The Shadow Twin

Chapter 2 - Meeting the in-laws

----Kayden POV----

Sheila showed up out of know where, something she usually did, but it still took me by surprise each time. She pushed me up against one off the walls, just outside my bedroom and her lips found mine in a heated kiss. I growled deep when her hand landed on the bulged on my pants and she smirked before putting her hand down said pants. I turned us around and pushed her back hard up against the wall, our lips not leaving each other’s for a second. She was about to go down on me when someone faked coughed, and my head snapped up. Deryn, the Graycrest Packs Beta and therefore my Beta, since I was the Pack Alpha, stood there with a neutral expression on his face and with his eyes fixed on me and not Sheila.

“What do you want!?” I roared and he cleared his throat, before answering my question.

“We have a slight problem, Alpha.” I let go of Sheila and turned to face him, with an irritated expression.

“Spit it out man.” He looked down at Sheila for a split second before looking up at me again. She got the hint and kissed my chick before she walked away with a whole lot of hip sway, but Deryn did not say a word before she where out of sight. I gave him a look, that told him I had enough of his little game.

“I heard your parents talking about how the Kingdom is struggling to survive and that the Mebobet Empire is willing to help. With one condition though.” I made a hand gesture, telling him to get to the point and he did with a neutral expression despite the words.

“You are to marry the ruler’s youngest daughter.” I punched the wall in frustration, at his words.

“You got to be kidding me.” I roared and punched the wall one more time, making the hole even bigger.

“Afraid not Alpha.” With that I stormed down the hallway heading straight for my dad’s office. Here I pushed open the doors and they hit the walls with a loud bang, but I did not care. I walked straight up to the desk, put my hands on the table and looked directly up at my parents.

“I’m not marring her.” They silently looked at each other with a pained expression and with the background noise of the doors slamming shoot the silence that followed got even more intense.

“I already have a Mate.” I continued, when they said nothing, and my dad nodded slowly at my second response.

“I know but an arranged marriage is the price for their help, which we so desperately need right know. People are starving.” Not my problem… Not right now at least, I thought to myself. I knew that our supplies were being stopped and the food that we did grow, wasn’t enough for the people, but right this second, I didn’t care about other’s problems. Not when it would affect my Mate.

“What about Ryder or Rylee? They do not have a Mate or even a girlfriend. Nobody they love, so why not them?” My mom sighed at my harsh comment, but it remained the truth. I had Sheila and my brother’s had none.

“We tried honey, but you are the Crown Prince and that’s the person they wanted to marry their daughter. We do not have a choice Kayden. You just need to make it work.” Right know I hated my brothers for backing down from the Crown. Originally Ryder, who was the firstborn, was supposed to be the Crown Prince, but as he got older, he lost interest in taking over for our parents. So, he gave up the title and it was passed on to his twin brother, Rylee, but he isn’t really King material. Quite the party-type and a lady’s man, so he gave up the title as well and therefore making me the Crown Prince. Rylee did somehow manage to become the Alfa of one of the nearby Packs, a story he never cared to tell, and kind of merged it with mine, but not completely though. It’s still two independent Packs, with two different Alphas, who’s just helping each out and making us one of the strongest Packs within miles of our Kingdom. Ryder is more the scholar and wise guy type, that spends most of his time in the library, but he too is Alpha of a nearby Pack, although still further away than Rylee’s. It’s a small one and more a Pack of Wise Wolfs, than worriers. He and his Pack helps Wolfs in need, regardless of which Pack said Wolf belongs to or if it is a Rouge, a Pack-less Wolf. But both could hold their own in a fight, they just rarely got into fight’s, because it was always up to me, just like now, even though I was their little brother.

“This is Princess Leigh Mebobet.” My mom handed me a picture and I focused back on my surroundings.

