The Wolf God’s Mate

Chapter Nine

There is chatter in the room, sounds of women gossiping followed by their delicate laughter and the low voice of men talking in muted tones can be heard. The room is brightly lit with candelabras at every corner as well as the large chandelier handing from the middle of the ceiling, all of which serve to chase away the shadows. The ladies are dressed in beautiful dresses with their expensive jewelry glittering in the light while the men were dressed in suits of more somber colors. 

The guests present are all people of high standing; Alphas and Lunas with their children if they had any, those children with their own mates, again, if they had any. There were also Betas and Warriors in attendance.

Sumptuous food can be seen on long tables at the sides of the ballroom, tempting any one of the guests with their mouthwatering scents and servants circulate the room with drinks on trays. Though normal alcohol could not affect a werewolf, this was a special brew and it was just enough to grant a little buzz.

Amidst laughter and conversation, a faint melody is being played in the background when suddenly, the music stops. 

"Presenting Queen Josephine Brimo and Princess Amelia Brimo", a loud voice announces. 

All conversation ceases and everyone turn unanimously to look. At the top of the staircase stand two enchanting women. The older, taller one, is wearing a pale blue dress which if anyone looked closely, perfectly matched the colour of her eyes, and the younger woman, is wearing a red dress dotted with precious stones with a gold ribbon around its waist, perfectly complementing her gold necklace. It is the Queen and her daughter. 

With slow, elegant steps, the duo walk down the stairs, head held high and posture perfect- bearing impeccable. 

At the foot of the stairs, stands the King, waiting with a loving smile on his face. As they get to where he is standing, he holds out both his hands and the Queen takes his left while the Princess takes his right. He holds their hands up to his lips and presses a kiss on top of each. Letting go of his mate's hand, he places Amelia's arm in the crook of his elbow, collects the goblet handed to him, turns around and faces the crowd. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you my daughter, Princess Amelia. It is in honour of her that we have invited you all today to help celebrate this important milestone of her life. I hope you all have a pleasant evening. To Amelia!" not one to say much, the King gives this short toast, raises the goblet in his hand and gulps down its contents. The guests follow suit with resounding “To Princess Amelia” and everyone drinks from their own goblets. 

The music continues to play and the King moves to stand in from of Amelia, "May I have the honour of your first dance, my darling", he asks with a doting smile, hand stretched towards her, palm up. 

Dizzy with happiness, Amelia nods her head with a bright smile and answers, "Of course Papa", and places her palm in his. 

King Damien, giddy with joy, secretly thanks the heavens for Marcus's absence, knowing if he were around, he her father, would only be relegated the second dance. 

He leads her into the middle of the room where a large area is clear of guests and whisks her around on a waltz. This heartwarming father-daughter dance goes on for an entire song. When it ends, they step back and bow and curtsy towards each other. He then leads her off the dance floor. 

Waiting are the rest of her brothers. They surround Amelia as soon as she gets close and bombard her with complements about how beautiful she looked but secretly wondered why she couldn't have looked a bit less beautiful. They had noticed how some Alpha and Beta sons had been staring at her and were just glad that she had yet to get her wolf and as such couldn't recognize who her mate was just yet. The idea of their little Princess being kidnapped by some bad guy (her mate) just made them so angry. 

Soon, the next song starts to play and everyone else can go and dance as well. Amelia dances with her brother Adrian amidst the other guests and out the corner of her eyes, she sees her Papa whisking her mother out onto the dance floor for a waltz as well, eyes filled only with each other. 

Looking around the room, she notices that a certain pregnant woman is missing and looks up to meet Adrian's eyes, "Where's Amanda?" she curiously asks. 

"She's upstairs resting right now. Her condition doesn't permit that she keeps standing for long. Also, with the bustling scene down here, it would be dangerous if someone accidentally pushed her", he patiently explains, a bit apologetic, "However she promised to make it up to you with a wonderful present for missing your birthday celebration", he adds. 

"That's alright", she answers understandingly, though still happy about the birthday gift compensation. 

