The King's Return

21. JULÍAN!

MAYA'S POV

My life has changed a lot ever since I came to Manchester. I've lived in Spain my whole life and I never thought that one day I would have to leave.

My parents died when I was young, leaving me with my only sister. She took care of me but eventually, she met her mate and had to move to his pack in America and I was left with my two best friends.

Amira and Sebastían are like my family, or they used to be like that until Sebastían's brother rejected me. My friendship with Sebastían became weak and I resented him for giving me false promises.

I forgave him though but he made another mistake not long ago and now it is just me and Amira. She is everything you can hope for in a friend.

I moved to England with her when her father became more abusive towards her and her mother didn't do anything. We've been moving ever since until she met her mate, the werewolf king, Logan Morningstar.

Everything has been going well so far and I met my sister after five years. Even though Amira lives in the castle and I live in the pack house, we see each other every time we want to.

I heard that His Majesty forgave Bastían for what he did and gave him a few days to prove that he has changed, I don't think he knows him.

I don't think he ever will, it took me years to realise the type of person he really is and I know he is very good at deceiving people.

He is nothing like his brother or any member of his family which makes me sometimes wonder if he really is a Martinez.

I think the reason why I got interested in his brother in the first place is that he is the complete opposite of him.

Julían is very charming, humble, disciplined and he also has a good and gentle heart. I loved seeing him every day ever since I was a child.

My parents always said that I was a very picky pup when it came to people. I didn't like other people touching me unless they're family.

That wasn't the case though when I first met Julían. My mom said I wanted him to pick me up every time I saw him.

I don't remember our first meeting because I was just a few months old but I know he still remembers. I don't exactly know what happened between him and me.

Julían always paid attention to me when I was growing up, he made me happy. He would come to my school to pick me up even if Bastían wasn't there.

He was the man I always knew I would end up with. I asked the goddess to bless me with him as my mate and she answered me.

I didn't expect what happened after that though. Julían always knew I was his mate, even when I was a little baby but he never said anything.

He shifted at the age of sixteen on his birthday, the same day I was born and he got to know we were mates that very same day but kept it from me for so many years.

What makes it even sadder is that he always laughed when he heard me asking the Moon Goddess to make him my mate.

I know I'm younger than him, I never denied that but I couldn't stop myself from falling for him. I have realised it is in my nature to love him.

I can't even hate him, I don't even want to which is funny considering what he did to me. I can still remember the pain I felt when he spoke the words.

I wonder if he felt it too and if he did, I wonder what it felt like to suffer the pain he caused on his own. I thought that maybe one day I'll be able to forget him but it has been two years since I left Spain.

In these two years, I always wished that he would just show up and ask for my forgiveness and take me back but I soon realised that it wasn't gonna happen no matter how much I wanted it to happen.

Being here has taught me a lot of things and I'm glad that I followed Amira when she wanted to run away from her father.

Even though I can't forget him, being here has made me independent. I've always depended on his presence for my happiness but that has changed.

I have learned that I can be happy without him and I think that my life is better off without him. I just hate that it took me years to realise that.

I have to get ready, it's Alex's birthday and I have to be there. I know the castle will be filled with guests today.

I've never attended a birthday party of a prince before and I never thought I would but the king invited everyone in the pack which is very nice of him.

I don't even know what to wear, we bought a few dresses with Amira but I don't know which one I should wear and my sister is busy with their new house.

I've never had to dress up before since I never went to parties back home.

"I knew I would find you here doing nothing. Aren't you supposed to be ready for the party?"

"Sis, what are you doing here? I thought you were visiting the site with brother-in-law." I wasn't expecting her to be back soon.

"I told him that you needed my help and I'm glad I came back. Look at you, you haven't even taken a shower yet. What are you waiting for?" She sat next to me on my bed.

"I was thinking about what I should wear."

"And yet I don't see any dress here. Come on, go to the bathroom and take a shower while I choose your outfit." She took my hand and led me to the bathroom.

"Don't take too long, you're already late and I have to do your make-up too." She called from the room.

