THE WOLF PRINCE'S MATE

ANA'S POV: It was the first party of my first year at college. Beers, bonfire, and numerous groups of people. Seriously, this place was full of cliques. I never understood what is the point of staying in your own niche of people when you are attending a college full of all other kinds of supernatural beings. I mean, what is this pack mindset, not everyone here is a wolf. But that is another truth about this place. Werewolves are considered the most important species because they were also the most powerful in terms of brute strength. I belong from the neighbouring nation of Herissa. For further studies and training, my parents, the first duke and the duchess have sent me to the kingdom of BoraBora. As an exchange student, you’d think that you won’t get noticed much but as a junior, you are vulnerable to become the target to a lot of powerful bullies. From my first day in college, I happened to catch the eyes of the most powerful guy in this school and now people from his friend circle don’t miss a single chance to try to put me in my place. For the first week, I fought back hard. Even broke the nose of his best buddy for calling me a slut. Yeah. The fact that I am near royalty doesn’t work when I’m not in my kingdom. He responded by pushing me back into the locker but didn’t do much either. After that, it didn’t end but became lesser in frequency and I just try to avoid public eye now. Not because I’m afraid but because I’d much rather not entertain these absolute morons by giving them what they want. I have better class than that. So yes, where were we? The party! I had the fortune of meeting a really great friend in my year though. He is a dragonborn. So that may be another reason why the bunch of clowns don’t mess with me anymore. He’s the son of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of BoraBora. But in all honesty, he’s just a shy nerd. And sweet. Really sweet. It was his idea to bring me to this party. Unlike me, he has got a lot of friends, but that would be an understatement since wherever we go, it is boys nodding at him as a sign of respect or girls muttering a shy Hi. I won’t lie; Jason is really hot. But it just feels like he’s doing an act of charity by being my friend. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a great friend but up in the hierarchy, it matters more than just being a good friend. Class and status go a long way as well and let’s be honest. He isn’t getting anything by being my friend. Not to mention that I am already betrothed to the second crown prince of Herissa. My family belongs to the coven of the most powerful witches of this century and so my parents decided that it would be safer for me to know where I will end up. The royal family in our kingdom is of the clan of Supermoon werewolves. Although witches and werewolves don’t mix too well, I have had the fortune of mingling with the best of the best. My country is really secular and not at all like this place where everyone is constantly at their throats and with so much politics around you could almost fund an entire political drama out of this. So, Jason pushed me into coming here, at this party since one of his close friends was throwing it and so far, it’s going decent. I haven’t been the subject of snarky remarks and cold comments. But I do wish this night ends quickly and I get to go back to my room quickly where I can just watch a movie and binge eat fast food. Witches, are known to be extreme introverts or extreme extroverts. We don’t really live in the grey area in between these two choices. And we don’t need to think really hard in order to figure out which one am I. And maybe Jason understands that because after an hour of me awkwardly hanging around from group to group after him, he offers to take me back to my room. The campsite is a couple of kilometres away from the hostels and Jason is a gentleman. There’s no way he’d let me go by myself maybe because he was worried about the bullying and concerned that something would happen to me. So, I accept his insistent proposal and he leaves me for a couple of minutes near the fire to go and talk to someone before leaving. He asks me not to go anywhere and that was just him being cute. It’s not like he cannot smell me from miles away, after all, he’s a dragonborn from the royal bloodline. While he walks away, a waft of air hits me and it felt like someone casting a spell somewhere. Training aside, we were not allowed to use our powers in the campus because of the multitude of creatures present here. The rule is honestly necessary for maintaining discipline in the academy. I look around, catch the eye of some people who have already been staring at the campus weirdo. There is that, and fire, booze, wasted teenagers… there’s something else that is missing here. The magic in the air feels dewy. It a witch’s intuition and powerful witches like me are all able to sense such intensity of cauldron fire. There aren’t many witches in this kingdom. They burned theirs long ago in the medieval ages. //Sitting all alone, mouth full of gum, in the driveway. My friends aren’t far, in the back of my car, lay their bodies ........