Alder’s POV
Getting my mate is never easy, and it is even worse if she doesn’t feel the bond at all. She submitted to me only on the intimate part. But goddess, she iis a complicated woman. I wonder how she and Mike are when they are together. Wait, why am I even thinking about it? They were done, and I saw the anger on her face when the police took the bastard, and I didn’t want to become her anger’s receiving end.
After she left the meeting, I shouted at Joshua. I told them how our relationship was going on and how much my mate had been trying to leave me. That caused me to mark her. They couldn’t believe it, and they never thought that I was the one who was stopping Clover from leaving. They have a lot of respect for me, and I know that. But what else can I do? They are not going to stop unless I tell them about her not wanting me at all.
“I am sorry, Your Highness. I was just concerned about you. I know how much you wanted to meet and find your mate, and I don’t know what I will do if it turns out that her highness was using something on you, and I didn’t do anything about it.” Joshua said with his head down. I can’t blame him even if I was also furious at him. He was the one who kept on telling me to wait for my mate because he was sure that she was going to come. He was also the one who had been stopping the other council members from pushing me into getting a chosen mate.
“Just please, don’t ever talk to her like that again. You know that I believed in you and the council; you were there to help me when I felt lost with the decisions I needed to make. But you have to trust me with what and how I am feeling.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” he replied, and Lance changed the topic. We need to talk about the training we wanted to conduct for werewolves. I am going to visit different packs and take some trainees from there to take them to the palace and train with us.
“I didn’t want any packs to think that we are having favoritism, so we will be conducting an alpha meeting here in the palace to announce that. I hope that everyone was available to attend.” Lance said,
“Can we tell them about the importance of the meeting in the invitation as well?” One of the council members suggested, and I agree. At least, packs will have an idea of what they could get from this meeting.
The meeting was adjourned, and the council left. Lance and Charles stood and were now looking at me. “Yes, I know I should not have told them that. But I had no choice, and I had to make them understand that Clover had not done anything like what they were thinking.”
“They could take that against you, you know,” Lance said,
“I know, but it was my only chance so they would stop talking to her like that. If they never stop, Clover will always think about the witch mate that I was supposed to have, and we all know that she’s neither a wolf nor a witch. She’s a human in Clover’s body.”
“Yes, and we both know that you are in a very tight situation. But still, you need to set up some boundaries on what you need to tell them. You are our king, and we expect you to hold that position and pass it down to your heir. What if the council plans to oust you using that marking incident?” Charles asked worriedly.
I know where their worry was coming from. Being mates is not an excuse for anyone to mark someone. They have to get the other’s permission for them to be able to proceed with the mating. What I did with Clover was not good, but no one in our history got punished for doing that. It was shameful to let others know that my mate didn’t want me to mark her and she didn’t want to.
“You don’t need to worry about that, and I’m sure that Clover will never totally hate me. She was confused about everything that happened in her life and the pain she had to go through with the rejection she saw, but she’d get past that. She’s a very strong-willed woman, and I believed in her.” I assured them.
“We like her highness, don’t think that we are against her. But you saw how crazy she was, and I myself started to think how you managed to, you know, actually love her.” Lance said, “You know me, I love the idea of having my fated mate, but I don’t think that I will be able to handle a mate like Her Highness.”
“You will surely give in to her, Lance, believe me,” I told him,
“That’s what I am afraid of, are you not?” he asked while Charles was listening to us.
“I only feared Clover leaving me. Besides that, nothing else.” I replied,
“You’re in love. I hope that I will have a mate as understanding and as submissive as Charles’s mate,” he said,
“Mia doesn’t have a sister, so I am going to ask the moon goddess to give you someone you hated the most,” said Clover, who was once again in the office without us knowing. Behind her was Mia, who was smiling lovingly at her mate.
“Your Highness!” Lance exclaimed before the two walked in and took their seats. Mia beside Charles and Clover opposite mine. “I didn’t mean anything bad about what I said,” Lance added,
“Yeah, like even an idiot could understand it clearly.”
“Your Highness, don’t get me wrong. I like you.” he replied, and that made me growl at him, and he looked at me with wide eyes, “That didn’t come out right, right?” he asked, and Charles nodded at him, smiling as he hugged his mate. Damn lucky.
“Your Highness, I like you being our queen,” Lance said,
“Yeah, just not someone like me being your mate.”
“It’s because I didn’t know how to handle someone like you. I’m used to women, you know, coming to me willingly,” he replied, grinning as he scratched the back of his head.
“I can tell that the three of you were used to being chased and liked by women, willingly,” she replied,
“It doesn’t matter to me whether they like me or not; all I want is for you to like and love me, my love,” I told her, and she rolled her eyes at me.
“So what happened to your meeting?” she asked after, “If I am not allowed to know, it’s fine too,” she added.
“It’s nothing like that; of course, you have the right to know. You are the queen.” I told her,
“Not yet, Alder. I am not wearing my crown, and I know that it is not going to happen unless we meet each other.”
“I am not forcing you.”
“I also found out that it’s illegal to mark me without my consent,” she said with a stoic face, and the three of us got worried. We were talking about it earlier, “But Masha likes it so much that I can’t do anything about it. We have this understanding and agreement to try everything we can to be able to live together in harmony while we respect each other’s needs.” she continued, “I really want to go back to L. A. even if I knew that I didn’t have anyone waiting for me, but Masha wanted to stay so I agreed with her.” she added and I sighed in relief.
“Thank you,” I said,
“Don’t thank me yet.” she replied, “Since we are all here, I want to tell everyone something,” she added, and we were all ears. “I am going to stay here and will try to, you know, do what I need to do, minus the marking thing. I am not ready for that. Well, Masha wants me to get ready already.”
“It’s OK, my love. I have already told you that I am willing to wait, and you can do it at a convenient and convenient time. No need to rush.” I guaranteed her even though I wanted her to mark me already. I want everyone to know that she’s mine, and I was worried that something would happen and, for some reason, someone would mark her again and force her to reciprocate it. But I had to hide that worried feeling for her. For now, I will be content with what she can do, and that is to stay with me. Thanks to Masha, her wolf.