His One and Only Mate

Chapter 1

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*ALINA POV*

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*~*5 Years Old*~*

I bang on the door maybe more times than necessary, and look down the hallway to see if anyone’s in sight. I probably don’t have very long. I hate being on the floor above. Why can’t we share the nursery like we used to?

The door opens and Miss Maddie looks out, frowning at first, but then looks down and smiles. She’s really pretty, especially when she smiles. I’m glad Caden got that from her, even if he doesn’t do it as often. “Alina, what a surprise!” She bends down to my level, opening her arms and I happily give her a hug. “Where’s your guard this afternoon?”

No sooner than she spoke, does Uncle Reggie come barreling down the hall, holding the shoes I left in the bathroom for my scent in one hand. I try not to roll my eyes when he starts glaring at me. Momma told me to stop doing that. It’s not ladylike.

Instead of answering his looks, I peep around Miss Maddie into their apartment. “Is Caden in?”

“Alina,” Uncle Reggie says with thin lips. “You’re supposed to wait for your mother so she can help you get ready for a visit at Amelia’s.”

“But I was boooored,” I whine without looking at him. I don’t see any movement inside their living space. I hope I haven’t missed him yet!

I hear the adults talking while I attempt to take a step inside. I turn to look up when Miss Maddie begins to laugh as Uncle Reggie shakes his head. “Go ahead, Alina. He’s in his room. But only for a few minutes until you mom finishes up with court.”

I jump in excitement and rush through their quarters until I get to the boy’s room. I burst in, and instantly I feel a flutter in my tummy and a burst of happiness. It happens every time I see him. “Hi Caden!”

He doesn’t even look up from his paper that he’s doodling on, but I know he’s happy to see me. The small lift of the corners of his mouth says he’s trying not to smile back. “Aren’t you supposed to be going to Ameila’s?” I pout and pull on his sleeve, causing him to drop his pencil. When he sighs out and finally looks at me, I put on my bestest smile. “Alina, you have to go for your tests…”

“Come play with me before I leave!” We were going to be gone for over a week. That’s too long without him. I wish we didn’t have to go!

“Can’t. Once court finishes up, you leave and I have to go with dad to watch over trainees.” He smiles and flicks my head. “You can ask Micah. I think he’s down in the kitchens bothering Tink.” Despite trying to send me off, he gets off the bed and pulls me into a hug when I start having a sad feeling in my chest.

“I’ll miss you,” I say into his shirt.

“It’s only a few days, Alina,” he says softly, pulling me in tighter. I like hugging Caden. He always lets me hold on to him as long as I want to.

“Alina!”

We both slowly break apart hearing my mom’s call. Caden takes my hand and leads me out of his room, where both our moms are standing in the doorway. “Hi, Ms. Lincoln,” Caden says properly, squeezing my hand. My mom smiles at Caden, but all I can do is pout.

“It’s time to go honey,” she says gently.

“I know…” I turn and hug Caden again, then hug Ms. Maddie as well. Momma picks me up, and I hold onto her neck as we walk away. Caden watches us as we go down the hallway and I wave to him again before we go around the corner. I sigh and lay my head on her shoulder.

Once we get to my room, mom sits me on the bed, then goes through my wardrobe. “Queen Margery will be there too, honey. Which dress do you want to wear- the yellow or the green?”

“Do I have to go?”

She turns around, dresses forgotten, and moves to my level. She takes her hand and smooths down my hair, reading my thoughts. “We’ll be back before you know it, sweetie. But you know your powers are growing, and we just want to make sure everything’s alright. You may carry more magic that I could ever dream of….”

“But I’m not doing anything,” I pout.

She stands up and picks me up to stand up on my bed, making me smile. “I know you aren’t, baby. But just last week you were able to hide your scent without blinking. I can barely do that, and that’s after a year of trying…”

“Then it’s Uncle Nate and Reggie’s fault! They always cheat in hide and seek….”

Mom laughs just as someone knocks on the door and opens it. “Are my girls ready yet?”

“Daddy!” I jump off the bed and into his arms. Daddy holds me in a tight embrace and kisses my forehead, calling me his little princess under his breath. I love my moments with my daddy.

“Heard you ran from Reggie again, Alina. You know you can’t do that. You have guards for a reason,” he says seriously. I twirl the hair at the base of his neck, trying to give my best pouty face.

