The Art of Taming Her Mates

“Prince Wallace is back!!” The maid’s cheerful voice filled Kayleen's ears. “Wallace,” Kayleen turned towards the door with a big smile. She lifted her gown up a little to run, passing by a guest in the hall to welcome her husband, only to be stopped by his unexpected yell. “KAYLEEN!!” Wallace roared startling her. Kayleen stopped in the door frame stunned, watching her husband stalk closer to her with a gloomy face. The small fragile figure of a shaking woman was in his arms, causing every person around them to gasp at her pitiful condition. The woman was Wallace’s soulmate, Anne. “What happened…” Kayleen began to ask, completely confused. “How could you be so cold hearted as to send Anne into the woods to bring me some nonsense flowers? If I hadn’t appeared when I had she would have died in that swamp!” Wallace accused, his eyes sharp and red. Kayleen’s heart sank at the false accusation. “It’s a lie. I didn’t…” Kaylee shook her head. “You disappointed me, Kayleen,” Wallace frowned. Kayleen was disheartened when he tore his eyes away from her. This was not the life Kayleen had envisioned with Wallace. Having grown up together, she had fallen in love before she had even realized it. Madly in love with the only male around her, Kayleen never dreamed of finding her soulmate. Instead, she had given her heart to Wallace, who had proposed to her at the age of sixteen. Conceding to their affection and unbreakable trust, Wallace and Kayleen’s families decided to arrange their marriage but then things abruptly changed. A month ago, Kayleen married Wallace, never expecting him to appear in their bridal chamber with his soulmate, Anne, at his side. Anne had once been one of Kayleen’s maids. The maid who would always run around for her, serving her everywhere she went. Anne was two years younger than Kayleen and had turned eighteen on their wedding day. There was a story circulating that Anne had tried to run away when she learned that Wallace was her mate because she did not want to rob Kayleen of her husband. Then, following their run and catch love story, Wallace brought her back and introduced her as his soulmate to the world. Wallace’s Wolf had fallen head over heels in love with Anne, leaving Kayleen in the bridal suite alone. For Kayleen it all felt like a horrible joke. A dirty joke that made her a laughing stock to the entire world. But when she confronted Wallace, he told her how he could not ignore his wolf. His wolf needed his soulmate and without Anne, he would lose his heart and mind. He knelt in front of the mate bond. Since that day, Kayleen had watched the relationship grow between Wallace and Anne while she became the third wheel. Her dreams shattered by seeing another woman in her husband's arms. Even though Kayleen was married to Wallace, because Anna was his soul mate, she was given more importance as his soon to be Luna, Kayleen held no rank in the Prince’s residence. The bedroom that she was supposed to share with Wallace had become Anne’s. Most of the servants only saw Anne as their mistress, not Kayleen, who had been given another room that Wallace never entered. Kayleen ignored the gossip where they called her the Virgin Princess, instead she focused on regaining Wallace’s love. She wanted to get him back and make him realize they were the ones that were made for each other even though they were not soulmates. After all, how could their years-old childhood love have faded so quickly from his heart? Kayleen refused to relinquish her true love to a low born Omega and did everything possible to approach Wallace in the past month, but each time she was misunderstood or accused of something. Kayleen quickly became a villainess in people's eyes, someone that was trying to wedge herself between Wallace and Anna’s mate bond. Kayleen always wondered why people never saw that she was the one who had married Wallace first. She was his first love, the one that had grown up in the same house with him. She was the one that had been wronged and left alone. Now she was being accused of planning a murder. “I didn't send Anne anywhere to get flowers, Wallace. Why would I do that?” Kayleen pointed out. “You’re the only one that knows I like white orchids, Kayleen. You wanted to impress me with those flowers today on my birthday but you sent Anne to go get them? Why? Did you want to act like you were the one to put your life in jeopardy to get those flowers? Or did you want to kill my mate?” “Why would I want to kill her, Wallace? I didn't even know where she was… '' Kayleen panicked but was cut off by Anne. “Wallace,” Anne slowly moved out of his arms. “Princess Kayleen did not do anything. I overheard the Princess talking about you liking the white orchids that are found in the Gray Forest. I voluntarily went to the woods to get them for you,” Anne spoke in a low, soft voice before lowering her eyes in shyness when Wallace looked at her. Kayleen frowned at Anne’s claim. “I was in your grandfather's room the entire time. You know that he is paralyzed. So why would I be talking about flowers? Nevermind the fact that there is no way that Anne could have overheard me from that room,” Kayleen questioned, shifting her blue eyes to Anne, who flinched instantly, grabbing Wallace’s