His Fateful Choice

Everything has changed

When I was sixteen, my parents took pity on me and decided, that I would finish school attending the Royal Inclusive High school in the royal city of Taras instead of the school on the pack grounds. 

There I finally wasn’t “the weird one” again, well, at least not so much. One of the perks of attending a school in the city is that the people living there were much more accepting of diversity compared to the monolithic society of my pack. In Taras, werewolves, belonging to a pack as well as rogues, live beside humans and occasionally some other less frequent creatures in relative harmony. 

See, the royal cities are governed by the Royal pack, or more specifically, by the Royal family, who are all Lycans, who are said to be stronger and bigger than ordinary werewolves. 

I doesn’t matter if you are a human, rogue or a pack werewolf. Once you are on the royal territory, you must all abide the same rules issued by the Royal family. This is also the reason, why some bigger and richer packs, like the Amber Pack, choose to settle on their own territory. Although they also must abide some core rules, pay some taxes, provide warriors if needed and respect the Royal pack, they are allowed to manage their internal affairs independently. 

There at the Royal Inclusive High I met my best friend Bill, who is a human. We bonded over our love for camping and everything nature and wild related. Every other weekend during our times together in Taras we used to go wild camping and exploring. We ate only what we gathered or hunted, you know, the human style. One fall we didn’t catch anything. Thank god for the mushroom season. Bill made my last years of high school more bearable. I mean, it was still a high school.

After graduation I went back to my pack and Bill enrolled to the Taras Police Academy. We are still in touch, although we don’t see each other as much as we both would like. He has his hand full of being a police officer and apparently, dating A LOT, and I must be at hand to my pack.

With one last thought of my Bill I entered the common bathroom designated for the assisting staff living in the attic. Here I quickly cleaned myself and got dressed. Checking my watch I ran as fast as I could to the communal kitchen. There I was greeted by three pack members, who were already cooking. 

“You are late! That’s a first. What happened?” asked Maria, while she was preparing some fruits. 

It made me smile a little. I like Maria. She is a nice girl who doesn’t care for gossip and thinks only the best about everybody. Unlike me. 

“I’m not late, well at least not technically. I was meant to have a day off today, but my sister decided, I don’t need it.” I said sourly. 

“Oh, how nice of her, so you can be here with us!” chirped Maria. Yeah, she is not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, but I don’t care. I can talk to her without her judging me and making me feel like a lesser person. It’s only fair I do the same. 

“You are right, who needs a free time anyway.” I said to her, lightly amused. I went to the vegetables and started preparing them. We worked in silence for a while.

“It’s good you are here though. I’ve heard that  one of the royal brothers is comming today. I’m not sure which one, but I’ve heard they are all really good looking.” She said suddenly while wiggling her eyebrows at me suggestively, making me laugh. 

“Yeah, I’m really lucky to be serving him his tea.” 

“Well what do you know? Maybe he will fall in love with you! I’ve heard that two of the three brothers have yet to find their mates! You could be one of them!” she said enthusiastically. 

What a hopeless romantic she is. Sometimes I wish I allowed myself to be a little bit romantic, just to make my life brighter. But my experience taught me, that if you don’t have any dreams and hopes, nothing and no one can crush them. 

“You know I don’t have a mate. And even if I did, it wouldn’t be anyone prom the Royal pack, especially not a prince.” I said, the cheery mood suddenly leaving me. 

"Oh, you don’t know that! Just because you haven’t found him yet doesn’t mean you won’t ever find him! And who is better suited for a prince, than a girl who looks just like a princess?” 

This made me burst out laughing “Please! Me and Princess?” 

“I said ‘like a princess’” she rolled her eyes and she stuck out her tongue at me. 

“Yeah right. Unless you mean like an enchanted princess. You know, the one before she is kissed by the prince. The one who looks like a toad.” said a familiar voice behind me, making me turn around. 

“Gemma!” all the workers said in unison while bowing their head. 

“Gemma...” I said, not bowing my head. This made her glare at me, although I suspect she would be glaring no matter what. We were not on the best of terms. One of the reasons might have something to do with the lack of my respect. 

See, since I don’t have a wolf, I don’t naturally feel the status of each wolf, which means submission doesn’t come naturally to me and I don’t bow easily to forced authority. In other words, if you want my respect, you need to earn it. 

The other reason for her apparent resentment towards me could be the fact, that I once hooked up with her mate, our future Alpha. The Alpha everyone thought would be my mate.

It happened shortly after I returned to the Amber pack from Taras, at the Alphas eighteenth birthday party. Almost everyone was there. We all gathered in the great hall of the pack house just before midnight to celebrate with him. After the struck of midnight the happy birthday song was sang and the enormous cake was brought for him out of the kitchen. Until this point, Josh seemed happy, although I wasn’t really paying attention to him. I was joking and dancing with Bill, who was  visiting. 

Suddenly, his mood drastically changed. No one knew what caused it, some think it was because he was hoping to find his mate, but that didn’t happen. Even though it is not impossible for a wolf to find his mate before he turns eighteen, it is rather unlikely, because their wolves are not mature enough to recognise all the signs with certainty, so they don’t tend to call for their mates before they are sure.

With the birthday boy being all moody, the party came to an end just before one in the morning. Everyone went home except for the assisting staff, which includes me, who started cleaning. While cleaning, I noticed that the top of the cake, designed especially for the young Alpha, was still untouched. This meant he didn’t have any. 

With a sigh I gathered some of the cake (along with some courage to visit the lion’s den) and went up the stairs to his study. I knocked, but no one answered, so I slowly opened the massive mahogany door. He was sitting in his chair behind a noble looking desk with his hair tousled and face hidden in hands. He looked up when he heard me closing the door without saying anything. 

“Hi -” I said timidly. Why so suddently? I didn't know. After a second, when I was sure he won’t go for my neck, I continued “- I brought you some cake. It would be shame, if you didn’t taste it. The bakers have really showed off this time.” 

But he still didn’t say anything and just watched me like a hawk. I placed the plate on the desk in front of him, but he didn’t even look at it and just continued watching me. Just then I noticed I had some of the cream on my fingers, so naturally, as the socially awkward person I am, I couldn't think of anything better than to try to lick it off of them. When I was about to lick my last finger, his hand abruptly stopped me. 

Just then I realized how inappropriate my action was and was about to apologize, because in my defense, the cream was excellent. 

Suddenly he pulled my hand towards him and before I could react, he took my finger into his mouth, licking it clean. I was too shocked to do anything, so I just stood there and watched him slowly pulling my finger out of his mouth. I could feel his velvet tongue glide along my finger, which caused an electric current to flow through my body and soft moan escaped my lips.

‘What the hell?’ I thought, ‘You shouldn’t react like this to only a touch from a guy who in the last couple of years didn’t bother to utter more than a few words with you.’ But then I felt his eyes on me and realized, that while I was having my regular moralizing session, my hand is still near his mouth, my fingers lightly touching his lips. 

My cheeks blushed even more, and I tried to take my hand out of his grip. My effort broke his trance and suddenly I was pulled onto his lap, which made me squeak out of the surprise. His proximity made my face go volcanic red. He on the other hand was frowning as if dissatisfied. Before I knew it, I found myself being turned around by two strong hand and pushed onto him, straddling him o his chair. With horror I realized that this position awoke a different volcano within me.