The Alpha King's Invitation

Chapter 4: Getting Settled

Raelynn’s POVThe man in front of us was tall and had a lot of muscles. He had light caramel-colored skin, chocolate brown colored eyes, and shoulder-length brown hair that was shaved on one side was pulled back into a low ponytail at the base of his neck. He was dressed in a beige-colored three-piece suit with a red and black handkerchief sticking out of his brass pocket. He wasn’t wearing a tie, instead, his top button was undone and you could see a little bit of his chest.

He was hot in my opinion, I turned to ask Maya what she thought but found that she’d stopped a few steps behind me.

“Maya?”

She didn’t move. She just stared at the man who’d welcomed our pack. She had a strange look on her face, as if she was suddenly frozen in shock.

But her eyes said something else, I saw emotion after emotion flit through her eyes; joy, shock, fear, happiness, longing, lust. Then her eyes went black and I heard her breathe out one word, the reason we were all there.

“Mate.”

I looked back to the man and he didn’t look like he’d noticed Maya yet.

“Maya, you ok?” Xavier asked.

I waved my arms trying to get the man’s attention, surely he could smell her. Mates were supposed to be able to pick out their mate’s scent from among hundreds.

I took a deep breath, put my fingers to my lips, and whistled.

The man’s attention moved to me and then he froze looking over my shoulder. His face went from one of curiosity to one of fury in about two seconds.

I turned around to find Xavier with his arm around Maya’s shoulder. I quickly moved to grab X and move him away from Maya as I heard a loud growl emanate through the room.

“What-” X tried to ask but I put my hand over his mouth and watched as the man stepped down from whatever elevated spot he was on, and the crowd parted to allow him access to a shaking Maya.

She was panting as he drew closer and I could hear him muttering something, “Mate. Mate. Mate. Mate.”

I smiled. She’d found her mate. And she was right too, he had to be high rank.

Power seemed to be seeping out of him from every pour, it radiated leaving you feeling like you should respect him immediately.

He walked right up and stood so close to Maya that she almost staggered back. He placed his hand on her waist and with the other hand, cupped her face.

Once he touched her, she instantly became calm and relaxed into his touch.

“What’s your name?” He whispered.

“Maya. Maya Santiago.” she breathed.

A small yet endearing smile spread across his face. “My Maya.”

She smiled back at him, “Yours.”

He moved his hand down her shoulders and arms to grasp her hand. He took it, bowing deeply, and placed a kiss on her hand, “I’m William, Prince William. And you, are my princess.”

I was stunned. Prince William? As in the Prince soon to be Alpha King, Prince William?

Maya, my best friend, is mated to the Alpha Prince?

I couldn’t believe it and apparently, neither could Maya. Maya blinked blankly at him, speechless for once. She just stared at him as he straightened up and pulled her closer by her hand and he kissed the inside of her wrist.

“I’ve been waiting for you.” He whispered into her skin.

I felt heat creeping up my back, this seemed like a very intimate moment that maybe the whole pack didn’t need to see.

Xavier seemed to have the same idea and cleared his throat.

That maybe wasn’t the best idea on his part because Prince William turned and glared at him, his eyes going from a warm brown to black.

“It’s nice to see you again, Prince William.” Xavier said, bowing his head to show the back of his neck in submission. “On behalf of my pack, I thank you for your warm welcome. And I am pleased to see that my friend Maya is your beloved mate.”

At the mention of Maya I saw his eyes soften. Maya wrapped her arm around his and leaned into him.

“You know my friend Xavier Black?” she said sweetly, stressing the word friend.

She put her hand on his chest and that seemed to calm him down further. “Yes, Welcome Alpha Xavier. It’s good to see you again.”

He cleared his throat and turned away from us, “Well my princess, should we escort your pack to the reception desk?”

She smiled and nodded and reached back for her suitcase and fluffy pink backpack.

He was quicker, grabbing the rolling handle, “I’ve got it.”

Maya smiled adoringly up at him and motioned for me, Xavier, Owen, and Alex to follow her.

I looked at X and he just shrugged and grabbed his and my suitcase handles and rolled them after the Prince and Princess.

The reception desk was huge and had four people behind it. The one in the front was a woman with dark skin with cornrows that were tied into a tight neat bun. She had red lipstick and light eyeshadow and diamond studs going all the way up her ear on both sides.

She stood up on a chair and cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “Welcome to the Royal Grand Hotel. My name is Amilia and I am the General Manager of this fine establishment.”

She straightened her gray vest suit jacket over her black long sleeve shirt. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call the front desk or approach a staff member. We are here to serve you to the best of our ability.”

I looked around and saw a few smug grins on a few faces. I didn’t like that. “But they're not here to be your slaves so be respectful.” I yelled.

Amilia looked at me and I swear I saw a slight smile dance across her lips, but it was brief. “The hotel and Royal’s have prepared a pamphlet that you will get along with your room key’s. It outlines things like the amenities of the hotel, club hours, and detailed overviews of the Mountain trip, Ball, Beach Vacation and The Royal Fair.”

“If you lose it, please feel free to pick another one up at the reception desk. If you lose your room key, you will have to pay for a replacement, so make sure to keep track of those. And thank you in advance for your patience with getting you all a room. Make sure that you have a partner of the same s*x to share a room with, we will not allow any boy-girl pairs unless you are mated. And thank you for choosing to stay with us.” 

Amilia got down from the chair and smoothed out her vest, “Alright, Let's start with the Alpha.”

Xavier stepped up to the counter, “That would be me, Alpha Xavier Black.”

Amilia looked at the names on a clipboard and nodded, “Yes, Alpha Xavier, Beta Owen and Gamma Alex.”

