Royals

Chapter 1

Mary's POV

With my eyes closed I feel everything more clearly. The sweet smell of the flowers, the warm sun on my face and the cool silkiness of the grass underneath me. These are the moments that I treasure. When I can just lie outside and think. There is no one to answer to and nobody who tells me what to do all the time.

I take a deep breath and feel the fresh air filling my lungs. As I exhale I try to release all the stress that I have been carrying around. I only have one more week of freedom, one more week until I turn 18 and meet my mate.

I never wanted to get married, not even as a little girl. But even so in just seven days I am going to turn 18 and my father, the Alpha, will host a big party inviting all the other packs in our region so that I can find my mate and get married.

Ever since I was born I have heard people tell me that I have to find a suitable mate, someone from a good family or even better, an Alpha. As if it were my choice. I can't decide who my mate is, that is up to destiny.

All my friends have always been so exited about finding their mates, it's supposed to be something beautiful. Finding your one true soul mate, that one person that was made for you and only you. But not me, I have always dreaded the day.

What if he is not what my pack or family expects and deserves. What if he is just a normal person or even worse comes from a family of poor standings. I often wish I could be just a normal person, maybe then I could find my mate without all the pressure.

But that is not the only reason that I don't want to get married. I have witnessed my parent's marriage for years. My mother submits to my father without question. He always uses his Alpha commands on her when she doesn't agree with him, although she mostly does just because it is easier.

I don't want to end up like that. I like the little bit of freedom I can still call mine. As soon as I am mated and married I won't have any freedom at all anymore.

Suddenly I hear someone yelling my name and ripping me out of my thoughts. I sigh and open my eyes.

"Mary! Your mother is looking for you!"

I groan and sit up. I already know who has come looking for me. The only one who knows about my secret hiding place is my best friend Belinda. She is like the sister I never had and I tell her everything. I turn around and see that I was right as Belinda comes running onto the meadow towards me all blond hair and long, tan legs.

She sits down in the grass next to me and tucks a blond lock that has escaped from her ponytail behind her ear.

"What does she want now?" I ask her as she starts fiddling with some grass she has pulled out from the ground and is now holding in her hands. She shrugs.

"I don't know. All I know is that she is looking for you and she says it's urgent," she answers, still a little out of breath from her run here.

I sigh again and roll my eyes.

"Of course she says it's urgent, it always is with her isn't it?" We both laugh a little at my mom's tendencies to over-exaggerate and then we get up and slowly start walking back towards my house.

My meadow is located just outside of pack territory. We're not actually supposed to venture outside of our territory but what my parents don't know won't hurt them.

After we have walked for a little while we finally step through the tree line at the edge of my family's property. Before I go inside the house Belinda sweeps her hands over me to get the grass off of me so my parents don't get suspicious about where I've been. She gives me a big hug and wishes me luck. She knows exactly how my parents are and she always has my back and helps me out of trouble.