The Prince is My Mate

Ch. 6 Working Hard

Peter's POV

1 month until ball

As the day of the ball drew closer, I became even busier. My father had put me in charge of the ball. I had to check that everything was ordered correctly and was on the way. I walked down to the kitchen and checked the food orders.

"Just checking on the food orders," I said to the head cook.

"Everything that could be ordered early has come in. Everything else will come in a few days before the ball," she stated. I nodded and we went back over the menu.

"It seems that you have everything in hand. I will talk with you again a few days before the ball to check that those ingredients have come in," I said.

I then checked the gardens to make sure that all the flower gardens were doing well. After that, I met the head Omega maid who was in charge of the rooms. All rooms were already cleaned and would be freshened up by the time of the ball. The tailor was working on my suit and would have it ready by the day before the ball.

"I don't know why you keep checking things each week," Guy said as he leaned back on my sofa in my room.

"Was there anything changed from last week?" Ethan asked as he sat on a chair next to the sofa.

"Father is trusting this to me, so everything has to be perfect," I explained.

"You are becoming OCD."

"Chill out. You need to trust your people to do their jobs," Guy said.

"I know, I know," I said. "I'm just worried that something's not right."

"It will be fine. Now let's watch some TV and relax," Ethan said.

We turned on the TV and I tried to relax.

Violet's POV

I scrubbed the pots and pans in the sink and glanced at the pile beside me that didn't seem to shrink no matter how many I washed. It was getting late.

Father had decided that now that I was 18 and my wolf had in fact appeared, I needed to do more work around the pack. He had pulled me from school so that I did all kinds of odd jobs, plus helping in the kitchen. Oak and Cherri still went to school. Oak had Alpha training afterwards and Cherri did the Luna's work (practice for when she will be the prince's Luna).

"These should have been washed ages ago," the head cook grumbled.

"I'm sorry, Matilda. The maintenance crew needed an extra set of hands today," I tried to explain.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Always the same with you. You were probably sitting around with that friend of yours again."

She was referencing the one time I broke down and cried while Stephanie comforted me. Matilda had caught me "slacking off on the job" and reported me to my father. I had received a heavy scolding because of that.

I was crying because my father had promised to allow me to come to the birthday party, but then made me do a lot of jobs that day. I hadn't finished and missed my birthday party. They hadn't even saved me a piece of cake. From the pictures I saw, my name wasn't on the cake or banners hung up. I had been erased just like every year. I know it shouldn't hurt me, since they do this every year, but this time my father had promised that I would be able to go.

The next day, I had been in the garden working and saw Stephanie. She asked how the party went. She had been working that night so she couldn't go, but she knew about the promise. I just looked at her and tried to come up with something, but the only thing out of my mouth was a sob. This was followed by tears. Matilda saw and reported it to my father.

I hadn't even bothered to defend myself. As far as he was concerned, he had done nothing wrong. I was just a thorn in his side that he couldn't wait to get rid of. He kept me busy so that he didn't have to see me.

"Scrub harder! These dishes won't clean themselves!" Matilda shouted.

I scrubbed harder and kept cleaning. By 11 pm, I had finally finished cleaning the dishes. I trudged up the stairs and to my room. Sleep overtook me within moments of me laying on my bed. I hadn't even gotten out of my cloths.

In the morning, I awoke to pounding on my door. I slowly made my way to the door.

"Yes?" I groggily asked as I opened the door.

"Are you planning on sleeping in?" the Beta asked.

"What?" I was still very sleepy.

"It's eight in the morning! You should have been in the kitchen by now!"

"Oh... I'm sorry. I overslept."

"Sorry won't cut it. Wake up and get down there!" The Beta walked off.

I took a quick shower and changed my cloths. Then, I hurried down the stairs to the kitchen. Matilda just glared at me.

"Do you think you get special attention just because of who your father is?" he asked. I stayed quiet as I began washing the dishes. "Stop causing problems for others."

She continued on, but I stopped listening. I decided to think about my wolf. I had a gray wolf. She was tiny, like me. The doctor had TD me years ago that when I get my wolf and my mate, I would be one stronger. I felt stronger than I had before I got wolf.

The night of our party, I had gone outside after cleaning dishes from the party. I was feeling restless. I ran around the pack house, but I still felt it. I saw Oak and Cherri with father ahead of me. I went to them, wanting to be with my family.

"What are doing here? Shouldn't you be cleaning dishes?" Father asked.

"Something feels wrong, Father," I said.

"Go to your room if you are finished. Oak and Cherri are shifting. You probably won't shift since you're so weak." He grabbed my shoulders and turned me towards the house. I took a few steps and fell to the ground. "Stop being melodramatic!"

That's when I heard the cracking. First from Oak and then Cherri. I knew from classes that their bones were breaking and reforming. As fur was growing out of their skin, my own change started.

My bones broke and fur came out. My face elongated and a tail began to grow. I was on all fours and my cloths shredded off my body. I watched as my siblings who were already naked continued their shift. Finally, three wolves stood on wobbly legs. Oak was a beautiful black wolf with blue eyes. Cherri was a reddish brown wolf with brown eyes. I looked at my paws and saw that they were gray. I must be a gray wolf, then. Father praised them for their beauty. He never even looked at me. Oak and Cherri took a few steps and then on steadier legs, ran off into the woods with Father shifting and running behind them. I wanted to run, too, but father linked me.

"Shift back and go to your room," he commanded. I couldn't disobey the command, so I shifted back and ran to my room naked. I didn't have any cloths to shift into since I hadn't thought I would shift.

I had wanted to go out since then, but was always too busy. I had managed 2 times to go out for a run at night. My wolf was always restless. I knew it wanted to run, but I was always exhausted.