Arthur's POV
My father began speaking slowly and surely. "The alpha of the Blood Mourning Pack is named Liam, and he took over for his parents when he was little more than a boy. There had been some fighting between them and a pack further north, called the Howling Oaks.
"My father was still king then and he wiped out the pack as punishment for their unprovoked attack on Blood Mourning. Anyone from the packs who would not bend the knee died and the rest of the populace were distributed according to their families in other packs. I helped mentor Liam and he grew into a fine alpha.
"Then, Liam met his mate and more problems ensued. She wanted freedom, he wanted security. He wanted her devotion without being willing or able to return the same. They constantly clashed, until one day his mate could apparently no longer take the fighting. She threw herself from a balcony and Alpha Liam was never the same.
"On the surface, he looked fine, at first. He was doing too well, in retrospect. No male should be that calm after the death of his mate, but he seemed to be managing remarkably well.
"But in the past few years there have been rumblings and whispers that grew too loud for me to ignore. I've sent men to investigate, but there's been little luck other than unsubstantiated rumours. Rumours of rogue recruitment, and treason. I was perhaps too reluctant to act because of my relation to Alpha Liam, but unfortunately we might soon have to intervene in a more aggressive manner."
I could tell Anne did not like the sound of that since she was chewing on her lip again.
<Don't worry, Anne.>
<I think worrying is reasonable right now, Arthur.>
<Perhaps, but I don't want your life to be one of anxiety.>
"Nothing's happening just yet, Anne," my mother told my mate, apparently also picking up on her mood.
I sent my mother a grateful smile and took Anne's hand. I really did not want her to be afraid over every political thing that happened. We were strengthening our bonds with our allies and Liam would be brought low if he dared to challenge us.
I saw Anne force a smile towards my mother. Now that the initial interrogation was over, she seemed intent on being good to my mate. I was not going to complain about that, although the way she had earlier treated Anne had aggravated me and my wolf more than I cared to admit.
"So, are you prepared for the welcoming celebration?" she asked.
"Mostly, I think."
"You'll be fine. No need to worry, and my son will stay by your side the entire night."
My mother was right about that. My only goal would be to see that Anne enjoyed herself and got to meet a few people. I was certain that every person would be on their best, most charming behaviour towards her with me glowering over her shoulder at them.
The idea rather pleased me. Anne was bringing out some interesting behaviours in me and my wolf.
When supper was over, I walked back to my rooms with Anne on my arm.
"Lady Anne," I heard a familiar voice say in an overly happy tone. I hid my annoyance with years of long practice.
"Luna Serenity," Anne said, pasting a smile on her lips. She did not seem to be irritated, but neither did she seem excited to see the luna at this particular moment either.
"How are you settling in, Anne?" she asked brightly.
I was trying to think of a way to ask Serenity what she was doing in the palace this time without sounding impolite or surly, but my attempt was interrupted when another person rounded the corner in the hall.
I almost accidentally released a groan. I saw Anne's eyes flicker over to me, then flicker in the direction of the newcomer.
Carina of the Shadow Moon pack, and widely considered one of the most eligible pure blood female werewolves, strode towards me as if she had some right to be there. I began to reconfigure my question to diplomatically figure out what the hell Carina was doing here without insulting her, because she was Alpha Haddoth's beloved niece, when she opened her lovely mouth.
"Arthur dear, I've missed you so much since last we met," she said in a soft voice.
What the hell?
I saw Anne stiffen.
As much as I wanted to bite her head off, instead I said, "Anne, this is Carina of Shadow Moon."
"Lovely to meet you," Anne said in an unnaturally high voice.
<There's nothing between us,> I told Anne quickly before she could get any ideas into her beautiful head.
She relaxed, but not much.
"A pleasure to meet you too," Carina said in a haughty tone.
<She must be put in her place at once. We cannot allow this insult against our mate to stand,> Pierce snapped. I suppose my unease had caught his attention.
<I know, but we also can't cause an incident.>
Anne glanced at me but did not respond, apparently at a loss for words.
"So, what are you doing here, Carina?" Serenity asked in a rather aggressive tone.
I was actually pleased with her response, even though bad blood between Shadow Moon and Harvest Moon could be another problem down the road.
"I was visiting the capital, of course. What are you doing here?"
That explained nothing.
"Alpha Brandon and I have business here," Serenity said frostily.
I felt like a poor dog surrounded by hissing cats. As much as I wanted to sweep Anne away and retreat, I did not want to leave Serenity and Carina to claw each other's eyes out.
Diplomacy, diplomacy...
"Well, ladies, it was a pleasure to see you both this evening, but we've had very busy days and I imagine you two are both very tired from travelling.
I let just a bit of my power slip into my words.
"I suppose so," Serenity agreed, although I imagined she could go for days without stopping. "I'm looking forward to having some proper girl time with you, Anne."
"That sounds nice," Anne agreed easily.
Serenity began moving, and I took Anne's hand and began to pull her away. I could see Carina giving my mate a sly appraising look.
Pierce growled, but I managed to hold the sound in. <How dare she?>
<We'll deal with it.>
<We should have her cowering on the floor before us for this disrespect,> my wolf growled.
I tried to calm him. <I understand, but we need her uncle's cooperation more than we need her submission.>
He simply growled lower. <At least inform mother of her behaviour.>
<Of course. Or you could,> I pointed out.
