Chapter 4

                                                              Aidinth POV

I woke up entirely too early this morning. I dreamed about my mate all night. I am in the kitchen, drinking coffee when I hear my sister, Brenna, coming. I smile because she is singing, "Today's the day! We get to go see the twins!" I laugh and say, "Why are you so excited to see them?" She said, "They're so much fun! Plus, their mom and dad saved Maia! They are good people... even if they are wolves." I chuckled and said, "Yes they are good people. It doesn't matter what species they are." She said, "It helps that Nico is so cute."  I laugh and say, "Someone has a crush." She says, "You won't tell him, will you?" I said, "Your secret is safe with me." She hugs me and goes on about her day, while I am still wondering who my mate could be.

I can't get the idea of her out of my head. Rex won't let me. He keeps saying, "Go to mate NOW" I keep telling him I have no idea where she is. He says, "Mate thinks she doesn't have a mate. Go to her NOW!" I said, "Rex, I would, but I don't know where she is!" Rex says, "Dammit! I can't mess with your freewill!" I said, "I am going to the ball. Will that help?" Rex says, "That helps." and that is all he said. He settled down some after I told him that I was going to the ball, so that tells me that my mate is planning on being there. SWEET! But the idea that she thinks she can't have a mate kinda breaks my heart a little. I hope I find her tonight. I'm tired of being lonely, and it sounds like she may be starting to give up.

Wolves find their mates by smell. They can smell their mates from long distances. Dragons find their mates by touch. We have to shake their hand or touch them in some way to know if they are our mate. If a she-wolf seems to be locked on me, I am going to have to find a reason to shake her hand, or something, to find out if she is my mate. This should be interesting.

I go to the tailor's room, and he has my suit ready. I try it on and step out of the fitting room. It fits perfectly. Cool. Now I am going to have to figure out a way to get it there without wrecking it. I am flying in my dragon form, so if I try to shift with it on, I will destroy it. Maybe I can trust one of the kids to hold it for me. I don't know. The tailor, as if he were reading my mind, said, I will put it with your parents' clothes to be taken there by a scout. He will mark the area where they are. I said, "You are a gem. Thank you so much." He smiled and said, "You're very welcome, my prince."

Now that I knew I would be able to get dressed after I shifted there, my mind went back to thoughts of my mate. I really do hope she is tiny like my mom. I would prefer that she not want to fight. I don't want to have to worry about her being on the battlefield while I'm flying overhead. If she's a special wolf, that's fine. If not, that's fine too. I just want us to be comfortable with each other. That's really all I want. I want to laugh and have fun with my mate. I just hope that she is caring and compassionate with other people, but strong when she needs to be also. To top it all off, she absolutely cannot be afraid of heights. She has to be able to ride on Rex if we need to get somewhere fast, so a fear of heights would be really bad. Good Goddess! I need to stop thinking about her and get ready for the trip.

The morning went by way too slow. I was doing everything I could to fill the time. I went to the gym, I trained with the warriors, I came back to my room to take a shower, then went to dad's office to see if I needed to do anything. Finally, mom and dad are saying it's time to go. Rex is dancing around and it's starting to give me a headache. I say, "Rex, if you don't stop, I'm not going to feel that great when I meet her." He stopped. Whew!

I tell the kids to stand back, then I shifted. Mom and dad took off while they were getting on, but that's no big deal. I know the way there. As I'm taking off, Brenna mind links me, "And we are off! Do you think you'll find your mate this year?" I say, "I hope so."

When we got there, mom and dad were already talking to Alpha Damien and his family, but who is that with them? I can tell she's pretty, even from the sky. I get the link to come on down, and I land where my suitcase is marked. I change into a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt and go to meet her; I mean them.

At first, I couldn't understand why my siblings were introducing themselves, but then I realized they were doing it for the new beauty's benefit. It always cracks me up when Ity introduces himself. He always has to include the meaning of his name, like they will automatically make assumptions about certain parts of him. I take my turn. I say, "I am Prince Aidinth. It's very nice to meet all of you." Alpha and Luna knew that I was talking to her, but I wanted to make it seem like I was talking to all of them. Then she spoke, "Hi. I'm Chloe. I'm not one of their biological children, but they have always treated me as one of theirs." Luna Abby tells her, "Because you are one of ours." That makes me curious about her and why she wasn't at any of the last three balls. I can tell she is of age. Ashina cons my dad into letting us go for ice cream, and I have already made up my mind; if Chloe is going, I'm going. I need to know if she is my mate.

I didn't get to shake her hand during the introductions. Good grief! Why didn't I do that? Rex says, "Because she's more beautiful than any dragon you have met." I said, "She certainly has Kayda beat by a mile." Rex chuckles, "Kayda isn't even close." I said, "Rex, is she our mate?" Rex says, "Well, if you want to find out, find a reason to brush up against her, or something! She's talking to Luna right now. Ask her if she's going to get ice cream with the kids." Just then, Luna Abby walks up to me with Chloe, "Prince Aidinth, would you mind going with Chloe and the kids to get ice cream? It's just around the corner." I said, "Please, call me Aidinth. No need for titles. I would be happy to." I hold out my arm to Chloe and say, "Shall we?" Chloe giggles and I swear it almost had me in a trance, "We shall," and she put her arm in my arm. "MATE," Rex yells. I feel an electric current run through my arm, and I almost jumped. I smile, hoping she feels it too. 

We made it to the ice cream shop, I bought our ice cream and we walked to a table away from the kids. I can't stop staring at her. She is absolutely beautiful. Her grey eyes are captivating. I cannot help but say what's on my mind.

I brush her cheek with the back of my fingers and say, "MATE".