Eden’s Destiny (The Royal Quads: Book 1)

Chapter 4

Eden

My heels clicked down the sidewalk as Phoebe and I walked arm in arm along the main street through Regal Ridge. I glanced at the various little shops as we walked by. A couple of boutiques, a*****e offering photography classes, an ice cream shop, a fur dying shop of all things, and one that I couldn’t help but squeal out loud when I saw - a yarn store.

“No offense, Eden… but you really are an 80 year old she-wolf at heart.” Phoebe giggled as I practically pressed my nose to the glass to peek in at the rows of yarn. I stuck my tongue out at her as I straightened up and kept walking.

“Crochet is coming back in style, thank you very much!” I told her with mock-snootiness. We turned the corner once we hit the town square and a crowd of teenagers could be seen entering a brick building with flashing neon signs.

“There it is!” Phoebe exclaimed.

The Howler appeared to be a two-story club with a large patio on the second floor. I looked at the crowd that was forming on the patio as we walked up the sidewalk to the building. Scanning the faces, something caught my attention immediately. A couple of girls were standing at the railing. They were both wearing way too much makeup and shirts that left very little to the imagination and they were very obviously flirting with and hanging all over a tall, gorgeous guy with wavy brown hair that hung in his eyes. Tucker.

“Oh hell no!” I exclaimed and began shoving my way through the crowd. I made it inside the club and looked for the stairs leading to the second floor. The flashing lights and loud music left me almost disoriented in the unfamiliar surroundings, but I finally found what I was looking for. I hurried up the steps and out onto the patio, racing towards my boyfriend, when I stopped. 

Tucker was smiling down at the girls, and I recognized the look on his face and in his eyes. It was the same way he looked at me when we first met. I stood for a moment, watching him to see what he would do, when the girl with short black hair leaned up to kiss him. Instead of pushing her away like I had thought he would, Tucker wrapped his arms around her kissing her back. 

Furious, I stormed over to him, grabbing the girl and pulling her away from him.

“What the f**k!” She shouted, glaring at me. I shot her a dirty look and turned towards Tucker. 

“That’s exactly what I want to know. What the actual f**k Tucker? You come all the way here to see me and I catch you making out with some bimbo?” He rolled his eyes and reached for me but I stepped back.

“Babe, come on. Yeah I came to see you but you moved away Eden. You can’t honestly think that I’m going to just sit around and wait for you do you?” He looked completely appalled at the thought. I looked at him in shock.

“Yes!” I screamed at him. “Yes, that’s what I think because that’s what you told me you were going to do! That we were going to wait as long as it takes! That you would be here on my 17th birthday so that I could find out that we were mates! You promised me, Tucker!” I couldn’t help it. As much as I hated crying, tears began falling. Tucker looked at me and, unbelievably, he laughed.

“Aw, babe. Don’t cry.” He chuckled. “I think you forgot that I’m already 17. I’d know if you were my mate, and let’s be real. You’re just not her.” His words hit me like a train. I stared at him, barely believing what I was hearing.

“Then what the hell were you doing with me Tucker? Why date me? Why lead me on and tell me those things if you knew I wasn’t your mate?” I wanted to yell at him more, but my heart was breaking and I could barely get the words out.

“Why not?” Tucker shrugged as if it was no big deal at all. “I mean, it would have been more fun if you’d slept with me, but we’ll get there eventually.” He smirked at me. Was he serious?

Hurt and angry, I reached out and slapped him across the face as hard as I could, causing his head to whip sideways from the force. His eyes darkened and he glared at me as he turned his head back towards me.

“Knock it off, Eden.” His growled. I knew that I was in danger of Jett, his wolf, taking over. “You’re making a scene.” Without hesitating I raised my other arm and smacked him again, forcing his head the opposite direction.

He stepped towards me and instinctively, I stepped backwards. It was then that I realized that a crowd was forming around us, with some people holding up their cell phones, recording everything.

“You little b***h!” Tucker hissed at me. “You’re going to regret that.” I rolled my eyes at him.