arm. “Maybe… I could have misheard, Wallace. It’s my mistake,” Anne purred, blinking her long eyelashes up at him, pulling at his heart strings. “White orchids are available in gardens. So why was the forest mentioned before the garden in the first place?” Wallace frowned. “You don’t need to cover for Kayleen, Anne. There’s no need to be scared. You’re my mate, not an insignificant Omega anymore. You don’t have to obey anyone or fall into anyone’s trap,” Wallace lifted Anne’s hand, wiping mud from her thin wounded wrist. Kayleen clutched her dress at her sides when she witnessed Anne blush while Wallace caressed her cheek. “Please don’t blame the Princess. I’m sure she forgot about the white orchids in the garden…” Anne hissed in pain and bit her lip. “You have served Kayleen for years and know she is aware of every little detail about my residence. There is no way she would have forgotten such things. You got hurt because of those nonsense flowers, so I don't like them anymore,” Wallace declared, mind-linking the Doctors and his Beta. Kayleen’s surprised eyes landed on Wallace. He hated white orchids now? Their first meeting was in a white orchid garden when she was six and he was nine. He had compared her with those flowers, saying that they reminded him of innocence and beauty. Disliking those flowers because of Anne meant that he liked their beautiful memory as well. “Prince, the orchid garden is locked now,” Beta Kane informed him. “What?” Kayleen’s jaw dropped in shock. “The orchids will die if they are not taken care of, Wallace!” She stepped forward in panic. For years she had taken care of them like they were her children. “I will get rid of everything that is harmful to my mate,” Wallace remarked, his voice cold with countless underlying meanings behind it. “Prince, please you don't have to do that for me…” Anne purred weakly, but her cheeks were pink in admiration. Kayleen spotted the corner of Anne's lips curling up slightly in secret. The smirk was clearly directed at Kayleen. “Enough of your act!” Kayleen could not bear to witness the cunning Omega another moment and stepped forward. Anne always did things on her own, then afterward Kayleen was scolded and blamed by Wallace, at which time she would pretend to defend Kayleen. In this way, she would look kind and magnanimous in Wallace’s eyes and Kayleen would be the villainess. “Please forgive me, Princess…” Anne cried, cowering behind Wallace. “Kayleen, you can't disrespect my mate in this way,” Wallace stopped Kayleen with a warning glare. Anne blinked her big eyes at Kayleen, secretly shooting her a weak yet meaningful smile. “It is my residence that you’re standing in. I love Anne. You need to stop your antics. If you can’t respect Anne and can't accept her as my other half, then you’re free to leave.” Wallace announced before taking Anne to their room for a bath before the birthday party started. Kayleen watched their backs vanish in shock. Was that the same man who had promised to protect and love her for the rest of her life? He had said all of those harsh words without blinking an eye. The scene had been witnessed by the guests at the door arriving for the birthday party. “She entered the residence using the Prince’s birthday as a pretense. Doesn't she understand that the Prince has already found his soulmate and she is just the third wheel?” A few high-ranking warriors that work in Wallace’s residence gossiped. “She must have thought her status as a princess would help her to claim Prince Wallace,” a female guest giggled. “Or maybe she still has hopes to trap the Prince because he let her enter the palace to please his sick grandfather.” “She should just accept the truth, that by not kicking her out the Prince is letting her save face. She should just give up.” Kayleen turned to face the bitches who licked Anne’s shoes once she turned out to be Wallace's mate. “So what if I’m not Wallace’s soulmate? I love Wallace with everything I am. We pledged before the Moon Goddess while marrying and accepted each other.” “All of that doesn’t matter when you aren’t the one who has his heart and love. You are not his soulmate. Am I right?” Anne’s friend sneered. Kayleen bit her lip, unable to argue further. She was the only one that knew how she could ignore the fact that her husband had been stolen away from her because the mate bond had blinded him. She had become his unfavored wife and a laughing stock thanks to them, but Kayleen refused to let anyone play with her. She had believed in all of her years of love and faith. Kayleen raised her chin, as her eyes roamed arrogantly over them. “No one can replace me in Wallace’s heart. I’m his first and last love. He will come back to me, leaving the dogs to eat their leftovers,” Kayleen stated, walking out of Wallace’s residence while ignoring all of the offended guests. Their taunts filled her ears but she brushed them off as she began to run in the woods once she was all alone. Under the dark sky in the deserted woods Kayleen ran to release her emotions. It must be the cold wind that was making her eyes water. She ended up on the path to the lake and the big old mango that was found on Wallace’s property. It was the place where Wallace had proposed to her under that same tree. Upon reaching