The lost princess

The party planner

 Selena POV

For the first time, since we had left the kingdom, I had finally been given a task to complete, Unfortunately, it wasn’t a project where I could prove, that I was capable of anything of much importance, merely my skills as a party planner.

For the past week I had been deciding on colour schemes, food for the barbecue buffet and giving my opinion on other meaningless aspects of our birthday party.

Normally, if we were back home, I wouldn’t have minded organising everything, but as it stood, I was here on this journey to prove my real worth to my family, and they were not allowing me the chance.

It was only a day until the event and I needed something to wear. I knew I had promised that I would not act like the spoilt princess during the trip, but we had not anticipated the possibility of any sort of celebration.

I had left it until the last minute to find a dress, and I was also in unknown territory when it came to choosing casual dresses. I was used to the ballgowns and cocktail dresses that were required for the royal balls.

I dashed from one shop to the next, hoping to find the ideal dress. It may only be a barbecue in the pack house’s garden, but I still wanted to look good. Secretly, after our private encounter last week, I believed there was a high possibility that alpha Ewan was my mate and if I were proven correct, I wanted to look my best for the evening.

I was beginning to give up hope, feeling like there can’t be too many shops left in the mall when my eyes caught sight of the perfect dress.

It was a plain white material, with a sweetheart neckline being held in place by spaghetti straps. The flared skirt rested around my mid-thigh, giving it a light and airy feel to it. Luckily, in the same shop I found a pair of white wedged sandals to match. Overall, the entire outfit exhibited a summery vibe, fitting for the pleasant weather we had been having.

Next it was a trip to the men’s clothing shop, prepared with a list of sizes for my brothers and cousins. I was tempted to pick up an ugly neon green, floral Hawaiian shirt which caught my eye for Sage, but decided against it. The idea of being suspended, upside down in the air for half of my birthday, as a form of revenge did not appeal to me.

I decided to play it safe, each having a pair of either skinny or straight leg jeans and a different coloured shirt, ensuring that I got Forrest his go-to dark green, knowing that no other colour would satisfy his taste.

I woke this morning with a smile on my face, it had finally arrived. The milestone I had waited for, for so long was here. I knew I would not be able to be properly joined to my mate until I reached eighteen, but I could at least find him now. I could get to know him and ascertain what my future will be like.

I was almost running to the bathroom, eager to start the day. I showered speedily, before dressing in the black leggings and t-shirt that we were required to wear throughout our journey. I couldn’t wait to change into a different colour, but it was far too early to don my new dress yet, we still had ten hours and a lot of preparation before I could even consider changing.

I had been busy all morning, directing caterers, barking orders at the decorators, informing the pack’s omegas where I wanted the bar to be situated. I hadn’t even pondered the whole mate subject, but it was obvious I hadn’t come into contact with him yet.

I hadn’t picked up on any alluring scents or had my attention turned away from the organisation that I was preoccupied with.

My family hadn’t disturbed me all day, I failed to be graced with anyone’s presence for hours, they had been too busy with their own project. We would be leaving tomorrow morning and their priority was now, to plan our departure and next destination, so they were all too busy to worry about my whereabouts, I was sure that I could have begun a journey back to the kingdom and no one would have realised my absence.

I had just put the last hair grip into my side swept, long blonde hair when a knock sounded at my door.

“There’s my little girl…” I was met with my dad’s large grin as soon as I had opened the door fully. “You look beautiful, as always, sweetheart.”

“Thank you…” I fake curtseyed. “I try…Were the boys’ clothes up to their high standards?”

“I believe so. I haven’t heard any complaints.” I rolled my eyes, mentally adding a ‘yet’ to the end of his sentence.

“Well, there better not be, otherwise next time they can go out and get their own shopping!”

“Well, do you think we should grace everyone with our presence, or are you planning on staying up here, all alone this evening?” He said, ignoring my previous comment and offering his bent arm.

“After all the effort I’ve put into this evening?” I linked my arm with his and smiled. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

It was a different atmosphere to what I was used to, all of the parties I had attended previously were well mannered, formal gatherings.

Never before had I seen someone forego a glass and swig wine directly from its bottle, or scantily dressed women dancing seductively on top of tables. I grimaced at the sight, as one woman glided her hand along her body and across her barely covered breasts, intent on giving the wolf whistling men a provocative show.

People weren’t using the provided plates and taking their food back to tables to eat in a civilised manor, instead they stood at the buffet tables, gnawing at chicken drumsticks until they were licking the bone clean. Was this what a real pack was like? If it was discovered that Ewan was my mate, would I be expected to join in with these animalistic behaviours?

“Is this what all pack parties are like?” I whispered to my father, who had tightened his grip on me protectively.

“No, sweetheart. This pack’s idea of tolerable behaviour is definitely an exception.”

I rolled my eyes with a tut when I caught sight of the boys of our group, all, barring Cyan were stood, leering at the flirty girls as they gyrated in full view of everyone.

“You alright Cy?” I asked in a sympathetic manner, when I eventually found him sitting at a lone table in the shadows.

“Not really my scene.”

“It’s just as well I brought this then…” I said, a smile graced my lips as I pulled the wrapped gift from my bag and placing it on the table in front of him.

I giggled when I saw his green-blue eyes light up in excitement, when he saw it was a book on the subject of historic battles.

“You’re very welcome.” I smiled when I saw an image of his grinning face scanning the pages of the book pop into my mind, knowing it was his way of showing his gratitude. “Although I do have to say, you have some very strange interests.”

“It makes me better when I’m training, a lot of the books mention different fighting techniques and I enjoy learning about them.”

“Maybe I should read a few of them, hopefully I’d be able to at least plan a surprise attack on Lincoln when we’re training next.” I mumbled to myself, but still loud enough for Cyan to pick up my words.

“You’ve been training?” I could hear that he was intrigued, but I noticed that surprisingly, there was no signs of the amusement I had expected in his voice.

“Yes. Well I thought that when I finally find a mate, hopefully I’ll become a Luna and I want to be able to protect my new pack.”

“How do you know your mate will be an alpha?”

“We are descendants of the moon goddess, and have royal alpha blood. If our grandmother has matched me with anything less than an alpha I would feel a little short changed.”

“You have the power of healing, how do you know you won’t be mated to a pack doctor?” He asked with raised brows.

“Then I will be very disappointed and will have some harsh words to say to grandmother Selene!” I grumbled, folding my arms across my chest.

“And you wonder why people call you a spoilt brat!” He laughed.