The King's Love

Chapter 1 ~ Charlee

11 years later~

On a normal Saturday morning, I get up out of bed to head to the bathroom and take a shower. I walk past the mirror in my room and look at myself. My long, crimson hair was a mess from my bed head and I was a lot skinnier than I used to be. My step dad’s mom has always tried to put more pounds on me, always telling me I have a beautiful hourglass figure underneath the skin and bones. Sadly, because of how much werewolves need to eat, we don't have the money to get enough food to put weight on. I looked back at my hair and remembered a time when it was still the dark chocolate brown it naturally is. My mom let me dye my hair crimson red when I was 14 and I’ve just stuck with it since. After my shower, I braid my hair into two braids and put on a pair of black leggings and a purple sweater. I walk downstairs and my mom is making breakfast. She was already dressed for the day and had her raven black hair in a bun like usual.

“Hey, mom,” I say. She turns around and smiles at me. Her smile could brighten anyone’s morning.

“Good morning Charlee,” She says back. “Will you go wake Maddie and tell her to get her day started? I swear that the child values her sleep more than you do.” She asks. I laughed at her comment, “sure mom.” As I walk back up the stairs, my mom’s phone rings. “Hey Dad, how have you been?” She says just out of earshot. I walk into Maddie’s room and like always on the weekends she’s asleep and I’m sure if no one woke her up she’d sleep in until three o’clock. I grab one of her pillows on the ground and throw it at her. She gets shocked and looks at me.

“Charlee! What the heck!” She yells. I just roll my eyes. “Maddie it’s time to get up, it's almost eleven. Now go take a shower, mom almost has breakfast ready.” I tell her and leave her room. Once I get back downstairs, I find my mom sitting at the bar in the kitchen with her head in her hands. “Mom? Are you okay?” I ask her, putting my hand on her back. “I need to talk to you and Darren, once he gets home from his meeting. Papa wants us to come back to the pack and have you become his heir.” She says, I look at her shocked. “But I thought that title went to Uncle Nathan! I’ve never had alpha training. That takes 8 years to do. How does Papa expect me to learn everything in two years!” I exclaim. Just then my step dad Darren walks through the front door.

“Good morning ladies! I have good news!” He says, excited. We both look at him with half smiles. “What's wrong?” He asks. My mom hesitates, she sighs. “My dad wants me and Charlee back at the pack, my brother rejected the alpha title and he doesn’t trust my sister and her mate to run the pack, and you know why we can’t be Alpha and Luna. He wants Charlee to be his heir.” She says, she looks at me with pity in her eyes knowing what I’m about to go through. “That’s perfect!” Darren yells in excitement. “What do you mean that’s perfect?” I ask.

“It’s perfect because now I know where we will be moving!” My mom and I looked at him confused. “My retirement got approved. You know the thing I’ve been talking about for the past six months.” He says with a little bit of sarcasm. Mom and I get so excited. I get to go home. I’ll be able to see Carissa and Nadine in person again. I finally can tell Jaren how I feel about him. “I’ll call my dad back and tell him so he can get a house ready for us!” My mom says, excited. “We’ll be leaving in two months,” Darren says.

“Wait what do you mean we’re leaving? Where are we going?” Maddie asks, coming down the stairs. Mom looks at her with the brightest smile. “Honey, dad is retiring from the military and we are moving back to my home pack! You’ll finally be able to train with the rest of the pups once you have your first shift and learn about our species.” Mom tells Maddie. Maddie gets excited and runs upstairs to start packing. Mom calls Papa back and tells him the good news.

