Chapter 5

Betty’s POV

"Mine!"

The roar ripped through the garden, heavy enough to vibrate the gravel under my slippers. A hand slammed into Luka's chest, throwing him back two steps. He stumbled, his boots skidding across the dirt before he hit the ground.

My chest tightened. Inside my head, a rhythmic, frantic thumping started. My wolf, silent for two years, woke up with a violent jolt. Her energy flooded my veins, hot and demanding.

"Mate," I breathed. The word slipped past my lips before I could stop it.

The man in front of me turned. He was broad, his shoulders blocking the light from the packhouse windows. He looked down at me with a slow, sharp smile. His dark blonde hair caught the glow of the overhead lamps, but it was his eyes that made me freeze. They were dark purple. The exact shade of the royal line.

"Yes, I am your mate, and you are mine, princess," he said. His voice was low, a deep rumble that vibrated right through my ribcage.

I backed up a step, my heel catching on a root. The prince of the Lycan kingdom. The thought made my throat go dry.

"Your majesty," Luka gasped from the dirt. He dropped to both knees, his palms flat in the grass. "I did not know she was your mate. Please forgive me."

The prince did not look back at him. He kept his purple eyes locked on my face, watching the way my pulse jumped in my neck.

"Yes, I know, Luka," the prince said, his voice dropping an octave. "But now you do. And I want you to respect that. Clear?"

Luka kept his head down, his chin pressed against his collarbone. "Yes, your majesty."

"Good." The prince finally broke eye contact with me, glancing down at the kneeling warrior. "Now then, I would like to get to know my mate. Is there somewhere we can be alone to talk?"

My mouth opened, but no sound came out. I pointed a trembling finger toward the center of the garden, where the stone fountain sat beneath the thick canopy of trees.

He didn't wait. He wrapped a thick, warm hand around my wrist and led me away from the crowd. My skin burned where his fingers pressed against my pulse point. I could barely walk straight. Just yesterday, my mother and Luna Imelda had hung fairy lights across these branches, letting them drape down toward the splashing water. The white bulbs cast long, shaking shadows across the stone bench.

We sat down on the cold wood. He did not let go of my wrist.

"So, I get this is a surprise for the both of us," he said, turning his torso toward me.

I pulled my hand back, tucking both arms against my ribs. I looked down at my scuffed shoes. "I suppose. If you want to reject me, please just do it fast."

The silence stretched. The only sound was the heavy splash of the fountain water against the basin. Then, a low, vicious growl tore out of his chest.

The air grew heavy, thick with a dominant aura that pressed down on my shoulders like lead. I whimpered, curling inward.

"Why in the world would I do that?" his voice cracked through the quiet, nearly a shout. "Do you know how long I have waited for you?"

I stared at him, my lips parted. My chest heaved as I tried to take in air against his pressure. "No. No, I do not. But I need to tell you something. It will change your mind."

He leaned in closer, his jaw tight. "You have had sex with both Luka and Robert. I can smell both of them on your skin."

"What? No!" My voice went high, desperate. I gripped the edge of the wooden bench. "I am a virgin. Robert gave me this dress because mine was torn by the omegas. Luka just danced with me, and..."

"He kissed you," he finished for me. His eyes narrowed into slits.

I nodded, the heat rising to my cheeks. "Yes."

"So, what did you want to tell me then?" He reached out again, his large fingers closing over my hand, squeezing just enough to keep me still.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I am not like the other girls. They call me wolfless. I did not get my wolf at sixteen. She only spoke to me when I turned eighteen, and she told me I am too weak to shift."

He did not pull away. He just listened, his face blank.

"I trained every single day after that," I rushed out, the words tumbling over each other. "I have the rank of top warrior now. I have muscles. I am not slender and pretty. I understand if you want to reject me. Who wants a mate who cannot shift? I let them bully me even though I am strong enough to fight back. And tomorrow night, the Alpha is kicking me out of the pack. I am the great shame of the Blue Claw."

A tear slipped out, hot and fast, cutting through my makeup.

Before I could wipe it away, his hand moved to the back of my neck. He pulled me forward, hard, until my face smashed against his chest. His lips came down on mine in a brutal, crushing kiss that smelled of mint and cedar wood.

He pulled back just an inch, his thumb wiping the wetness from my cheek. "Do not cry, princess. Let me tell you something. We Lycans do not get our beast until we are eighteen. We do not shift until our twenty-first birthday. A female Lycan will not shift at all until she is marked by her mate."

I blinked up at him, my mind spinning. "What?"

"There is nothing wrong with you," he whispered against my lips. "Your wolf was just waiting for me. Go look at your reflection in the water, princess."

My legs felt like water as I stood up. I dragged my feet across the grass, heading to the edge of the stone fountain. The prince stood up behind me, nodding toward the dark pool.

I took a deep, shaky breath, waiting for the ugly truth. I leaned over the stone lip and looked down.

The water rippled, then cleared. My makeup was a smeared mess around my eyes. But beneath the black streaks, my eyes were glowing. The dark green was completely gone. Two bright, purple circles stared back at me from the dark water. My wolf was right at the surface.

