Fated to the Royal Beta

Chapter 2

Patricia’s POV

Nearly six years later…

It was a hot and sultry evening in June as we all stood out on the terrace of the Emerald Kingdom’s palace grounds. The full moon was just beginning to rise into prominence in the sky, and so the long anticipated shift of Prince Alexander Leonard Hart, henceforth to be known as Lycan King Alex upon his father’s immediate retirement from politics, was to begin any moment now.

Many family members had arrived from near and far to witness this momentous occasion. Also in attendance are the past and future Royal officers, friends, and other assorted well wishers. They had all come to cheer on the prince, including my family, my father Prince William Worthing, my mother Lady Sophie, me, and my twin brother George.

Alex’s soon-to-be Royal Gamma, Gavin Mason, sidles up right next to me, the ever irritating prick and Alex’s best friend and side kick. He pretends to wipe some nonexistent dust off of my shoulder, and then snaps my bra strap like some immature schoolboy. I roll my eyes at his gauche behavior.

“Your eyelashes are considerably longer than that skirt you’re wearing this evening!” Gavin criticizes me just as he always does. “And your neckline is far too low and revealing to be considered proper attire for a chaste she wolf. Why don’t you go put on a sweater or something before someone gets the wrong idea about you?”

“Because I’m hot!” I inform him with what I consider to be a clever double entendres. “Now go away and bother someone else.”

I turn away and stare over at Prince Alex, who looks relaxed and ready, waving merrily at the crowd of onlookers as if he hadn’t a care in the world. Gavin growls angrily and goes off in a huff.

“Ignore the future gamma,” my mother mutters in my ear. I hadn’t even realized that mother had been close enough to hear that exchange of words. “He’s not worthy of your notice. Keep your eyes on the prize, sweetheart!”

“Of course, mother,” I reply obediently.

Alex removes his light robe only moments before he begins to shift, and I’m sure that I wasn’t the only observer in the crowd that was drooling over the delicious view. Tall and broad shouldered, with dark wavy hair and sapphire eyes that glittered with merriment, Alex is eye candy even when fully clothed. But naked, Alex was a masterpiece to behold! He has more muscle than seems decent, and a shapely toned ass that I just want to grab and hold on to! I even caught a quick glimpse of his p***s, one which he has no cause to be ashamed of, surrounded by thick, dark, curly pubic hair. His body is so perfectly formed that it could have been carved by a renaissance master!

The exchange of words between Gavin and I are completely forgotten as I ogle our future king. Mating with Alex will certainly not be a hardship!

Very soon, though, Alex was being covered in quickly growing fur as he makes the surprisingly swift first shift into his werewolf, Rain. It ends up taking only a few minutes, when normally a first shift can take as long as half an hour.

My own wolf Belle perks up as Rain begins to emerge. Mhm, now THATS a handsome beast alright! He’s going to make someone a fine mate someday!

We will be his mate, I remind her. That’s what my parents want for me. They want me to mate with Alex and become Queen Luna of the Emerald Kingdom.

I don’t know if thats the best thing for you though. Your parents want that for their own political advancement, which they don’t even need, Belle reminds me. If they really cared about your future happiness, they’d tell us to wait for our fated mate! And Alex probably isn’t it, since he would have scented us out by now if we were. And he hasn’t shown the kind of interest in us that he ought to have if we were his fated mate.

To my overly ambitious parents, though, fated mates are fine only so long as there aren’t better options available. And right now I have the opportunity to snag the new Lycan King as my mate if I get this right.

Once Alex has completely shifted, it’s time for everyone else to shift and join the new king in a pack run. I haven’t had my first shift yet, so I turn to head back inside the palace while those who can shift begin to disrobe. I see my friends Izzy and Jan heading inside as well, so I decide to go chat with them. It’ll be hours before Alex is headed back to his suite in the palace, so I have time to hang out with my BFF’s.

“Don’t forget the plan,” father stops me, reminding me of my ‘duty’ to our family once more. Ugh! “We’re all counting on you, so don’t screw it up.”

“Don’t worry, father,” my brother George, a.k.a. The ‘golden child’, answers before I do. “If Patty screws this up, at least Alex has tapped me to be his Royal Delta after my first shift!”

