Chapter 237

She looked away from me and continued to speak to other girls. For the rest of her stay in the room, lady Mary pretended as though I wasn’t part of the contestants. Which gave me ample time to do exactly what I needed to do.

I searched the room for over twenty minutes, patiently looking for a dress that screamed “fuck you.”

My eyes finally caught a black dress laying at the top of pile of dresses. It wasn’t displayed on rails like the rest of the dresses, and that intrigued me. I walked towards it and picked it up, then held it up for my eyes to see.

The corset stole my heart first, before the rest of the dress. I looked around and watched as the girls busied themselves with selecting fancy red, green, purple, and even pink dresses, but I knew there and then what I wanted to wear.

With the black dress in my hand, I made my way to the shoe section and picked out a black boot with high heels. In the jewelry section, I found a pair of onyx stone earrings, and made sure to pair them with my dress.

The look of confusion on the face of my makeup artists and hair stylists, and the gasp of horror that came from the girls caused a small smile to form on my face.

All it took was an hour for me to look like the statement I intended to pass across. “Fuck your contest. All I need is my money.”

Like I expected, lady Mary was absolutely horrified when she saw me. Her hands flew to her mouth, and her eyes widened. She looked at me as though I had gone mad, and I relished in her disapproval.

The amount of cars parked in the palace told me we were going to have a full house tonight. We were led through a corridor in the palace to the door of the throne room.

I was asked to stand behind as the fifth contestant to step into the room. It was finally time.

I didn’t know why, but I was nervous. I had thought it would be an easy journey in and out of the throne room, but I was visibly shaking. Every time the door opened to reveal a new contestant, cheers and applauds could be heard. It caused my heart to twist in my chest, knowing they would never applaud me in that way, knowing that once I stepped into the room, I would glared at, hated.

“And the fifth contestant, daughter of Cain Rome, and Hilda Rome, Lillie Rome!” There were no applauds.

How could there be? When the mere name of my father caused a frown to form on everyone’s faces.

As I walked into the throne room, I tried my best to keep myself calm. I was already in the finals, and I was going to walk out of the contest with ten million. I just had to see it through, I just had to keep walking. To catwalk as elegantly as I could, and give them my best smile. It didn’t matter that I was stared at like an alien. I was going home with ten million, and once I got my money, all of it would be worth it.

The murmurs, the hisses, the hateful eyes. Everything would be worth it.

“Now that the contestants are all here, we shall now bow for the arrival of the alpha king, Alpha David Morris!”

At the mention of his name, all heads bowed, as well as mine. All I could think about was the money I was about to walk out with.

The side doors of the throne room opened to welcome the royal family. I kept my gaze glued to the ground as they walked in.

I couldn’t tell if it was the breeze from the door, or the presence of the royal family, but a strange cold feeling swept over me. My hate for the royal family wasn’t enough to cause me to shiver at the sight of them, or was it?

The side of my neck began to tingle in the most ticklish, yet uncomfortable way. The corset I had on didn’t help matters at all. I clutched the hem of my dress and dug my teeth into my lower lip to stop my teeth from rattling.

“Mate.”

What?

The low whisper in my ear caused my ears to stand erect.

My grip on my dress got firmer. What the hell was happening?! My wolf had not spoken to me since I first shifted when I turned eighteen. Four years later and she whispered “mate”?! Recognized and claimed her mate?!

Who could be my mate in a room filled with dignitaries of Darkmoon?!

“Look up. He’s staring at us.” Enid, my wolf, whispered to me again.

I could barely breathe, not with the anxiety that tugged at my chest. Yet, I listened. I looked up, eager to find the man my wolf had found, the man that caused her to speak for the first time in four years.

I looked in the direction of the tingling sensation, and that was when the world around me crumbled. Right that very instant.

A very familiar set of blue eyes caught mine and didn’t look away.

“He is our mate.” Enid repeated, and I swear I died.