Meeting Her

Rylen POV

     I woke up feeling like I had slept for whole days instead of about 8 hours. As I hopped in the shower and tried to pick out a nice outfit from what I had packed, I mindlinked Rosie to see if she was awake and ready to go down to breakfast yet. She nagged me, saying that it was way too early for this shit and that she was going to be a few minutes, but if I wanted to go on down to wait for my mate, she would understand. 

     Although I did not want to admit it, I was a little nervous to go down by myself. However, the longer I waited to go down, the more restless my wolf became, so I forced myself to man up and headed down the stairs instead of taking the elevator because I was struggling to even stand still. As I walked into the dining hall, I was immediately hit with her intoxicating scent. I took a deep breath to really take it in, and was instantly calmed and whisked away to my happy place. 

     I looked around to see if anyone else in the room was sniffing the air, but not many people were downstairs yet. Breakfast foods such as eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits, and pancakes were laid out buffet-style next to a stack of plates and silverware. Next to the breakfast buffet was a cereal bar with at least 15 choices and all of the varieties of milk that anyone could think to ask for, and on a separate table was a juice dispenser that was next to a huge fruit tray. Man, it must take a lot of workers to put all of this together each morning, but as I've said before, SilverRock actually treats its omegas like people so they probably don't mind working hard in the long run. I knew they were working extra hard because of my and Rosie's visit, but something told me this was the norm for breakfast around here. 

     I did not see a single wolf around eating yet, only omegas walking around putting the finishing touches on everything. I did not want to be rude and ruin the perfect display, so I did not grab any food yet. Plus, I was so dang nervous, that I didn't think I could eat anyway. Instead, I looked around until I saw an omega that I recognized. 

     Magda smiled as I approached her. "Good morning your Highness, you are up early. Most of our wolves do not start meandering down for another 30 minutes. Please, help yourself though as you are the guests of honor anyway." She said, her voice full of respect and adoration. 

    "I appreciate that, but we are all equals here. I shall wait for some of the other pack members to come down before serving myself. But I did want to ask-" I was interrupted by a soft but sweet voice as a beautiful young woman walked out of the kitchen. 

     "Mama, did you want me to set out these special gold-lined plates for the Prince and Princess? I know you said they insist on not receiving special treatment, but Calliope said they were so kind to her yesterday, so I want to show them how much we appreciate their-" She broke off as she caught wind of my scent and she turned to look at me. Magda was giggling under her breath, thinking that this girl had just realized she was talking about me while I was standing right there. Magda was about to get another thing coming though...

    "Mate." We both said in unison as we stepped closer together. We took a moment to take in the other's appearance. She was utterly beautiful, with long wavy auburnish-brown hair that seemed to glow as the light hit it in certain areas. Her face was full and she had hazel eyes that seemed to change from green to brown as they moved to take a good look at me. She was short, she only looked to be about 5 feet or so, and a little on the chubby side, but in a healthy way. I continued to look down to take in her legs when she suddenly exclaimed "wait don't look!" and moved to hide behind Magda. 

     "Sadie, what is going on? Prince Rylen, is my daughter really your mate?" Magda asked, looking between us in confusion. 

     "This is your daughter?" I asked with a smile.

     "Prince Rylen?" Sadie asked at the same time. 

     "But yes, Ms. Magda, she is my mate. I picked up on her scent upon entering my room last night. When I was commenting about the homey smell to Rosie, thinking it was some kind of air freshener that you used in the guest rooms, she pointed out that I must be smelling my mate because she did not smell anything. That is why I came down here so early, to try to find whoever she was so that I could meet her." I explained as Magda's smile returned and grew wider. "Why are you hiding, dear?" I asked, reaching toward Sadie gently, "You are very beautiful, and I would like to continue to look at my mate." A small blush crept up her cheeks, but she remained hiding behind her mother. 

