Normally, this kind of treatment would’ve bothered me. I wasn’t terribly patient, and seeing my face and hair turn into something completely foreign was not my favorite sight to see; however, I had partially agreed to do this and even if I hadn’t, I knew that I had to maintain the theory that I had yet to find my mate until I was prepared for the consequences.
After two hours of soft brushes grazing my face and nearly a thousand spritzes of hair spray, I was deemed ready to put my attire on so I could finally officially greet my guests. I wasn’t entirely sure how many alphas would be here, but I was assumed it would be close to thirty.
The high number was daunting. I wasn’t sure what was expected by the end of the night. Was I to name a future king already or just narrow it down to a top ten? I knew that trying to gauge the true personality of thirty people at once was going to be difficult and exhausting.
“There,” my stylist sighed, smiling at me as she placed a grand tiara on my head, “You look so lovely, I think you’re ready to go and meet your alphas.”
I nodded tightly, feeling the bitter reminder in my heart that my alpha was not going to be here. Thankfully, I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut and tried not to falter as I walked past my stylist and out of my room.
The walk to the main hall was as daunting as ever. I knew I looked stunning in the dark blue dress. I mean, after two hours just dedicated to my hair and makeup how could I not? But I no longer looked like me. My long hair didn’t have the soft waves it usually did and all the products in it took away the natural glossy shine. As far as my hair was concerned I was simply thankful my stylist didn’t shove it full of bobby pins, this time only a couple to hold up a loose twist. My green eyes popped because of the layers of gold eye shadow and my usually unnoticeable lips demanded attention because of the intense plum lipstick.
I took a deep, even breath just outside the main hall, looking solidly at the guard who stood in front of the door. I hoped I didn’t look half as nervous as I felt. But with any luck, some of these men would be just as stressed out and scared as I was.
“Are you ready to be announced?” the guard asked gently.
“Yes, thank you.” I replied, straightening my floor length dress.
He nodded to me, then quietly opened one door, disappeared and proclaimed my arrival perfectly. Once the words left his mouth, the double doors in front of me opened completely and I did my absolute best to look certain and confident as I strode in to the room. My heels clicked against the marble floor and they were the only sound in the complete silence. Finally, when I reached the center of the room by my parents I dipped into a low curtsy.
My mother was smiling from one ear to the other, but I couldn’t tell if it was because I hadn’t refused to cooperate or because she thought I looked beautiful. Either way she was happy and that made me feel a little better. My dad wasn’t looking at me though, his face was quite emotionless as he surveyed all of the men in the room.
After I rose up, I turned away from my parents and finally faced all the men who had travelled from all over the globe just to meet me before dipping into another curtsy. As I rose back up I watched intently as every male in the room bowed deeply, aside from one tall gentleman in the back. He hardly bobbed his head at all and I instantly disliked him. It was one thing to be casual with me, I hardly ever followed old etiquette, but my parents, the king and queen, were here and this was a formal event. His actions, or lack thereof, could be considered incredibly disrespectful and I wasn’t prepared to deal with that kind of arrogance.
“Well, thank you all for coming,” I said, my voice carrying through the large room. “I hope that you all have had a good and safe journey here and have come to enjoy some of the offerings from my palace.” I surveyed the room, trying to remain calm when I saw at least twenty pairs of eyes staring back at me.
“Since you all must be famished from your long treks here I have decided that we will start our day together with lunch. Please, come follow me.”
With that I led a horde of men through my home, down halls lined with photos and paintings, to our dining room that was hardly ever opened up to guests. Once we were all in the dining room my mother and father excused themselves and I was left in the middle of this massive room with twenty men watching me closely. I was suddenly very thankful that my estimate of thirty or more men had been off. I wasn’t sure if I could even handle this many dominant men.
“I’m glad you could all make it and I imagine that you all know why you’re here, but if you don’t I will tell you. I have yet to find my mate and as a princess I must secure a husband to get the crown. Many of you are also in similar situations, some of you may have yet to find your mate, others have lost theirs, and a few may have rejected theirs. Regardless of the reason, you are here so I can select someone to be the next king should I be unable to find my own mate. With that being said, this does not mean that I am making any promises as I do wish to find the man that the moon goddess has made for me,” I rambled.
All the men nodded or just watched me blankly. I barely forced a queasy smile and gestured to the gorgeous spread of food on the table before us.
“Let’s eat,” I announced.
Chapter 17
I thought that eating lunch would be the laid-back part of my day. After all, it was the beginning where everyone was most likely tired or nervous, but I quickly realized my assumption was very wrong.
I noticed right away that two men nearly killed each other diving for the chair on my right while one man dashed recklessly to the chair on my left. I nearly snorted when I saw that the alpha on my right was the same man who refused to bow to me. I wondered briefly if he would fight for that spot as aggressively if he knew that he was already out of the running. I could not present the werewolf community with a man who thought he was too good for the rules.
