CHAPTER 1 A male mate

King Arlo Caddel

"Arlo, you aren't ready yet?"

My eyes traveled over to the door and saw Ivan, my best friend and Beta standing there with a frown on his face.

"I already am..." I said looking at the golden rimmed full body mirror to see what was out of place and then my Beta's sigh coming all the way from the door.

"Why can't you ever let the royal designer do her job? no offense, your highness... but this attire is far too simple.. they might even confuse you for a mere Alpha wolf,"

I laughed off his worries placing a curled arm on his shoulder.

"Oh, it's not that bad.. is it?"

"It is," Ivan said firmly.

I walked over to my king sized bed, sinking on it with a sigh, I wasn't even in any mood of attending the ceremony at all. Infact left to me I would move my throne over to my bedroom, but I was a King and there were certain duties I couldn't neglect even if I wanted to.

This ceremony was one, I had been specially invited so I had to show the courtesy of gracing the occasion.

I didn't want to be there, the goddess knew that for a fact. All I wanted was to lay on my bed and soak up memories of.. her.

"Are you still thinking about her?"

A crooked smile covered my face as I got up. By "her" he meant Brandy, my chosen mate.

I had never gotten the opportunity to meet my mate before, so my parents and elders of my pack thought it best that they found someone worthy of standing by my side as my luna.

My relationship with Brandy was not that of love at first, but I believed we could make good partners. Brandy was beautiful, intriguing and very intelligent. She walked and talked like a true queen, and I trusted her.

Soon, that trust grew to love. And when she informed me of her pregnancy, I was overjoyed.

To me, Brandy was more important than any mate the goddess could have ever given me. We were smitten by each other, and we fell in love.

Or so I thought...

Until she gave birth to a boy that wasn't mine. Hell! The child wasn't even a wolf. He was a bloody hybrid, a vampire's son.

I did not know which hurt more; her betrayal, or the fact that I was cheated on with a being as cunning as the vampires, when all I had ever done was love and adore her.

When I failed to speak, Ivan looked at me and sighed.

"Your highness, I know that you are not a piece of stone, what happened to you would have broken many people... but you are still a King... A Lycan king at that."

"And I have duties... and I'm doing my best not to break down while I'm at it, because everyone has expectations of me and I need to live up to them... I know..." It was not easy being a king, especially when you had to tuck your personal feelings to bed and do only what was expected of you.

I placed my palm on my face.

"Arlo, I'm sorry... I..."

"Don't worry, let's just get going."

I didn't want to be so cold to my second in command, but it made my blood boil.

Just hearing about that woman was enough to make me like this. I had waited my entire life to meet my mate, but the moon goddess had not blessed me with that.

It was an experience I doubted I would ever forget. It hurt me, it tore me open. She wasn't even my mate, but she had succeeded in.. in.. breaking my heart.

I arrived late at the party, it seemed, because everybody had already started shifting then I heard whispers around me and some people were saying "Omega Alpha."

"I was getting really worried when the Alphas kid did not transform immediately. Just imagine having an Omega for an Alpha."

I heard someone say, I was a bit curious about that, but before I could inquire into it, the most intoxicating smell that my nostrils had ever had the chance to absorb filled my senses and I could hear Ivan, my Beta calling me, but it sounded so far away as my only focus was on that smell.

Before I was even able to think about it, my body was already moving towards the smell in the direction of the centre of the hall where the new wolves had just shifted, my heart was beating so hard against my chest, I had waited my whole life for this moment.

Could it be that finally the moon goddess would allow me to meet my mate?

The smell was now so appealing that I became a little dizzy, then suddenly it was gone in the snap of a finger and I was sniffing around frantically for traces of it, and then it led me towards...

A male wolf?

I had thought that nothing would ever shatter me more than that woman's betrayal, but it seemed like life was ready to throw more punches. How on earth could the moon goddess keep punishing me like this, why would she give me a male wolf as a mate?

Suddenly my male mate ran out of the hall and I sighed heavily. When I had waited my entire life for this moment and it's not like I could get any more disappointed at this point, so I might as well approach him and see whether he would reject me or not.

With those thoughts in mind, I rushed out following him, but when I got outside he was nowhere to be found and the scent was completely hidden.

I was feeling a little frustrated, as I followed the path he took, hoping to find him, but I saw two wolves that were just newly shifted talking to each other. From the similarities in their appearance, you could tell that they were siblings, maybe even twins.

They were talking about a lot of things and mentioning names that I was not familiar with and I was about to go and ask them if they had seen my mate, when suddenly someone else joined them.

He also smelt like a newly shifted wolf, probably he was friends with them, because their conversation suddenly stopped. The twins were staring at the ground. Even as an outsider I could feel how tense they all were.

"Jamal!" My young male mate called.

Suddenly I felt my body perk up and I moved closer to them without thinking, when I saw my male mate moving towards the group.

"Don't touch me!"

The male wolf my young male mate had called Jamal slapped his hand away.

"Jamal.. I didn't... can we just talk?!"

"There is no need for us to talk... this... this can't work ever, I'm sorry Messiah Jordy... It just can't...."

Just looking at my mate, I could see unshed tears glistening at the corner of his eyes.

"I Jamal Beaconsfield, reject you, Messiah Jordy King as my mate!"

Messiah Jordy? I shifted and my foot stepped on a dry twinge and his eyes came to me as I couldn't help but say

"Mate..."