Her Royal Right

Mate

It was the day of my birthday as well as our graduation party and Alpha Ceremony. Yeah, we have a lot going on today. Alpha Maxwell had invited the Rising Sun pack and the Crescent Moon pack, and some of the surrounding packs that were allied to us to celebrate with us. As well as the transfer of Alpha from Maxwell to Jr., everyone is really excited as I am in my room getting ready for the party. I have my own room in the third story, I do not remember when we moved up here, but from what my brothers and guardians told me after we became pack members, we moved up here. Though when I turned 10, I got my own room, I was able to decorate it, which was fun. I choose the color scheme of maroon and silver. I have a queen-sized bed made of light oak. However, my brothers all have Cherry wood. I have a large window with a bench to look out of it. I also have a walk-in closet that has a built-in dresser and shoe rack. I think Luna designed this room for me. My bathroom is nice, with a large jet tub and a separate shower. I am standing, looking out the window, and watching the other pack members preparing the Alpha Ceremony. I am just watching, and a feeling of sadness overcomes me. I do not understand why I should be sad. I love Alpha Maxwell and Luna Airaleena. They have been like parents to me, but I can not help feel this overwhelming sense of pressure and sadness. Aster is present in my mind; I ask her if she is feeling sad. “No, why are you feeling sad?” Aster asked me. “I do not know; I think it is because now my brothers will be pressuring me to find my mate. I don’t want to find him; I want freedom.” I tell her.  “I know, I can feel their excitement of going home, and they want things to go back to the way they were,” Aster said. 

“But what does that even mean. I do not understand what that means. What does that mean?” I ask her. 

“I do not know,” Aster replies. “We should head down to the party.”

“Why, it is not like they will miss me,” I tell her. I love my wolf; she has been my only real friend. I am glad that I have had her to talk to since I was a child. She and I are the same. Sometimes I forget that we are two separate beings. I love how we move as one; when I am shifted, the feeling is amazing. 

“Maybe we will leave the party early to go for a run,” I tell Aster. I can feel her excitement at the prospect of running. “Yes, girl, we should as soon as we are done meeting all the people we need to,” Aster replies.  As I am heading down to the main floor, I see Elijah waiting for me. 

“You look nice, Lilly,” he says. 

“Thank you, Elijah; where are Isaiah and my brothers? I am surprised they are not here.” I reply to him. 

“Yeah, they told me to bring you to them; they have a surprise,” Elijah informs me.  

“Oh, we like surprises, don’t we?” Aster asked me. “Of course we do, but I have a bad feeling about this,” I tell her as I follow Elijah out to the backyard. We walked past people setting up for the Alpha ceremony, and I noticed they were looking at Elijah and me as we walked by. I could hear their thoughts as we were walking by.

“Who is she? Why does the Alpha keep her hidden? She is beautiful. Why is Elijah with her?” many people were asking. It hurt me to have my own pack members ask those questions of me. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I did not see the person in front of me and bumped into him.

“Wow, there chick-a-dee, you about took me out,” Bryce said to me. I laughed and told him, “ I am sorry, Bryce, I was not paying attention to where I was going.” 

“I can tell, what has your mind so occupied today? It is because I know it is your birthday and I got you a present?” Bryce asked, smiling. Bryce has always been really nice to me. He would play with me when I was a child.

                                                                                * FlashBack* 

I was six at the time, and I  wanted to go to the lake, but my brothers told me No, it was unsafe to go. I was sitting on the stairs by Maxwell Jr.’s door when Bryce saw me crying. He asked me why I was crying, and I told him that I wanted to go to the lake and go swimming with everyone else, but my brothers had told me no because it was unsafe since they had to work and couldn’t come with me. Bryce sat with me and asked if I knew how to swim? I told him no because my brothers didn’t have the time to teach me. Bryce looked at me and asked if I had a backpack, I told him I did, and he said, let's get it. We went into the room I shared with my brothers and got my backpack. He asked if I had my swimsuit and a towel. I grabbed them, and we put them in the backpack. Bryce then snuck me out of the house. He shifted and had me get on his back, which I got to ride all the way to the lake. He shifted back and had me change, and he changed and taught me how to swim. We had so much fun. He was like the brother I wanted but didn’t get. We were having a great time when I got a mindlink from my brothers demanding to know where I was as Bryce got a mindlink from our Alpha. I told my brothers that I was with Bryce and that I was fine. Dominic demanded that I come back to the packhouse now. I knew I was in trouble. I got out of the water and changed back into my clothes. Bryce also got out but winked at me with a smile. “Don’t worry, chick-a-dee, did you have fun?” he asked me. “Yes, I did.”

