I had fifty-seven messages. I almost dropped my phone in surprise. "Yeesh."
"What's wrong?" Arthur asked, instantly looking at me.
"Fifty-seven texts."
He smiled encouragingly at me. "Who are they from?"
I tapped into my messages. "Hmmm. Well, looks like a bunch are from Kayla, my best friend. A few are from Rory—"
"Who's Rory?" he asked quickly.
"My other childhood best friend. We grew up together. Don't worry, Kayla and Rory are mates." I was quick to assure him. Statistically, unmated childhood friends caused drama in mate relationships seven percent of the time. It wasn’t the worst statistic, but it was likely enough that I understood why my mate might be concerned.
"Ah. I’d like to meet them." Arthur sounded much happier upon my explanation.
"Sure," I agreed and continued scrolling. "Let's see, a bunch are from other friends, a few from acquaintances from school, and a couple from unknown numbers."
He frowned. "Want me to check the unknown ones?"
"No, I can handle it," I assured him. I clicked on the first one.
Unknown: [I know who you are and you'll never be good enough for him. I'm watching you, tabby.]
I read it out loud.
My mother gasped, and my father frowned.
Arthur's jaw clenched. "I'm sorry, I'll see if someone can trace that. Threats are not acceptable." He tapped something into his phone again.
I shrugged. If there were not scores of resentful Prince Arthur fans to hate me now that I had him, I would be shocked.
I opened the other unknown one and read it out loud, too.
Unknown: [Congratulations on finding your mate! I would like to offer to buy the exclusive rights to the story of your meeting. Please respond for more details on this lucrative deal.]
"Don't bother to respond," Arthur said. "Even if it wasn’t a scam, if we ever want to talk to the media there are official channels they have to use."
I nodded. "I wonder how they even got my number."
"If it gets too bad we can always get you a new one," Arthur offered.
That sounded reasonable, if a bit inconvenient. Mom put two plates of waffles and sausage in front of me and my mate. I loaded mine up with strawberries, whipped cream and syrup. Mom was really going all out this morning.
Perhaps in all my worries about the problems I would now encounter as mate to the prince, I had overlooked that there might be one or two ancillary benefits to the situation, like great breakfasts when I visited my parents.
I clicked on the messages from Kayla.
Kayla: [Do u have any idea what I just heard??????]
Kayla: [Anne!]
Kayla: [Anne!!!!!]
Kayla: [Seriously, where r u? I need confirmation!!!]
Kayla: [Why have u abandoned me???? Annnnnnnnne]
Kayla: [Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnne!!!]
Kayla: [Okay, I'm just going to lay it on the line. It's all over social media, that u r Prince Arthur's mate? EEEEEEEEK! I can't even believe that! I need u to talk to me!]
Kayla: [Seriously, if u found ur mate and got instantly kidnapped I'm going to be super pissed]
Kayla: [Wait, that better not be true! Omigosh I'm the worst friend ever! I'm so sorry! Stay safe, Anne! If your mate doesn't rescue u I'll make Rory help me do it instead]
There were six more texts from her detailing her emotional breakdown in emojis.
Probably I should put her out of her misery.
Me: [Sry, was busy last night. I'm not kidnapped yet and what you heard was true]
I went and checked the texts from Rory next.
Rory: [Please text kayla she's freaking out]
Rory: [Its not getting better]
Rory: [Shes convinced herself youve been abducted]
Rory: [Now shes read on scentsation that your were abducted by lizard people and thinks that confirms it]
Rory: [Hopefully your okay because im not sure even i can keep her calm like this]
His increasing desperation was almost audible through text so I replied to him next.
Me: [Sry, didn't see this til now. I'm fine, let Kayla know, please.]
A moment later I got a response.
Rory: [great, i took her phone last night for her own good. I will give it back and tell her be ready for it]
Me: [thx]
While I waited for the oncoming Kayla tsunami, I ate breakfast and scrolled through the other messages from my acquaintances. I couldn’t help but note how few had ever had interest in texting me before. In the future, how would I tell people who liked me apart from people who simply wanted access to the prince? The idea was troubling, and I chewed my lip.
"What's wrong?" Arthur asked me.
He was shockingly in tune with my emotional state. "Just a bit overwhelmed. My whole world has flipped, and I have to figure it all out, you know?"
"I am sorry about that," he said.
"Don't be," I said, smiling at him. He was totally worth it.
My phone made Kayla's sound.
Kayla: [I'm so glad you're ok!]
Me: [Yeah, sry bout that]
Kayla: [I get it but NEVER do that to me again]
Me: [I'll try not to. Can't make promises]
Kayla: [So what's he like?]
Me: [Perfect in every way]
Kayla: [Squee!!!]
Me: [He wants to meet you and Rory]
There was a long pause. Kayla had probably forgotten to respond in her excitement, I assumed. Finally it dinged again.
Kayla: [Meet the prince!?!?!?]
She implied through an epic series of emojis that she died of excitement.
"What do we have planned today?" I asked Arthur.
"Whatever you need to do to get ready," he told me with a half smile that somehow accomplished the impossible task of making his face look even more handsome.
"Up for meeting my best friends then?"
"Anytime," he agreed.
Me: [Want to come over after breakfast?]