<You'll probably explain it better. Besides, Maria wants my attention.>
<Very well.>
"Sorry, Anne. My wolf was upset."
She glanced at me as we walked, her eyes searching.
"He's never liked Carena's behaviour, but her attitude towards you was the last straw. I suppose I tolerated her antics too much over the years. Her uncle is alpha of the Shadow Moon Pack, and he's an important ally."
She nodded. I pushed open the doors to our apartments and let her precede me inside
"When I said there was nothing between us, I meant nothing ever. She might have wanted something, but there was never anyone before you," I told her.
"Really?"
"Really. I was waiting to find you."
I could tell she was really pleased by my words because she put her arms around me.
It was so easy with her, since all I had to say was the truth and she was delighted.
She brought her mouth to mine and I forgot whatever it was I had been thinking about.
I simply enjoyed the sweet wonderful teasing torture that was my mate.
I had to find the perfect time to propose soon because I did not know how far my restraint could be stretched before it snapped.
<<< << < > >> >>>
The next morning I woke up and wandered out to the familiar main open space of my apartments. I went and poured myself a cup of the coffee that one of the maids had programmed for first thing. Like any other day, I sat down on the couch to relax before I started my day.
There was one notable difference than my previous normal days. These were not just my apartments anymore. They were our apartments, and I could already detect her scent beginning to infuse the place.
I loved it, my wolf loved it, we had no complaints. If only the rest of the world could get its act together and stop annoying us, everything would be great.
Life would be so much easier if my family ruled as tyrants, I thought ruefully, although of course I would not really want that. Besides the obvious moral considerations, if one pushed people too far there would be rebellions and all sorts of trouble.
Not that we did not already have a potential brewing rebellion, but we would manage it fine because the majority were on our side.
It was better not to interfere with the liberty of the people within reason, inconvenient as they could sometimes be.
I heard Anne's door crack open and she came out. It was the best part of my day, her arrival was like the sun rising in the east in the morning.
She was glorious.
She did not look happy, though. She was looking down at her phone and her eyebrows were knitted together.
"Good morning, Anne," I said to her, wondering what was wrong.
"Good morning," she responded, but the expression on her face did not entirely fade as she walked towards me and sat down as close to me as possible. I watched as she clicked the link with her lovely face on it.
"'Prince Arthur's Scandalously Ordinary Mate'. How are they making normalcy into a scandal?" she asked me.
I did not know, but it was testing my patience. The kingdom was gifted an excellent future queen and all they could do was nitpick ridiculous complaints.
Perhaps real journalism was too hard, or did not get enough clicks.
"Sure you want to read it?" I asked her.
"Yeah. It can't be worse than my imagination."
I hoped she was right. We both silently read from her phone.
Our intrepid journalists have done some digging to discover more about everyone's favourite future princess, Lady Anne. Through interviews with her friends and family, we've learned more about her life growing up in Maryville.
"Friends and family? Who would have spoken to them?" she muttered.
"I don't know." I resisted the urge to send someone to put pressure on the National Scentsation to leave my mate alone.
'Anne was always relatively quiet," our source, who wishes to remain anonymous, explained. 'Too quiet. It was like she did not want to be noticed, like she was hiding something that she did not want found out. I've always wondered, but her cover was perfect over the years. Her secret must be something big. Something really big.'
"No wonder they wanted to remain anonymous, that borders on libel," I commented. I took a drink of my coffee to cover my vexation.
Other sources disagree, however. We spoke to a Jane Merryweather and she had this to say, 'Don't be stupid. Anne's perfectly nice, and get lost. This is private property and I'm just trying to get through my shift, okay? Seriously, I'm going to call the pack police if you don't leave.'
"Awe, Jane. She's been a friend of mine since grade eleven and I like her attitude towards the press. I didn't even think of her, I'm a terrible friend. Is it too late to invite her to this party?"
"Probably. You can invite her to something else soon, though, I'm sure." There would be plenty of celebrations, but there was only one that I was truly looking forward to. I really needed to come up with something great. How did one ask a woman to marry them, even if it was his mate? I wanted it to be a memory she was fond of, but I was blanking out on ideas.
If I had to, I would turn to the internet for help, but I was not that desperate yet.
"I think I would like that," she said. I noticed she moved even closer to me as she scrolled down the article.
'I'm pretty sure that Jane is in on it, honestly,' our source explained. 'Her rudeness is a part of the cover up.' She has a number of theories on what the hidden darkness might be in Anne's past. 'You never really know about anyone since everyone has secrets, but the fact that she's managed to get in with the prince is suspicious. Are they even really mates? She might very well have ties to lizard people since they have anti-mate technology, and I've even heard a few whispers that she might be half lizard-woman herself.'
"I guess I don't have to worry about people believing this one," she said with an adorably raised eyebrow.
I smiled. "I suppose my mother forgot to ask you about your relation to lizard people."
She laughed a bit at that and I was pleased to have lightened her spirits.
She shrugged. "Everyone jokes about lizard people, but why? We live in a world where unexpected things happen often almost no one is surprised, why couldn't mysterious subterranean lizard people be one of them?"
I could tell she was only being half serious, but she was not wrong. "Still, we've never had contact or seen any evidence of them," I pointed out.
She nodded and looked at me with wide eyes. "Still..."
She grinned and her expression was contagious.
I revelled in the soothing agitation of the close proximity of the woman of whom I could not get enough.