I get woken early by knocking. Rushing to the door, I pull it open."Elara, the king has requested your attendance, please." The Beta looks at me. I look down at myself."Please give me a moment." Closing the door, I rushed and got ready; I was dressed and following him down within five minutes. He takes us through to the opposite side of the palace, the side we're not allowed in without permission.Stopping outside the door, he knocks, and I hear the king call out. The door opened, and we walked in. I stopped when I saw Aurora. Great, more drama!"Thank you, Beta Pete, you may leave." He nods and walks out. "Please, take a seat, Elara." Darius points to the seat next to Aurora.Walking over, I sit down, my head lowering."You two have made a spectacle of this competition. Your interaction last night was broadcast, and many have seen it." His words are loud."I apologise, King Darius; I never intended or wanted to make yourself or your family look bad," I speak quickly, knowing that t
I hide away, but it doesn’t last long. Soon after I hid in my room, a knock had me walking to the door. As I open it, I see Sage.“Ready?” She smiles at me.“Yes.” I guess now I need to face Kellan, which I don’t think I can ever be ready for. Part of me wants to believe he didn’t notice, but he saw the lipstick on Daius’ mouth, and even he isn’t stupid enough not to realise.We walk out in silence, and I find my place. It’s colder today; the snow seems to be coming down heavier. The others have their wolves to help them keep warm, me? I’m going to freeze. I sit on the floor in front of the wolf.“Sorry, I don’t have a wolf.” I give the wolf a small smile, knowing I have no idea what it is trying to reply.“She said her name is Moonlight.” I glance up to see Kellan. He moves and sits beside me. “This is Elara; I’m Prince Kellan; as you can no doubt tell, she doesn’t have a wolf.” He nods to the wolf.“Thank you.” I look at him, and he grins.“Oh, you’re more than welcome. Moonlight wo
I rushed in with Sage, and we sat down on a small bench."The wolves were laughing a lot with you and Kellan." Sage smiles at me, yet I can see by her eyes she knows."You heard.""Sorry, I had sat closer to you so I could help. I wasn't trying to listen in to your conversations.""It's fine, Kellan didn't exactly help." I'm surprised no one else heard."So, what happened?" She looks at me, waiting."I don't know. Darius was giving Aurora and me a lecture. He sent her out and told me I needed to stop getting sucked into confrontations. I shouted and swore at him."Her eyes widen. "You shouted and swore at the king?""Yes, so when his hand snapped out, I was ready for him to punish me, only he gripped my neck and kissed me. Then Kellan walked in.""I noticed." I look at her with a confused expression. "I have strong connections with wolves and talk to them a lot. A few times the king has been in the room with you, I've noticed his wolf took attention of you."My eyes widen at her words
I wake up hearing the knocking. Climbing from my bed, I open the door and stand confused when I see Kellan. I look at the time. It's six am?"I'm sorry." I look at him, waiting for him to explain. "I realised the way I have been behaving around you is not good." He steps into the room. "Darius has explained he warned you to stay away from me, and I kept pushing you into situations with me. It wasn't very polite.""Kellan, it is fine." I often forget he is young. Sure, he is a prince, but he's only twenty-six."It isn't, and this apology is also from Darius as he realised requesting you avoid me puts you in a difficult situation." Sighing, he rubs his face. "We both essentially have made this harder for you. Darius wouldn't tell any of the other contestants to avoid me, so he apologises and takes it back.""Thank you. Although, he's right. Me getting seen with you in compromising or troubling situations won't help me."He chuckles slightly. "That was his excuse, Elara. Darius telling y
After getting ready, I walked down to breakfast. Everyone was staring at me."Defending Prince Kellan after getting him in trouble was nice of you." Aurora looks at me. "Imagine getting the prince in trouble."I ignore her words, not willing to get involved. I'm already on the edge of being thrown out. I won't argue with her. The cameras are close by."Are you okay?" Astrid looks at me, and I nod."She had the prince in her room this morning before anyone else was awake." Aurora glares across at me, and the producer continues to ask her questions about it."The way the king reacted says it wasn't innocent." She laughs slightly."Is that so? Why did you have an early morning visit from the prince?" The producer looks at me. "Were the rumours about you two having sex true?"Standing, I walk away and go back to my room. I did as I was told, ignored it and walked away. The knock has me walk to the door. Opening it, I see May."I was instructed that you wouldn't be eating with the other co
I walk down with Sage and Astrid. Both complimented me on the dress, expressing how amazing May had done. It really is beautiful.As we stepped into the room, I saw each of the contestants' families or packs. They are currently split up. My eyes stop on Alpha Draven. He's with Beta Paul and Jones, along with Emilya. No doubt she is representing the women of the pack. Alpha Draven doesn't have a Luna. She is the closest."Thank you, everyone, for joining. The King would like to speak." Beta William steps back, and Darius takes point."As you know, tonight is about you introducing your family, packs and such to each other. The key factor is how you represent yourself and them and how they represent you to others. From time to time, Kellan and I will occasionally walk around and join in conversations. Enjoy your night." He steps back, and I watch the contestants walk to their families."Are you going to be okay?" Sage looks at me. She knows everything. She's the only one I could speak to
I hear Beta William call everyone's attention. The contestants gather together away from their families and packs. Sage hugs me."This is fucking ridiculous!" She glares at Darius."It's the game, and I just lost." I smile, trying to appear happy for the cameras."We have the results from the last event. Thirteen wolves, each wolf was to give a score of up to three for each contestant. Here are the results from that event." He holds out the paper."With 36 out of 39 points, Sage." I smile and hug her. She won that round. "34 points, Elara.""See, you might make it." My head shakes, and I listen to the points. The lowest number of points was twenty-seven. There's no way I can win."Tonight, each family gave a number between zero and five. Again, there are thirteen scores. With sixty-two out of sixty-five points, Aurora." I listen and watch as the numbers keep dropping. Everyone has over thirty, so I know I'm going home."With no points for this round, Elara." He continues, and of cours
I sit with Rowan, and we read through the briefing for this next event. It's more than just cooking small canapés."Can you actually cook?" She looks at me, and I roll my eyes. "Sorry, I had to make sure as I can't." She laughs slightly."Well, I'm sure you know about fashion and colour matching, right?" She nods at my words."Okay, so we can discuss the food together. We have one hour daily in the kitchen, so I can show you today. Then you can try and teach me about fashion." We laugh."It says here that we both need to match but not to be the same, and we have to compliment each other and the table?" She sighs. "What colours do you like?" She looks at me."How about we forget what colours we like, choose the style of dresses, what food, then choose the colours based on that?" She nods and continues to read."So, hot or cold canapes?" I don't know which will be better."Cold, it's outside; if we make something hot that needs to be eaten hot, it could go cold and then taste bad." She