Revenge, Rejection and Regrets

TWO

Prince Leroy

Today has been rather hectic for me and now I have to get ready to meet my father and the other royals to officially welcome my bride to be into the castle.

I have only met Kimberly once even though she has been betrothed to me since she was a child. This was a usual thing between kingdoms, Princesses were always given out as a form of peace or to make our alliances stronger. I have seen several pictures of Kimberly while growing up but we only got to meet once, and to me, she was just as daft as every other Princess I have met. She is beautiful no doubt but I personally don’t like that she is timid. 

I get that a lot of people are scared of the DiCaprio's. I mean we have the largest lands and strongest armies and we are also quite rich and plenty in number compared to other kingdoms. As far as the werewolf community is concerned, Auradon is the strongest and most feared kingdom. Every other kingdom, and pack would do anything to get in our good books. 

We have our founding leaders to thank for this. Over the years, we have been able to subdue smaller packs and merge them to become part of us. It is safe to say my lineage is blessed with ideas and opportunities. 

The bedside phone rang and I already knew who it was before answering.

“You can come in Alonso, the door is open, ” I spoke into the phone a little too harshly. I am not in a good mood and I am not going to pretend otherwise. But come to think of it, I’m never really in a good mood. I don’t believe in love and I always knew I would never marry for love but did it have to be Kimberly?

Thanks to my super hearing, I heard his footsteps in my living room downstairs and while he climbed the stairs but he still had the decency to tap on my bedroom door before coming in. I had nothing but a towel wrapped around my waist. Alonso is the head of security in this place and despite his many years of working with the family, he was still so scared of me. I see how he jokes with my brothers, but he’s always rigid and careful with his words around me. 

I guess I should he used to this by now. Practically everyone is watchful around me, even my brothers. I know it mostly has to do with the alpha trait in me but my dad thinks I go overboard sometimes.

“What is it Alonso?” I raised my brow and crossed my legs in front of me. 

“Your highness, your fiancé is here and we are about to begin the ball. Your brothers are already at the large hall and you should be down by now,” he was apparently surprised that I was still not dressed. I was not just in the mood to meet my in-laws or even fiance, but well, I had no choice. I initially told my stylist not to bother dressing me but looking at the robe that was hung in the closet from where I sat on my bed, I knew I needed his help now.

“Get me the stylist,” I informed him “and inform my guests that I would be a few minutes late,” I told him dryly.

“Right away,” He bowed and left.

A few minutes later, the stylist arrived and starts to dress me. Even my stylist is scared of me. He dressed me on many occasions but we never ever spoke. He did his work in silence and the only time he as much as reacted to anything was when I complain about something. He would just nod his head and make adjustments. When he was done, he packed his equipments and hurried away like I was chasing him.

I looked at myself in the mirror and I had to admit I looked really good, almost like a Greek -god and I was beginning to think it was a little too much for just a welcome party. Another knock sounded on the door and in comes Lorde and Henry. Lorde is my immediate younger brother while Henry is my best friend. 

I’m the first born child of my parents and I have four other younger brothers; Lorde, Reign, Wesley and Sterling. I would give my life for my brothers. I didn’t get to know my mother much. She died birthing her youngest child Sterling and Sterling still somehow blames himself for killing her. I was six as at that time and it’s been seventeen years already but my dad has refused to remarry. He had been so much in love with my mum and they had been betrothed too, one of the reasons why my dad thinks I would come to love Kimberly eventually.

As werewolves, we had mates. Many of us get to meet our mates at eighteen but most of the kings did not really end up with their mates because they had been betrothed to someone else even from birth. 

“Wooooah, there goes the future king,” Lorde teased.

“And soon to be groom. You look stunning,” Henry says as he hugs me and pats me in the back. Lorde does the same.

I’m just a few months older than Henry but I am at least three inches taller than him and Lorde is about an inch taller than Henry despite the fact that Henry is older. The DiCaprio brothers happen to be quite tall but I still stood taller at six feet four inches. I am even taller than my father who is the present king.

“You are definitely going to sweep the Princess off her feet with that look,” Lorde joked.

“Not just the Princess but every single female present, like you always do,” Henry teased.

“Will you both just stop teasing me,” I chuckled softly and waved their jokes off.

“Maybe now you can leave Thelma to me,” Henry says again and I couldn’t hold my laughter in. At some point, Thelma had almost cost us our friendship.