// While I’m standing there, entranced by the magic in the air, someone pushes into me and I almost fall face first into the fire, but I swerve on my left leg and turn back in time to save myself. Turns out, it was none other than the crown prince’s minions. This time, it was the girls trying to gang up on me. Sabrina, another dragonborn sneers into my face. “You think you’re so much better than the others just because Jason’s paying attention to you right now?” “Yeah, Jason is big with charity cases. Do you remember that girl he took upon to protect in high school, Bree?” Says another one called Emma. “What, did you guys throw her into the fire as well? Jeez witch hunting is a medieval practice, girls. Grow up.” I bite back. “You think we won’t burn you for this disrespect as well?” retorts Sabrina. “If you want Jason’s attention, just go and ask him for it. Don’t come and try to kill me instead, it would not do anything but gather more hate for you. Anyways, I didn’t know trash like you was called royalty here, calm down I’ll mind my business in the future”, I say trying to get away. But the bullying wasn’t done yet apparently. “What makes you think you can talk to me like that, Witch?” She grabs me by her superhuman force and throws me back and I crash into a strong hard chest. Two free hands grab me and cushion me from falling. “Easy Bree. Don’t actually physically damage the goods.”, says the voice I recognize as Teddy. Another one of them, God! "Look who we have here, if it is none other than our sweet little Ana." His hands start snaking around my body when I give him a reverse kick to his groin. He grunts out loud. “I like this one, she is fierce.” He laughs as I walk away, done with this nonsense for today. I was going to get back on my own. Apparently, Jason is missing for some reason and I am now fuming. I barely reached my car when Jason comes from nowhere and calls me out. “Anastasia, where are you going all by yourself?” I turn around, shocked because I didn’t feel him anywhere around me which means that he used his speed to get to me. “I just want to go back to my room”, I reply. His nostrils twitch as he comes near me. “A guy touched you? Did he do something indecent?” I divert my eyes. “I know you don’t like putting people into trouble Ana, but you are a guest to our kingdom and protecting you is my responsibility. If you just let me intervene, I will catch these people who are bullying you. They are going to get it really bad!” I divert my gaze. Of course, just a guest. Not a friend. That is all I was to him. A duty. I move around to get into the driver’s seat. “I will drive”, he snatches my keys and takes my right hand to escort me to the passenger’s seat and strap me into the seatbelt. Not like my struggle would have done much. He is huge and has super strength. Ugh. Men and their huge egos. He starts the car and the drive back to the dormitory was uneventful and quiet. I caught Jason looking at me a few times but he was just worried about me. Charity case or not, he cares for me. It was wrong of me to let Sabrina’s words get to me. We reach the campus grounds. Thorpe Academy was one of the top institutions in our continent in terms of training and education of all its students. The curriculum was perfect for future leaders. It was reputed and sported exquisite barriers and learning technology, equipped for the education and protection of the nest generation of VIPs. My dad was an alumnus and insisted that I go here because he considered the education here to be the best. So yeah, I had big shoes to fill. We park the SUV and Jason accompanied me to my room, walking quietly behind me. I could feel his eyes on my back constantly. Not surprisingly enough, he had his room in the same corridor. He got his room shifted near to mine after the bullying started. Although I never experienced any cases in the dorm. Most bullies and spoilt brats lived off campus, to my glee. The dorm, although impeccable, housed only a few. Jason lived here because he was the student council member and had duties to attend to, all the time. Also, one of the reasons I got to be his friend. “Thank you for tonight, Jason. I really appreciate you taking me along but you have to understand that I don’t mix well with the others. You have got to stop doing this. Although I love that you always take care for me but please no more parties for now?” I told him, turning to face him at my door. He had an unreadable expression on his face, one which I couldn’t decode. “It’s your choice Ana” was all he said before humming a goodnight and going back to his room.