                                                                        *End Flashback*

“Did you get me something?” I asked him excitedly. 

“Maybe, just a little something,” he tells me as he hands me a small silver box with a maroon ribbon on it. 

“Thank you, Bryce!” I told him, hugging him. Elijah growls at him. “Calm down, Elijah; you guys need to back off her. She will never know how to interact with people otherwise,” Bryce tells him. “That is none of your concern, Bryce. You are not her mate, nor family.” Elijah tells him. “Stop Elijah, why are you guys so mean to Bryce? He was just nice.” I tell Elijah. “He does not like to follow instructions all that well. And he gets you into trouble.” Elijah responds. Bryce and I look at each other and smile. “Yeah, but it is the only fun I get to have,” I tell Elijah. He looks at me and then minds links me, “You are the future Queen; you need to start to act like it. It is very likely you will find your mate soon, then you will need to take control of the kingdom and bring back the balance.” I look at Bryce, in which he mind links me, “being lectured again, about your responsibilities?” “How did you know?” I replied. “Open your gift,” Bryce tells me. I look at the box and take off the ribbon and the silver paper to reveal a black box. I open the black box to reveal a beautiful rose gold necklace with a rose gold crescent moon with the two crescents on either side (which is the Goddess symbol) with a green jewel at the end. “Oh, My, Bryce, this is so beautiful! Thank you so much.” I tell him, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Elijah grabs my arm and pulls me away from Bryce. “Elijah, what is wrong with you? I have not done anything wrong.” I demand from him. “What you did was very inappropriate, Lilly. You know this.” He responds. Bryce looks at Elijah and shakes his head. “Here, let me put it on you, Lilly, I saw this, and it was like the Moon Goddess herself told me to get it. I knew it would look beautiful on you. And it does.” Bryce tells me. He looked at Elijah and me, and I knew he was being linked. “Alpha needs me. I will see you around chick-a-dee, and happy birthday.” Bryce tells me as he walks away. “You can not be touching other men; Lillian, you know better. Why do you keep associating with Bryce knowing that we do not like it?” Elijah asked. “Why does it bother you all so much. He is not my mate, I know this, but I feel this draw to him. And he has been a good friend when I needed one.” I tell Elijah. “You have your brothers and us; you do not need anyone else,” Elijah said. “That is what you keep telling me, but that is not what I need,” I tell him as we start walking again to where my brothers are. Under a giant oak tree, I see Alpha Maxwell and two other Alpha’s standing next to him with my brothers. They are talking and laughing. I tell Aster, “why do they look so happy when I am so miserable? Why are we not allowed to talk to anyone other than them?”

“I do not know,” Aster tells me when suddenly I feel her excitement and fear. “What is wrong, Aster?” I ask her. “I don’t know yet; let me figure it out,” she tells me. As I walk up to the group, I smell the intoxicating scent of fresh-cut summer grass and cedarwood. The smell is making me feel dizzy but in a good way. When I looked up to where the smell was coming from, I was met with the most intense hazel eyes. Looking at them, I can see the different blue, green, and gold hues flow around, looking like liquid. As I look in his eyes, Aster yells “Mate!” in my head, distracting me as he says, “Mate.” I look back up at him, and time seems to stand still and visions of what my life will now become. How much my brothers will be happy, I look at them, and they look so shocked and happy. They start talking a mile a minute about how they will finally get to go home and how everything will change. I started to panic. I didn’t want to find him; I didn't want to go back to Russia. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The pressure was starting to smother me. Aster pops in my head and tells me to “run, sweetie, just run for freedom; we can always come back.” I see my mate walking towards me, and I look at him in fear, not from him hurting me, but from the pressure that my brothers have put on me. I turn and shift and start running. I hear my brothers and mate yelling at me to stop, but I can not. I am not ready for this. I keep running, and I hear them running to try to catch up with me. I can hear my brothers in my head. “STOP, LILLY. YOU NEED TO STOP!”  I can feel tingling in my body, and I do not understand why. “Aster, what is going on?” I ask her. “Sweetie, we need to get out of here. They will make us mate with him, and our life will be over. We need to get out of here once we cross the boundaries. We can use the magic to get us out of here.” She tells me. “What magic?” I ask her. “Just trust me,” Aster says as we race towards the pack boundaries. I can hear the warriors coming, and we just run faster, dodging trees and rocks. I just let her take full control. And we run across the border and feel the snap of losing the pack. I almost stop as I hear my brother's howl, but I do not stop. I hear someone chasing after me, and just as the tingling becomes too much, I feel a bit on my tail as the world falls away.