Hopefully Happily Ever After

The last thing I wanted to do was be someone's princess,  having tea parties and getting my nails done, makes me shudder at the thought. I couldn't stand the restrictive nature of dresses and frilly undergarments, I much preferred jeans, hoodies, boy cut shorts and a sports bra.  Easier to move in and the epitome of comfort.  If my father had his way I would be sold off to the highest bidder, that way he wouldn't have to deal with me ever again.  Me and my defiant ways, as he calls it, always getting along better with the boys than I ever did with the girls in our pack.  I'm certainly not the heir he wanted, he would have much preferred a boy for his first born, but instead he got me, all 130lbs of me.  Solid frame, muscular for a girl, or so I've been told, and my flowing jet black curls, just like my mother's that I keep pulled up in a tight bun. I’m less than a lady, more of a tomboy than anything, I guess that's what happens when a girls mother dies before she is 10, all my friends were boys, father had no time for me at all, was always too busy with pack stuff or f*****g yet another w***e who was trying to wiggle her way into his bed permanently. My father was not a nice man.  A block of ice was warmer than him.  He was malicious, and cruel and the way he treated me was no different, blood or not, I'm not sure he ever really cared about me.  I miss my mother.  She was such a kind woman, she radiated beauty in her  presence. Men for miles admired her beauty and secretly were jealous of my father for having her.  There is not even a picture of her left in the house, he removed every trace of her, save for me, and I was next. What happened to my mother remains a mystery to this day.  I was out with one of the nannies one day and came home to the news mother was gone.   Killed by rogues as she picked flowers in the meadow.  I cried for days.   My already cold father was even colder towards me.  I mourned my mother in secret because if he saw me cry I was punished.   If he could marry me off to become someone else's problem, he was good with that,  it would mean his last tie to my mother was gone and that chapter was over, heir or not. My father was only out for himself, and he didn't care what he had to do to achieve it. I looked at the paper in my hand one more time. "Come celebrate Kaitlyn's 18th birthday, she will be leaving with a mate one way or the other."     That was layman's terms for being sold to the highest bidder. What self respecting father announces his intentions to the whole territory, oh wait, just mine and he has no self respect left when it comes to me. Turning 18 was supposed to be special, you came to full power and could shift into your wolf, at 18, they woke up.  I was looking forward to meeting mine, it meant I would have someone to talk to besides myself.  I hoped my wolf was huge, bigger than my father's.  I know very little about my mother,  it was a topic we didn't discuss, but my father was an alpha and I his only heir.  My mother was a higher ranking wolf as well,  she died as a Luna.  I crumpled up the paper and threw it in the garbage, I was not being sold off to some strange man to do who knows what with, I was not a piece of livestock he could sell off, even though he figured he could.  I laid on my bed and took a deep breath and tried to figure out how I was going to get myself out of this. There was a knock at the door.   "Kaitlyn, I expect you to find something suitable to wear to this event tomorrow,  Mildred has offered to take you shopping and find you something."   Mildred was father's current flavor of the week.  Father kept them till he got bored and moved on.  Once he was done with them, no one ever saw them again. "There is a dress in my closet,  I'm sure it's fine." I deadpanned. "You will dress and act like a proper lady,  now get up and get something!" He said with authority.   I knew that meant listen, or pay the price for disobedience. In most cases I was numb.  I'd been beaten so many times I lost count.   I knew what he was capable of so I didn't want to push my luck today.  I got up,  grabbed my wallet and headed to the nearby mall.  Mildred was trying way too hard.  I wondered if she knew when he got bored she would be discarded just like the rest,  just like me.  It was all about him. I found something suitable and stayed behind to pay for it, Mildred waited outside snapping her gum and twirling her hair.  She couldn't be much older than me, 30 at best.  Father certainly wasn't picky as long as he had someone to warm his bed and please him and his desires. As I paid for my purchase I got a whiff of a smell like no other.   It smelled of fresh rain and cherry blossoms.  The smell kept getting stronger.   I passed the bag to Mildred and used the excuse I had to go to the little girls room and went off in search of the intoxicating scent.  I saw a man sitting on a bench reading something on his phone, he looked up and made eye contact, his icy blue eyes were gorgeous and I could smell the intoxicating scent radiating off of him and I started to growl, that was a new one for me and then I realized I turned 18 this morning and the growl came from my wolf and it looked as though I met my mate.  I sat beside him on the bench, I wanted to curl into his arms and smell him, but I thought that might make things uncomfortable.  I decided to do it the old fashioned way, "Hey, whatcha reading?" I asked.  He looked up from his phone and looked right into my eyes and I heard a soft rumble.  "Mate!"