However, I did take my time assessing the other men despite the fact that I knew I had a mate not too far away. Yes, I had been quite awful to Ryan and I hardly considered my actions fair, but I knew I could not be a luna. I was a princess, soon to be queen, and the natural order of the werewolf world was not to be disturbed; and since I was unwilling to be his luna, there was a chance he would be unwilling to be my king. I wasn’t sure what would happen if he refused to be a king, but maybe I could share my power with another alpha, someone who wanted the job, and Ryan could still be my mate, still live with me and love me.
“You aren’t listening to me,” snapped the man on my right.
His pale blue eyes were furious as I assessed him silently, paying attention to him for the first time since he sat down. He fit the alpha stereotype I had in my head perfectly. He had massive shoulders that almost seemed too big for his body. His pale blonde- almost white- hair was cut incredibly close to his head and I briefly wondered if there was any brain cells left in that massive skull of his.
Deciding that I had had enough of his pigheadedness I turned to the man on my left and shot him the biggest, most genuine smile I could muster.
“How would you like to come for a walk with me?” I suggested, already standing up.
The young man nearly choked on his finger sandwich as he leapt to his feet and I pretended not to notice. I just held out my arm, waited for him to loop his own arm through it, and then strode purposefully towards the double doors. I was nearly dragging the poor fellow behind me.
I took him to the gardens and when I noticed the poor guy could barely control his arms from shaking with nervousness, I asked him gentle questions. I wanted to know about his pack, what they were like and how things were going for them. Even if I didn’t select him I still needed to be aware of how other werewolves were living. Ryan had shown me firsthand just how out of touch I was, and if I wanted to be a fair and just queen I needed to know who lived in poverty, who had great success, and who needed protection.
Once the gentleman finished answering those questions I moved on to more personal interrogations. I wanted to know how he was rais
ed, what his parents were like, and how he found himself to be without a mate. He answered everything well and eventually relaxed. I found that there were no red flags with him; he didn’t reject his mate because she was too weak nor did he have a father who was notoriously awful. He was just an average alpha from Slovakia, but just because there were no red flags didn’t mean there were any green lights.
I made a mental note to dance with him after dinner, although I hardly thought he would make it into my top ten. He was gentle enough, just a little boring and average. Plus, he also wasn’t very good at commanding anyone’s attention. I sensed that he would be too much of a pushover to be a good leader.
We eventually made our way back to the dining room and I picked someone else to accompany me for another walk elsewhere. This cycle repeated until the waiting alphas could not stick any more food in their stomachs and my feet felt like they were swelling out of the strappy heels attached to them. I knew the plan was that I go for walks with each alpha before supper, get to know them a little, but I couldn’t bear another boring stroll around the gardens or grounds, so I dismissed the alphas after a few walks. I allowed them to do as they pleased until dinner in an effort to give myself a much needed break.
I wanted to shift into my wolf form when I was finally outside by myself, but I knew I couldn’t. I didn’t want to have a new dress shoved on me and have to sit through hours of fixing my hair and makeup, so I settled for taking off those painful heels and walking through the stables barefoot. It probably looked a lot more ridiculous than it felt, but I hardly cared. I needed some quiet time and a little bit of comfort.
True, the day had gone better than planned and many of the alphas were much kinder and sweeter than I had assumed, but that hardly did anything to soothe my mind. I was constantly wondering if the man beside me was lying about what had happened to their mate so that I wouldn’t pass judgement. I wondered if these alphas really wanted a second chance to be happy with someone or if they just wanted the crown. I worried that I would come to like someone who was only putting on a façade and as soon as I named him king, he would twist into this awful person who loved power more than their subjects. I also wondered about my mate, and what would happened if I named someone else king.
I jammed my eyes shut, trying to chase the thoughts out of my head and I walked down the stable aisle until Poison’s large black head poked out over his stall door.
“Hello there handsome,” I cooed.
I reached out to touch his cheeks just as someone spoke up.
“Well, princess, I never thought you would be the type to dish out compliments so soon.”
I yanked my hand away from Poison and gasped in surprise as I took a couple steps back from the suddenly appearing man.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded. I grabbed one of my high heeled shoes and held it out as some kind of weapon, even though one shout from me would bring twenty guards running.
The man laughed slightly, his eyes never leaving mine. It was then that I realized that I had met him before. Lucas, the man roaming the halls of my home. “Please don’t stab me with your shoe; I don’t think that’s how royals are to treat their guests.”
I gave out a little huff of defeat and relief, but I couldn’t help but smirk a little. “Actually, my family is very big in self- defense all of the sudden. I think they would see it as a great success if I happened to kill a big alpha with nothing other than a nice heel.”
Lucas chuckled again, “Well, in that case, I will beg you not to kill me. I hadn’t realized that coming to see the royal horses would get me killed. I just needed to get away from some of those other werewolves.”
Poison let out a snort of impatience and kicked the stall door, annoyed that he wasn’t getting affection. I used his distraction as a brief opportunity to study the man in front of me. He was shorter than the average alpha, under six feet but still taller than me. Nevertheless, his lean body was still surprisingly opposing to the others that were still in the dining hall; and now that I wasn’t so furious or so afraid I was able to see another difference: his green eyes were wild and unrefined, but happy.
