After I finally forced myself to leave Arthur alone in the guest room to a chorus of complaints from my wolf, I went to talk to my sister. I was a bit worried about how she was dealing with everything.

I knocked on her door. "Elle?"

"Yeah?" she said from the other side. I quickly stepped in and shut it behind me.

Ellen was lying on her bed looking up at the ceiling as she so often was these days since her disastrous meeting with Wilson. She was not actively crying, but the skin around her eyes was puffy. I wished the existence of my perfect mate was not rubbing the disaster of hers in her face.

Of course, the fault for that lay completely on her terrible mate's inferior shoulders.

{Yes, he is the worst. Are you sure we couldn't quickly run over and bite that son of a tabby, even just a little? Now that everyone knows we're future queen, there's nothing Wilson could really do about it,} my wolf suggested hopefully.

If I would ever be tempted to abuse my future royal powers, it would be on him.

{Absolutely not,} I responded firmly.

{Killjoy.}

{Instead of focusing on Ellen's stupid mate, why don't you think about how great Pierce is?}

{He really is great. I want to meet his wolf in the physical world soon. I haven't found him in the realm of wolves yet, either. This would be so much easier if we were already marked, you know.}

{Soon, maybe tomorrow, as long as you cooperate. Meeting him, not the marking, I mean.}

As always I had to be very specific with my argumentative wolf or my words would come back later to bite me.

{Fine,} my wolf muttered and disappeared into the darkness of my mind with a small contemptuous sniff.

When my wolf's arguments drifted from my mind, my attention naturally shifted back to my mate. Arthur really was attractive. By my estimation, he was at least five hundred times more attractive than Wilson. Poor Ellen, that not only was her mate relatively unattractive, but also a stupid jerk who broke her heart.

I sat on my sister's bed beside her without invitation. "How are you doing?" I asked, although it never seemed to be good lately.

"I'd say fine, but you know..."

"I know."

She sighed. "I'd say I hate him, but I still love him so much."

I nodded. While it was obviously impossible to hate Arthur, I suddenly had a new understanding of just how deeply one's feelings could run for their mate, and I could imagine what it would be like to hate in equal measure.

"I still don't understand why he didn't give me a chance." She sniffled.

I could have pointed out it was because he was a selfish moron, but in spite of everything, it still upset her when I insulted him. She also really, really did not like it when I had suggested she properly reject him in return so she could move on with her life. It was one of the few things my wolf, and I entirely agreed upon.

But she just was not ready to let go of their frayed mate bond. I hoped she would get to that point one day soon. I patted her arm comfortingly.

She took a deep breath as if to steady herself. "I'm glad that at least your mate seems to be treating you well."

I could barely restrain the gushing praise that bubbled up at the mention of Arthur's stellar behaviour.

If only Wilson had been less of a disappointment, my sister and I could have sat around and shared stories of our wonderful mates instead of this sad and awkward conversation. I forced my face to remain neutral.

"Yes," I said very evenly, as if my heart was not practically dancing its delight. "Actually speaking of Arthur, he had an idea."

"Oh?" she asked, seemingly without real interest. With the amount of attention she gave it, one would think she was inspecting the Sistine chapel rather than her ordinary beige ceiling.

If this suggestion did not make her happy, nothing would. "He suggested that I invite you to come stay with us in the palace."

At first I was afraid that Wilson had completely destroyed my sister, because she still looked miserable instead of excited like she once would have been.

Then her mouth transformed into the first true smile I had witnessed on her face since that jerk had broken her heart. Even her eyes lost that haunted emptiness for a moment.

"Really?"

"Really," I agreed.

"Omigosh, really?"

"Yep. In a week or so, after I start getting settled in."

She sat up and hugged me. "That would be so amazing! Ah! I'm going to stay in the royal palace? Really?

"You are," I agreed.

Warmth filled me, both from seeing my sister animated again and in appreciation of Arthur's thoughtfulness.

I was the luckiest werewolf on the planet.

<<< << < > >> >>>

The next morning, I woke from another mate dream, but this time my mate had a face and a body to go along with it. And everything was glorious, and I was so in love with him.

Of course, there were absurd problems in my dream as always, but I scarcely cared because I had him.

The morning was absolutely glorious and it was great to be alive.

I barely recognized this optimistic person I had suddenly transformed into. Rainbows came after storms; when life gives lemons, make lemonade; the glass was half full; unicorns existed.

Never mind the unicorn bit, they definitely existed and according to my father who had known one in college, they were not quite as wonderful as they are so often portrayed.

Still, the world was a wonderful place.

I met my mate in the hallway outside my room.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said with a smile that made me believe it was true. I put a hand to my hair and discovered that it was going in a million wild directions.

Apparently this was the power of a mate bond.

Together, we made our way downstairs and discovered my parents already in the kitchen. My mother was cooking waffles and sausages, which was a better breakfast than we usually got. My father was sitting at the table, looking at his phone while drinking coffee. They both looked over and greeted us as we entered.

"Need help, Mom?" I offered.

"Nope, you two sit down. I'll have more waffles ready soon," she said a bit breathlessly. I understood why she was so worked up. Unbelievably, the crown prince had slept in our guest room last night.

We did as directed. Arthur smiled at me. "I've got to check a few things," he explained apologetically as he pulled out his phone.

I marvelled at how good he made tapping on a smart phone look.

Forcing my gaze away from him, I pulled out my own. I was reluctant to touch it after the hoard of reporters had found my house the previous night, but perhaps it was better not to hide from the world for long. I turned on the screen.