“She’s just going to miss Caden,” mom says, hugging us both and kissing me on the side of my head. Daddy puts me down and mom turns me around to go pick out a dress.

“She’s spent every waking hour with him and Micah since she could crawl. A week is nothing.” I pout as I pick out my green dress and a pair of brown boots. Mom begins to help me dress, and I giggle when I use magic to buckle up my shoes. She smiles with me. “He’s also going to start Beta training this week. You would barely see him anyways.”

“He’s my mate, daddy. Of course, I will miss him,” I say, twirling around and running to my vanity for momma to brush my hair. When she doesn’t immediately come over, I turn around and seeing both of my parents standing there. Daddy looks like he swallowed some of momma’s cooking.

I tilt my head, about to ask what was wrong, but mommy pops daddy in the stomach with the back of her hand. “Right, lets get your hair done. Connor, go wait for us in the court yard.”

“But… d-did she ju-“

“Connor!” momma says through her teeth, “Go now. We’re going to be late.” They are both looking at each other, and I can tell they’re mindlinking. I can’t wait to do that one day. Mom starts smoothing out my waves and begins to braid my hair while I play with a dolly Caden got me for my birthday. I guess it is only a week, but I’ll still miss him.

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*~*8 Years Old*~*

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Micah, Caden, and I lay on the open field in the back part of the castle. Autumn just started changing the colors of the leaves and we’ve been running around enjoying the cool air after our studies.

While Micah and I point out the shapes of the clouds, Caden stays silent, eyes closed and enjoying our banter, only chiming in when he wants to. Even though he’s two years older than us, he’s never complained about hanging out with us, but I like to think that he just likes to hang out with me.

His pinky finds mine, looping them together, and I look over at his face. I know he can feel the sparks too. He looks content with a soft smile on his face, and I can feel my cheeks warm the longer I stare at him.

“Okay!” Micah shouts, standing up in the process, then looking down at us. “I’m ready to play again! Tag?” At Caden’s groan, Micah puts his fingers to his chin to think about other options. “Throwing ball?” I squeeze Caden’s finger and he looks at me. His deep blue eyes always draw me in, as if they are looking into my soul. I give him a glance over to Micah, who really wants to play with Caden since he just got back from Beta training with his dad this morning. It’s been over two weeks since he’s been gone, and Micah really missed him. I did too. “Hide and seek?”

“Okay, okay… we can do a round of hide and seek.” Caden says with a smile, standing up and then helping me up in the process.

“Yay! Who’s the seeker?” We look around, none of us wanting to be the seeker, then we see our ‘babysitters’ lounging against the castle walls.

“Uncle Sven, Uncle Reggie!” I take off in a run with Micah right on my heels. “Can you play with us?”

When they both groan, Caden comes up to my side, pulling my hand into his as Micah starts to beg them. A few years ago, Acker and Maddie decided they wanted to live in their own cottage, outside of the castle.

I hated it.

It stormed for days because of my sadness and anger, and only let up when Caden would hold me. After I realized that they would come almost every day for studies or helping out their parents, I began to accept the new reality that they didn’t live one floor below us anymore.

It also helped that Caden would sneak into my room on nights that I was feeling overwhelmed with my powers or just plain missing him. He could always tell when I needed him most.

“Please Uncle Reggie, pleeeaasssee,” I say with puppy eyes, since they haven’t budged with Micah. “I promise I won’t sneak away for an entire month!” Caden laughs as his hand tightens on mine. He knows I’m lying.

“Puh-lease. All I have to do is know Caden’s schedule, and I can find you quick enough. No deal,” Uncle Reggie says with his nose up in the air. I stick my tongue out at him, trying not to laugh. He is probably my favorite guard. No matter how many times I’ve run off on him, he’s always in a positive mood when watching me.

Micah drops his arm over my shoulders, and Caden does the same, and all three of us beg. “Fine, fine… stop the groveling,” Sven says on a groan. “You’re supposed to be a princess. Princesses don’t whine,” playfully scolding me.

“And you two!” Reggie gasps. “Future leaders of our court! I’m ashamed!” They immediately turn around and start counting, making me and Micah yelp out laughter and start running into the forest. “No funny business, Alina!” Sven shouts, causing all of us to laugh.

Rushing through the trees, I realize Caden isn’t with us any longer, and I feel a sense of loss, but then I see the perfect hiding spot between the brush of some large hedges. Right as I approach it, Micah speeds past me, and darts under the pile of leaves. “No fair, Micah!”