Owen and Alex stepped up to be on either side of Xavier.

“The Alpha suite assigned to you has three rooms so you can pick another person to stay in the suite, I would suggest-”

“I pick Raelynn Langley.” Xavier said before she could suggest anything.

Amilia looked at Xavier with a suspicious look. “It’s not advisable to have a girl in the same suite as three boys.”

“Well her best friend and roommate just found her mate, so she’s all alone.” He said, glancing at me.

“I’ll be fine ma’am.” I said smiling, “One of the boys is my brother, so it’ll be fine.”

She frowned but typed something into the computer. The boy next to her turned around and walked over to a counter and came back with four pamphlets. Each one had a magnificent picture of the Royal Castle on it.

“Here are your pamphlets,” She said, taking them from him. She opened one and showed us the inside cover of it. It was a table of contents and on the inside of the cover was a pocket with a key card. “As you can see your key cards are inside. Now I’d like you all to sign a standard contract that basically says that if you break anything or destroy hotel property, you will be held responsible for them and compensate the hotel for their costs.”

I nodded, signed and dated the paper where she indicated. I wasn’t intending on breaking or destroying property, I’m just gonna sleep in the bed and stay here through the week till I can go home, with or without my mate.

“Thank you Amilia, I know the way to the Alpha suites so I’ll show them.” Xavier said, taking his pamphlet.

“Amilia, would you call a guard and have them take Maya’s luggage to my room?” Prince William asked politely.

“Right away your highness.” She said bowing and picking up the phone.

“We can walk with them if you’d like.” He said, smiling at Maya.

She smiled and nodded, turning to look me in the eye.

I could practically read her thoughts as they screamed at me. ‘I don’t want to be alone with him just yet.’ I smiled at her to let her know I got her message.

Xavier grabbed our luggage again and rolled them towards what I assumed was the way to the elevators.

"I've been here before." Xavier said, pushing the up button to call the elevator.

"Oh my goddess." Maya gasps.

I turn to her and she's staring behind us. I turn to see what she was looking at and I see a huge and beautiful pool with two hot tubs, a waterfall, and a rock ledge that you could sit on. There were ball lamps suspended and cradled with thick rope. Off to the side there were chairs and tables, each table had a thick stack of white fluffy towels.

"We gotta check that out." I smiled.

Maya nodded her head and smiled at her mate.

"Sounds like fun." He chuckled.

Once the Elevator got there we all were able to fit in comfortably.

"Oh. Where are my manners?" Maya gasped after a moment. "This is my best friend Raelynn but everyone calls her Ray. That's her brother Owen, this is Alex and you already know Xavier." Maya gestured to each of us in turn and we all bowed our heads.

Prince William took my hand and bowed, placing his forehead to the top of my hand. "It's an honor to meet you Raelynn. Thank you for being there for my Maya."

I chuckled feeling a little awkward at the formalities, "Your welcome. But really it's her who's been there for me. You have a priceless gem on your hands. Don't f**k it up or I'll kill you, I don't care if you are the Prince Alpha."

I half expected him to get angry, I did just threaten him after all. He just laughed and nodded, "I expect nothing less from a best friend. I dare say that my best friend might say the same thing.”

“So when did you stay here last?” I asked Xavier, leaning against the railing of the elevator as we passed the seventh floor.

“It had to be a little over two or three years ago for Alpha Callan’s ceremony.” He mused.

“Alpha Callan of the Red Nightwalker Pack?” Maya asked.

“Yep.” He said, “I was here for two days with my parents.”

“Callan is actually my best friend.” Prince William said casually, “Funny that he’d come up right after we talk about best friends.”

He looked over at me and considered me for a moment before the elevator dinged and we got out onto the 15th floor.

“Wasn’t there another two floors?” Owen asked.

“Yeah but they’re for bigger packs.” Prince William said simply, “The sad truth is that the bigger the pack and stronger the pack members, the higher ranked the pack is.”

I felt defensiveness brewing in my chest, he seemed to sense it because he immediately followed it up with, “Your pack has very good standing, you’re by no means at the bottom.”

I didn’t like this classism. My pack was great, sure we didn’t have a militia and we’re not popping out pups like a machine. But we take care of each other and we’re there if anyone needs something.

Xavier took his card out, swiped it once, and opened the door. The suite was nice with beige-colored furniture, a big TV, and a stocked minibar and kitchenette. There was a pair of double doors, and four other single doors.

“The double doors are to the Alpha’s room.” Xavier said pointing, “This room is usually for the Beta but we’ll give this to Ray.”

When X pushed the door open I couldn’t help the feeling that came over me. The room was beautiful. It had a reasonable amount of space with a four-poster bed in the middle of the room, a seating area and a reading window with cute decorative pillows.

“I love it.” I sighed.

“I knew you would.” Xavier chuckled.

He moved on to show the others their rooms and I heard Owen kick up a fuss when he got the ‘extra’ room.

I was about to do a belly flop onto the bed when a door I hadn’t noticed opened, “Ray the three of you will have to share a bathroom so I’d lock this door so Alex can’t sneak in if you know what I mean.”

I rolled my eyes, “He wouldn’t do that but I get that.”

He smirked, “You could always use my bathroom.” He winked for emphasis.

I grabbed a throw pillow and threw it at him, but he closed the door for a shield.

I bit my lip before I jumped on the bed giggling.

“X is right, you are happier now that you’re not at home.” Maya chuckled from the door.

I looked up and saw the prince behind her and stopped giggling, “Well like you said it’s being away from the pack.”

“And your powers have been uncapped.” The Prince commented.

Both Maya and I stared at him, “What?” We said at the same time.