Chapter 7

Matteo

"Freya is joining," he said, and that shocked me. How the hell would she manage to fight without her wolf? I looked into Calvin to make sure he was telling the truth or not. The serious look on his face tells me that he is not joking. Who am I kidding? Just when did Calvin ever joke?

"I don't think you will be going to the site now and going to school instead," he said, and I nodded. I had to make sure that she was going to be safe. I announced that all of those who signed and registered were not allowed to back out, only to make sure that she was not going to play around with Clay and Alec or sign up and then back out in the end.

We rushed into school, and I was thankful that I asked Calvin to stay but keep himself hidden. If not, I don't know what I am going to do once I find her in the middle of the fight. I was still not sure whether she was my mate, but my instinct told me, so I wanted to believe it. My Lycan was somewhat fine with that and had not snarled at me in my mind after I made that realization.

Normally, he would growl at me and make me stop thinking about it, just like when I planned on taking a chosen mate—just what the royal adviser wanted. He said that my reign would be 100 times better than that of the current king if I chose to have a mate before I was crowned king. My beast warned and threatened me that he would rather die than take any female Lycans other than our mate.

Everyone was sitting and listening to Beta Jackson as I roamed my eyes. I searched for Freya, but I couldn't find her. She was small, and I knew that without her scent, I wouldn't be able to find her. Then I saw Clay and Alec. They were both huge, and I had a feeling that wherever they were, Freya was there too. And I was not wrong; she was there with them, and the other she-wolves were covering her from my view.

She still had her head down, and I constantly saw her looking at the future alpha and another, the beta's daughter. Let me rephrase: she's glaring at them, and I already have an idea about why that is. The two were known for being bullies, and it came to my knowledge that it had lessened a bit after we came.

The beta handed me the mic so I could give a little speech, and I took the opportunity to give Freya a chance to withdraw during the fight. I want everyone to take this seriously and, at the same time, confirm whether she is my mate or not. I don't know why I came up with this, but my instinct tells me that it would.

The opening ceremony was going to end with a pack run, and I was going to lead it, but I changed my mind, so I decided to approach Daniel and tell him about it. He agreed, "Don't worry, because I am still going to be here, but just staying at the back to make sure that everyone is participating." I told him,

"I understand, Your Highness," he replied, and then I started to look for Freya. She was still with those two, and I started to feel agitated. I didn't want her to be around them, so I decided to run in my human form. I'm sure that she is too, judging by the way they were preparing.

"Why are you not ready to run?" I asked as I got closer to them. They were startled, but not Freya. She was always startled whenever I came to them. It would only happen if she could smell me. But given that both Clay and Alec didn't notice me, she shouldn't either. So how?

"Your Highness, we are about to shift now," Clay said, and then looked at Alec and then at Freya.

"We will just shift there," he told her, pointing to the tree not too far from us, and she nodded, smiling.

"Freya," I called her, and I noticed her stiffening again. She turned her body to face me, but she still had her head down. "Look at me," I said, and that made her stiffen even more. "I am not going to harm you; I just want to see your face. It is not my intention for the pack to fear me when they were not doing anything wrong," I added.

"Uhm, I don't think it's right to look at you, Your Highness. It would be disrespectful if I did that," she replied, and I was about to say something when Eunice came.

"You're here, Matteo. I have been looking for you," she said, wrapping her hands around my arms before she looked at Freya. I took her hands off of me and said,

"Prince Matteo," I said, and she looked at me, still smiling.

"What?" she asked.

"I said you have to address me as Prince Matteo." Her eyes widened in shock for a moment, but then she collected herself and replied,

"I called you Matteo when you were fu****g me." My Lycan was so mad that I wanted to wring her neck. I looked at Freya, and I noticed her balling her fists and then opening them and shaking them after. She breathed in, and I even saw her flinch.

"Calvin,"

"Your Highness?"

"Take her away."

"What are you even doing here? You waited for Matteo to ask someone to take you away?" she said, looking at Freya, and I had a feeling that she was trying to control her anger.

"Eunice, let's go," Calvin said, which made her look at him angrily.

"What are you trying to do?" she asked.

"His Highness said to take you away," Calvin answered.

"He is referring to that worthless bitch!" she shouted, which made everyone look at us. I looked at Freya, and I didn't think she would be able to control herself anymore. She was about to raise her head, but Clay came to her rescue. I thought I would be able to see her face already. Alec followed through, and they both took her after they bowed to me.

I was feeling enraged at what I had just seen. "Shut up, Eunice!" I said, growling at her. "You will be going back to the palace in this instance," I said, which made her even more angry.

"No way! I am not going to leave you here with all the slu*s she-wolves around you!" she yelled. I felt disrespected, so I grabbed her by the neck, ready to take her life away from her.

"Your Highness, let me take her now," Calvin said. I looked at her, and she already had her head down in submission.

"See to it that I am not going to see her face here anymore," I said, looking at everyone in there.

"I'm very sorry that one of us made a scene and disrespected our event. Please proceed with the ceremony," I said, and I looked for Freya again. I had to look into her eyes; it was another way of finding out whether she was my mate or not. It was how Lycans met their mates before they discovered their scents. Many believe that by meeting each other's eyes, we will see each other's souls as mates as well. I guess I will have to look for another chance. The tournament will run for a week, so I still have time to make her face and look at me in the eyes.