the large mango tree, she slowed her steps, took a deep and heavy breath, and put her hand over her heart. Her face was flushed and she felt suffocated. In front of the others, Kayleen maintained the facade of a beautiful, arrogant princess living a life of luxury, that she wanted to crush an innocent Omega with her power. But Kayleen was the only one aware of the truth. After the wedding, Kayleen’s wolf had disappeared. She was not able to shift anymore and she could not feel her in her mind. She continued to grow weaker and weaker like some kind of curse had been placed on her. As her wolf left, she became similar to a human. Some of the people around her noticed that she had no wolf. They could not sense Ebbe. Yet Kayleen still had the special sense that she found strange. It indicated that her wolf was somewhere but was not showing herself. A she-wolf without a wolf had a worthless existence in the Kingdom, so Kayleen’s secret could not be exposed to anyone. The revelation could backfire on her in many ways, as she had already lost her husband. Kayleen slid behind a tree. She watched the lake’s calm waters and cried her heart out. If this had happened in the past, then Wallace would have followed Kayleen and hugged her before she could even cry. But everything had changed, he was with his mate and probably had no idea that Kayleen had left his residence alone without any protection. After crying for a long time, Kayleen pulled her knees up to her chest, rested her chin on top of them, and thought about everything that had happened over the past few days. Until the conversation between two women that were passing by fell on her ears. “I never expected that Prince Wallace would announce the ceremony at today’s birthday party.” As soon as Wallace was mentioned Kayleen jumped up onto her feet and carefully listened to them from behind the tree. “Actually, I think this party was originally planned to announce to everyone that Prince Wallace and Anne’s wedding would be held at the end of the month.” Kayleen’s eyes widened with the unexpected discovery. Her husband had announced his wedding to his mate. “I wonder what will happen to Princess Kayleen then. She is already married to the Prince, right?” The woman asked. “Didn’t you notice that the Prince clearly hinted at it in his announcement? Their marriage will be dissolved. After all, nothing was ever consummated between the two of them, so the marriage agreement was never sealed. On top of that, she does nothing but create a disturbance in his relationship with his mate. Plus, you know as well as I do that, legally she is not married to Prince Wallace anymore. The moment that Anne appeared, that marriage was over. His responsibility to Princess Kayleen was cut long ago. She is already known as the Virgin Princess, now she’ll be a divorcee too.” Their conversation faded away as they passed, but Kayleen remained frozen in place. “How can Wallace be so cruel to me? Giving my place to Anne? Don’t we love each other?” Kayleen placed her hand over her aching heart that grew more painful with each passing second. Her head spun, her vision darkened, and when her feet stumbled she fell back into the lake. She sank deeper as she tried hard to swim to the surface but something kept stopping her. Kayleen’s vision became clear as something large appeared in front of her in the water. She blinked at the white wolf before her, it was none other than her wolf that had disappeared. ‘Ebbe!’ Kayleen gasped at her wolf. ‘Where have you been? Why did you leave me?’ She was elated to see Ebbe again. ‘Kayleen, I am dying,’Ebbe confessed. ‘What?’ Kayleen’s face turned white. “Yes, we married Wallace, tying our fate and heart to him, but we didn’t receive the love that we deserved. We accepted him as our mate but he didn’t do the same. He loves his fated mate, leaving us all alone. Now we don't even have four months left to live,” Ebbe explained. Kayleen nearly stopped her arms and legs from treading water as her body went numb at the discovery. She finally realized the reason behind her weakness, not being able to shift, and the disappearance of her wolf. She felt wronged in every way down to her very soul. If her wolf died she would die too. ‘Why have I been punished for faithfully loving a man?’ Kayleen asked, seeing the sorrow in her wolf's eyes. Ebbe was attached to Wallace just as much as Kayleen was. ‘We broke the Goddess’ law. We ignored it and didn’t wait for our mate, instead we chose to marry another,’ Ebbe revealed. ‘My love was pure,’ Kayleen bit her lip as she stared straight into her wolf’s eyes. ‘But what we got in return was not even affection,’ Ebbe admitted. Kayleen and Ebbe fell into deep silence for sometime. Their years of memories with Wallace flood their hearts. Until a month ago, when the memories shifted devouring those happy moments. ‘I refuse to let you die, Ebbe. I want to live,’ Kayleen declared. ‘We are still bound to Wallace, survival is not an option for us,’ Ebbe spoke with a heavy heart. ‘But still… there must be something. I can't give up that easily,’ Kayleen argued. Ebbe and Kayleen stared at each other for a couple of seconds. ‘There is a way,’ Ebbe admitted in a low tone. ‘What is it?’ Kayleen asked. ‘We have to find our soulmate!’