Shadow Wolves: The Alpha's Vampire Princess (Book 8)

This has been one of the busiest weeks of her entire life. Emma has never had to arrange an event of this magnitude before, and she didn’t think they were going to make it in time. She walks through the dining room checking on the seating arrangements one more time before she has to join the Queens and King. There are so many people here that she uses the servant’s passages to move around. Knowing she will probably have to deal with some people at some point, but she will avoid it as long as she possibly can.   “There you are, sweetheart! I’ve just told Pearl I was about to send out a search party to look for you.” Lucille smiles brightly at the small thin figure walking in.   She quickly bows and blushes. She hates to think that she kept the Queens waiting.   “I was checking the dining room one last time, Your Royal Highness.”   “She is never… Are you never going to call us by our first… She is never going to call us by our first names, is she?” Pearl looks from Lucille to Emma and back again.   Emma smiles at Queen Pearl.   “It wouldn’t be proper, Your Royal Highness. Especially not at an event like this.”   They laugh, and she can’t help but smile. They have been kind to her since that day Lucille found her in the kitchens. They have taken her under their wings, and, basically, they treat her like an adopted daughter more than just part of the clan.   “Emma, the reason I was looking for you…”   She walks over to her enormous closet and comes back out with a pink dress bag that she hangs in front of her cupboard.   “Pearl and I decided that you can’t appear in front of our guests dressed in your suits when it's an event like this, as you put it.”   Lucille unzips the bag and pulls out a black ball gown. The top is a princess cut corset in a see-through lace, with only the breasts covered. The back of the corset is not a zipper-like the new dresses. It’s a lace-up dress like in the old days. The skirt is silk with a slit up the one side flowing out in an A-shape.   Emma gasps when Lucille hands her the dress, and she doesn’t have the words to say how she feels at that moment. She has learned by now that not accepting a gift like this will hurt Lucille deeply, and it is a beautiful dress! But Emma has never owned anything this beautiful in her entire life.   “From your gaping mouth, I take it you like it, young lady.” Pearl laughs.   “See, I told you she would prefer black over that powder pink you wanted to get for her.” She grins at Pearl.   “I seriously don’t know what happened to my best friend since you had those babies. You have gone all… Soft!” They laugh, not noticing Emma’s attention has already been pulled back to her lists of things to check before the guests start arriving.   When Pearl notices that she is looking at the list on the bed and no longer at her reflection in the mirror, she nods at Lucille.   “Eyes front!” Frightening Emma   “Sweetheart, I don’t want you to spend the entire week working. Got that? We have more than enough staff to work. You put in so much time on the schedule so that everyone would have time to work and relax. I want you to also have that time.”   “Oh,” She blushes bright red. “I don’t think…”   “And what if your mate is in this mix somewhere?” Pearl grins at her.   “Oh, NO.” Emma suddenly looks panicked.   “Sweetheart! Why are you so panicked all of a sudden? Surely, you also want someone to love you?” Lucille takes her by her shoulders, turning her around to look at her.   “I just… I’m too busy… I wouldn’t want to leave your service. There would be no time for me to…” Her wide-eyed expression was looking from one queen to the other.   “Now you listen here and listen carefully.” Pearl stands up and walks over to them.   “If your mate is in this bunch and you see him."   “You will let us know.” Pearl continues.   “And you will have fun, got that?” Lucille says in a serious face.   “But what about the guests?” Emma’s panic on her face is not disappearing.   Lucille rolls her eyes.   “You are the best assistant ever. The guests will be fine. Now get dressed. You will have to join us when we greet them.”   “I CAN’T!!”   It’s the first time she didn’t refer to her queen by her title.   “Why not?”   “I have to check in with the kitchens, Your Royal Highness.” She looks down at the ground feeling terrible for her outburst.   “You will do no such thing. You might not be my daughter by blood, Emma, but tonight you will be introduced as my daughter. The princess of this realm.”   Emma looks up, wide-eyed. This is too much!! If her heart was still beating, it would be jumping out of her chest right now.   “Your Royal Highness with all due respect…”   Pearl holds up her hand to silence Emma.   “The clan has already voted. You are the heir to the throne, sweetheart. You are the first princess of Dratha.” She smiles.   “But I can’t…”   “Emma, I am away a lot with the town business that has taken off. We all feel that there should be someone the Clan can trust should anything happen to me. You are my daughter for all intents and purposes. Unless you don’t feel the same.”   “You honor me… I don’t know what to say.”   “Just say yes!” Pearl’s excitement is infectious and a smile breaks out over Emma’s face.   “Yes?”   “That didn’t sound very convincing.” Lucille laughs. “But it will do. Now promise me you will have some fun this week. Hmm?”   “I promise your Royal…”   Lucille shushes, interrupting Emma.   “I don’t expect you to call me your mother or mom. I do, however, expect you to at least call me by my name from now on. You are also your Highness now.” She walks over to a painting and takes it down from the wall.   