Chapter 3

I knocked on the large oak door to the King and Queen’s apartment, after speedily getting dressed as not keep them waiting for me, Flora the housekeeper opened the door with a genuine smile when she saw it was me standing there. “Morning Flora” I said beaming at the short little plump housekeeper, who I would imagine is in her 50’s but due to Lycans aging slower can never tell her true age. Everyone loved Flora as she is the most kind and sweetest person to meet, she was like a 2^nd mother to me after mine passed away giving birth to me. “Good morning, sweet child, have you eaten breakfast?” She says with a kind, but stern look on her face as I walk into the living room of the apartment to wait, “No Flora, I’ve not had time, but I will soon as me and Poppy go out” I said honestly as there is no point lying to this woman as she knows.

“Nonsense I’ll fix you something whilst you’re here, before you say anything I’m on the way to the kitchen and can’t hear you” she is nearly shouting the last part as she walked away, I just rolled my eyes and shook my head with a smile spread across my face, ‘I love that woman’ I thought to myself as I sat down on the comfortable grey corner sofa. I heard the King and Queen’s voices coming down the hallway towards the spacious lounge as I stood to bow to them when they arrived. “Aurora, how many times have I said please don’t bow to us, your family” King Julius said with a mock stern look on his face. “I’m sorry, your majesty but I tried it once and it just felt weird” I replied looking as guilty as possible, until I looked at the King directly before we both started to laugh at our little running joke between us.

Out of the corner of my eye I see the Queen rolling her eyes at us both whilst we laughed some more at her reaction, “are you two ever going to over this joke?” She says in an annoyed but slightly amused tone, both me and the King shook our heads in unison replied “nope”. She then walked up to me so gracefully like she was floating on the ground and not just walking pulling me into a hug before letting me go to sit down on the sofa next to her and the King. ‘She is stunning’ I thought to myself as I looked in the direction of where both are sitting, Kitana is tall, athletically built with long blonde curly hair that reaches down to her hips when she has it down. Most of the time for Royal engagements she has her hair in some marvellous updo with her crown wrapped beautifully in her hair. Whereas, on the other side Julius is the complete opposite in stature, he is also very tall still standing taller than the Kitana, but he has a little bit of what you call a dad bod as Poppy has said to me before and I can completely agree. His hair is a dark brown with a sprinkling of grey which makes him look very good looking. The moon goddess got this match perfectly as they both complement each other in looks and in personality, as Julius is often loud and sometimes immature even for a King, on the other hand Kitana is quiet but she is an amazing problem solver when it comes to Kingdom related matters.

“Julius, I think you can start” Kitana said as matter of factly as she knew he wouldn’t say anything to me first if it was going to be a serious conversation, Kitana always started those chats off first, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen today. Julius looked at his beautiful mate and Queen, like he was a deer caught in the headlights before clearing his throat to begin. “Aurora, as you know its your 18^th birthday in a few days and your 1^st shift as a wolf, this is also a possibility you may find your mate as well. Due to this we’ve decided to through you a ball to meet some eligible young men and to also celebrate, what do you think?” Julius rushed out all his words and I was worried he was going to run out of air before he finished his sentence. “I’m not big on balls but on this occasion, I’ll manage as its my birthday, but do I have to meet all the young men that are going to be there as I get very shy?” I replied with a smile. “Then its settled, my dear do you mind planning the event and Aurora I hear your going out with Poppy shopping later on today, buy yourself something nice no matter the cost for the ball.” Julius says first looking at Kitana then myself as he spoke.

Just as discussion about themes for the ball, I chose a black and purple theme, Flora came through with a massive stack of her delicious pancakes covered with maple syrup, my favourite with the extra crispy bacon as well, she placed the plate and cutlery on the table ready for me to start eating. As I get up to go to the table Darius and Jade waltzed through the apartment door, sitting straight on the sofa without even greeting the King and Queen. Darius is looking at me with a sly smirk that I happen to catch when I looked up in between my mouthfuls of pancake and bacon, I was a little confused as to why he had the look on his face, but something felt like a little pull in my chest when I saw him. I must admit he is good looking; he is very tall like his father but is built with hard muscle which made me think if you ran into him it would feel like a brick wall, his hair was a dirty blonde colour and looked a little un-tame. In the corner of my eye, I could see that Jade was glaring at me with I’m going to kill you look as she started being all over Darius. She is on the shorter side of 5ft 5, long blonde hair and curves in all the right places, she was the very popular girl at school as she was the head cheerleader as well as the girlfriend of the school quarterback, who happened to be the prince, she made my life hell with the help from her friends.