The Wolf-prince's stolen bride

Meeting 'a strange' Prince...

I walked up the stairs even while lost in thought about the biggest mistake of my life that I may have just made... No other thoughts came clearly to me, all I could think about was the very first time I had seen the man some days back.

The very first time I met Prince Tristane of Belfaire and looked into his clear blue eyes that looked so sweet and gentle... I had been terribly mistaken about him even that day

His eyes had deceived me... He had deceived me.

It had been just a few days back, but I remembered it like it had just happened.

....

***few days ago

The Royal Palace, Kingdom of Mari

Prince Tristane… He was the type of man that terrified other men and most men tried to avoid. He had fangs that threatened to rip through you when he spoke, he had scars all over his body from the many wars he had fought in, he was crafty man who always had a deceitful plan or trick, he was ruthless, he was 8 feet tall and built like a bear and he never ever smiled at anyone for any reason. Those were the rumors and stories I had heard about Prince Tristane from the knights and common folk I had befriended. I was there about to meet him for the first time and confirm if all that I had heard about the man was true.

All the rumors and stories about the man said he was more of a beast than a man and yet I stood there dressed in a gown that would trap any man’s eyes with my hair tied into a knot while I waited with little anger and more curiosity to be introduced to the monster of a man my father expected me to marry.

He was the King and he was my father, he had explained to me that the marriage to this stranger Prince with a weird name would ensure an alliance between our rival kingdoms and keep our people safe from harm and war for hundreds of years and maybe even forever, it was my duty as a royal Princess to protect my people and my kingdom and I had gotten to the age where I understood that. Those were the only reasons I stood there lost in thoughts of my own while we waited for our guest who had just arrived.

My Father stood tall and glorious next to me like the King he was, even in his old age and with all the grey color now in his hair. My older brother Arden was on the other side next to my father and unlike my father, he had his armor on, his sword strapped and sheathed by his side and a visibly angry look on his face. He once confided in me that the only man he was he hated was the Prince of Belfaire and though he never gave any explanations it was obvious he hated the man for some personal reasons. As I looked past my father at his face now, I could tell that he was greatly displeased by the arranged marriage that my father arranged between me and the man he hated so much.

He hated the thought of me married to the man but could not go against our father, he was the Prince of Mari, the King’s only son and a knight of the kingdom. It was his duty to respect and obey the King of Mari even though the old man was our father.

In no time I got lost in thoughts of how the Prince of Belfaire would be and what he would look like. He was to be my husband sooner or later so as I stood there, my eyes hungry for his entrance, I wondered what color his eyes would be, what his voice would sound like, the sort of things he liked and most importantly, I wondered if it was actually true that he could turn into a wolf at will which was why he had been allowed to rule over both the human population of his kingdom and the werewolf population as king and Alpha at the same time. He was a King but he was only ever referred to as a Prince which was weird, they were a lot of strange things about the man and the more I thought about him, the more I realized that I felt some tingly excitement about everything especially the man.

I was still lost in fantasy when my father placed his hand on my back and brought me back to reality, he spoke in his usually calm voice.

“This man will be your future husband Raya, I know how hard it is for you to be nice to strangers, but please try, for the sake of peace and the safety of our people.” He said in his usual sweet way. He knew me well and knew the alliance would never work if I didn’t want it. It was clear to me already that I was not ready for marriage, but for my father’s peace of mind, I was ready to try at the very least. I smiled back at him and gave him a smile and nod to reassure him of my commitment to the task at hand. We waited there in the royal court room for the Wolf-Prince to walk in through the doors.

We heard the single but long blast of a trumpet that signaled his arrival and the large doors were swung open quickly by six palace guards, three on each side. I heard the footsteps approach, slowly but steadily and then I looked up at the stranger who stepped in through the doors with armed knights that followed closely behind him.

In that perfect moment, I was lost, I was confused, I was…. SPEECHLESS.

Was he the beast I was to marry and was he the same man I had heard all those wild about? It could not be him I thought to myself as I felt my heartbeat begin to slow and felt something new and wild happen to my body. I had heard about it from my friends but had never experienced it for myself before. That unmistakable heat between my thighs.

He was obviously not like any normal man; he was beyond merely handsome. He was the most beautiful man in armor I had ever seen which shocked me because I had spent all my life surrounded by men in armor as the Princess of a great kingdom.

I watched him closely and noticed he caught my father’s gaze as soon as he walked into the room and held it while he slowly walked towards us. He had a slow and languid walk that made him seem like someone who did not care about anything, he had long silver hair that touched his shoulders and tossed around in the air with every new step he took, he had on a beautiful silver armor and had his sword by his side. There was something completely different about him that set him apart from every other knight I had seen in my life and it was not just his appearance, even though his appearance itself would force any man or lady to stop and look at him twice.

I could not yet tell the color of his eyes because of the distance still between us and because he had only looked unto my father’s eyes the entire time he approached us, as though he was completely focused on him and not at all interested in me, my brother or anyone else.

He looked like a man on a mission, the way he walked and the look on his face made him look like the most focused man I had ever seen. The way he held my father’s gaze while he took his time to walk to us would have seemed strange to me, if I had not been too busy with the prince’s face whenever he moved closer to where we stood. I barely managed to stop my eyes as they devoured his face before it became too obvious from those around us that I could not help but to stare at my husband to be.

I looked at the armor and noticed that even that was different from any I had seen. It fit him so well and looked lighter than any armor I had seen. He had a wolf emblem on the breastplate of his armor, clearly ready to represent his kingdom with pride. His sword was weirdly shaped and not like the double-edged blades I had seen my brother and other knights and soldiers train so many times with. The man was not a beast like I had heard, but he was something totally different from anything and everyone else.

I looked up at his face again as he got even closer and saw a wild and fiery look from the corner of his eyes.

If I had been more observant and in tune with my intuition instead of being in tune with the handsome stranger, I should have noticed there and then, something was gravely wrong with the man

Prince Tristane...