     "Sadie, sweetie, Prince Rylen is a very kind man and he clearly wants to get to know you. I don't think he will judge you, I think he will accept you for who you are. Step out and let him see what you are trying to hide." Magda said, looking back at her daughter with a kind-hearted expression. 

     "Let me just tell you now, I do not care at all about ranks. You could be a rogue for all I care and I would still accept you and treat you like the Princess you are. I will treasure you even though you are an omega; in fact, I value all of the skills and input you could bring to the table when you become my Princess." I commented, trying to telegraph my acceptance through my words and my facial expression. 

     "That's not what she is talking about, although I was worried about that as well," my mate said as she stepped out from behind Magda. "She was referring to my leg, which I was most definitely trying to hide from you." She finished, uncertainty and shame clear on her face. 

     "I don't think I understand what you mean," I said, looking at her legs but seeing nothing out of the ordinary. All I could think about was how sad she looked, and how I wanted to make it better. 

     "Here," Sadie said before lifting her pants leg, revealing a prosthetic that came up to just under her knee. 

     "That's what you were trying to hide? That you have a prosthetic? Why would you think I would care about that?" I asked incredulously. She was my mate and I was going to love her with no stipulations. 

     "Because you are a Prince, so you need your mate to be a perfect princess. I was worried about a regular wolf rejecting me because I am broken, but you especially, you need someone normal." Sadie said as tears pooled in her eyes. 

     "Sweetheart, I've told you time and time again that mates are specifically chosen for us by the Goddess to love and cherish you. Prince Rylen is extremely kind and I will gladly vouch for him in your case. He has been looking at you with nothing but adoration since he laid eyes on you, and his expression did not change one bit when you revealed your leg. I could not think of a more perfect mate for you, so please give the poor man a chance." Magda said. 

     "Thank you, Ms. Magda. Your words mean the world to me and it is truly an honor that you think so highly of me." I responded, bowing respectfully to her.

     "Please, Prince Rylen, just call me Magda. We are family now, so there is no need for formalities, but even before then I respected you enough to drop the formalities." Magda said, pulling me in for a very motherly hug. 

     "The same goes for you, I've told you so many times to just call me Rylen. Even if we weren't now family, you had earned that privilege." I replied, hugging her back with the same gentleness that I regarded my own mother with. I then turned to Sadie and took her hands in mine. "I, Rylen, Prince of the Werewolf kingdom, hereby accept you, Sadie, as my destined mate. ALL of you. Will you give me a chance and accept me?" Officially declaring our acceptance of our mates is not a requirement to establish the mate bond, it automatically forms if we do not reject our mates, but I wanted to prove myself to Sadie by emphasizing that I accepted all of her and her imperfections. 

     Sadie's face lit up with the most beautiful smile I had ever seen as she nodded and said, "Yes, Prince Rylen, I accept you as my mate and am looking forward to getting to know you." 

     I could not help it; I was so happy that she was going to give me a chance that I picked her up and spun her around a few times before pulling her to me in a firm hug. Sadie giggled as I spun her and hugged me back just as tightly. I always thought that men that did this sort of thing in movies were silly, but now I totally understood why they did what they did. I would do anything for this woman as long as it made her happy. 

     People had started to trickle in and gather their plates, trying to figure out what was going on in our little group. 

     "Sadie and Rylen, why don't you guys go ahead and grab your breakfast, and then you can sit down and get to know each other." Magda suggested. 

     "But mama, I still have to help keep things restocked and clean up." Sadie argued.

     Magda waved her hand dismissively at Sadie. "Nonsense baby, you have just met your mate and you deserve some time off to get to know him. Besides, you will be leaving with him, so we will have to learn to manage without you anyway. Now shoo!" With one final push, Magda edged us toward the breakfast buffet.

     "Shall we?" I asked, offering my arm to Sadie.

     "We shall," She responded, placing her arm in mine. I smiled at her and led her over to the breakfast buffet, looking forward to getting to know everything about her.