2

VAELORA tried to breathe, struggling to come to terms with her new reality.

"No..."

The word slipped out of her lips. A tiny whisper.

"No!!" The words came out much more loudly this time.

The entire arena had gone silent, both races watching with deep curiosity and high level awareness of what had just happened.

Alpha king Draekon's beast had just claimed its second chance mate and soulbound.

Shocking.

Draekon was supposed to pick one of the seven noble DragonBorn females they were just about presenting to him, as his chosen soulbound, to finally seal the pact between both kingdoms.

Now, that wasn't going to happen, because a certain she-wolf had suddenly appeared as his mate.

Draekon looked ahead and saw his brother running towards them.

"Vaelora!" Zayn called again, looking very worried as he approached them.

Draekon's eyebrows kissed each other in further confusion. What was really going on?

"Lora! Are you okay?" Zayn held her shoulders from behind, as her cries increased.

In that moment, it occured to Draekon that she had already been in tears before she appeared at the arena.

"What's going on, Zayn?" Draekon demanded in a clipped tone, his eyes getting darker with the annoyance of being so confused in such a serious situation.

"Where is Dione?" he added.

Zayn looked up at him and muttered flatly. "Busy dealing with the pain of rejection after being caught cheating."

She shock of that revelation was palpable on Draekon's face.

"Come, Lora. Let's leave here," Zayn whispered to Vaelora, still not having an idea of what had happened in the arena seconds before he arrived.

Draekon watched them leave as the tiny whispers in the arena combined into a loud congregation around him.

Just as Vaelora took more steps away with Zayn, her head began to feel heavy and her legs suddenly feeling too weak to carry her.

They eventually gave up on her, and she fell towards the tilting earth, lucky enough to have had Zayn's tight grip around her waist.

As she lost consciousness, the frightened voice of Zayn accompanied her into darkness.

*********FLASHBACK**********

NINE YEARS AGO.

It was Vaelora’s birthday. Her sixteenth.

It was a very important milestone for her, seeing as she had finally come of age to be enrolled in the Vexley Keep Academy.

The glorified academy known for shaping noble born werewolves into worthy successors of their parent's titles.

As the only child of her father, Vaelora had always longed to take after her father as the Royal Beta of the Iron-Vale province.

But sometimes, she felt like Beta Hugo wished for a son instead. Maybe a son would have carried on his legacy better.

Her father had always tried to make her feel like she was enough. But that was until yesterday...

Excited that her most anticipated birthday had finally come, Vaelora stood at the living room with her bestfriend, Zayn, welcoming the guests who had started arriving in different groups for her birthday party.

Everything had been going quite smoothly, until they heard a loud crash from the kitchen. She froze for a brief moment, before rushing to the kitchen.

And there it was. Her birthday cake on the floor, squashed and destroyed.

Vaelora stared at the only two people who had been in the kitchen before she arrived.

Draekon and Dione.

Tears clogged her eyes as she stared at the only person who could have perpetrated such wickedness. Draekon.

"Calm down. It's just a cake," he said nonchalantly, no sign of remorse whatsoever.

Everyone knew how important this day was for her. And then Draekon went ahead to ruin it like he always did.

Just the other week, he had suddenly appeared as one of the coaches in the quarterly sword and fist fight training for noble borns.

What she just hadn't expected, was to be paired with him. Of course, the training course hadn't ended without him making her dislocate her knee.

Being more experienced than she was, Draekon could have prevented her from taking that wrong step that made her sustain the ugly injury.

But no. He simply watched Vaelora misstep into her doom, muttering the most unfeeling words as she cried in pains.

"Suck it up, Vaelora. It's just a sprain."

A 'sprain' that currently left her in a cast.

Now without thinking, she rushed at him in anger, not minding that her injury hurt as she jumped up to his ridiculously giant height.

Pouncing on him, her weak thighs tried to firmly hold onto his waist as she pulled his hair, hurling insults at him.

"Fight me, you monster!" she cried, angry at how composed he remained.

"Get her off of me." A cold mockful chuckle escaped his lips, making her tears even hotter.

Zayn pulled her by the waist immediately, and Beta Hugo appeared at the scene with Alpha Noir.

She tried lunging at Draekon once more, when her dad intervened.

"Behave yourself, Vaelora!"

"He smashed my cake! Made me dislocate my knee!!" she lashed out angrily.

She was still trying to lunge at Draekon, when Beta Hugo's next words stopped her right in her tracks.

"He did nothing, you're just too weak!"

His words hit her, cold as ice.

Vaelora paused for a moment, still in disbelief that her father could say that to her. The entire place fell silent, and her eyes locked onto Beta Hugo's teary ones.

She knew he didn't mean those words, but he said it anyways. And it hurt so bad.

Taking slow steps, she walked out of the kitchen and made for her room. Her birthday had been officially ruined, and it was all thanks to Draekon.

Just as she got to the stairs, her head suddenly felt so hot and heavy. She felt her legs buckle beneath her and the next thing she knew, she was falling... into darkness.

********END OF FLASHBACK**********

Vaelora woke up.

Her head was slightly aching, and her eyes were too heavy.

"Lora."

She looked by the side, to see him sitting next to her. Alpha Noir.

"I'm glad you're finally awake," he muttered.

Vaelora quickly looked around herself, confirming she was no longer dreaming about the incident nine years ago.

She was surprised Alpha Noir was here, having been out of the province for the past few weeks.

"I came as soon as I heard," he whispered, locking eyes with her blue ones.

Immediately, she remembered all that had taken place before she lost consciousness. Dione had cheated on her...

Draekon was...

Goddess! He was....

"You have to marry Draekon."

Alpha Noir's words sliced through her thoughts like a sharp blade, the invisible injury hurting even more as he continued.

"I understand how you feel, my dear. But the council chiefs and high lords are already clamoring for balance. Vaelora, you have to marry Draekon. That is your duty as the goddess appointed Luna."