The Prince’s Unwilling mate

Chapter 2

Looking in the mirror I curse my mark again. The mark showing that my fated mate died before I ever met her. It happened when I turned one, almost twenty years ago now. So I never really mourned her.

For some years I was sad she died though. Mom and Dad are fated mates and I see how much they love each other. I have always wanted that and knowing my fated mate died meant I would never.

Not until I learned about second-chance mates. Rare but sometimes the Moon Goddess will bless wolves who lost their mate when they couldn’t have done anything to stop that from happening with a second mate.

Ever since that lesson when I was fourteen I dreamed about meeting her. I fantasized what meeting her would be like, what she would smell like. I dreamed about walking up to my parents and telling them I found her. I joined my parents on every royal visit since. I visited as many packs as I could after my eighteenth birthday.

All with the hope of meeting her. I never stopped dreaming of walking into a pack home and being overwhelmed with the most enticing smell in my life. I played the moment our eyes would meet for the first time in my head so many times. And I have been doing so for three full years now. Mom and Dad want me to find a queen now. So in two weeks’ time the night before my twenty-first birthday, I need to pick my queen. A chosen mate, meaning I will never meet a fated mate.

I have been trying to convince them to give me more time but it is no use. Now I am getting ready to go and speak with them like they asked me to. Sighing I button my shirt hiding the mark on my chest I hate so much.

***

“Have a seat son we might have a solution for your problem” Dad tells me signaling to an empty chair in their office.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

I do, hoping against all hopes that they will give me a little more time to find my second-chance mate. They are not, they are suggesting a compromise. Inviting all unmated she-wolves in my age range and a bit older. Giving me one last chance to find my fated second-chance mate. It seems bleak, if I have not found her before how likely is it I will find her during this one last ball? But I need to have faith, and I do realize some of our subjects are getting nervous at the fact I have not picked a Queen yet. The Luna of all Luna’s, they have every right to do so. Because it is what the country needs.

“Thank you, Mom, thank you Dad can I take my leave now?” I ask anxious to get out of my chair. I need to go on a run because lately I’ve been feeling so locked in. They just nod so I rush out making quick work of undressing and shifting. Later that night I shift again and go out to howl at the moon praying to Selene the Moon****ess to bless me with a second chance mate.

“I promise I will be the best mate to her I could be. I will spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to make her the happiest every day for the rest of my life”

***

Ayla

“No, what are you guys talking about?” All kinds of scenarios flash my mind. But never the thing Jessa tells me.

“I thought you knew she found her mate, he was traveling to a neighboring pack. He just stopped for lunch a little outside the background just as your sister was shopping in the big mall. It was a coincidence so they are both extremely happy.

I don’t get why they were so panicky to talk about this. I am happy for

her, and I cannot wait to meet him. If anyone deserves to find her fated mate it is my wonderful sister. For them to have it happen at such a coincidental meeting makes me happy. Who knows how long they would have had to wait if not for this meeting?

"And everyone else just figured I was too fragile to be happy for my sister? So you all were nervous to tell me?"

Theo stands up apologizing but I don't want to listen to it. It's bad enough that I've been rejected by my fated mate. The guy I had a crush on since was seven years old. It was bad enough that he did so in the pack kitchen so that everyone could hear and see. And I honestly get why my family and friends were worried in the beginning. Now though I have been doing better for so long. Sure I lost hope in ever finding a chosen mate. I've been rejected so there is no way the Moodess is going to bless me with a second chance mate. I wanted what my grandparents, uncles, aunts, and parents have.

A mate whose whole face lights up because you walk into the room. That sickening feeling of not wanting to be without each other for even a single minute. Grandma still mindlinks Grandpa every time they are away from each other for over an hour. That is what I would have wanted. Since I cannot have that I am not willing to settle for less. People need to understand that I am fine with that. I just want to go live in a pack where they respect me. Maybe be a teacher or something else to help the kids.

I love children, I would have liked to have a litter of pups with my mate. Another thing I don't want to dwell on. Instead, I figured I could be working with children.

"Sis, it was not like that can you come home so we can talk Daniel mindlinks me. My younger brother is the only one that gets me. He promised me that I would be the very first wolf to know if he'd found his mate. He also is the only one who knows of the bullying. Or how severe it is. As far as mom and dad are concerned some of the pack members make nasty remarks on occasion.

I wish it was, I have a thick skin and could handle that. But Hannah took it upon herself to bully me. Beat me and no matter how small I am I could have handled her in a one-on-one fight. Or a fair fight but she doesn't fight fair.

She has always been jealous of my friendship with David. Looking back she could have had it since it wasn't real. She used to claim that the reason she was so jealous was because deep down she felt David was her mate. So him hanging around other unmated she-wolves made her protective of him. Hearing him reject me should have made her happy, but it proved something. That she was not his mate, she found her mate not long after. An Omega he was a sweet guy. He was not enough for Hannah though, she rejected him instantly. Then she blamed him so she could wallow in pity. Not that she mourned her rejection long. Now both without their fated mate she started to try and hit it off with David. Determined to be the pack's Luna. Most of the pack members loved the idea of having Hannah as the Luna.

She seemed to be in shape, she was average size, slim. And very beautiful with her long blond hair and pale blue eyes. She loved partying and hosting parties. The perfect feminine she-wolf, poised, graceful, and kind. That's how she came across, David was falling for it too. As were most of the pack members.

Still, there were some who never agreed with David rejecting me as his future Luna. Pack members who believed that the Moon Goddess does not make mistakes. That for some reason our pack would benefit from a quirky, short, tomboy Luna. I loved going to pack meetings but I preferred the lowkey casual meetings over balls where we had to dress up. Those pack members showed that they did not accept Hannah as their Luna. Every time a pack member did something to show they would have preferred me as their future Luna, Hannah lashed out. With her little pack of twisted friends. Kayla, Charlotte, and Taelyn.

They would follow me out of sight, hold me down, and then beat me up. I could have told packmembers I always had bruises to show what they did. But it would cause Mom and Dad to argue with David and Alpha Phillip and leave the pack. They would go and live with the White Oak pack too. Meaning it would risk a war, Mom still is the only pack doctor. So Alpha Phillip would demand them to stay living with the Blood Moon pack forbidding them from living with the White Oak pack. And I love Uncle Cedric but he would go to war to protect his family and there is no way I am going to be the one that causes all of that.

So for now I do as Daniel asked and as I am about to shift back to my human form a huge wolf runs into me throwing me on the floor.