“Yes, your mother and I are both very proud of you, son,” dad says fondly, tousling his hair. The smarmy suck up.

“I’ll try my best,” I add, but only mother seems to hear me.

“Good luck, sweetie!” Mom says, kissing my cheek. Then my parents quickly shift and run off to join the pack run along with everyone else who can shift.

“Do you need my help to find the right suite?” George asks me. “I’ll show you the way. My rooms are just across the hallway from Alex’s.”

“No thanks,” I say, heading back inside the palace. “I’m pretty sure I can manage all on my own.”

“It’s really no bother,” he insists, walking beside me despite my desire to ditch my twin. And he won’t shut up even though I’d rather prefer his silence if he’s going to walk me all the way to the new King’s bachelor pad. “I think it’s exciting, both of us helping Alex to rule the Emerald kingdom. Me as his Delta keeping the kingdom safe as the head of security, and you as his Queen Luna!”

“Yep,” I agree automatically. “It’s everything we’ve been dreaming of!”

“Are you nervous at all?” George asks me as we head towards the grand staircase. “I could give you some pointers on what male wolves like if you think it would help.”

“I’m pretty sure most werewolf males like their partners to be virginal, naked and willing,” I say, not really wanting to have this conversation with my own brother. Eww! “So check, check, and check!”

“Well, sure,” he admits sheepishly. “But it also helps if you compliment them on their physique, and tell them what a good lover they are.”

“Ok, got it!” I reply irritably, still wishing that George were far away from here. Like Timbuktu. “I think I can manage all of that without your help.”

“I‘ll see if I can’t slip a little something into Alex’s drink that’ll help at the private party after the pack run,” George says with a wink. “I have just the thing to get Alex into the right mood.”

As much as I dislike the idea of my brother’s interference, I decide not to object. For one thing, he’d probably try to drug Alex anyway. And secondly, my failure to become the new Queen Luna would disappoint my entire family.

Thankfully we soon reach the door to Alex’s bachelor pad on the 4th floor of the palace. One that is quite some distance from the now former Lycan King and Queen Luna and their large family in the penthouse on the 6th floor. I’m glad I don’t have to try and sneak into the Royal family suite with all those wolves hanging about. That would be incredibly awkward!

I enter Alex’s private apartment, and I’m surprised by what I see. I had expected it to be messy and disorganized, and decorated pretty much like the rest of the palace.

Instead the space is warm and inviting. It’s decorated in neutral tones, and other than a stack of books on a side table and a guitar taking up space on a creamy beige colored couch, the place seemed to be very well organized and tidy.

I know I have plenty of time before Alex returns to his suite of rooms, so I look around at my leisure, getting used to Alex’s scent. I’m hoping to glean information from his things about his hobbies and interests. I locate the bedroom, and enter without hesitation. Then I carefully take a peek inside the drawers of his nightstand, finding an open box of condoms. The box claims there are 12 condoms inside, but I only count 10.

“My oh my, our Prince certainly isn’t waiting for his fated mate, is he?” I muse out loud as I remove the foil packets from the box.

We really shouldn’t be in here, Belle reminds me. And we definitely shouldn’t tamper with those condom things! Our fated mate might forgive us for mating with another wolf, but he certainly won’t be happy about it if we have another wolf’s pups!

I’m just following orders, I remind Belle. I can practically feel her roll her eyes, but she knows as well as I do that it’s the truth as I take a thin needle and poke nearly imperceptible holes through the middle of each square foil packet.

“There, now we just need to wait for lover boy to arrive, and seduce him!” I say quietly as I stuff the condoms back into the box and put them back in the drawer precisely where I found them.

I spritz on a bit of musky perfume, then stretch out on the bed wearing only some flimsy lingerie. I try my best to strike a sexy pose that is comfortable enough to maintain for however long it takes for Alex to show up. Eventually I get bored of waiting, though, and I must have fallen asleep. I’m awoken sometime later to my worst nightmare…

“GRRR!”

My eyes flutter open at the unexpected noise.

“Oh, crap,” Alex says in an unexpected panicked voice. “I swear I wasn’t expecting Patricia to be in here!”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Gavin shouts angrily at me.

Shit!