Kayla: [YES! Be there soon]
Then my dad heaved a sigh and pushed back from the table. "I better get to work. See you later," he said to me and Arthur. Then he went over to my mom and inflicted yet another uncomfortable display of public affection on me before he walked out the door.
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Twenty-three minutes later I got another text while I was sitting on the couch waiting with Arthur. Doing nothing with him was far from boring because he had his arm around my shoulders and everything about him was absolutely amazing, from his sexy hair, the hard muscles of his upper arm, his ridiculously delicious scent, that deep voice...
Oh, yeah. A text.
Rory: [they wont let us through to your house]
Me: [Who? The reporters?]
Rory: [security]
"Security?" I asked out loud.
Arthur looked at my phone and tapped a text into his own.
"They should be able to get in. Lucas had to set up a perimeter since reporters kept coming onto your parents' property."
"I see," I agreed.
There was a knock at the door. I hurried over to open it to reveal my two best friends since forever.
Kayla looked oddly subdued as she clutched onto Rory's arm. He looked pretty normal. Not much got to him, except Kayla, of course.
"Come in," I prodded and I walked back into the living room. I introduced my friends to my mate.
Arthur stood up and extended his hand to Rory and then to Kayla, who looked like she was going to faint as she shook my mate's hand.
She gave me a look of complete disbelief. "Your mate really is Prince Arthur."
"Yep."
"You can just call me Arthur," he offered.
She looked flabbergasted and nodded at him. "I believed you, but I don't think I processed it until this second."
Arthur smiled charmingly. I pulled him back down on the couch and Rory pulled Kayla down with him.
"So, you've got security now," Kayla commented.
"Unfortunately," I agreed.
"I guess that's your life now."
"The clamour will settle down eventually," Arthur assured me, squeezing my hand.
Kayla seemed to be regaining her energy. She glanced at me, "Did you know that there's an interview from Darcy in the National Scentsation?"
I dramatically groaned. My phone pinged a moment after she sent me the link. I clicked it.
The National Scentsation: Sniffing out the truth
The First Moments of the Prince and his New Princess: An eyewitness account
I started reading out loud from the beginning.
"You could say that our newly discovered future princess, Anne Maria Roberts, is your average girl, according to our source, Darcy McMillan from Maryville, a small town in the Desert Night Pack where Miss Roberts grew up.
"Darcy was outside during her break when she heard a deep voice shout, ‘Found his mate.’ Naturally, without context, she assumed that it was merely one of the other members of the pack finding his other half. A touching story, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary.
"Dutiful to a fault, Darcy returned to her work, but she was shocked when she saw a young woman she knew well walk into the grocery store with none other than our most eligible prince himself on her arm.”
{Dutiful to fault? Ha. The only thing that wolf can be trusted to be dutiful to is sticking her nose into other wolves' business. You should see some of the things she gets up to in the realm of wolves.} My wolf had often made her contempt of Darcy's wolf known to me. I continued reading.
"'You know that His Highness's mate must be out there somewhere, of course, but you never expect it to be someone you know, you know? And Anne of all people? I never would have suspected that it would be her in a million years. I mean, she's a bit off.'"
My wolf growled. {I'm going to bite a bit of her face off next time I see her.}
{No way. You can't just bite people's faces, because you don't like what they said.}
{But she's lying,} my wolf whined. {And she's challenging us. We can't let it stand. We must assert our dominance.} She clawed for control of our physical form, but I refused to allow her to take over.
"Are you alright?" Arthur asked, lacing his fingers through mine.
"Yeah, my wolf's just throwing a tantrum."
"Mine isn’t impressed, either," he agreed. “If I allowed it, that source wouldn’t be very safe.”
Kayla nodded, "Our wolves are irritated, too," she said, speaking for Rory. He did not disagree so it was either true or not worth arguing with his mate over. Kayla had been speaking for him since long before we knew that they were mates.
They were one of those couples who were obvious in retrospect.
Arthur glanced at my phone. "You don't have to read that."
"Oh, but I want to. We're not ripping Darcy's face off, but we can have words the next time I see her."
Arthur smiled and held me tighter to himself as I continued.
"'Anne was never quite like the other pups. She was always a bit too quiet and calm, and she certainly spends too much time thinking things through. She's rather plain, too. Pretty in an average way. Also never got into any trouble as far as I can recall. I'm really not sure what the prince would see in her. I suppose it's mate-coloured glasses, but...'"
It was one thing when I said that, it was another when the worst rumourmonger in the pack gave an interview to a trashy gossip magazine website.
I pushed on. Maybe I was just torturing myself, but it was probably better to just face it.
"Darcy recognized him instantly, of course. Anne was blushing and appeared rather unsure of herself. Prince Arthur and Anne walked directly to the aisles, and Anne bought a bag of sugar. 'At least they had a sweet beginning,' Darcy opined.
"Then Anne paid and they left the store promptly. The last thing Darcy heard was their voices as they began to speak of their respective families while the door shut behind them."
I rolled my eyes. "As soon as we left she probably shifted and rushed to put her wolf ear to the door."
"Still convinced about that freedom of the press thing?" my mom asked as she walked past the living room on her way to the basement with a load of laundry.
"Yes, Mother," I said, beginning to feel exasperated.
"I'm just playing Lycan's advocate, Anne," she said as she disappeared down the stairs.
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