#Chapter 3: “The Prince's Mate”

Stephanie's rage filled the entire house.

"Cancelled!" She slammed her clutch onto the hallway table so hard the vase rattled."The entire banquet, cancelled! The Crown Prince found his fated mate."

Father caught her wrist before she could throw a plate. "Stephanie, sit down—"

“He didn’t even want a mate,” Stephanie wailed, “Everybody knows that!”

It was true. Kai focused on military efforts…which was the only reason their King hadn’t declared his younger son, Niko, as his heir. The King wasn’t overly fond of his first son, preferring his children from his second marriage.

But, now, it seemed like whoever was Kai’s Fated Mate was guaranteed to become the future Luna.

It was fascinating seeing my sister so envious. Stephanie had always been so self-assured, to the point of arrogance, but she truly was green with jealousy.

Wisely, I kept my thoughts to myself. I didn’t need her to turn all of that wrath on me.

…

The next day, after Stephanie flounced off to lick her imagined wounds with her pack of sycophants, Frannie arrived with a small glass vial tucked inside her jacket.

“Three drops on the mark every morning. This will keep your scent neutral,” Frannie explained. “You know that it’ll be a beacon to him from now on.”

I grunted. I had forgotten that. I was used to no one acknowledging my scent. It was inoffensive, sure, but it didn’t stand out to anyone either.

“What about a cover up?”

Frannie shook her head. “That’s going to take me longer.” She handed me a bundle. “I modified some makeup so that it should be sweat-proof, but a long-term option is going to take me some time.”

“Thank you, Frannie. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

She threw her arms around me, squeezing hard. “So, you really had a one-night stand with some stranger in the woods? And that person turned out to be your Fated Mate?” She giggled. “What kind of romance novel are you in?”

I hushed her. “There’s nothing romantic about rutting like two animals in the dirt.”

Frannie’s eyes went wide, and I flushed when I realized the picture that I’d painted for her. After an awkward pause, she cleared her throat. "Fated mates are everywhere lately. Are you sure he wasn’t Prince Kai?” Frannie muttered, sitting cross-legged on my bed.  “It seems suspicious that two instances of Fated Mates would happen at the same time.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re ridiculous. What would a prince be doing out in the woods like that?”

“Can I see it?” she asked.

“What?”

“The Mark,” Frannie said. “Can I see it?”

Oh. I reached up to shift my collar.

A creak.

My head snapped toward the door. My bedroom door was open. Not all the way. An inch.And a shadow moved in the hallway.

My stomach dropped.

"Was that — " Frannie started.

"Shh." I crossed the room in three strides and yanked the door open. Empty. But I could've sworn I saw a flash of auburn hair disappearing around the corner.

"Mel?" Frannie's face was pale.

"It's fine." I didn't believe that. "If Steph knew, she'd already be in here rubbing it in my face."

Frannie didn't argue. Neither of us felt like joking after that.

I spent the rest of the day waiting for the bomb to drop. It didn't. By evening, I'd almost convinced myself I was being paranoid. If Stephanie had caught anything useful, she would've weaponized it by now.

The next morning, I showed up at the training field at dawn.But the trainer, stopped me. “Not today, Mel.”

I stared at him. “What are you talking about?”

“Orders from the Alpha,” he said. “He doesn’t want you down here anymore.” At least, he looked apologetic, but he wasn’t going to disobey a direct order, especially not for me.

Pushing was only going to make us both feel shitty. He wasn’t the one I had to convince anyway.

I ran back up to the house, anger growing with every step I take. I practically kicked the door down when I make it back and stomped to my father’s office.

“You barred me from training?” I demanded.

My father barely looked up. “It’s time you stop play-acting as a Royal Guard,” he said. “Your sister and I agree—”

“You and Stephanie?!”

He pinned me with a look now that would have flayed me to the bone if I wasn’t so angry. “Playing soldier while your sister builds connections with every powerful family in the region." he said, voice flat. "You're a disgrace to this house, Melinda."

I watched him open his desk drawer and pull out a picture. When he showed me, my stomach wrenched. Stephanie wasn’t being magnanimous. She was insulting me by shoving me at her leftovers.

“I don’t need Stephanie to set me up on a blind date.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I won’t go.”

My father was not the type of Alpha who heard no and accepted it well. “You’re nineteen, and you’ve achieved nothing in your life. ”

His words cut deep. “Father—”

“You’re a disgrace,” he snarled.

I was used to being a disgrace in my father’s eyes. He and Stephanie hated me for what happened to Mother, so nothing was ever going to please them. But I had been training since I was sixteen to become a Royal Guard.

Before I could formulate a response that wouldn’t get me in even worse trouble, one of the servants knocked. She peeked her head into the room. “A letter has arrived for Ms. Melinda, Alpha.”

My father glared at her, making the poor woman flinch. “From who?” he growled.

It took her three tries to get out: “The R-r-royal Guard, sir.”

His head snapped back to me. His eyes were tinged with a feral red. Before my father could get to it first, I took the letter from the servant and nodded for her to leave. She scurried out as quickly as she possibly could.

My eyes flicked over the letter. And then again. And then a third time because I really couldn’t believe it. “I was accepted.”

“What?”

Melinda Hobbs. You have been selected as a candidate for the Royal Guard Training Program. Report to the palace on...

I looked at my father, and a smile curled my lips that I knew wasn’t lady-like or pleasant. I held up the letter like a shield. “I have to report in three days!”

My father stared at the letter. For one wild second, I thought he might say he was proud.

He didn't say anything at all.

It doesn't matter.

I practically danced out of his office and up to my room..I had to pack! Looking back at the letter, though, my eyes fell to the requirements to join the Guard.

Must not be Marked.

My hand came up to the side of my neck, to the Mark carefully buried under layers of Frannie’s special makeup. The bottles of scent-making potion were tucked carefully in my desk drawer.

What the hell was I going to do?