"Do you understand, princess?" His arms wrapped around my waist from behind, pulling my back against his solid chest. "I have been waiting for you all this time. You are mine. Only mine."

"Betty," I whispered into the night.

"Betty?" He pressed his lips against the side of my neck, right over my pulse. "That suits you. Well, Betty, my name is Adriel, and I accept you as my mate."

The heat in my neck turned into a deep blush. I turned around in his arms, looking up at his handsome face. He bent down, pressing a soft, slow kiss against my lips this time.

"I accept you as my mate too," I said when he let me breathe.

Adriel stepped back, bowing low with his hand extended toward the grass. "Can I get a dance with you then, Betty?"

"Yes." I dropped my fingers into his palm. He lifted my hand and kissed the knuckles.

He led me out of the quiet garden and back toward the bright lights of the packhouse ballroom. The loud chatter and the thumping bass of the music hit us immediately. The crowd parted the second they saw his purple eyes.

"Let us show them that you are not a weak, wolfless little girl," Adriel whispered, his hand sliding to my waist as he pulled me into the rhythm of the music. "You are a strong, beautiful woman. You are the mate of the Lycan prince."

We moved across the floor, every eye in the room locked on us.

"Adriel?" I kept my voice low, looking up at him as we spun. "Why are my eyes purple? I thought only the royal bloodline had them."

"Oh, that," he smiled, his teeth flashing. "Usually, yes. But my mother was not from a royal house. Her eyes turned purple the moment she met my father and they accepted the bond. My father believes it is the power of the mate bond itself."

I nodded slowly, letting the explanation sink in.

Suddenly, a sharp, piercing scream cut through the music. The instruments stopped playing. The dancers froze.

Madeline came shoving through the crowd, her face twisted and red. She ran straight toward us, but she stopped three feet away as Adriel let his aura flare out. I had jumped against his chest when she appeared, and his body had gone rigid as stone.

"Betty!" Madeline hissed, her fingers curling into claws at her sides. "What did you tell Ian? It must be your fault that he does not want me!"

"Or it is your own fault, Madeline," a cold voice said from behind her. Ian stepped out of the crowd, his arms crossed over his chest. "You have not been exactly nice to our future queen, have you?"

"A queen? Her?" Madeline threw her head back, a ugly laugh tearing from her throat. "Don't make me laugh! She is nothing. Worthless. A bitch."

A chorus of deep growls erupted from the Lycan warriors standing near the doors.

Ian walked past her, stopping right in front of me. His eyes were heavy with a strange sadness. "Miss Betty, can you please give me Madeline's full name and title?"

I looked at Madeline's angry face, then back at the royal beta. "Her name is Madeline. She is the daughter of the Alpha and Luna of this pack."

"Thank you, Miss Betty," Ian said. He turned on his heel to face Madeline. His voice rose, loud and clear enough to echo off the high ceiling. "I, Ian, beta of the lycan prince Adriel, hereby reject you, Madeline, daughter of the Alpha and Luna of the Blue Claw pack."

Madeline let out a shattering shriek, dropping straight to her knees. I turned my head away, unable to watch her face twist in agony.

Adriel let go of my waist. He walked over to Ian, muttered a few short words, and nodded. Ian bowed deeply to me, turned, and walked out of the double doors without looking back.

Before I could move, ten sharp claws ripped into the skin of my forearm.

I whimpered, the pain slicing deep into my flesh. I looked down. Madeline was on her knees at my feet, her fingers locked into my skin. Her eyes had gone completely black, swallowed by the grief of her rejected wolf.

"You backstabbing bitch," Madeline screamed, blood dripping from where her nails dug into my arm. "I will kill you. I, Madeline, daughter of the Alpha of the Blue Claw pack, challenge you, Betty, daughter of the Gamma of the Blue Claw pack. To the death!"

A sudden, overwhelming force flooded my skull. My vision went completely black. The room vanished. Inside my mind, a dark, heavy voice took the reins.

"I accept your challenge, Madeline," my lips moved, but the voice that came out was not mine. It was deeper, thicker with power. "See you tomorrow at the arena."

The blackness cleared instantly.

Madeline gasped, her fingers slipping out of my bleeding arm as she scrambled backward on the polished floor. "Your eyes. They are purple. You do have your wolf."

I shook my head, staring at her in confusion. The entire room was dead silent.

"What is this challenge about?" Adriel asked from behind me, his hand clamping down on my shoulder.

I spun around to face him, my heart hammering against my ribs. "What? What challenge?"

Adriel did not smile. He looked down at me with hard eyes. "This Madeline girl just challenged you. And you accepted."

"I did what?" The words came out as a screech.

"Your wolf must have taken control and accepted for you then," Adriel said, a small, tense chuckle escaping him.

My stomach dropped to the floor. Inside my head, my wolf went perfectly silent again, hiding back in the dark.

What have you done, you stupid wolf?

My breath caught in my throat. The Alpha had made every single warrior in this pack take a blood oath. We were forbidden from ever harming a member of the royal pack family. Especially the Alpha's bloodline. If I fought her tomorrow, the oath would destroy my veins from the inside out.

"Betty, look at me," Adriel demanded, his grip tightening on my shoulder. "What are you not telling me?"