LiamKing of the new world. King of all I surveyed. To say that it was overwhelming was an understatement! I couldn’t show my parents how incredibly scared I was. They had so much faith in me, all I could do was hope that I didn’t disappoint them and that their faith was enough to carry me through. It was a little disappointing not to have recognized my mate on the night of my birthday.My mother made sure all the single females in our entire kingdom were invited. When I didn’t find her, I wondered what it meant, but then uncle Ralph informed me that some of the girls couldn’t make it to the party. That was a huge relief because it meant she might still be out there. I knew that most males didn’t always find their mates the night they turned eighteen.Most of the time, we had to wait a year or two since the females were generally a little younger, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. I spent my entire life fighting to make my parents proud of me. I spent my entire life trying to
LouisaI met the king once a long time ago before either of us could tell that we were mates. When our eyes met, and he walked over, I was so flabbergasted that I didn’t even know what to say! I never imagined I could be the king’s mate. People were always talking about the fact that he hadn’t found his mate yet, and I always felt really sad for him, but I never ever imagined I was that special person.I had turned eighteen only a week before the princess. I wasn’t planning on coming to the princess’s birthday at all, but my mother insisted. We didn’t attend many of the royal events, and only joined in with their weekly thing once a month. My parents were omegas, and they never tried out for more. My father believed that he did his best in the old days when the pack was forced to take part in ranked trials and both he and my mother had made peace with their positions in life.My mother always said that she wanted better for me, and I knew she secretly hoped I would be mated to a high-
Helena“Bennie! What are you doing?” I pulled out of his arms, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. I could tell he was my mate. Not because he shouted it for all to hear, but I could feel the bond. What I couldn’t understand was why. Why wait all night until everyone was leaving before showing your face and why the hell did the moon goddess choose one of my closest friends as my destined mate?!“I’m sorry, Helena. Someone misplaced our invitation.” He shrugged, and I rolled my eyes, not believing a word of what he said. I knew him too well. He was probably off hunting and wanted to finish his hunt first. He was one of my closest friends, but he wasn’t very good at keeping time! I had already given up on finding my mate tonight.My hair was hanging loose around my shoulders after I took out the pin that was keeping it all together far too tightly. My shoes were in my left hand since they were really uncomfortable, and I believed the night was over, and I would already have changed into o
Louisa“Okay, so now that my sister has found her mate, I can focus all of my attention on you.” Liam smiled as we made our way into the castle, followed fairly closely by my parents. We were omegas, but my parents still believed in the old ways and until the day the king had officially declared me his mate and marked me, my parents would be chaperoning us everywhere we went.“Tell me what you like to do in your free time.” He smiled, and I felt the burn of the bright blush creeping over my cheeks.“I’m afraid I’m pretty boring.” I shrugged. “I’m nothing like your mother. I wish I was, but if that is what the pack was hoping for, they are going to be disappointed.” He tensed up beside me, but I continued when he kept quiet. “I love to read. Nothing major. Just normal romance novels.”“You do realize that those novels just give you ladies high hopes about real romance.” He frowned, making me laugh.“I know, but a girl can dream, can’t she? Besides, just look at your parents and how the
HelenaI couldn’t even begin to imagine Bennie as a prince, but I also couldn’t imagine living with him away from the palace. Yes, I would have loved to have my little home away from it all with a normal life, but I wasn’t destined to be a normal wolf. Things changed when I turned eighteen. I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts. Who was I trying to kid?Everything changed when I found out that one of my closest friends was in fact my destined mate. That was when things changed. Deep down, I realized, without realizing, I realized it already, that we could actually bring about some of those changes we were discussing while we were at school. We could change the course of so many lives.“I can see the steam coming out of your ears. I’ve told you a million times, you shouldn’t think so hard.” Goosebumps broke out all over my skin as Bennie’s hot breath blew down the side of my neck. We were this close so many times over the years and I never reacted this way. I never felt any of this while
LouisaI knew that the news would spread fast around the kingdom. I just wasn’t prepared for how fast. I spoke to my parents after Liam left, and they were very happy with my decision to accept him. His family was also happy for us when we saw them at breakfast the next morning and things were moving along much faster than I thought they would.By lunchtime, Liam had shown me to my office and I had met all the staff in the castle, some of whom were already asking me questions I wasn’t entirely sure I could answer. Thankfully, Helena and her mother were there to guide me through it with Bennie keeping an amusingly close eye on Helena.The two of them were so funny since they were resisting what was clearly there. They belonged together and, although their friendship might be what was keeping them apart, I believed it was also the very thing that would keep them together.After lunch, Liam and I went for a walk through the gardens and talked about what we both wanted for our futures. We
