CHAPTER 3: MEETING THE NEW BRIDE

Myron gritted his teeth and punched the bag continuously, he has been angry for days, no, weeks, even up until now, he didn’t understand how he got himself entangled in a royal mess such as this.

All he had done was attend one royal ball at the palace. Not even desiring to interfere with the palace and the political drama of the realm, he had always left that kind of thing to his gamma, Winston, who was not only obsessed with the political life of those greedy men but was also in love with the large amount of information that he got his hands on.

 He as Alpha had never cared or stopped him because in truth, his involvement and his being informed, kept them and their pack on the safer side, and that was the only thing he cared about. But this time Winston had told him that he needed to come to the palace to attend that particular ball, he had told him that the king had been desperate to meet him and he knew why.

Myron personally didn’t care about the king, yes, he respected and acknowledge him as the supreme ruler of the realm, but he wasn’t a royal family fanatic as most wolves were, all he cared about was his pack, protecting his pack, and leading them to become one of the strongest pack in the realm, because only then can they be safe.

And that was all he had ever done. Since he became Alpha at the age of nineteen, protecting his pack was all he had ever done and that seem to have given him a reputation in the realm, people of the realm claimed his warriors were the strongest in the realm, he didn’t know about that but he saw how proud Winston was whenever he spoke of how many of those old greedy men respected him because of the reputation he had built for the pack.

 But this had never been about reputation, this had been about just one thing, keeping the people he loved safe. This was his purpose as an alpha, the sole reason why he existed. But he attended that one ball, to give the king face and honor him. That was where he met her, Princess Clare.

 He knew he didn’t like her immediately, her eyes were too calculating, her actions were seductive and he knew almost immediately that she had plans concerning him, as did the king, the look in their eyes was similar but hers was more unrestrained. He knew she sought to have the control of the warriors under his leadership.

She had asked him to dance with her immediately, and even though he didn’t want to, he had indulged her, after that, she had stuck to him all night discussing matters of court with him, while he only grunted in response with lack of interest, the king had also watched them silently but had said nothing to stop him or his daughter that seems to be claiming possession over him already. He had endured the princess, waiting for the painful night to end. But in the end, she had asked him what he thought about being her mate and he had been shocked that night.

 The nerve of that princess!

He had declined, saying he had no desire to live in the palace as he knew becoming her mate meant being the next werewolf king. He told her neatly that he didn’t want to be involved with the palace or its frivolities, in truth, he didn’t like wearing ambiguous clothes or following the rules, all he cared about was waking up and going for a run in the early hours of the day, the dew wetting his legs and then his fur when he shifted, he loved training his warriors, doing border patrols with his men and come running back to his room sweating and wearing nothing but a pair of shorts to take a shower.

 He didn’t want to be stuck seating on some stupid throne, listening to the schemes of a bunch of stupid old men, if he wanted to even have a mate, he wanted no other than his fated mate, the true one bestowed upon to him by the moon, not a political pawn and he already had that. This was his dream and he had stated it to her clearly as she had nodded leaving him be, after saying she understood.

Or maybe that was what he thought, because the following week, the king had sent them a private imperial decree which said he was to be wed to his daughter, the princess, and make her, his Luna. How could he not be mad? He felt like he was losing his mind. Worse still, when he went to the palace to reason things out with the old man, he had threatened him with the lives of his innocent pack members. At that moment he lost all his will to still be a loyal Alpha.

The only thing that kept him from going rogue was his pack. He knew if the king declared war on them, no matter how strong his warriors were, they would lose the war, as the whole realm would gather at the king’s order and he wouldn’t be stupid enough to pretend he didn’t know that a lot of people were not happy with their reputation as the strongest pack in the realm.

He had no choice but to give up and agree to the marriage, and as if that wasn’t enough, the moment he had returned home, he had met Avi, his mate crying. Yes, he had a mate and he had tried to tell the king this, but when the king noticed that he and Avi were not officially mated as she had not been declared Luna neither had he marked her yet, for reason, he wasn’t ready to divulge to anyone, including the king, the man had declared he cared less. His daughter would be the new Luna. 

 He had tried to console Avi that they would think of another way to convince the king, but the old man had gone all out and had released a public decree of the marriage, sealing his fate. Any attempt to refuse this now was clearly going against the king’s order, meanwhile, the threat on the pack was still there.

He was so frustrated he wasn’t willing to hear any more of the news, the fact that the princess would be coming to their pack was enough of a problem already and he hoped the selfish princess was happy, he thought and threw another fierce punch at the bag.

 "Myron. Myron! The princess is here." He heard his beta, a blond man with blue eyes inform him with excitement as he rushed into the training arena where Myron stood punching a bag continuously, his veins bulging from his head.

 His eyes darkened in anger as he did not even turn around to acknowledge Collin who seemed agitated and weirdly excited.

It was bad enough that this tragedy had befallen him and his mate as this could be said to be a test from the goddess, but the excitement of the beta and his gamma over the coming princess was the one thing he didn’t understand.