“Not the best picture, we know, but it’s the only one we got.” I looked down at the picture my mother was holding, that showed a female with dark hair reading a book by the water. I took the picture from her and held it closer to my face. The quality of the picture was way to crony to make out any features, but the second I laid eyes on the poorly taken picture I felt a spark. My wolf woke up within me and started humming low in my head. I handed the picture back to my mom, to freaked out about my wolfs reaction and sighed.

“I’ll do it for the Kingdom and that’s it. And I’m not leaving Sheila for this girl.” I knew that I didn’t have a choice in the matter, but I still wanted to make it perfectly clear that I was going to stay with my Mate, despite being married to this girl.

“Woman, Kayden, woman. She’s the same age as you.” My mom gave me a stern look, but I didn’t really care. This girl couldn’t hold a candle to my Sheila.

“The Mebobet will be here in a couple of hours so make yourself presentable.” And with that my dad dismissed me. I growled before leaving the office. They f*****g waited till she was almost at my doorstep before telling me. If Deryn hadn’t told me, I knew I wouldn’t have found out until the second we were standing at the damn altar.

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I made my way down the stairs to the grand foyer and made a byline for one of the rooms in the east wing, where Sheila was waiting for me. She was pacing back and forth on the century old carpet that hid most of the wooden floor. I was not looking forward to this talk. She looked up as I walked in and gave me a big and seductive smile.

“A tux? Really? How is that an emergency? Not that I’m complaining.” She pulled me close and kissed my jawline, while pushing herself even closer to me. I sidestepped and cleared my throat. I had to just rip the bandage of in one painful go.

“My parents agreed to an arranged marriage to save the Kingdom.” She looked at me shocked. She then backed away from me with pain in her eyes.

“You agreed to this?” She held back a sob before steeling herself. Her eyes turning slightly darker as she drew strength from her wolf.

“Why the f**k did you agree to this? What about me? About us?” I shook my head. She always did is. Turn a full 180, when it came to her emotions, especially when it came to anger and sadness. Something I didn’t quite understand, but being a wolf herself, it might explain it. Or maybe not, cause my mom or sister or any of the other female wolfs in my Pack wasn’t like that. Sure, they had mood swings to, just like any other wolf, but not quite like Sheila, hers was way different. An while I had come to expect them, I never knew how to actually handle them.

“I didn’t have a choice. My parents had already agreed to it before I found out.” I sighed and grabbed a hold off her.

“But you will always be my number one. This girl can’t take your place babe.” I put my lips to hers and kissed her hard. Within seconds after our lips touched, she had her legs wrapped around my hips and I was holding her in place with one arm around her hips, while the other rested on the wall behind her, to steady us. Steps was coming our way, but I didn’t care, not one bit. All I wanted to do was reassure my Mate, that I wasn’t leaving her for someone else. I trailed kisses down her neck, and she moaned and started grinding against me, making me growl.

“If there were any way out of this marriage, I would take it, but it’s just not possible.” I stopped kissing her neck and found my way back to her lips, but she moved her head.

“I want you to make her life a living hell then. You’re mine and only mine.” I hummed, agreeing to her terms. I was not the least bit interested in this girl anyway. Sheila crashed her lips against mine again and I kissed her back, just as hard. The footsteps stopped abruptly, and my wolf was suddenly begging me to look up, so I did. My heart skipped a beat at the sight a couple of steps away from me and my wolf was howling in excitement. There, in the doorway stood my bride, I just knew it was her. She was wearing a simple white dress, with a small trail behind it, a wedding dress, I guess. The sleeves stopped, slightly after the elbow and the neckline modest, while it did show her collarbones, it hid away any sigh of cleavage. Her dark brown hair was gathered on the left side and held in place with two rows of hairpins with pearls and a white lace mask covered her face. Her dark brown eyes had a hint of bronze in some places, and they looked at me in disbelief. The shitty picture my mom showed me earlier didn’t do her justice. She was breathtaking, even though her face was covered by the stupid mask. She looked so pure, innocent, and so absolutely perfect in her white dress. Her whole being undid me in a way to impossible to explain. I stood there frozen with Sheila clinging to me and my wolf begging me to walk up to my fiancé, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. It was the pain in her eyes, pain that made my gut twist and my own shame, that kept me from waking up to her. She then looked down, turned on her heel and walked away, making my wolf howl in pain in my head. He was raging inside me, fighting for control and it took all of my own self-control to keep him in. Never have something like this happened before and his behavior confused me like hell. What was his problem? Our Mate was right here in my arms and that girl was nothing, expect a future pain in the ass. I put Sheila down with an irritated growl.