HelenaThe time was just too short, and we were distracted! Before we could stop it, my heat hit and the entire kingdom was about to go up in flames in my mind. I felt delirious as the pain burned through my body. Bennie and I discussed what could happen, but we just weren’t able to get to that point yet.I wasn’t like my brother. I couldn’t just jump in because the moon goddess whom I had never met decided that Bennie was the right person for me. So, my heat hit when we needed it least, and nearly half of the kingdom ground to a complete halt. Of course, I was oblivious to everything the kingdom had to go through.My mind was showing me images of me and Bennie in positions I never thought we would be in while my body burned as though I was sitting right in the middle of a hellfire.BennieIt was the worst form of torture. I couldn’t leave my room for fear that I might find a way into Helena’s room somehow. My wolf was howling in pain because our mate that was just across the hall was
LouisaHelena and I became friends quickly thanks to the fact that we were so similar and that was probably why she felt she could confide in me about Bennie. After her heat, she still hadn’t made a final decision and I would never say this without him knowing, but Liam was grateful that his sister waited. He wanted me to have that special day even though it was a little rushed there at the end.My heat subsided almost instantly because he marked me and our first time was very rushed, but it was incredible. It was more than I ever expected, and I felt like a new person. I was a mate and the queen and had some new responsibilities that Helena helped me to navigate. I didn’t expect to see Liam a lot during the day, so imagine my surprise when he showed up out of nowhere and almost kidnapped me.At first, I felt incredibly self-conscious that we were making love in the middle of the day, but it was so much fun that Liam soon distracted me enough to actually enjoy it. When we fell onto th
EmilyI pushed to break through a mind link and I finally felt it releasing. He was one of us.“My apologies, your majesty. I have been gone for so long, it is difficult to open my pack link.” He finally answered through the link and I studied him carefully before ordering the guards to stand down.“Who are you and why have you been gone for so long?” I frowned. I couldn’t remember any of our spies being out in the world. Everyone had returned home for the celebration.“I’m Ares, your majesty. I was sent out by your father three years ago to try and find you a mate.” His cheeks turned red and I rolled my eyes. “I guess I know now why I couldn’t find one.”AroraThe news about Emily’s mate spread like wildfire through the kingdom, and before she even walked through the doors with Ares, we knew she had met him. Ares was one of Bernard’s young recruits that should have formed part of the queen’s guard, but Bernard sent him out to try and find a mate for our daughter.We hadn’t heard from
AroraI kept my promise. The day that Bernard and I retired from royal life and handed over the reigns to our daughter Emily was the proudest day of our lives. She had grown into one of the kindest people I had ever known, while at the same time standing her ground when it was needed.She was strong and brave even though she had not faced a war. She was ready to rule, and the people were ready for her to take over. Emily was much loved by our people as she had grown up in the streets of the city and knew most of them by name.She took all the lessons I taught her over the years to heart and made sure that the people were taken care of long before she became queen. I could hear the rumours again of how much she reminded the people of the old rogue queen, and it made me feel proud that the pack loved her that much.Sadly, new rumours were starting to flare up all over the city, and they unsettled us a little. Emily was old enough now to mate, but unlike most of the royals, she didn’t fi
AroraForgiving the royal family a second time was probably one of the toughest things I ever had to do, but I knew that if I didn’t, there would be no end to the cruelty that would definitely follow. I had preached forgiveness before everything happened, and this gave me the opportunity to again remind people how to forgive.I made sure they saw me happily interacting with the royal family at each event and I made sure the royals that remained spent time with the people. The kingdom grew prosperous again under Bernard’s rule, and with my help, the people became happy again. We announced my pregnancy soon after I passed the second month mark, and very soon after that, I began to show.The royal baby grew fast in my belly as time slowly ticked by. I spent my days in the old queen’s vegetable gardens and tending to the flower gardens as much as my body would allow. I joined the omegas to do the shopping for the castle and made sure I knew what every one of our supplier’s problems were,