Those 2 months went by faster than I thought they would. We made it from the small military base just outside of Hollowcrest to Black Forest in eleven hours, not much has changed aside from a few new houses being built, finally an elementary school so the young pups don’t have to go to school with human kids anymore, and the grocery store getting a renovation. My Papa told my mom he and Grandma renovated a bigger room for me in the packhouse, and he set up a very nice house for my parents and Maddie. After dropping off my parent’s and Maddie’s stuff at their new house, they take me to the packhouse to see my grandparents. I text Carissa and Nadine to come to the packhouse, Carissa calls me screaming about how excited she is to have the entire group back together again. Nadine said she had so much drama to tell me. It will feel nice to be able to have my best friends, not just people who I kind of connected with on my skin side. I can show myself again, run the forest with Carissa and Nadine, and not be scared of being seen.

We get to the packhouse and I notice my grandma is still enjoying her gardening. This was the place I spent the first ten years of my life, coming back, being around my kind is comforting. Carissa, Nadine, Jaren, and Justin are waiting on the porch. Nadine and Carissa begin waving as soon as they see a car coming down the long driveway. The moment Darren stops and parks the car I jump out of the back seat and run to Carissa and Nadine. All three of us hug, once we release Justin hugs me. I noticed Jaren was too busy on his phone texting someone. I tried not to be nosy, but it looked like he was fighting with them. I couldn’t help but stare at him. His jet black hair shines like it was the night sky, his steel-blue eyes still reminded me of the moon and his skin was beautifully tanned like it used to be when we were younger. He was built like a god.

“Don’t mind him, he's been an asshole all year,” Carissa says to me, grabbing my attention.

“Yea, He's been a jerk since he got with Addison. Now all he does is text her and hang out with her b***h brigade and their boyfriends.” Nadine adds.

“Who is Addison?” I ask while we walk inside the packhouse to find my new room. “She’s Jaren’s girlfriend, they’ve been dating since the end of tenth grade. She is the queen of bitches and she likes to challenge your grandma.” Carissa explains. “It took me bribing him to come and see you because he wanted to go hang out with her, but to me, you are more important.” She adds. I lost my chance with Jaren and it took bribing to get him here.

The packhouse was bigger than I remembered. It was 4 stories with a basement just below, which is where the pack prison is. The first floor consisted of the kitchen, the pack hall where we threw parties and where the ones that lived in the packhouse ate their meals together, the common area, a small gym, and the library was also down there. The second floor is where the warriors and warriors in training of our pack slept, the third floor is where the wolves who will be rising in rank with me stay until they take on their title, then we move up a floor. Carissa, Jaren, Justin, and Nadine currently live on that floor and I will be joining them. Carrissa, Nadine, and I walked up and down the third floor to find my room. We finally decided to just ask my papa where my room was. He told us the 4th floor, the 4th room on the right. It surprised me that he wanted to already give me a room on the 4th floor since that floor was for the Alpha and Luna, Beta and Beta Female, and the rest of the rooms were guest rooms for when the other Alpha’s in our region come to visit for meetings or the Mate Ball we hold every year, but then I thought about it and it started to make sense, so I’d be close by for my alpha training.

We get to my room and open the door. The room was huge, the walls were a lilac purple and the carpet was white. There was a king-size bed on the left wall if you look at the room from the door. It had a mahogany frame with bedside tables that matched. The bedding was Midnight purple, my favorite color. Across from my bed was a Tv stand with a 45 inch Tv on it. To the right of that was a desk with a laptop, textbooks, notebooks, and binders, hanging on the chair in front of the desk was a new backpack. In between the door to my walk-in closet and the bay window was a bookcase, it’s nice they remember how much I loved to read. The bathroom door was to the left of the Tv, I put my bags on my bed, and Carissa, Nadine, and I all went into the bathroom. It was almost half the size of my bedroom. The one thing I got excited about was the jacuzzi tub. The shower could fit three large males in wolf form and they’d still have enough room to move around. Carissa and Nadine helped me put my clothes and books away. They asked why there was a bookcase in my room when there was a whole library on the first floor. I told them because there are some books I like to keep to myself.

