3

Alpha's P.O.V

The irony of today's events were almost as hilarious as Eric dressed in his royal golden robes, robes made for the groom. He was all smiles and laughter, his jewellery glittering each time he waved at the people who came to pay greetings to us .

I could feel the infectiousness in the air and shook my head. Indeed this was a joyous occasion,  finally someone in the royal family had decided to get a mate.

The ball became quiet. I could feel the eyes of the people towards me. They were expecting my big opening speech for the ceremony. I turned and looked at my beta.

“Are you excited, Eric?” I asked him.

“not in the least, but a mate must be picked.”

I let out a harsh laugh and nodded. He had the spirit. Mates were necessary, but it was unfortunate they had to be women. I dreaded the day I'd be forced to finally pick mine. All they would cause was problems and more harm than could be accounted for. But for now, I could support Eric, as his alpha and cousin.

“Welcome, everyone, to the Royal Mate Picking. I'm as pleased as you all are that today, we shall find the one true mate of the Beta. She is  here, and soon we shall know her…”

I ran my eyes across the crowd that stood waiting for the verdict of the ceremony and sighed. “And now, ladies and gentlemen, welcome the—” I looked up to see the women that were selected.

They all seemed to look the same. That was because the elders specially picked them to suit Eric's taste. Blond, tall, long haired, pretty…like dolls. But then, my eye caught one that was

different. She had on what seemed to be a  blouse and had a very curvy small physique. I couldn't make out her face because of the mask, but her body stuck with me.

And there was just something about her. It made me unsettled. I couldn't see her, but I wanted to bite her. 

I quickly shook my head to rid of my thoughts.

The contest ran on and I found it so boring, the elders would speak and converse in low voices with Eric and then scrutinise the girls. It went on like this for almost an hour as the crowd stood in anticipation. Murmurs and wishes coming from every mouth.

And still, my gaze kept going to her unwillingly. Which I didn't understand. I hated women, they never caught my attention. Yet, this one. I couldn't stop my gaze from watering down her face.

When finally, the contest was over, I looked over and to my shock, the winner was none other than the lady. Something disappointing churned in me.

As expected, she was meant to unveil herself, but she stood fixed.

“Is she not going to take off her mask?” wondered Eric aloud. It was tradition that once the mate was picked, she was to remove her mask.

“Perhaps she is in shock, it's quite a big achievement to become the beta's mate overnight…”

I decided to step in and said loudly, “Can the winner take off her mask, so the beta and the pack may see his mate?” I said, as I made my way to the center of the stage.

She seemed hesitant, then after being prodded by the guards, began to take it off slowly keeping everybody in suspense and finally when it was taken off, I was  in awe of her beauty. Her blue eyes looked like a sea and had the power of drowning one in there. It took a while for me to notice that my subjects were in total awe like they had seen a ghost.

“isn't that bailey?” someone shouted out from the crowd. Soon the murmurs grew louder and everyone was saying the same thing. “bailey?”

“What Nonsense is this?” Eric screamed “ Is this an insult?”

I was still trying to process what was going on when Eric said,

“How can Bailey Gayle be standing in front of me as my mate?!” he thundered.

I finally understood,  Bailey Gayle. She had quite the reputation of being  a wild wolf with her foul behaviour and disrespect. I had never met her but all of the pack knew of her as a notorious and hotheaded trouble maker.  All the admiration I had for her turned into disgust. Women who didn't know their place and tried to speak on things that weren't their business made my blood boil.

“What makes you think that I would even choose or want to be with someone like you, huh?” he spat out at her face.

“Your parents didn't teach you how to behave and that’s why you snuck your way in and you're trying to dig  your way into the royal family.”

Her face wasn't down on the floor like i expected, she was looking at him straight in his eyes with disgust and I knew that fueled Eric's anger

“ I reject Bailey Gayle” Erin said, as the final nail on the head.

“Eric!” I thundered  at him, causing the murmuring of the crowds to cease.

“Be quiet!”  he certainly was crossing the line, as much as I hated women I wouldn't want anybody to be treated the way Eric was treating Bailey. And as members of the royal family, we were meant to have decorum.

“ Send her away and stop this drama. You are a beta, not a commoner.”

Bailey Gayle's eyes bore into mine with immense hatred that I couldn't describe. Then, she did something I never thought anyone would do, and turned and made to leave.

The guard stopped her from leaving with their spears  together into an X because I hadn't ended the ceremony

“Move!” She mouthed through her teeth, as she clenched her fist like she was trying to control her wolf.

“You have to wait for the Alpha to give his speech before you leave”

“I said move!” she repeated it as a warning tone. The guards didn't budge and I really began to wonder how someone could have been rejected but instead of  tears, was burning with anger.  I could understand if it were a man but not a woman. What sort of woman was she?

She began to laugh and for a minute I thought she was mad.

“Helpless fools,” she continued, her eyes darting to and fro, “ puppets, walking zombies that what you are, I said MOVE!” Now she was screaming at the top of her voice but then she stopped in silence and turned to Eric.

“You—” she scoffed,  “I have to tell you that you are quite delusional.  You think I, Bailey, wants to be your mate? Even if  you were the last man on earth I wouldn't even dream of it. You know Why because you're not man enough to hand me, Beta. So, you don't need to scream, you reject me, I reject you, you ugly beast.”Eric was in shock and couldn't move, and so was i.

****

She started walking towards me and when she got to where I stood, she  stood in front of me staring into my eyes with no fear as she spoke

“The great Alpha, the ruler of this great pack” She literally spat on my face

“You disgust me. You call me a mad wolf, but your entire family are the mad ones, going insane. You are scared of nine women that you try to belittle one, although Eric is nothing . For your reputation dear king you would go to any extent. Your sexism shines forth in every thing you do, and you'd rather die than admit that the hate you harbour for women is indeed fear. You fear what you cannot understand and destroy.”

The crowd went insane from her words. Everywhere tumbled with murmurs and shock, and i almost lost it. She embarrassed me in front of my pack.

I gripped my chair, and tried to control my wolf. I could feel myseñf about to shift, and if I did, I was surely going to tear her to pieces. No one dared challenge me in that manner, but it was undignified. I couldn't let my anger get the best of me in public

“You're scared that we women are the reason you're in the world. WE BROUGHT YOU TO THIS WORLD!” She was yelling, “ and you're scared we would take you out of it. Well, you're not wrong to be afraid, coward!”

Rage was an understatement of what I was feeling now, I was beyond angry . I knew everyone was staring at me and wondering how I could let someone speak to me like that and I wondered how she could dare. If I didn't take care of this problem there would be chaos and women wouldn't know their place again. It took me some time to process and snap out of what just happened and decide on what best to do.

“Seize her and take her to the dungeon,” I commanded

The guards immediately grabbed her and she was fighting back screaming cowards and crying.

Eric was still in shock, he hadn't moved from his position and I scanned through the crowd and knew that this day would never be forgotten .

I was going to be dealing with her, in every way possible. And i couldn’t wait to break her, and deal with that smart mouth of hers. No one disrespected the Alpha. I was going to make her pay in every way possible. I stared at her figure as she was being moved around. 

Oh, how I would enjoy breaking her.