AroraMy omegas helped me to get dressed early the next morning. Having a warm and comfortable bed to sleep in and proper food to fill my belly, helped me to at least get some sleep. I was sure that the news about my release had already spread through the kingdom and was surprised when I walked into the dining room and saw the faces of the royals.Most of them were covered in shame as they should be, but I held my head high and took my seat beside Bernard. After the omega left the night before, Bernard told me everything that happened. He told me how he tried to find evidence against Irina and that he only believed her for a short while. It hurt to think that he had so little trust in me, but I pushed it to the back of my mind.None of them were to blame for any of this. Irina was the one who was to blame. She was the one who was going to face trial now and, thanks to Bernard’s genius plan, they had more than enough evidence to sentence Irina without spending much time on a trial.“Ar
AroraBernard took his time. He even postponed the trial for two days so they could find a witch to explain what each item in their mound of evidence was used for. My only glimmer of light was seeing Irina losing her patience the longer Bernard postponed the inevitable. It was clear as day from the looks I was getting in court. All the nobles believed that I was guilty.Bernard was digging deeper into the hole with each move. I didn’t have any hope that they were going to save me. Even with the visits from Bernard and his mother. I don’t trust them anymore. My fate was sealed. Now he just had to make the final decision. He had to judge me. He had to decide how and when I would be killed.IrinaThe glass flew through the air and shattered against the wall as I screamed out in frustration. My cousin was just postponing the inevitable in the hopes that I would slip up. I noticed he now had four guards following my every move. I couldn’t even use the secret passages without having them po
AroraPrincess Helena snuck into the dungeons to see me, and she brought me some food, but I was still so cold that I was having trouble moving. I also wasn’t sure if I could trust the food they were giving me. If they saw me as a traitor, they could very well try to poison me. My trust in all of them had been shattered, and I wasn’t sure if it would ever be possible to repair it.I had been waiting for this shoe to drop since the very moment I found out Bernard was my mate. Almost as though I knew they would just turn around and betray me, but I started to trust them and believe that they would trust me. I couldn’t help the way I was feeling. They all turned on me so fast after seeing all those things in Irina’s little secret room.Nobody believed me. It was as though none of them really knew me at all. Why would I ever trust any of them again? Bernard’s face came to mind and I felt my heartache. He should have believed me right from the start. He should have trusted me. He should ha
AroraIt wasn’t as cold on the cot as it was on the floor, but the night was long, and it still felt like the cold had found its way into my bones. I had no idea what was going on upstairs and, if I was honest, I didn’t care. They were so eager to believe Irina that they didn’t see how cruel she was.They all deserved whatever she had planned for them. I knew she made sure the proof pointed to me, but I couldn’t help myself. They should all have known by now that I wouldn’t have done that. Yet, even Bernard believed I was the traitor. I wasn’t sure if we would ever be able to find our way back to each other after all of this.The memory of Bernard visiting me and whispering came to mind and I pushed it to the back of my mind. I didn’t dare hope that things would work out in the end. Irina had been far too clever so far. She was going to make sure Bernard wouldn’t be able to prove my innocence. She was going to make sure the entire family believed her lies.The cold pushed through my t
BernardNone of this made any sense. Unless I didn’t know Arora as well as I thought I did, but I couldn’t imagine her doing the kinds of things Irina had accused her of. We found notes in the room that referred to even worse actions and I didn’t want to even think about it.I was torn between what I thought I knew and what possibilities there were. Was Arora a cruel and evil person who took revenge on our family or was she the kind heart that helped us to save our family from total ruin? Not that I thought the pack would ever revolt against us.I sat back in my office chair, not wanting to go to our room and not wanting to face my family. There were still far too many unanswered questions and I wanted to be able to answer at least some of them when I faced them again. The most prominent would probably be if I was going to put Arora on trial.“What are you doing here alone, cousin?” Irina wondered in my office and I sighed deeply. She was the last person I wanted to deal with right no
Arora“She planned this.” My voice was soft, but one of two of them heard me. “Irina planned this!” I shouted. “My omega followed her today and found the room. Irina wants all of you to think that I’m the traitor so she can get rid of me. Bernard, you have to believe me.”“His Majesty, don’t have to believe one word that comes out of your traitorous mouth!” Irina shouted from the back. “Your father was a traitor, and so are you!” She hissed and I could feel the atmosphere turning.“We need to hear from the omega, Bernard.” Princess Helena spoke up, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The omega was dragged up the stairs and I could see in her eyes that this wasn’t going to go my way. She kept looking at Irina and I wondered what happened in the short time we were apart. What could Irina have done? She was right there with me the entire time.“Please tell us what happened this morning.” Princess Helena took the lead.“I … Please, don’t make me do this.” The omegas eyes filled with tears as