Chapter 2 – A Young Prince

14 YEARS AGO – Hunji 18 years old

HUNJI

I woke up in bed alone. Disappointed that Divya’s side of the bed was cold yet again. Huffing out in annoyance at her absence, I threw back the covers getting out of bed. I had initially woken with a smile on my face. But that insanely happy feeling diminished once I discovered, and not for the first time my mate’s spot was empty.

I met Divya six months ago, a few weeks after I had turned 18, and was visiting Ishmel, a city outside of the capital of the kingdom Eririat. She was the daughter of lord Bijan, the Alpha of that city, and my father had been invited to talk politics, among other things. He had insisted my older brother Rostam and I accompany him. ‘It is good rapport and when you become king you will need these connections and the backing of the noble packs’ is what he had said to us. An outsider would think he was a good father bringing his sons to important meetings and teaching them how to be good leaders so early on.

If only they knew, and maybe they did, that he had made it a competition between the brothers, tried to pit us against one another in a bid for the throne.

In truth, I was the rightful heir to the throne, the legitimate heir. I was the fourth eldest son and the only male born to my father’s goddess-given fated mate. Yet our father, King Panja (Parviz Tikaani), wanted us to show him who would make the better king.

Truth was, I didn’t care. I didn’t want to be king; I preferred my books, lectures, and training. I would be happy to serve under our eldest brother as his Delta and lead our Army. I lived for battle, and I was good at it. I was the best in combat and weapons it was where I felt like I could be me and release my wolf’s adrenalin.

The second and third sons Farid and Abbas, in respective order, didn’t see it that way, of course, their greedy asses didn’t. They wanted the seat on the throne more than anything. Driven by a mother whose greed matched my father's and that of their own.

I sat listening, but not paying attention to the meetings and conversations that lasted well into the afternoon. Finally, the talks had ended, and we were invited to have afternoon tea with the Lord Alphas family.

We were led into a grand conservatory, decorated with all different kinds of plants and shrubbery. A long table sat in the middle of the conservatory, with an arrangement of food and drinks. "My Luna and daughters should be here in just a moment," Lord Alpha Bijan said and gestured for his old friend to take a seat.

"Ahh, here they are" The Lord stood up smiling as his Luna, and three other young ladies walked in. I immediately caught the scent of daylilies and stood up, my wolf growling out ‘mate’ when I locked eyes with the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in the whole realm. Her long black hair was braided down her back, and her eyes were almond-shaped and a chestnut brown.

"Mate" I growled echoing my wolf.

Divya was the second eldest daughter of Lord Alpha Bijan. I remember the pale-yellow Kaftan dress, embroidered with silver threads that hugged her slim frame and flared at the hips hiding her slender legs like it was yesterday. The way she blushed when I called out to her, and her whispered word mirrored mine. My manhood instantly stood to attention when her pink lips parted. I was eighteen and full of raging hormones. Divya wouldn’t be my first, but she would be my last.

For the rest of the afternoon tea, my father and hers were already talking semantics of her moving back to the kingdom's capital with us.

In our kingdom, it was not traditional for a king to mark his mate. Rather, it was looked down upon. It was more common for the king to take several mistresses, regardless of whether he had met his fated mate or not. For instance, my father already had 3 mistresses before he met my mother his fated soul mate. He never marked her and proceeded to take on 4 other mistresses over the years. That did not include the two before her, my brother’s mother. Somewhere in history it was determined, the more concubines a Royal king or prince had, and the more heirs said royal produced, the greater and stronger the bloodline.

I had never shared the same sentiment. I never wanted anyone except my mate. I found the idea of harboring mistresses when you had your mate distasteful.

As soon as I had laid eyes on Divya, I knew she was the only one for me. I would never take a mistress; my mate was the only woman I would ever want and need. I had only just met her, already I was in love.

