Fated to the Werewolf King

Chapter Three

CHLEO

Alpha Johnson and I got through breakfast and then we toured the hotel while we waited for our meeting with the King. My wolf was going crazy, trying to get out. Mate, she kept saying. By 2:30PM I was anxious and bouncy.

“Chleo, are you alright?” Alpha Johnson asked.

“I don’t know, my wolf is going crazy, she keeps muttering ‘mate’ in my head. What the hell is going on?”

“Maybe she wants you to take a chosen mate? You are twenty-one, she probably wants babies.”

“Oh my god, no!”

“Just saying,” he said.

“Alpha Johnson,” the King’s assistant said, “His Majesty will see you now.”

“It’s one hour, then we can let your wolf out to run, okay?” Alpha Johnson said, assuring me. I nodded.

As soon as we walked inside the ballroom, the scent of cinnamon and honey slammed into me again and I heard the King mutter something right before he pinned me to the wall.

“Your Majesty?” I asked. He looked at me in awe, like I was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“Your name?” He asked, the shock of being pinned to a wall still locked in my brain. “Please, tell me your name.”

“Chleo, Your Majesty,” I said, sucking in a breath. “My name is Chleo Evers.”

“Such a beautiful name,” he said.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Killian,” he said. “My name is Killian. Please don’t be so formal with me, you’re my mate.”

“I’m sorry,” I replied, “you must have me confused with someone else. My mate rejected me three years ago.”

“I did no such thing,” he stated. “I would never diminish the sanctity of the mate bond. I’ve waited for you for twenty-five years.”

“Your Majesty,” Alpha Johnson said. “My apologies, but Miss Evers speaks the truth.”

The King whipped around to face my Alpha. “Excuse me, Alpha?” The King said, sending Alpha Johnson to his knees.

“Please, Majesty, I mean no disrespect,” he said.

“Speak,” the King commanded.

“Miss Evers’ fated mate, Jacob Reynolds, rejected her on her eighteenth birthday and claimed her best friend instead.” The King turned to me.

“This is true?” He asked and I felt the tears building in my eyes. I nodded. “I can see how he broke your heart. Please, let me show you how the bond is supposed to feel. I know you feel the bond.”

“I don’t know what I feel,” I said, taking in a long whiff, “but you smell incredible.”

“Like cinnamon and honey?” He asked with a smirk.

“How did you know that?” I asked, confused.

“I heard you this morning, out in the hallway,” he explained. “Your scent is strawberries and roses, the most delicious scent I’ve ever smelled.

My wolf was prancing around in my head. Mate mate mate, she chanted. “My wolf says you’re my mate,” I told him. “But, I don’t know what I feel.”

“Your confusion is valid, the Goddess paired you with a wolf who rejected you but let me ask you this,” he started. “Do you dream of me, still?”

“How,” I started, “how did you know about my dreams?”

“Because I’ve dreamt of you, too,” he told me.

“I was told males don’t dream of their mates,” I said and I looked at Alpha Johnson for validation.

“It’s true, we don’t. I never dreamt of my mate before we met,” he said.

“I’m a royal, a direct descendant of the original werewolf,” he said. “The bond works differently for me, Little Star.”

“What did you just call me?” I asked.

He smiled a breathtaking smile. “Little Star.”

“You call me that, in my dreams.”

“I know,” he said, “because you’re the beautiful light that burns just for me.” He ran his finger down my cheek with his right hand while his left took hold of my waist. The sound of someone clearing their throat filled the room, pulling us from the trance we were in.

“Your Majesty,” a man said, “perhaps we should finish this meeting with Alpha Johnson and then you can have some time alone with Miss Evers.”

“Chase, Greg,” he said. “Her last name is Chase.”

“Your Majesty,” I interrupted.

“Killian,” he said, correcting me.

“Killian,” I said, “with all due respect, I need a few minutes to catch my breath and process all of this. Please, proceed with your meeting with my Alpha, and I’ll go to my room.”

“I just found you and you expect me to not only let you go, but also let out of my sight?”

“Please,” I begged, putting my hand on his chest. s**t, I could feel his heartbeat under the hard muscles.

He leaned in and growled in my ear. “Mmm, I’ve been waiting to hear you beg, only in our dream, you’re begging me to touch you.” I let out a short breath and stared into his blue eyes. “I’ll let you go, for now,” he said. “But after this meeting, Little Star, you’re mine.”

Killian released me from his grip and I quickly left the ballroom and straight to my room. After a few minutes, I called the only person I could talk to.

“Hey Chleo,” Owen said, “how’s the retreat?”

“Owen, something happened.”

“What? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m unharmed, but the King,” I said.

“The King, what?” He asked.

“He’s claiming I’m his mate and he knows of my dreams.”

“Whoa,” he said. “That’s huge.”

“That’s impossible, though,” I said. “Jake was my mate.”

“It’s rare but I have heard of second-chance mates.”

“Second-chance?” I asked.

“The story says that when we’re born, the Goddess pairs us with a mate. Which we know,” he explained. “But sometimes, we’re given a second chance. If our mates die or reject us, the Goddess will pair us with another.”

