C3 Three

Leyla's Point of View

King Alexander and Queen Lamia were the current reigning Monarch. Their reign and love were celebrated through song and children's stories. It was said that their love was the strongest bond in all the lands and fertility prospered across the land. Queen Lamia was beautiful. Her blonde locks cascaded down her back with a sweet heart shaped face. Her lips were plump and red as a rose in bloom. Her emerald eyes twinkled on her olive skin; It had been years since I had seen the Queen in person but she was ageing with grace and poise that I could not help but be mesmerised by her beauty. I felt plain and simple basking in her presence.

The Queen passively stared at me, while I briefly glanced at the Prince. My heart was pounding and my head felt heavy. I lifted my glaze from his built physic. His muscles were built, his olive skin dressed in the finest navy suit. His lips looked pillowy, and as my eyes reached his mocha brown eyes a voice in my head whispered "mate". His once passive face, gaped at me in shock as the truth dawned on him that I was his blessed mate. It was like neither of us knew what to say and my heart hurt as his face returned to his neutral expression.

"Yes father, I remember Leyla" he said. His face was expressionless. No emotions were swirling in his eyes. It was disheartening.

"Your highness." I replied as I bowed my head. "Thank you and your family for your invitation." I kept my eyes from his face as I could bear to hear his rejection.

"Little Layla there is no need for formalities, you are extended family." The King said. The Queen again clasped her hand. Layla could see that she was breaking the skin on her hand but she did not understand why.

"Yes, she is going to be like extended family isn't she. She is joining the family as a lady in waiting for my Prince's mate" Queen Lamia smirked. "I did not know you were still well acquainted with Lady Layla my dear."

"Ahh yes, well little Layla was training by the River when one afternoon I offered my support and help. I joined her in training and she is a formidable opponent for a little lady." He chuckled "She put me down a couple of times and her ideas in policy and strategy are unique. She is a merit to you Nona, she would make a beautiful Luna one day, should the goddess bless her."

A butler appeared in a deep navy suit and a bow tie that matched. He stood out from the other staff members at the Royal Quarters. The other Omega's were dressed in plain clothes, there was nothing elaborate about them. I could see Omega's dusting the palace and cleaning the floor. The guards were scattered around and wore no expression. They just stood guard staring into space. I wondered what they were thinking. The present butler appeared to be wearing a unique uniform, his blazer was adorned with the Royal Crest at his pocket square, it was embroiled in gold. As I stared at him, he went to the Queen's side and announced that the preparations the evening's dinner was ready.

The Queen turned her face away from me and expressed that they must follow the schedule for this evening's dinner and that she did not want to be kept waiting. She turned and her dress trailed behind her, she floated across the marble lobby as she was escorted by the Butler and Nona and the king quickly followed them into the dining quarters.

I began to follow when a hand grasped my arm and tingles danced across my arm and flames began to ignite. I gasped and the hand quickly disappeared. I stared at her arm, where the hand once lay and she watched as I felt tingles linger and dance across her skin. I didn't want to look at Prince Ryan as I was scared of his reaction. I shook his my head and quickly dashed to the dining quarters following Nona as I could not bare to look into his eyes.

"Leyla." I heard him faintly whisper. I could hear the ache in his voice, as I continued to run up the stairs to the dining quarters and I did not know what to say, I did not know what to do. He hated me, bullied me, tortured me and yet the Goddess blessed me with Ryan as my mate. I never knew what I had done to warrant his behaviour and disgust but her heart ached and I knew that being a lady in waiting to his new Queen would finally break me.

Leyla's Point of View

I trotted along and caught up with Nona who looked at me briefly. Her eyes were scanning my face. I could see her worry and she was hesitate in asking me anything as she did not want to arise suspicion. I knew that Nona understood what was going on as she regarded everything with her eyes. She gave me a look to say that we would discuss this back at the cottage.

We entered the dining quarters where the room was filled with extravagance. The floors and walls were white marble, there was gold lights adorning the walls. The chandelier was warmly lighting the room with numerous diamonds. There was a large white table which was filled with the finest silverware and china. Glasses were clearly crystal and the the chairs had the finest silk cushions on them. I could understand why Nona would always complain about the money used to finance the Royal pack. The room had been transformed from when I used to play here as a child. There was no warmth or personal pictures of the family which I remembered was once proudly displayed on the walls. It reminded me of a show home or a private dining room at a restaurant. It felt empty and materialistic. It was far from what was decorated by the previous the Queen mother.