“The only thing I regret is wasting my time with trash like you. Don’t you ever speak to me again!” I turned to walk away from him and immediately, Phoebe was there, a sympathetic look on her face. She took my hand. 

“Come on, Eden. Let’s get out of here.” We shoved through the crowd but before we could get to the doorway of the patio, we were stopped by two large men in dark suits, the Regal Ridge Pack crest on the chest of their jackets. “Shit.” Phoebe said. “They’re the heads of the royal security team. We’re busted.” She told me sadly. The taller man with the blonde hair’s eyes glazed over for a moment before returning to their original dark brown color.

“Princess, my name is Lucas and this is Steven. Your grandparents have been notified that you’ve been found. We are to return you to the palace at once.” I didn’t even argue, I knew it was pointless. I nodded, refusing to look Tucker’s direction, and followed Lucas, with Phoebe and Steven behind me, down the stairs and out the building. Lucas and Steven escorted us into a black SUV and I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. What was with the dark colored SUVs anyway? The first thing I would do as Queen would be to order them all to be painted teal. The vehicles sped off into the darkness, away from the lights of downtown Regal Ridge.

~*~*~*~

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing young lady?” Grampa Greg’s voice bellowed, echoing through the hallways. “You are the Princess, Eden! The future Queen of this Kingdom! You cannot be gallivanting around in the middle of the night without anybody knowing where you’re at! It’s not safe!” His eyes were black now, and I knew this lecture was coming from both him and from his wolf, Grant. He turned to look at Phoebe. “You, young lady, are dismissed. We will have a discussion with you later.” Phoebe glanced at me quickly before scurrying off to her room.

“Grampa, I’m sorry.” I told him, but my voice didn’t match my words. I couldn’t muster up the proper tone for an apology when my heart was shattered. “Can we please discuss this tomorrow?” I was trying to fight back the tears, but it was useless. I wiped at my face, refusing to look at my grandparents.

“Eden, honey,” Grammy Sarah cut in before Grampa could start in on me again. “We know that this is a sudden and difficult transition for you, but you need to remember who you are and where you are. You cannot be starting fights over insignificant little boys that aren’t even your mate. People were recording you Eden. Tomorrow this will be all over town and we are going to have to do some serious damage control.” This was too much.

“Are you kidding me right now?” I asked her angrily. “I get my heart broken because I basically catch my boyfriend cheating on me and I end up getting lectured because I didn’t react appropriately? This is bullshit!” I cried. Grammy Sarah shook her head disapprovingly.

“I’m not minimizing your feelings, Eden. I’m just asking you to respect our rules.” She told me. “The rules are strict, but they have been carefully set up to keep you safe. You are the future of this Kingdom and there are people out there that are not happy with that. Making such a public scene is going to put a target on your back.” I looked at her, thinking she was joking, but her face was stony and serious.

“Why would a fight with my now-ex boyfriend put a target on my back?” I scoffed.

“You look weak.” Grampa Greg told me sternly, still glaring at me. “Displays of behavior like you showed tonight make you come across as emotional and undisciplined. You represent this entire family and by acting foolishly, you portray our entire family as foolish. You looked like a fool.” HIs words stung and my tears fell harder. Grammy reached over and put her hand on his arm, shaking her head.

“That’s enough for tonight, Gregory. I believe we’ve made our point.” She told him. She moved closer to me and gave me a hug. “Get some sleep child, we really are going to have a lot of work to do tomorrow to fix this.”

I left Grammy and Grampa standing there, talking softly between themselves. I slipped into my room, closing and locking the door behind me. I went into the bathroom and washed up, ridding myself of the tearstained makeup and leaving my face clean, but with my eyes red and puffy from crying. As I was pulling down the covers on my bed, I heard my phone chime from where I left it on the dresser. Picking it up, I noticed that I had an unread message.

Tucker: If u lose the attitude, I’ll consider forgiving u.

As soon as I read his message, I threw my phone across the room and watched it slam into the wall. Of all the f*****g nerve! Leaving my phone lay on the floor where it landed, I crawled into bed, pulling the sheet up around me. I blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall again and made a promise to myself not to cry over that bastard anymore. Tucker Townsend was dead to me.