“She got her faster than I hoped.” I sighed and Sheila pecked my lips and then smiled mischievous.

“At least she now knows that you. Are. Mine.” She bit her lower lip before walking out of the room swaying her hips sexy from side to side. I was indeed hers and I was just waiting for my wolf to catch up, so I was able to Mark her. Something I haven’t been able to do yet, it just didn’t feel right, like my wolf was struggling to accept her. I fixed my tux and my hair before returning to the grand foyer were, I found my parents waiting for me together with my fiancé and her family. She didn’t look at me, not even for a second as I walked up to the group of people. Her mother reached out and I shook her hand.

“Kayden Carr, I presume?” She smiled to me before turning to the man by her side.

“I’m Empress Amill Mebobet and this is my husband Emperor Isaac Mebobet.” She emphasized the Empress and Emperor part. She then turned to the females by her side.

“And this is my daughters Crown Princess Ceit Mebobet and Princess Cior Mebobet.” I gave the daughters a small nod after I greeted the Emperor with a handshake. She then grabbed hold of my fiancé and pushed her in front of her.

“And this is Princess Leigh Mebobet.” Leigh made a small curtsey, but didn’t even look at me, she just fixed her gaze at a spot next to my shoulder. It was pissing me off, but I kept my mouth shut. No reason to make a scene right here, right now. Amill then clapped her hands together.

“Shall we continue, now the introductions are over?” My parents nodded and showed the way to the formal living room where the ceremony was to be held. I took my place by the improved alter with Leigh by my side and the Minister said his things. I toned out for a second, not really listening. I had a lot to do, like informing the Pack that we would be having an uninformed human in the castle, something we wasn’t used to. Most of the ‘guards’ that patrolled the grounds were werewolves and part of my Pack. The ones patrolling the front was humans, but they were informed about us. It was the same with the staff in the castle, some of them were members of my Pack, some were humans and most of them knew the truth but not all. The Minister got to the part with the mandatory vows, which didn’t really have any heart to them, and I just said yes at the right time, still not fully listening. The rings were brought forward, and I took hers, sliding it on to her ring-finger on her left hand, careful not to touch her. She then took my ring doing the same and she where still refusing to look at me. The metal was cold against my skin, and it felt weird wearing the ring. And when she slightly touched me, to secure the ring a shiver ran up through my arm. A strong unknown feeling started to run through my entire body, and I looked at her with a hard gaze, one she didn’t meet. I knew nothing about this girl, but she still managed to spread my emotions all over the place and f*****g up my wolf. I… Well disliked was too weak a word, but hate was maybe too strong, but I wanted her far away from me. Why did she have to ruin MY life?

The kissing part was removed, because I refused to kiss her, and we were then pronounced husband and wife. Wuhu… or not. The people around us where clapping in celebration, but it didn’t sound that cheerful.

“We should get going, we have a long way home.” Amill gave my parents a small smile before ushering her family towards the foyer.

“You don’t want to stay for the night?” My mom hesitantly asked, but Amill just shocked her head.

“It’s a long way back like I said, and I don’t like being away for too long. It was nice finally meeting you all.” She made a small nod and then rushed through the doors, like she couldn’t get out of here fast enough. Thank god, I didn’t really like her, despite not knowing her at all. She just seemed so fake and arrogant and so what if she was an Empress? I was still intitled to my opinion and my wolf was backing me in my take on the Empress.