Why would I need make-up? It's just a kid's birthday and even though he is a prince, he is still a kid.

I decided to keep my mouth shut though and took the shower in silence. When I finished, I made my way back to the bedroom and she was still there.

Four dresses were on the bed and four pair of shoes. All heels.

"Don't you think I need a little practice with those?" I said pointing at the heels.

"Nah, it's very easy to walk in them, trust me. I'll show you before you leave but it won't take even a minute and besides, they're just two inches long which is a piece of cake if you ask me."

"For you maybe, but for me, I don't know."

"You'll be fine. Now put on this dress and let's see how it is." She gave me a red strappy plunge bodycon dress and I tried it on with black heels.

I stood in front of her and she shook her head. "This won't do. Try this one." She gave me another dress and I put in on and she shook her head again. She did so for the other one. I tried the last one.

A sleeveless mermaid dress in peach. It hugged my body perfectly and I love how it fit but I also think it is too much.

"Isn't a bit too much? It's a kid's birthday party, no need to wear something like this." It will also make people pay attention to me.

"You seem to have forgotten that the kid you're talking about is a prince and a billionaire. That party is going to be full of rich people, people you've never met before and you have to look your best."

"I don't understand why I should look my best, it isn't my party and I'm not even part of their family and those guests you're talking about don't even know me." I have forgotten how my sister likes attention.

"So what? You need to put yourself out there so that people will notice you. You need to move on from Julían and to do that you need to find yourself a boyfriend and who knows? Maybe you can even get a second mate."

I don't know why people think I want a second mate. I don't want anyone who is not Julían and my wolf agrees. She doesn't want to move on.

She still believes that he will come back to us and I have tried so hard to make her understand that he is not coming back.

I think my sister is right though, in order to forget him I need to find myself a boyfriend, nothing serious though.

I will just date him for a while and after that, I can go back to my normal life, a life without a man and my mind will stop thinking about Julían all the time.

"You know I'm right. Now stop thinking too much about it. Go there and charm everybody and maybe you can even get the most handsome boyfriend. Maybe even more handsome than Julían."

She knows that in my eyes no one will ever be more handsome than him.

The castle is just near the pack house so we just walked for a few minutes and it wasn't just us, some pack members were already making their way there.

My sister was right, everyone was dressed up. They looked very beautiful and I could tell that they were used to dressing like this.

As soon as we arrived, my sister told me she had to go back to her husband. I wasn't alone for long though, Amira came to me as soon as she saw me.

She also wore a peach dress, slightly different from mine though and I don't remember her having it before.

"You look amazing." I told her, giving her a hug.

"You too. I felt guilty knowing we weren't together and so I asked your sister to help. I didn't think she was going to though since she said she was with brother-in-law."

So it was Amira who talked to my sister... I didn't think of it that way.

"She came but she didn't tell me you asked her to come."

"She said you would want to come to the castle to dress along with me and there was no time so we decided she shouldn't tell you. I'm glad she managed to do everything in the little time she had, you look absolutely amazing."

"I'm not used to all this, I feel like a stranger in my body." I told her with a smile.

"I know. That's exactly what I told the princess but she kept telling me that I will get used to it. I couldn't argue with her so..." She smiled and hugged me again.

"Thank you. At least you're also dressed up for the party, I was worried that I would be the only one who is overdressed but now that I see you, I'm glad you asked my sister to help. I guess the dress is also from you."

"It's from Logan actually."

"His Majesty?"

"Yeah, I'll tell you about it later though. I wanted to see you earlier but I was getting late for the party so I decided to dress first."

From the look on her face, whatever she wanted to say to me is something very bad.

"You look pale, what is it? Don't tell me we have to move again..." She looked behind me and back at me, she mouthed 'I'm sorry.' I wanted to ask what she was apologising for when my wolf started acting crazy.

I turned to look at whoever Amira was looking at. To say I wasn't expecting who I saw would be an understatement.

Julían stood there, handsome as ever. He was wearing black jeans, a black long-sleeved t-shirt and black sunglasses. His favourite combination. I had forgotten how perfectly those looked in his body.

"Hello, Amaya."