Behind the painting, there is an old safe that unlocks with a huge key. Inside is a black velvet box that Lucille takes out and brings over. Pearl is so excited she claps her hands together and smiles brightly.   “This is for you, my darling.” Lucille holds out the box for Emma to open.   On the lid written in silver calligraphy, she reads her name. Carefully opening the lid, she finds a small diamond tiara on the inside. Gasping when she sees it, almost too scared to touch it.   “Go on, take it out.” Lucille smiles at her.   Emma carefully takes it out of the box, and the first thing she notices is the black heart-shaped diamond in the middle of the tiara. It is surrounded by small diamonds that in different twists and turns form the rest of the tiara all the way to the back.   “This is… I don’t have…”   “Do you like it?”   “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Emma says, slightly out of breath.   Lucille takes it from her. Pearl turns her around to look at herself in the mirror and Lucille places it on the top of her head.   “Perfect.” They say in unison and start giggling.   Emma stands looking at herself in the mirror, too scared to move for fear that it might fall off and break.   “Well, Emma, at your coronation ceremony this week, would you like to pick a new name?” Pearl turns around to sit back down.   “My coronation? I didn’t plan that?!” Emma looks panicked, but she is still too scared to move until she takes it off and puts it safely back in its box.   “Yes, we know. We planned it.” Lucille locks her tiara in the safe with all the other jewelry.   “A different name? I’ve never even thought that I would be a princess! Never mind getting a new name. No, I will stick with Emma if that is okay.” She looks from one to the other.   They laugh and Lucille puts her arm around Emma’s shoulders.   “Okay, I think we have scared you enough for one day.” Giving her a slight squeeze. “Go and get dressed. We will meet you back here in an hour, so we can all go downstairs to greet our guests.” She winks.   Emma takes her dress and just before she leaves, she turns around.   “I’m supposed to meet the guests at the door.” Her eyes were wide. “How will they know where to go?!”   “Already taken care of my darling. Edgar will greet the guests. Now stop worrying and go make yourself pretty. Princesses can’t be seen looking like the girl next door.” Pearl winks at her and Emma curtsies before leaving hastily.   Walking down the passage with the dress inside the pink dress cover, she can hardly breathe. Did all that just happen to her? With those two Queens, you never know what could happen next. That much she has learned by now.   She better hurry up if she is going to make herself look like a princess in an hour!   ***   Pulling at the stupid tie he has to wear, Christiaan looks at his reflection in the car window. The others are excitedly discussing who might be at the mating week and what they are looking forward to.   He on the other hand would much rather be sitting in business studies class than at this stuffy event and spending the next week living in an old dusty castle where there is no cell phone reception.   “I mean, who doesn’t even have a landline!” He says out loud.   All of them look at him shocked.   “Random much?” Erik laughs. “Dude, you are supposed to be enjoying this week. Strict instructions from your mom.”   “I would have enjoyed the time much more if I could have spent it on studies,” Christiaan growls softly and Eric pours him a drink.   “Here, drink this. It will calm your nerves a little, and I promise you, girls don’t bite!” His friends all burst out laughing as the limo pulls up in front of the castle.   Christiaan pours the amber liquid down his throat. Hopefully, the smell of alcohol will keep any possible prospects away from him. He pulls the jacket of his suit straight when he climbs out and looks at the dark, gloomy castle in the middle of nowhere.   Seriously! Who still lives like this?   Following the masses into the castle, he checks his phone one last time in the hopes that there will be just one bar. All he needs is one bar, then he can at least check his emails… No such luck.   He joins his friends once inside and listens to their excited voices discussing the décor and all the different species of supernatural they can see. Then one of the girls in the pack freezes like a statue.   “You’ve got to be kidding me!” He puts his hands in his pockets and follows her gaze.   In the door there is a guy with pale brown hair, dressed in a bright blue suit, grinning from ear to ear.   “Erik, look!” Christiaan elbows his friend. “That is why I don’t want to be here!”   “Are you sure we are seeing this right?” Erik looks at Bowen then at the guy in the blue suit that is now walking straight towards their pack member.   “Yup. I’m afraid it’s all over for her… She’s a goner.” Christiaan sighs when the boy in blue takes Bowen in his arms and loudly proclaims Bowen his mate.   “That fast?” Erik almost looks petrified.   “I told you,” Christiaan says in a warning tone.   “Dude, then we had better look at the ground.” Erik bursts out laughing.   He leaves Christiaan at the bar and joins their group of friends who are happily getting to know Bowen’s new mate and his friends.   This is such a sham! Christiaan thinks to himself and looks up. He has met the Moon goddess, and she is like a grandmother to all of them, but the idea that his grandmother gets to choose his future wife is the reason he is so against all of it.   Grabbing the drink he ordered, he drains the glass and orders another, walking to a corner in the room, finding a wall to lean against while they wait for the inevitable festivities to start.