Nona went to her appointed seat and I followed and stood next to her while we waited for the Royal Family to sit. The Prince had entered the room and his gaze was at the floor. His face appeared conflicted and confused as to what had just happened.

The King and Queen sat on their chairs at the head of the table. The prince was sat by his mother who appeared to be studying his face.

"Please sit, you are guests here." King Alexander said.

"Thank you your highness." Nona replied. I bowed my head gracefully and followed Nona's lead to sit in our seats for the evening. As we sat food was placed on the table by the Omegas.

"Thank you for your service this evening Omega Clare." I said. The Queen's head snapped my direction and she almost had a face of disgust, which she quickly hid behind her smile.

"I did not know you were acquainted with the Omegas Leyla, especially to be on such a personal level and know there name." Queen Lamia stated.

"Your majesty I have always been acquainted with all members of the pack regardless of their status. Without the Omegas where would the pack be today? They contribute to the feeding of the troops, the cleaning of quarters, they support the doctors with the sick and injured. They are very important to the everyday life of the pack and without them we would surely fall as a race" I said humbly, I was scared to look into her eyes and she her cold demeanour.

The King laughed and shook his head, shocked by my response. He replied "Yes Layla you are quite right, you speak like a true leader. Whoever is blessed with you as a mate would be very lucky my dear girl."

I could feel my face turn red like a Tomato at the topic of mates. I lifted my gaze towards Prince Ryan who's face had equally gone gone red, but he looked angry and hurt by what his father had said. He almost looked like he wanted to kill his father. "Thank you my King, but really it is thanks to Nona's teachings. She educated me well." I smiled as I turned to Nona who was looking at me and mouthed thank you to me.

"My King, is there anymore news on the missing wolves?" Nona asked.

For the past decade many wolves appeared to be disappearing. It was unclear where they were or what had happened to them. A lot of the wolves who had been declared missing were unmated Omega's. In the last year, Pack's were ordered to take censuses of their pack members and it was clear that this was becoming a problem. It had only been recognised following the disappearance of Lady Reneé who was the daughter of a Beta at the Lumos Pack. No one knew where she went, there was rumours of her disappearing in the middle of night and that she was mated to a Rogue wolf. Numerous search parties looked for her and trackers failed to locate her or a missing body. It was almost like she never existed. Her family hoped she returned but so far it had been six months and there had been no leads, no sightings and no clues as to where she was.

"No Nona, we still have no confirmed location for the missing wolves. There are speculations that the Mallapers are responsible, but there is yet to be any conclusive evidence of this." The King replied.

"They must be responsible since there is correlation between the incline of missing wolves and the records of the Mallaper's rising." Queen Lamia stated.

"I'm sorry but please excuse my ignorance, but who are the Mallaper's." I asked and looked to Nona timidly.

"Looks like you weren't that educated" Ryan whispered across the room. The Queen smirking at her son's response. The King looked at Ryan with a stern look as if to tell him to be quiet. Ryan looked away from his father and sighed "Sorry my rudeness Leyla."

"Sorry about that little one. We do not discuss the Mallapers as we do not want the community to become afraid and weary. Unfortunately we do not have much information about the Mallapers only what appear to be rumours of dark creatures who are roaming the land. It is unclear what they want or what they are searching for. Intel is telling us that they are an upcoming threat but they have yet to provide any substantial evidence." He sighed and rubbed his temples.

"My dear husband if they are considered a threat by our intel, then we must follow their lead. We can never underestimate the enemy." Queen Lamia replied as she clicked her tongue. She appeared frustrated at her mates lack of trust for the intel department.

"My Queen" he snapped. "Like I have said before to you many nights we do not know who we are dealing with and we do not know that they are responsible for the missing wolves. It is impossible to act against an enemy we do not know and it is stupid to act against a group who may not pose a threat to us." He retorted. The Queen huffed and stabbed her fork into the food on her plate as she did not reply and she curtly nodded at him.