I had held off marking Divya for the past 6 months, since the day I met her, and we mated a few days afterward. Despite my wolf, Ruda, pushing me to mark and mate her every second of the day and at night when I laid claim to her, making love to her. I had resisted for 6 months but last night, my wolf was too eager and pushed to the forefront of my mind. And while deep inside her my canines had tingled and elongated and I couldn't resist the urge and sunk them deep into her marking spot.

At first, I thought Divya would be angry that I had marked her, after all, the king, my father had in not so many words forbidden me from doing it. But much to my delight, Divya had relished in the claiming, her body submitting to me in a way that I would never feel again. Hence the reason I woke up with such a huge smile on my face this morning.

Yet for the past 3 weeks, I had been waking up every other day, to the absence of my mate. The first couple of days, she had been with a few of my sisters having breakfast with them.

Sometimes she would be taking a walk amongst our gardens, or just around the palace itself. I couldn’t fully grasp what was going on; my own happiness had prevented me from seeing the depths of truth in her eyes.

I had let it be, believing she was still adjusting from the move to the capital and living in the palace. It was a big change for her. So instead, I took my frustrations out on the training grounds, throwing myself into training and battle strategies, perfecting my fighting form.

“You are here early little brother,” Rostam said joining us on the training grounds, where I was sparing with one of our head warriors. “Where is your little mate?” He asked.

I dropped my guard and turned to look at him, giving Rostam a sheepish smile. “She was up early again this morning brother; I haven’t seen her yet.” He narrowed his eyes at me in a questioning way and huffed out.

“It sounds like this is becoming a regular thing,” He frowned bringing his hand up to rub his jaw. Rostam was five years older than me; taller by three inches, his build slightly leaner than mine, and he was the object of desire for many women in our capital. I was stronger and faster than him and had shifted when I was 15, a telltale sign that I was born an Alpha.

“I marked her last night,” I confessed, hanging my head low, waiting for the disappointed reprimand I thought was coming. Instead, I heard him sigh and then felt the weight of his hand on my shoulder.

“I understand brother, I may not have met my mate yet, but the way our father was with your mother… I saw how much he loved her.”

“Father is going to be mad.” I groaned, just imagining his reaction when he found out.

It’s not like it was reversible unless he made me reject her. And that I would not do. That is where I would draw the line. Not to mention the suffering we would both endure if we made a rejection. We would feel a little pain, but it was the sadness and depression that came along with it that I feared the most. I had heard rejections can be painful, or sting but that only lasted so long. It was the long-term effects that had me worried.

“Come, Kian, let us lead training together, seeing as our other two brothers have not even bothered to turn up this morning.” I nodded and smiled.

I was closer to Rostam than I was to any of my other siblings, except for maybe Sonia, my sister. My other two brothers, Farid and Abbas, I didn’t like at all. They were manipulative and cunning. Their jealousy of Rostam for being the eldest and most likely to inherit the throne and at me for being the son of our father’s true mate was something they didn’t hide. Ever since we were young, they had always found ways to get me in trouble, making my father see me in a lesser light. With Rostam, they always plotted against him, whether it was making up some insane protest that he stole a toy, ate their food, or was being mean. It didn’t matter what it was, they would always find something to complain about.

As we got older it got worse. Rostam had found a young shifter, whom he had fallen in love with three ago. Somehow Farid had managed to find out and Abbas led Rostam to one of our gardens under the pretense he needed to speak to him, only for them to come upon Farid balls deep into the young girl he had been courting, in that very same garden.

Rostam had stormed out, and later when he confronted the young girl, she confessed she was blackmailed into it. Rostam would have forgiven her, but she agreed to become Farid’s first mistress. Needless to say, a few months later when it became apparent that she was pregnant, the young girl was found dead. She had thrown herself from the third-story balcony.

Rostam never believed that was the case. He believed Farid and Abbas’ mother had killed her. In the same way, he believed it was their mother who had killed my very own but with no evidence, it was just hearsay.