“But this doesn’t make any sense, I’ve been dreaming of the King since before Jake rejected me.”

“Wait,” he said. “Really?”

“Yes, do you remember the name I told you I’m always called?”

“Little Star?” He asked.

“That’s what the King just called me.”

“Holy s**t,” he said. “Do you think Jake was a mistake?”

“He had to be. Last night I had the dream again, only this time when I told my dream guy that he’d rejected me, he said ‘Never, Little Star’.”

“Wow,” Owen said, just as flabbergasted as I was. “How are you feeling about it all? What are you thinking?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I feel something and his scent is captivating, but I’m just a Beta’s daughter from a small pack. I’m not a Queen.”

“Well,” Owen said, “you are now. f**k, this is a lot to take in.”

“Help me,” I pleaded.

“If you want my advice, get to know him.”

“He said he wanted to show me how the mate bond is supposed to be.”

“I’ve heard the royals value the mate bond above all things. Even if they’ve had relations with others, those relations will be severed immediately when their fated mate is found.”

“He said he would never diminish the sanctity of the bond.”

“See, just as I said. Talk to him,” he said, “but be prepared, he’s the King, I doubt he’ll let you return home, at least not without him. Whether you like it or not, Chleo, you’re the Queen now.”

KILLIAN

“Alpha Johnson,” I started to say as I watched Chleo run from me. “I want you to tell me everything about my mate.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” he said, bowing. “What would you like to know?”

“Why is she accompanying you? I assume she is not your Beta.”

“She is not,” he said. “Her father is, but he has taken his mate on a cruise for their anniversary. Chleo is my Executive Coordinator, so she came in his place.”

“What prompted you to give that position to such a young wolf?”

“Her father is a dear friend of mine, since childhood. When I heard about her other mate’s rejection, I expected the same reactions I’d seen from other rejected wolves; distancing, depression, and anger. But Chleo rose above it.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“She was rejected on her birthday which was also her graduation day. Our school’s guidance counselor excused her from her classes and allowed her to go home. She also offered to have Chleo’s diploma mailed to her. Chleo accepted the pass to go home but refused to skip her graduation ceremony. She put on her cap and gown, held her head up high, and walked across the stage like everyone else.”

Our mate is strong, my wolf said, I smiled in agreement. “And this other mate, you said he claimed Chleo’s best friend instead?”

“That is correct, Your Majesty.”

“What Alpha allows such a disgrace and dishonor?”

“Your Majesty, I assure you I did not automatically allow it,” he said. “When Mr. Reynolds and Miss Clare approached me to grant their request to mate, I denied them. I told them how disappointed I was in them for defiling the sanctity of the mate bond and for that, the punishment was time.”

“Time?” I asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said. “I told them they had to prove their decisions to reject their mates were done out of love and not teenaged lust.”

“Decisions? As in plural?”

“Yes, Mr. Reynolds rejected Chleo just as Miss Clare rejected her mate, Owen Pierce. A decision made by them both so they could be together.”

“How long, pray tell, did you make Mr. Reynolds and Miss Clare wait for the ceremony to claim each other?”

“Three years, Your Majesty,” he admitted. “They had their claiming ceremony a few months ago.”

“Now I know why my dreams stopped and started again after such a large gap,” I said. “Her wolf shut down.”

“Your Majesty?” The Alpha asked.

“My dreams of Chleo began four years ago when I was twenty-one. I knew that meant I was dreaming of my mate. I longed to meet her,” I explained. “Then suddenly, the dreams stopped. I thought maybe I was mistaken, but now I know it was because she was heartbroken. The dreams began again last night. When did you arrive in my territory?” I asked.

“We arrived here at the hotel at precisely 2:27AM.”

“And when did my mate go to sleep?”

“Obviously we do not share a room, but we were both in our rooms before 3AM. I would assume she went to sleep shortly after that.”

“Her room number?” I asked.

“411, Your Majesty.”

“I, of course, inhabit the penthouse suite while I am away from the palace. The penthouse just happens to be the entirety of the fifth floor. We dreamt of each other the way we did last night, because my mate was directly below me.” I looked to Greg to confirm.

“Your Majesty,” Greg said, “room 411 is, in fact, directly below your bedroom in the penthouse. Miss Evers,” I glared at him, “my apologies, Her Majesty, was sleeping right under your bed.”

“That will be all for today, Greg,” I said and turned to Alpha Johnson. “I’m sure you understand.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” he said. “This meeting was a formality. Pearl has no grievances to report this year.”

“Thank you,” I said. “You are dismissed.”

“Greg,” I said.

“Yes, sir?”

“Get me a key to room 411,” I demanded.

“Of course, sir.”

“I have plans for my mate tonight.”

“Are you sure you don’t want her to move into the penthouse?”

“Of course I do,” I said. “But she is still adjusting and her heartbreak is evident, I want her to be comfortable, so if she’ll have me, I’ll move into her room.”

“I will get that key for you, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you, Greg,” I said. “Now, go call my sister, I’m sure she’s missing her husband.”