Carissa and Nadine told me everything that has gone on in the last year. Nadine and Justin are now step-siblings, their parents decided to become chosen mates since they both lost their mates to death. Carissa told me about Addison and her b***h brigade, and how they like to think they are the hottest s**t in the pack, but Carissa says their egos are about to be taken down with my return and rise to the alpha title. They told me I made it back just in time for the final exams at school and the textbooks I have now are the ones I’ll be keeping until we graduate. After a few hours of talking Carissa and Nadine left to let me settle in and they told me they would see me at school tomorrow. I couldn’t sleep that night. I couldn’t stop thinking about Jaren, I can’t believe I was too late. I prayed to the Moon Goddess for something to change, but I doubted it because the last time I prayed to her it caused the most excruciating pain I had ever felt and I almost died.

The next day at school wasn’t any better. The whispers I heard from my classmates about how they hated that I was back. They were mad at my papa because he didn't make me and my mom rogues when we left. They were saying I didn't deserve to be alpha, and if I’m being honest I don’t think I do either. I got to my 4th class of the day and sat down in the back right corner away from everyone, away from the staring. Right before the bell rang four girls that were the definition of preppy cheerleaders, walked into the classroom and sat down. Our teacher walks in and spots me.

“Well class, looks like we have a new face!” He says smiling. Everyone looks at me and rolls their eyes.

“Mr. Derikson, she’s not new, she's just back to take over the pack when Alpha Hendrick steps down.” Says one of the blondes from the group of girls that walked in. Mr. Derikson looks at her with a scowl. “Addison, there’s no need to be rude, especially to your future alpha.” He says, but Addison just scuffs and goes back to talking to her friends. “So you are Charlotte Anderson,” He says to me. I nod, “but I like to be called Charlee.” I responded.

“Well Charlee, I heard you and your mom had to go away for a few years. I’d like to say now, unlike my colleagues and some of the other pack members, I hold no ill will over it because my mate is human just like our mom’s.” He says with a reassuring tone. “I’m intrigued to hear what you have been up to during your time away. So why don’t you tell the class?” He adds. With that, I get up from my seat and go to the front of the class and tell them about my adventures. Everyone seemed to change their opinion about me, which made me happy. Well, not everyone liked me. Addison and her friends never stopped glaring at me after I said my best friends during childhood included Jaren. I got death stares from all of them for the rest of class. Nadine was right, they were a b***h brigade.

During my last hour of school, I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of class. Once I got there I happened to find Addison and her friends. I tried to get past them to go and get out, but two of her friends blocked my path. Addison walks up to me, all prideful. “Look I just want to go to the bathroom, so move,” I say to her friends. They just laugh at me. “Shut up, you unworthy mutt, you will listen to me. Stay away from Jaren, he’s mine.” Addison says and pushes me down. She stands in front of me and towers over me. “If you don’t I’ll make sure that ugly face of yours is even uglier when I’m done with you.” She adds. She opens my backpack and dumps everything out of it. “Oops,” she says, smirking. She,and her friends leave the bathroom. I pick up my things off the floor and put them back in my bag. How did Jaren even develop feelings for that b***h.

I tried to avoid Jaren and his mutt, but that's hard considering I’m best friends with his twin, he lives in the packhouse and Addison visits him every day. According to Carissa, avoiding him started to piss him off. I told Carissa that the reason I was avoiding him was because of Addison, which she understood. Over the weekend, just after school ended for the summer, we all hung out in the common area. I couldn’t stand to see Jaren and Addison together anymore, so I went up to my bedroom to get ready for mine and Carissa’s movie night. Carissa finds me on my bed, just as I wipe my tears away. “Charlee what’s wrong?” she asks, rubbing my back. I look at her trying to hold back more tears. “It’s Jaren,” I answer. “What about him? What did he do?”

“I’m in love with him, Carissa. It hurts to see him with Addison. I… I wish it was me.” Carissa looks at me with sorrow. She wraps her arms around me and whispers over and over that everything will be okay, that she’ll just not let him join our fun anymore, but I knew Jaren, he’d die before having his friends taken away all over a crush.