His eyes reminded me so much of Ryan that I had to quickly turn away from him to hide the guilt that flashed across my face. Thankfully, Poison was more than happy to hold my attention as he lipped at my hair and continued to stamp around, ready to go for a ride or be let out in the pasture.
“Yeah,” I finally whispered. “I get what you mean about having to get away. A lot of those men really have no business trying to be a king.”
Chapter 18
As much as I enjoyed my time away from the hype I wanted to dislike Lucas. Not that it was any fault of his really, he had an exciting edge I didn’t expect and I would’ve quite enjoyed his company if he didn’t remind me so of Ryan. Lucas wasn’t behaving like the other men. He wasn’t puffing out his chest in an attempt to impress me, nor was he rolling over on his back in an effort to convince me he was placid and kind.
Unfortunately, while we talked about horses, or his pack, or travelling, I would do a double take, almost certain that he was Ryan because of his wild eyes and his laid-back demeanour; so while we were getting along better than before, I ended up hating him simply because he caused me to feel things I was trying to get away from.
Thankfully, dinner was announced soon enough. I forced an apologetic smile at Lucas before I gave Poison a gentle kiss on the nose and shoved my aching feet back into those horrendous high heels. I spun away from him and walked as quickly as I could back to the palace, wincing as my ankles and feet tingled with pain.
Once I reached the front cobble stone steps I carefully shook the loose dust off my dress and then strode through the halls back to the grand dining area where everyone was beginning to gather. The table had been cleared of the leftovers from lunch and was now filled with crystal wine goblets and perfectly placed dishes and cutlery.
I thanked everyone again for their time before I invited them to enjoy the mighty feast that had been prepared. Luckily for me, my parents had taken up the spots beside me which gave me a buffer from the competitive alphas. I smiled to myself as I shoveled a fork load of salad in my mouth.
Our cooks were often given the burden to feed our picky guests, but it seemed like they always managed to outdo the food they prepared from the previous occasion and I was always thoroughly baffled by their ability to create such delicious things. If I had been left to my own devices in a kitchen, the best things that would occur would be mild burns on my body and a bad cup of tea.
“You seem pleased,” my dad whispered from my left.
“The food is beyond amazing. How did we snag such wonderful cooks?” I replied after I swallowed.
My dad shook his head, unable to hide his grin or cover the small chuckle that leaked out of his mouth.
“And here I was thinking you had actually begun to like one of the men that would probably cut off their own arm for you,” he teased.
I knew he was joking; my dad was too playful to be serious sometimes. However, I briefly wondered if any of these men would do such a thing for me, and not just the crown. Though many of them tried to hide their true intentions underneath candied smiles and sweet gestures, I knew their motives. It was just a shame that I couldn’t be mad about it.
I knew my family didn’t live as lavishly as previous royals. My mother had forced my father out of the old castle and moved to another one that was smaller and more manageable. My mother was very focused about giving back to the struggling packs all over the world, despite the fact that her pack was self-sufficient and quite successful. She understood that she could not give as much to the ones in needed if she had to pay thirty people just to keep a massive castle clean; but even with the dramatic cutbacks, we still lived excessively.
I had a handful of prize-winning horses and a barn to fit their pedigrees all to myself, not to mention the people who took care of them when I could not. I had a training arena which was bigger than ne
cessary, with tack from the finest brands. Though my parents hardly let me go anywhere, I had been given a brand new SUV for my eighteenth birthday. While my SUV was average at best, my father had a few luxury cars which he babied endlessly, and my mother had a grand selection of tiaras and crowns, some past down from previous royals, while others custom made for her.
Many people would dream of a life like mine, waking up to perfectly created clothes, a stylist to curl my hair any day I pleased, and enough jewelry to overload a brand new Subaru SUV.
Realistically, the man I married could have the authority to overthrow everything my mother had started and spend all of the royal income on themselves like buying designer suits, Bentley cars, and moving us to a larger castle or estate. They would have everything and anything they wanted, even if it meant depriving those who really needed help and guidance.
I cringed at the thought, feeling slightly sick despite the fantastic food.
“Have you decided who you would like to see again?” my mother whispered from my right.
She looked gorgeous, as always, and terribly optimistic, something I wasn’t very used to seeing. I would’ve been delighted to see her in such a good mood if her words hadn’t caused a further lack of appetite.
I had picked through the men though. There was only one man in the whole group that I could tolerate, but I wasn’t entirely certain and I didn’t want to give my mother false hope so I shook my head.
“That’s a shame; the young man over there seems to be quite a catch,” my mom nodded towards the ignorant alpha with the short, blond hair and my stomach twisted inside me. “He talked to me non-stop when you disappeared into the barns. He is very competent when it comes to royal history and he lost his poor mate to that horrendous rogue pack years ago. I think a man like him would make a good, sturdy king that people could rely on.”
The Princess and the Alpha: A Shifter Romance Page 7