell rang at that moment. This bell was only rung when our meals had been served. I knew that they probably wanted to have a family discussion.

Everything was happening too fast for me to comprehend.

I changed my cloth and wore a sweat shirt and a baggy trouser. I also wiped off all the makeup on my face.

Thoughts still kept on creeping into my hypothalamus as I went down, giving me a sober look.

They all noticed my slow majestic walk and look of sobriety as I came towards the table. I sat knowing that I was either going to be questioned or be informed about the upcoming rendezvous I would be having.

We began to feast on the meals. Then I waited patiently for someone to start.

Eventually, my dad started, "So......how are you?"  

"Uhm...... Well, how do you expect me to be? Fine? Then yes. "

"Peach, you don't need to use such tone with your father, you know he is just being caring, and you dare raise you voice, oh, you have crossed the limit, Sugar." My mom quickly scolded me, just so things didn't get out of hand.

"Well, whether you like it or not, you are having a date with the Prince of Athens, Prince Simön." My mom then dropped the bomb.

"Well, don't you think it's too fast?" I asked.

"Well, Peach, the faster it is the better it is for A****n." My dad replied to my question.

"But what about me? Is it better for me" I asked.

"Peach, there is no time for all these questions. It is a dinner date so you have to put on one of your best flare gowns."

I lost my appetite and was irritated by my parent’s dictatorial behavior. Their arrogance was unbelievable.

I stood up and all the utensils clinged and clanged as I aggressively dropped them. I hurried up to my room and began to cry.

Ariana followed behind me to probably speak with me as it should be.

I got to my room and threw myself on the bed and cried my retinas out. Then Ariana creaked the hinges of my door slowly open and came in.

 "I’m not gonna be cliché and ask you if you’re alright, because I know that you will be." She started.

"So instead I came to help you pick one of the best gowns you have. You have got to impress them for A****n. "

"Okay." I cleaned the snot from my nose and the tears dripping from my eyes and jaws.

"Okay, let’s see what you have here" she opened my wardrobe and began to search for a dress.

"You know the chariot will be here soon so we have to be quick." She added.

As every teenage girl would turn her room upside down just to find the best gown to wear, Ariana turned my room into a jungle until she finally found the right dress to which she added some jewels to make it glitter.

The chariot had arrived here and it was brought by the Athens prince himself though he wasn't in there. It was just like your date ordering an Uber for you.

The horses were white and black, the driver himself looked like a typical wealthy A****n, and as for the chariot, it was obvious that there were real diamonds on the body. It was a bit too much of everything. And it was expected, really.

The inside was like a whole room, with sofas that were like those used to make a throne, this was a typical princess treatment, I had seen lots of chariots in my life but this was new and fascinating.

The drive was long and I usually get chariot sick but this time it was different, there was warm food in the chariot so I ate and drank to my fill, it was everything.

In the chariot, I saw a newspaper about the Athens and I read the headline. It said that they were going through a recession and were asking for alms from other kingdoms.

It was strange knowing that the giant mining kingdom was going through such a recession. Then my mind lit up and I knew what was going on; they wanted to use the economic trade of A****n for their own use. But what could I do? They ( A****n) also needed more mining materials.

I eventually got to the fancy restaurant, The Fanceé; that was the name. There was just like three couples there, I heard that it cost about a thousand dollars to actually book a table there.

I sat and waited for minutes only for the so called ‘Prince Sïmön’, in his crippled state, to wheel himself to the table where I was seated. I immediately felt disgusted.

He actually came in with body guards which drew the attention of people. I thought it was supposed to be the girl who drew attention.

"So you’re the Prince of Athens?" I started the conversation.

"Well, yes, I am, and you must be the princess of A****n." He replied.

There wasn't even any charm in him, and he wasn't even typical. He was just gross to begin with.

When he wanted to sit on the table I noticed that he didn't really stress it, which made me question.

"So, how did you.....you know, become like this? I mean crippled?"

"It was an accident, that shouldn't be new to you, the whole of A****n knows this and it isn't therefore new. Why would you ask?" He answered.

"It's just really weird that an accident that was just a car crash would lead to such a disability, I mean rumours has it that you lost your atlas and axis, which would not allow for you to be able to move so freely. But right now you just moved." I added.

"Well, as you said, rumours. I didn't lose my atlas nor my axis, it was just a little femur fracture and that's all" he answered fidgeting.

The waitress came with a menu.

"Miss, what would you like to have? And I see your date is here." The waitress said and I giggled.

Before he entered the waitress hadn’t come earlier so that’s why I was questioned.

"Well, I'll have one of your finest with tequila, please." I replied without even looking at the menu.

"Well as for me I'll have your best recommended for a vegan and an orange juice mixed with a little tequila." He then made his own order. It was eerie that he was a vegan and still he hadn't been healed.

And he was also an alpha. Everything about him was just sus.

"Okay, your meal will be with you in few minutes." The waitress took our orders and went on to get dish out and prepare the meal.

"So, where were we, before we were interrupted by the waitress?" I tried to continue the conversation but he gave a look of withdrawal, and he avoided it.

"Well, I can't remember, but how is A****n and it's investments?" He changed the topic of our conversation.

"No, well, I remember, we were talking about your crippled self." I reminded him.

"Well, I feel you’re just here to mock me, for you do not like what you see, and do not wish to spend your life with me." He tried to make himself look quite innocent, but it didn’t look genuine.

He then continued "If I were to be asking you things because of the rumours that I have heard about you, how will you feel? See I am here to just make peace with you so we can make this work for both our kingdoms, not for us."

When he said all these words I began to see reason with him and realized that we were both doing this for our kingdoms.

The waitress was already bringing our food so we quickly put ourselves together and masked our true countenance.

"Is everything okay, miss?" the waitress asked.

"Everything is fine, thank you for asking and perhaps you don't know that this is the Princess of A****n, so can you at least reduce the questions?" Simön broke out, it wasn't easy for him to hold it all in.

"Uhm...., sorry about his behavior. We are fine and thank you for the meal, I can smell that it's gonna be real good." I replied trying to offer comic relief.

"Okay. I am so sorry for the numerous questions I never knew who you were. I am sorry once again please enjoy your meal."

She dropped the food and left us. Everyone started looking at us since they now knew that I was the princess of A****n.

Even after our discussion, I still didn't like Simön. Everything about him still seemed off, and his crippled legs still felt like a façade, I could just feel it.

Maybe that should be my reason for mating with him, to expose him.