Chapter 2

Caspian

My mother has this annoying habit of trying to arrange my entire life for me like I’m still ten years old and not a damn grown alpha king who has already accepted that his mate rejected him and ran away because apparently loving a disabled man was too much for her precious heart to handle.

So the moment she came into my room and told me to freshen up because she “arranged a little dinner gathering” I already knew what was going to happen. I let her fuss anyway because arguing with her is pointless and I didn’t have enough energy to start anything.

She pushed my chair down the hall acting like she wasn’t aware of the glare I was throwing at the back of her head.

“Sit up straight Caspian,” she murmured as if I wasn’t already sitting exactly how she placed me.

She rolled me right to the head of the dining table like I was some delicate vase she wanted on display. She smoothed my shirt, fixed my collar amd wiped some invisible dust off my shoulder. I tightened my jaw because this whole scene was humiliating. I didn’t need her grooming me like one of her show dogs. She stepped back and smiled way too brightly.

“This time around, the girls are more beautiful!” she whispered like it would impress me. “Very well trained and all from noble families too. You will like at least one of them.”

I scoffed loudly and didn’t care if she heard it. The idea of liking anyone again was laughable. My mate had rejected me the second she realized her ‘future alpha king’ was going to be stuck on a wheelfuckingchair for the rest of his life.

That kind of betrayal doesn’t leave your bones. It eats into you every day. So whatever parade of lipstick, perfume and fake smiles my mother brings here is just a joke to me. She can dress them in gowns made of gold and I still wouldn’t care. Nobody wants a broken king.

She’s been bringing women from every pack for months now. Trying to get me to choose someone. But every time they show up with those hungry eyes and those fluttering lashes, all I have to do is look at them coldly and say nothing literally nothing and within twenty minutes they’re running away like the palace is haunted. This won’t be any different.

The dining room doors opened and the noise that burst in gave me a headache instantly. Almost fifty girls walked in. Yes fifty!!!! My mother has finally lost it. I watched them form neat little lines their dresses glittering like they wanted to blind me.

But the last one that walked in…she was looking around like she had no idea where she was supposed to stand. Her eyes were wide almost too bright and she looked young. Too young for this nonsense. And annoyingly beautiful in a way that made my jaw clench because I hate when my body reacts before my brain catches up.

My dick hasn’t stirred in my pants in years but it just jumped at the sight of her dishevelled hair. I tore my eyes away from her quickly bevause I refuse to be that man again. The man who gets hopeful. Hope is just cruel.

She got pushed to the last seat at the far end of the table. The pretty ones always bully the weakest looking girl to the edge. My mother stepped forward clapping her hands like someone about to auction off jewelry.

“Ladies, amongst you one of you will be lucky enough to become the mate of the Alpha King.” she said in that proud queen tone she loves.

I rolled my eyes inwardly so hard it almost hurt. The girls started adjusting their dresses aggressively, pushing their breasts up batting their eyelashes like they already imagined their crowns.

They didn’t know yet though. They didn’t know I was on a wheelchair and I already imagined their faces once they find out. The panic followed by the disgust. The whispering they won’t hide. It’s always the same.

After my mother’s announcement, dinner started and it was painful to sit through. The girls were trying so hard I could smell their desperation from here. But the last girl…she wasn’t like them. She ate like her life depended on it stuffing her mouth fast barely lifting her eyes from the plate.

Some girls were snickering and whispering about her being uncultured but she didn’t even react. She was too hungry and tired. Something about it twisted something in my chest that I quickly smothered.

When the meal ended, I decided I was done playing my mother’s stupid game.

I pushed the chair back and rolled away from the dining table slowly so every single one of them would see me. The murmurs started immediately. One girl gagged like she swallowed her own tongue. Another covered her mouth then gasps filled the room.

Good. This is the final stage.

“Yes. I’m permanentaly disabled. I’ll never walk again. So if any of you cannot handle that, you should leave. Right now.”

Thick uncomfortable silence followed ny declaration. Then one by one, they all stood up. Some tried to pretend they were sad some were whispering some didn’t even hide their disgust. Every single one walked toward the exit just like always.

Exactly like I expected but one girl That very last girl that peaked my interest and made my cock stir. She didn’t move from her seat and her bright eyes were watching me like a hawk.

She just sat there her eyes locked on mine like she was trying to read me. I stared back at her not blinking not hiding the fact that I was waiting for her to stand up and run away too. But she didn’t instead stayed. She stayed when everyone else left me without looking back.

And for the first time in five years something small and sharp moved in my chest.

What does this mean?!