It was later that evening when I returned to my suite, I found Divya standing on the open balcony, she had not come down for dinner. Her place sat empty as the rest of the family ate and mingled enjoying the conversations the day had held.

“Divya,” I called out to her, my eyes roaming over the long silk pink robe she wore, coming up behind her and laying my hands on her hips. “Is everything ok? You missed dinner, my love.”

I felt her stiffen underneath my hands, and then relax as she let out a long low sigh. “Yes,” she said, turning in my arms and looking up at me with those mesmerizing deep chestnut brown eyes, a smile gracing the corners of her lips. My wolf howled in my head, relishing our closeness, wanting to mark her all over again. “It’s just, the dinners can be overwhelming with your family sometimes,” She blushed.

I understood, all together there were eleven siblings, including myself, and 6 mistresses of my fathers. For a girl that had come from a family of five, our everyday family banquets could be quite daunting. Especially if the siblings began to fight or on the rare occasion the mistresses fought for my father’s attention. I could see why Divya had decided to shy away from the dinner.

I ran my knuckles softly over her cheek, down her jaw, and then tilted her head up to meet my eyes again. “Tomorrow we can have dinner together, just you and I.” I smiled down at her. Maybe she just needed some alone time, time to adjust. Everyone is different and maybe she just needed a little longer to settle in.

“Thank you,” She smiled back at me, our gazes held. I stooped down to capture her mouth in a sweet and gentle kiss, caressing her lips with my own.

One hand came up, cupping the back of her head, deepening the kiss, sliding my tongue against her bottom lip until I could tangle my tongue with hers. The other hand pulled at the silk ties of her robe, the sheer material sliding open, exposing her slender form to my fingers that gilded over her abdomen. Up and over her bristled nipple, pausing to pinch and pull one between my thumb and forefinger. I felt her shiver under my touch, exciting me even more and I poked my erection into her stomach. “You do this to me” I breathed against her mouth breaking the kiss for just a moment before savagely claiming her mouth again.

Lifting her up I moved us back inside, over to the bed, and laid her down. Hungry for her body, hungry to hear her moan beneath me, I pulled the robe apart so I could see my mate. Moving back so I could feast my eyes upon her tanned skin, her dark nipples erect and calling for my mouth. Her eyes were closed, lips parted, the most beautiful thing in the world to me, seeing her vulnerable and bare before me, only me.

I growled out my lust, bending down to lick the mark I left there last night. Divya let out a small sound of pleasure that left my wolf even more riled up. I licked down her collarbone, over her small pert breast, plucking a stiffened nipple into my mouth and letting it pop before trailing my tongue down lower.

“Kian, please…” She said turning her head to the side “Take me.”

I moved a hand between us, sliding a finger over her slit; she was wet but not wet enough. I plunged a finger in, she moaned out slightly, pumping it in and out of her until I felt she was wet enough, then positioned myself at her entrance and pushed into her.

I remember she never came that night. She didn’t call my name out and the sparks I had felt from her touch before were dull and diluted. Leaving me to feel inadequate and wonder if I was a bad lover. She didn’t curl into my arms as I liked her too - wanted her to. Divya turned over, giving me her back only telling me “Goodnight”.

Three days later, Divya told me she wanted to return home to visit her family. Alone.

A week after she had left, my father found out I had marked her. He took it well, but I could tell he wasn’t pleased; the look of disappointment on his face is something that I will never forget.

I wasn’t an expert on the mate bond, but I knew we couldn’t be apart for that long, she said a couple of days. A couple of days turned into a couple of weeks. I visited her a few times, my wolf and I - craving her companionship. We missed her and the achy feeling in my heart had me jolting up in bed in the middle of the night covered in sweat. I missed her so much that my heart hurt, and my wolf howled at his loss.

That was the beginning of the end. I should have known, should have seen the signs, I should have paid better attention. I should have done so much more. But I didn’t and paid the price for my ignorance a hundredfold.