There was an awkward silence after that. I had never seen two mates respond the way the King and Queen do. Considering the amount of songs and poems about the King and Queen that inspired love amongst their people, there relationship seemed, different. I wondered what they were like behind close doors, maybe this is the perception they have amongst guests. I suppose they have to be 'proper' as it would be deemed inappropriate to be always touching each other. They both seemed conflicted and didn't appear to agree on much, but I would never voice this as I would seem rude and would most likely get punished.

I sighed as the dining room filled with the clattering of cutlery and plates. A deathly silence filled the air, tension was rising between the King and Queen, as well as the tension between me and my mate.

This was going to be a long night.

Leyla's Point of View

After dinner, we proceeded to what the Queen referred to as the "drawing room". For me, it was just a living room. It was filled with majestic colours, emerald walls with gold accents. The ceiling was high and room was lit with gold candelabra's which added warmth to the room. There were collectors antiques on podiums and extravagant pieces of art hanging on the wall. The floor was lined with the thickest plush rug which softened the clacking of the Queen's shoes.

The Queen and King took their seat on the Emerald sofa, Ryan sat beside them on a single seat. I followed Nona and sat next to her on the small loveseat. I could feel my hands getting clammy. I looked at Ryan who was peering out of the large windows, he seemed to be in deep thought. He said nothing but he appeared conflicted. I did not understand why, he was my mate. I could not understand why he did not say anything at dinner. His father sung my praises and appeared to appreciate my leadership qualities. I mean I didn't want to be queen, but I do want my mate. I'm just conflicted over my mate being Ryan. He had become my biggest tormentor in my teenage years and I could never understand why. He was my best friend, he made me feel less lonely. He was my first friend and the King he treated I was his daughter, he showed me what it would feel like to have a father.

Memories of them as children drifted through her head, them playing by the river, the laughter and happiness they once shared. I loved him once upon a time and her wolf, Amira was sharing those memories with her once again. I remembered when I was crying when the other children were playing with their parents and my heart ached with longing. He hugged me and told me everything would be fine as I had a family with them and Nona loved her. I remembered being thankful that I was blessed with a friend like him and he promised that he would always be there for me. I remembered afternoon picnics with him and the King in the meadow, while they played tag with the King's Wolf. I smiled as it all came rushing to me.

For some reason that all stopped when I turned nine. There were new regulations, the Royal quarters were almost on lockdown. Gates were raised and no one was allowed in unless the Queen gave her consent. Ryan was homeschooled and I never really saw him until we went to high school. Ryan was popular and it was like I didn't exist. I tried speaking to him once but he just stood there and assessed me. His eyes rolled up and down, then he gave me a look of disgust. He then shouted loudly for the whole school to hear "I do not speak with trash. Your face disgusts me." The student body just laughed and this is when the torture started, people would bully and taunt me. All because Prince Ryan was disgusted by my face.

I had not seen him for many years and he left before our sixteenth birthday, we were born days apart. Although his parent's loved him and cared for him, it was reported that mine abandoned me at the Royal Pack's orphanage.

The Prince departed the pack for his training at the Alphreá Academy, which is a private boarding school where all Alpha to be's will attend The academy is used to facilitate and support good relationships amongst Alpha's to ensure peace across the werewolf kingdom. They also have the finest teachers to ensure that they the skills to rule and lead their packs. I understood why I had yet to know I was his mate as this was the first time we had crossed paths. The last time I had seen him was unfortunate and was one of those memories that I tried to push into the back of my bind. I shuddered remembering the humiliation I felt. I could not think about that at this time as I knew I would cry recalling the traumatic memories.

Instinctively Ryan snapped his head in my direction as if sensing my gaze. He was handsome, his jaw was chiselled with a small amount of stubble. His blonde hair swept to the side and styled like a gentleman. His blue eyes. So beautiful and serene and I stared in his direction, I got lost in them. His muscles in his arms and legs were bulging, I could just imagine the abs that he had under that crisp white shirt. A shot of arousal spiked through me and all I wanted to do was run my hands down his physic.

The Queen coughed and we both pulled our eyes away from each other. I was scared they could smell my arousal and they could feel the heat of my gaze on Prince Ryan.