“Finders keepers,” he sing songs, not even daring to poke his head out. I wish I could zap him with my magic, but last time I did that, daddy grounded me.

I hear a howl in the distance, noting that Reggie and Sven are done counting, and are about to start hunting. I look side to side, and will my scent to shut off. I really don’t like losing. I start to run down a path I’ve walked for years with my parents, then darted off that, going deeper into the forest. I may get into trouble later but it’ll be totally worth it.

I see a few boulders that look good for hiding. Looking back behind me, I don’t hear anything except mother nature, and I smile to myself. I slide my body into the gap of the boulders and turn around to see the open forest in case I need to run. Off in the distance, I can hear Micah screaming, which makes me laugh.

Glad I didn’t stay there for long.

My heart is racing, especially since I hear Reggie’s wolf howl again. He knows I cut my scent off. I back up slowly, trying to hide myself in the shadows. A hand grabs my shoulder and before I can even scream, another hand softly goes against my mouth. I instantly know the smell, and turn my head to a smirking Caden. Before I can scold him, he holds a finger up to keep me silent, and takes my hand, then starts sprinting deeper into the forest. After a few minutes and a lot of turns, we eventually stop to get a breath.

“You cut your scent off, didn’t you?” I nod my head proudly, taking in gulps of air. “Can you do me too?”

“I don’t know. Never tried it.” I close my eyes try to focus on that, but I won’t know if it actually works unless someone finds us. We continue to walk through the brush, and I lean in closer to him. I’ve never been this far out, especially without an adult.

“I want to show you something. I found this the other day when helping dad with patrols,” he says with pride in his voice. He’s always wanted to follow in his dad’s footsteps, and loves training. We’ve had many talks about if I ever take over the throne and him fighting to protect me from any harm.

“You’ll be a great Beta, Caden.”

“I have to be, for the future alpha,” he says with a smile, squeezing my hand and making me feel even more giddy.

I hear water right before we come into a clearing, and my eyes widen. “Oh, wow! A waterfall!” I run ahead as I take in the beauty of the small watering hole with wildflowers still in bloom surrounding it. The waterfall doesn’t compare to most in the realm, especially ones in the fae lands, but the fact we have one this close to home makes this one even better.

“You like it?”

I turn and run back to him, wrapping my arms around his middle and resting my cheek on his chest. We both stand in silence, taking in the beauty of this spot. One of his hands rub my back softly and I snuggle in more.

I watch the falls crash into the still water, getting entranced with its beauty, then I look up and see a gap between the small cliff and the water. “What’s that?” I don’t wait for his reply as curiosity grabs me.

Once I reach the edge of the water, I see jagged rocks that I could use to climb towards the opening. “Careful, Alina!” A few steps in and Caden is already behind me. The worst that could happen is that we could fall into the water, but we both know how to swim. I peer into the opening and take a chance, stepping through the harsh water raining down. I walk a couple of steps, waiting for Caden to join me, and when he does, we both take in the cave with awe.

“Wow,” we both whisper, then look at each other with a smile. It can’t be any larger than my bedroom, which is a decent size. Crystals and rocks have bioluminescence, giving us some lighting. We walk around, both of our shoes making squishy noises. I go ahead and knock mine off- don’t really care for them anyways.

The rock floor is surprisingly dry as we make our way around. “This is so cool,” I say, sitting on a rock and taking another look around.

“We better get back, Alina. It’s starting to get dark.” I look over at him, admiring the glow of the rocks that bounces off his dirty blonde hair. “One day, you’re gonna give Reggie a heart attack,” he laughs out, already heading to the entrance of the falls with my shoes in his hands.

I reluctantly follow, each of us finding our footing along the cliff until we reach solid ground. I use magic to dry us off and stare at our little oasis for another moment. “Can we come back tomorrow?”

“Definitely,” he says, a few yards ahead. I giggle and catch up to him, holding onto his arm. As we walk, I take glances of his face, and he smiles down at me.

“Can we keep this a secret?” Not sure why I want to, but I like knowing Caden and I have something only we can share.

“I like that idea, my Alpha,” he states in a mock serious tone.

I hold tighter to his arm. “No, you’re my alpha. My protector. Always and forever.”

When I look up again, there’s something in his eyes that recognized my words as truth. He takes his arm out of my hold and wraps it around my shoulders. “Lets get you home.”