Chapter Three

Ronan watched the girl with hidden amusement all over his eyes. Perhaps, it was her brave front that attracted him. She clearly knew she was scared, but the minute their eyes met, she pretended she wasn’t. 

Truth be told, it hadn’t been a part of his plans to be there that night. He left in the middle of a meeting with the higher-ups of his large clan, following the lead of his wolf till he found himself at their doorstep. Although the two clans were enemies, they had never had any war in years and ignoring the fact that the actions may lead to a war, he entered the large hall, attracting everybody’s attention towards him. Like he always does.

Seeing the princess reminded him of his own coming of age ball eons ago. It had been the best day of his life until time faded, and now he couldn’t recall most of the details. He could only recall the most painful part of the details. After his first shift, he returned to the hall, eager like every other person to meet the woman for him. Unfortunately, she never came.

Even up till that moment.

He was mad. Angry at the Moon goddess for making him different. Then, as years passed, his anger slowly turned to hate. He hated the mention of the word close to him and often punished wrongdoers by killing their mates. Eventually, the victims killed themselves too. In the werewolf world, mates were the most important thing to anybody and living without their mates was like living in a stuffed room. Only a few make it far without killing themselves.

Ronan took another sip of his wine, a wave of glee washing through him as her transformation began. His heart raced, and it caused him to frown. His heart had never raced; not even when he heard of his parent’s demise in the war years ago. He dropped his glass abruptly and headed towards the door silently to avoid drawing the attention of people. His blue eyes became brighter and he struggled with his wolf for his human side to remain in control. He was just at the door when he turned to look at the princess. She was now completely gone, and in her place was a golden-brown wolf that stood on its hindlegs and howled out loud. It was the last thing he saw before he lost to his wolf and transforming to his huge Lycan form, he dove for the woods almost the same time as she did.

It was exciting. One minute she was in pains as the cracking of her bones filled her ears, and the next minute she was enjoying the wheezing breeze against her face as she ran. She didn’t know where she was heading to. She didn’t bother to know. All she wanted was to keep running. Well, she did. After all, she was sure a guard was following behind her. She opened her mouth to scream but a howl came out, nearly frightening her. Right! She was an animal now and not human.

Hours later, she was tired and slowly came to a stop. She fell to the ground, exhausted and unaware of the white Lycan watching her closely from a distance. At that moment, she felt the pains of her bons cracking again as she returned back to the young lady with blonde hair; naked.

Footsteps approached her from behind but she was too tired to raise her head, and when she finally did, she met the smiling face of her mother, covering her up in a blanket and lifting her to her arms. God! She felt sleepy. But she couldn’t sleep just yet. The ball had just reached its climax, and she had to give face to her guests. Her mother returned her to the castle through another route and straight to her room. The maids were already waiting. They quickly helped her take a bath and dressed her up in the second and final dress for the evening. Perhaps it was the scent of the rose oil in the water, she somehow found her strength again after her bath.

 “Are you ready for the second part of the evening?” Her mother entered the minute she was fully clothed.

She turned to look at her before nodding. “Am I going to meet my mate tonight?”

Her mother chuckled. “Don’t worry. You can still meet them tomorrow.”

Her gaze dropped to the marble floor. “Not tonight?”

Her mother shrugged. “Well, you may meet him tonight, but just in case you don’t, I want you to be rest assured that you can also meet him whenever. Just know that he is out there somewhere and will come to you soon.”

  “Did you meet father at your ball?” She was disappointed. Perhaps her dream would visit her again tonight. She had hoped it would have become a reality.

  “I did. He was impatient. The minute I reentered the hall, the mate bond started. We met and was announced that night. We got married a few days later.”

Evie nodded, her eyes beaming with hope as she looked at her mother’s blushing face. She would definitely meet hers that night. The guard announced her again, and this time, she walked amongst cheers, the feeling that she finally belonged to her clan resting on her heart. She wanted to scream out loud, but instead, she smiled widely at the guests, bowing slightly in greeting to some.

  “How do you feel?” Her father approached her, handing her a glass of wine.

She shrugged. “Ecstatic. Very ecstatic. Like I finally belong to the clan.” She took a sip of wine. Now she could drink whenever she wanted to. They barely got drunk after all.

Her father laughed—a deep laughter that resonated in the entire room. “I can tell you that I felt like that too.” 

She smiled with a nod, returning to her drink.

  “Would you like to greet the guests now, or you’d like more time to get used to it?”

  “More time.” She blurted out. “Give me a little more time, father.”

He patted her shoulders. “Take your time.”

The minute he left, her eyes scanned through the entire hall, and her brows raised when she realized Alpha Ronan was no longer in the hall. Had he realized how much of a distraction he was and left? If that was it, then she was glad he did. Her eyes ran through the rest of the guests, making random guesses of who her mate would be. Maybe he would be a prince of a distant kingdom who secretly reared horses or took care of a garden. Oh, she loved gardens. The fresh scent of flowers and herbs make the world seem so much alive. Or perhaps he would be someone she was familiar with?

She was on her third glass when the feeling came. Warmth settling down her abdomen, making her want to purr like a cat being rubbed. She thought it was the wine. Maybe, she was drunk. But the next minute, it increasingly became worse. The entire hall became stuffy, like she was in a burning room. Her dress became uncomfortable and extremely itchy. She wanted to run; to get rid of the clothes. She turned round to look for her mother, but the woman was nowhere in sight. Her eyes burned, and inside, she could feel her wolf becoming excited.

Was this it? It only meant one thing. Her mate was around. She didn’t need to wait for the next day, like her mother had earlier said. A faint blush graced her cheeks as she scanned through the hall, trying to point out who he was. If he was inside, it meant he felt the same way she was feeling, right? Then, he would approach her soon, right?

But it didn’t happen the way she had thought it would. The feeling grew worse, threatening to make her strip herself in the large hall. Seconds turned to minute and she was almost losing patience when she turned and began to walk quickly in a direction. 

Until she arrived in front of the female restroom, Evie didn’t realize how she had walked there or while she did so. The whole time when the uncomfortable situation began, she hadn’t thought for once to make use of the bathroom. She knew it wouldn’t be the solution to her problem. She took another step, her palm gripping the knob. If she hadn’t brought herself there, then it only meant one thing.

Her mate was inside.

But what was he doing inside the female’s restroom?

The minute the question left her, sounds filtered through the door into her ears, and her grip on the knob tightened.