Thelma was one of the nobles daughter’s in Auradon. She had the hots for me and we have gotten down a few times. I had no idea Henry liked her as at that time. Turned out they also had a fling before but Henry never got over her and it had led to a heated argument between us.

Well, I know I haven’t really been a good man with the females around here, but I never proclaimed love to any of them. They willingly graced my bed and my getting married to Kimberly was not going to stop it. I am the future king, I can have as many concubines as I want and Kimberly wouldn’t mind.

“Well, you can have her if you still want, ” I said.

“Come on, dad is mad already, ” Lorde shook his head and motions for us to come out. I raised my hands in submission.

“I guess there is no avoiding this, ” I said with little interest as we made our way outside.

“Nope. Counting down to playing the best man role, ” Lorde said.

“That’s my spot, ” Henry challenged jokingly, and they both nudged each other.

These two were something else. There is a year between myself and Lorde as we coincidentally share the same birthday, mine is just a year before his but we could pass as twins. We looked so much alike asides from the fact that I was taller than him. Henry is about eight months older than Lorde and I am four months older than Henry.

My bodyguards were waiting for me in the hallway and they escorted us to the venue of the party. I could already perceive a mix of different werewolves, chatting, and laughing. Knowing I had to pretend to be the perfect gentleman for the next couple of hours had me feeling a certain kind of way. 

The hall was nicely decorated and as soon as I stepped in, I could feel all eyes on me. My father was standing next to Kim’s dad and he beamed with pride as I entered. Lorde and Henry quickly found their female companies as I strode with confidence to greet my guests.

I was used to the kind of attention I was getting. Not to blow my trumpets but I know how much respect I commanded and it had nothing to do with my good looks. 

“King Siegel, ” I shook hands with Kim’s father and King of Dakarai “good to meet you again,”

He took me into a half hug and laughed softly. Is it safe to say that even the king was obsessed with me? Or maybe obsessed is a strong word.

“I’m so proud of you my son-in-law, ” he tapped my back and laughed again. A small smile curved my lips. Three ladies approach us. Siegel’s wife, the queen of Dakarai, another brunette who is a family friend but I do not remember her name now. We had something before. The last female amongst the trio was my bride to-be, Kimberly.

I pecked the back of their palms and told them how beautiful they looked and even the Queen was smiling so broadly at me. I could have sworn I saw a light pink stain her cheeks but it was gone as fast as it appeared.

I kissed Kimberly on both sides of the cheeks and drew her closer to me. “You look beautiful, darling, ” I complimented her and she writhed in my arms like a little girl. Her cheeks turned red from my touch and there was that giggle that I always thought sounded so stupid.

“You look charming my prince, ” She told me back.

“You both look so good together, ” Her father complimented and she giggled again.

I placed my hand on the small of her back “If you will excuse us, I’ll like to introduce my bride to be to the other members of the family, ” I said and led her away.

“They are going to have the most beautiful babies, ” I heard Kim’s mother say before we were out of earshot.

“Do we really have to do this?” I said dryly into Kim’s ears and I felt her flinch. 

“Of course we have to, ” She said in what she thought was a seductive voice but not to me.

It was at this point I started to feel funny.  A sweet scent filled my nostrils and my heart literally stopped for a brief second.

“Do you smell that?” I asked my to be bride.

“What?” She looked up at me and I just shook my head.

“Never mind, ” I tried to remain calm but my wolf who I thought I could easily control had suddenly become uncontrollable. He was panting and jumping in my head, it was taking all my strength to calm him down.

I didn’t need anyone to tell me what the scent means.

“How is this possible, ” I muttered under my breath as I tried to find who it belonged to. It wasn’t long before our eyes met. She was across the hall in a uniform, serving my younger brother drinks, and as our eyes locked in that moment, she managed to spill the drink on her tray on Lorde who cursed out loud and everyone had their attention on them now.

“Mate, ” My wolf, Boris, screamed in my head but I did not need him to tell me.

“What is wrong with you, ” Lorde screamed at her and if we were not in public, I would have been across the hall, pinning him to the ground for speaking to her like that.

“I-I’m sorry, ” she bends to clear the mess and another maid rushes to help her clean the mess. I didn’t know I was walking over already.

“My prince, I’m so sorry, ” The other maid  apologized and Abigail rushes to the scene as well.

“Come on, ” I dragged Lorde out of there a little too roughly. I was mad at him, but I was not going to make a scene here.