After her dance with Adrian, she dances with Adam and with Alexander. In fact, Alexander nags for one more so she actually dances with him twice. Amidst it all, Amelia accepts well wishes from the guests. They all wished her well and were genuinely friendly as are all pack wolves to Royal wolves-they just couldn't help it. 

Pack wolves subconsciously feel an ever present urge to please a Royal. The mere thought of displeasing a Royal would send a normal wolf into fits of self-hatred. Even if the human side wanted to do a Royal harm, the wolf side would never allow it to happen. The wolf regards the Royal as almost the same as a parent, and no pup could hurt its parent.  However, this relationship was not one sided either. The Royal wolf is also subconsciously extremely protective of a normal wolf. The Royal wolf always feels an urge to protect the pack wolf and keep it safe and happy, no matter what. In essence, the bond between Royal and pack wolf is instinctive.

After that, she eats enough delicious food to burst. However, when she tries to drink some wine, she isn't allowed even a sip of the alcohol and of course, if she wasn't allowed any, then there was no way she was letting Alexander have any either. 

As Amelia makes her rounds around the room, she catches sight of a mountain of wrapped presents on a table by the entry way and her mood soars even higher. One of her favorite things in the world is the feeling of unwrapping a present. So seeing all those presents makes her incomparably happy. 

The celebration started at seven in the evening and lasts a total of three hours. It ends just a few minutes short of ten o'clock at night. The eldest prince, Prince Adrian stands at the top of the staircase where Queen Josephine and Amelia had come in from and makes the closing announcement. 

"Once again, the Royal Family thanks you all for coming from your various packs to help us celebrate this important occasion. The Princess shall receive her Mageia in just a few hours and as such, must get prepared for it. Your chambers have all been prepared in the East and North wings, and the servants will lead each and everyone one of you there. There is hot water awaiting you all in your various rooms for a nice relaxing bath and a proper rest thereafter. If you happen to be in need of anything, do not hesitate to pull the ropes hanging from the sides of each of your beds- those are attached to a bell in the kitchens. This will alert the servants and they will be with you shortly after", he announces courteously. "We hope you enjoyed the feast and we bid you a good night", and with this, he along with the rest of his family leave though the door at the top of the stairs. 

With Queen Josephine holding Amelia's palm in one hand and her mate's in another, with the three young men following from behind, they slowly and harmoniously pass through the door and into a hallway. Going left, they walk all the way to the end and take another left. At the end of this hallway is a door which leads to the Royal family's private sitting room. 

There, Queen Josephine gives Amelia a kiss on forehead and asks everyone to go rest for a bit and change into more comfortable clothes before they reconvene again in the sitting room after thirty minutes. 

Nodding their heads, they all go back to their rooms; the King and Queen walk slowly to theirs which they share, Alexander goes back to his which her shares with his mate, and Alexander, Adam and Amelia each go back to theirs. 

As Amelia walks into hers, still incredibly happy from the festivities, she finds Martha already in the room waiting for her. As she walks in, she notices that Martha had a dazed look and seemed to be a bit absentminded. She didn't even seem to know that Amelia had returned. 

"Martha..." Amelia calls out and the woman jolts a bit, and seeing Amelia, hastily performs a curtsy. 

"You're acting strange...could you have gone to see Darwin during the feast?" Amelia asks suspiciously, mouth widening into a teasing smile. 

Martha blushes a bright red and doesn't say anything. She quickly changes the subject, "Let me help you out of your clothes", she says with a quiver to her voice. Amelia bursts into laughter but let's it go. Martha helps Amelia out of her beautiful yet cumbersome clothes and she takes a hot bath after which, Amelia puts on a loose white calf-length nightdress with long sleeves. 

Face still flushed from her hot bath, Amelia goes back to the sitting room to find that the rest of her family are already there waiting for her- including Amanda who had previously been unable to attend the feast. And on the thick rug in the middle of the room, was her mountain of presents, moved there for her to open. 

Feeling like the night had gotten even better; she skips into the sitting room. 

Unknown to poor Amelia, her whole life was about to come crashing down in less than an hour.

Countdown to death of Princess Amelia: 1 hour 15 minutes