Collin had explicitly told him to describe the princess to him, so that he can recognize her when he saw her and he had described Clare in the worse ways that he remembered, all the while Winston had stood to the side not saying anything but giving the usual grin he always gave when he had an information others doesn’t. If it was in a different scenario, he would have asked what he knew, but in this case, he was just too pissed at his men’s enthusiasm for the coming princess to care, especially when their enthusiasm made Avi feel distressed.

 "I already told you I have no interest in meeting the princess," Myron said as he continued punching the bag, his midnight-black hair sticking to his forehead as a result of the sweat.

 "She came with an entourage, we would be offending the king and be in big trouble if you do not show up there to welcome them. You know they would report to the king." Colin narrowed his sky-blue eyes and tried to convince Myron.

 "I do not care what they say to the king. If he is forcing me into a marriage, the least I can do is let his daughter know that I have no interest in her, that way she wouldn’t get her hopes high. By the way, I have met her before, what is there to see again?" Myron asked as he walked away from the bag, picked a towel, and wiped his face.

 "Well, she looks nothing like you described. The patrols at the border said the woman being escorted has blond hair and gray eyes." Colin informed him with a questioning gaze. “Are you sure you didn’t purposely make her sound ugly for me to hate her?” Colin asked with an accusing gaze and Myron scoffed.

 "What nonsense are you talking about? Who is making who sound ugly? Her personality is what is ugly, not her face. By the way, what kind of a joke are you playing at?  How can she look different? Did the King send an imposter?" Myron asked with smog.

Maybe the princess remembered his words and decided he was of no use to her political career and thus decided to back out and then the king sent an imposter to save face? If that was the case he can deal with this. He thought oblivious to Colin’s shrug.

 "That is why you should be there to welcome her," Colin said with a smile before walking out. 

 Myron watched him leave and sighed, he threw the towel in his hand on one of the benches in the training arena and walked out. Even though he was dressed in nothing both an armless shirt and shorts, he didn't seem to care.

 He wanted to see this woman, who his beta claimed was different from the princess Clare he had seen. He had been feeling his wolf being particularly uneasy all morning, and he guessed it was mostly because of the princess. Maybe he also didn’t welcome her into their home, but what could they do? The king was the king and that was all the more reason why he did not want to see her.

 But now that she seems to be a different person, maybe that is the reason, if he didn’t see and expose this scam immediately he might be stuck with this imposter all his life. He walked into the mansion through the back door, nodding to the people that bowed to him in greeting, and walked out the front door. True to Colin’s words, the fleet of cars had begun to stop in front of the mansion.

 He took a moment to look at the people who were standing out there to welcome the princess, his beta, his gamma, and …

He frowned when he saw Avi, standing there with them, in truth she had every right to stand there as she was the delta of the pack, but as his true mate, was it right for her to go through such heartbreak? He wondered and sighed, but he didn't say a single word as he approached them standing in the spot they had left for him amidst them.

 He spread his legs apart and folded his hand over his chest as he waited for the fake princess Clare to step out of the car, as if ready to see a joke.

 Even if he was drugged, he was sure he would still recognize Princess Clare whom he met at the royal ball. She was a woman he couldn't stand, she was a seductive she-wolf, and even now he was sure she would be dressed seductively as if all the male wolves being sexually inclined to her was a thing of honor.

At this time, one of the guards got off the third car and walked over to open the back door for the princess, as he did, the first thing they saw was the fair legs of a woman who was wearing black boots, instead of the heels that princess Clare would no doubt wear and that made him a little confused.

Soon a slim woman dressed in a flower-designed knee-length gown stepped out of the car, and she was the exact opposite of what he thought he would see, there was no heavy makeup, in fact, was there makeup at all? No scheming in her eyes, no exposed cleavage, he wasn’t even sure she could even have that as her chest mass wasn’t half the size of Princess Clare’.

 While he gawked at her, Myron felt his restless wolf settle down as their eyes rested on her, he assumed he was also gawking. The woman didn't see him at first as her eyes were taking in the mansion behind them, particularly the trees around. Or was he imagining that?

Her hand was holding her waist-length blond hair that was being ruffled by the wind in place, she then shifted her gaze at the man who stepped out beside her and was stretching a hand to her, she smiled and at that moment Myron felt his wolf go numb. He felt a numb sensation, a feeling he had never felt in his life before, but he still couldn’t take his eyes off her, he watched her take that man’s hand before walking up the stairs towards them only then did she look at them.

 More precisely, she looked at him, and he saw the resemblance between her and Princess Clare, so was she a cousin? He wondered, he also saw those mesmerizing gray eyes that looked out of this world and seemed to be able to trap anyone in.

She was staring at him.

 Myron couldn’t explain what he felt when their eyes met. It was a very uncomfortable feeling, he had never experienced it before, the numb feeling gave way to a feeling of sadness, a sense of loss.

Who was this woman? Really?