Chapter 1
Adonis
I walk out of that fucking meeting room fuming, my wolf wanting to take over my body and kill every one of those mother fuckers that take up that table. My beta, Simon, rushes to my side when I throw a table in the hallway into the wall.
“Those mother fuckers!”
“Adonis, what the fuck happened?!”
I start heaving and he starts rushing me out of the door, my wolf ready to completely take over. I make it to the grass finally able to take a breath.
“Alpha?” He pushes again.
I glare up at him, but the anger isn’t directed at him, “They are making me get married. Making me get married or I lose the title to that son of a bitch Warlin.”
Simon snarls, “They can't do that! What about your mate?”
I growl trying to calm my beast down, “They say my wolf has taken too much control over me, that I am more animal than man, and that doesn't make for a good fucking king.”
He growls again, “Who is it?”
I growl again, the anger taking me over when I think about that bitch that they want me to marry, the woman who they want to be my queen. My wolf starts to shake beneath my skin and before I can take another breath he takes over.
Madeline
Everything hurts, the days leading up to the full moon are always the fucking worst for me and my wolf. I slowly drag myself out of the warmth of my bed to fill the bathtub to ease my joints and my head. If I am going to make it through tonight then I have to make sure that I can even walk through the castle doors, dancing is going to be out of the question though. Not like I am much of one these days anyway.
A few minutes into my peppermint bath my mother pokes her head in my bathroom door, “How are you feeling darling?” her and I could be considered sisters if not for my mom’s wise eyes. Our dark brown long hair and our light brown eyes match along with our body styles.
I sigh, “As good as I can be this close to the full moon.”
“How bad is it?” She takes a seat on the toilet.
I shrug, “The same, not any better not any worse.”
“Are you sure you can come tonight? She is not going to come early?”
“I promise I wouldn’t be thinking about going if she was. But Dad needs us there with him.”
She sighs, “I just want to make sure you are going to be safe. If you are sure though I am going to get our bags downstairs and when you are dressed and ready, we will head out. But we need to leave soon, ok dear?”
I nod, “I am almost done, I have my clothes laid out. Did our dresses come in?”
Her smiles blooms, “They did, and they are actually beautiful. Delila dropped them off this morning before dawn. You are going to love yours my dear.”
“Can’t wait momma.”
She kisses my forehead and walks out.
An hour later my mother and my father are in the car with my father’s Beta on the way to the Royal pack, thankfully it is only 5 hours away. I can do that but any longer and that would be too much for me to be in the car with my lovey dovey parents. I sit up front with Beta James while they are all cuddled up together in the back kissing and whispering. I know that my mom is trying to comfort my dad. Tonight, there might be a lot of people talking and he isn't very good at that.
With my dad being our pack’s alpha and me being his only child, the pack elders are questioning my father's claim on the pack as he gets older, and he has no son to pass the title to. They won’t let a woman like me take his place so that is why we are going to the Alpha King and his party to try to gain support for my father to pick his own heir to the title. My dad isn't old, and he can still be an amazing Alpha, but I guess there are a few men in the higher up that are going for my dad because he is too “weak” to have no son, and to have a daughter like me. And my father can’t say that James is next as they are the same age and James doesn’t have a mate or a child to pass the title to either. James was never that lucky to get a mate, so she either died or picked a mate before they had a chance to meet but he has always had a smile on his face ready to give his all to our pack and to my father.
“Are you excited to be dancing the night away Maddie?” James smiles at me a few hours in, the silence between conversations of my parents deafening.
“Dancing probably won’t happen tonight, but I am glad to get out of the pack. I can’t remember the last time I left.”
He nods smiling again, “It is going to be nice, and the last time I was there the food was amazing! And who knows, maybe this is the trip where you meet your own mate.”
A twinge of pain erupts from my chest, “That may not be in the cards for me. It won’t be safe for me to be mated to anyone so I don’t think the Goddess would allow me to put someone in harm’s way.”
“Hey you never know, maybe the trick is to have a mate, maybe she just needs someone to calm her down.”
“I don’t want to put my mate in a place where they could die. It isn’t worth their pain.”
“Hey, where is that constant optimism little Maddie? There could be a way to fix it, maybe when we are in the meeting with the Alpha King we could ask if they know any remedies or healers that might help.”
I perk up at that, “Would you James?”
“It is already on our list of things to discuss, my angel.” My father speaks up from the back seat.
I turn to him and smile, “You think they could help?”
“If anyone can, it is the oldest pack and the oldest wolf on the planet.” He smiles at me taking my hand, “I promised you that I would look into every avenue to help you and your wolf. I haven’t forgotten.”
“Thank you, dad!”
He smiles and pats my hand, “But please try to get some rest on the way there. I know you must be hurting and when we get there we will have to immediately get ready for the ball.”
I nod and get comfortable in the seat with the warmer on. The little bit of hope now running through me makes me content to sleep in this cramped car. Hope that I can be with my mate without fear.
