7

Carla

I was rendered incapable of speaking as a direct result of the treatment I received at the hands of the alpha king. I was doing nothing more than looking at him in a manner that reflected my revulsion. But then he grabbed my hand and whispered something to me as if he hadn't just a few minutes earlier been referring to me as a slut! "Come on, sweetheart, you know you want to do it. Come with me to the castle that belongs to us. Your stronghold!"

As if he could change the manner in which he was speaking as well as his demeanor in the space of fewer than sixty seconds. That senile and hideous former alpha king was, without a shadow of a doubt, completely insane in his old age.

I simply turned my head away from him and nodded while saying, "of course, your majesty."

He took hold of my hand, gently kissed me on the cheek, and then uttered the word "thunder" to me before walking away. "When you require my assistance, simply refer to me as thunder."

But before he could open the door, a pretty person walked in without knocking or asking permission to enter the room. The most peculiar aspect of the whole situation, however, is the fact that the alpha king did not yell or take any other action.

This imposing looking man turned to his king and asked, "My king, are you ready to go back to the main castle?" He had to be in his thirties at the very least and possessed a face that was very pleasing to the observer's gaze. I only gave him a quick look over because I didn't want the king or him to catch me in the act of doing something that wasn't appropriate.

The King responded with a chuckle and said, "sure, my dear beta. We are almost done. Let me introduce to you my future luna."

And at that point, the king wrapped his arms around my waist and introduced me to his beta while saying, "Carla, I will make her my queen by the time tomorrow rolls around.  After giving it some consideration, I've arrived at the conclusion that I ought to make the status of our relationship official by the following day."

The beta showed me respect by bowing his head ever-so-slightly while giving me a polite nod and saying, "Nice to meet you, my queen." However, he did not appear to be overly enthusiastic about the decision that the king had made.

Wow, I can't believe the beta was able to identify me as his queen so quickly after our initial encounter.

I smiled back at him with an alluring grin of my own, and then I bowed my head ever-so-slightly before asking, "Nice to meet you, Beta...?"

A voice from the beta called out, "Asher. My name is Asher, and I'd like to introduce myself."

Even though I made an effort to be courteous while expressing my regret, I couldn't help but feel embarrassed about the situation. "I am truly sorry to tell you this, but I have spent the entirety of my life in an orphanage. That is the reason why I had absolutely no idea what your name was. Beta Asher, I beg you to please accept my apologies."

But before the beta could say anything to me, the king said, "Carla, there's no need to call him by the beta. Call him by his given name instead.  Use the man's proper name when addressing him. You are expected to refer to him by his given name, even though he will refer to you as the queen or luna."

I caught a fleeting glimpse of the rage or perhaps the envy that was written all over Asher's face at that precise moment. He acted as if he was opposed to this mating, but he didn't want to protest or say anything that might make the alpha king upset, so he pretended that he didn't have an opinion.

And I played on that part; I looked into the beta's eyes and said, "after all, I can't call the beta by his name; he is the second higher ranked in the kingdom." This got a good laugh out of the beta. This resulted in a grin being displayed by the beta. After that, I acknowledged his presence by bowing very slightly to him.

The beta's eyes widened, and the only explanation I can come up with for this is that he was surprised to see that I respected him to that degree. I did it on purpose; I wasn't sure what I was going to do with him just yet, but he could come in handy if I ever decide to break out of the alpha king's prison. 

Because everything in my life was in disarray as a result of my involvement with Alpha King Thunder at the moment, I had no choice but to take control of everything and everyone and put them away for the time being.

I was aware of my intelligence, but I lacked any insider information or understanding of how things worked in the castle, so I knew that I had no chance of winning the competition. Therefore, the expenditure of time and patience on my part, in addition to the cultivation of affection for me on the part of everyone else, will turn out to be beneficial for me in the future.

My guide to the entrance was the alpha king, and the beta came in close pursuit behind him. As soon as they were outside, they started talking to one another, and the alpha king said to Asher, "I want you to prepare everything for this ceremony, and I want you to make sure to invite all of the alphas of all of the packs. In addition to that, I anticipate that you will take care of all of the shopping on my behalf. There is simply not enough time to extend an invitation to visit the castle to each and every designer of a brand. As a result, she needs to find the ideal wedding dress for her and make certain that the royal wedding she chooses will be the most spectacular event of its kind that has ever taken place. Do not overlook the importance of purchasing a diamond wedding ring as well as a diamond necklace for her. These two things cannot be overlooked in any circumstance. Do you understand everything I just said?"

After the alpha king thunder had finished speaking with Asher, the king led me downstairs, where I saw two additional limos. The king directed his words to me and said, "I have to go back to the castle now to finish a few meetings. You have my blessing to travel with Asher for the time being, so please do so. In other words, he is an extremely knowledgeable and experienced expert."

After I gave the king the go-ahead, he leaned in close and planted a passionate kiss on each of my cheeks. After that, he walked away smiling.

In point of fact, I did not return his kiss, which caused Asher to look intently at the reaction on my face.

I followed Asher, and he helped me get into the limo by opening the door for me. Once inside, he sat in the back seat of the limo, but in front of me. I took that seat, and he moved to the front passenger seat, but he let me sit there instead. Because I didn't feel ready to engage in conversation with him just yet, I decided to make an effort to deflect my attention away from him by looking out the window instead of talking to him. My thoughts were too preoccupied with everything that had happened in a period of time that was less than one night. I couldn't focus on anything else. The night before, I was an outcast and an orphan; however, tonight, I became the most desired to be the queen of the werewolves, and I had to obey the ugly king's orders. When I pictured myself sleeping next to the elderly alpha king, I couldn't help but feel my mood take a turn for the worse.

Beta Asher heard my long sigh and then asked me, "so, are you happy that you're going to be a queen?" After that, I let out another long sigh.

I looked at him and shrugged my shoulders as I spoke while saying, "I understand that you may believe that I ought to leap for joy now that it has been decided that I will become the queen of werewolves. I am well aware of this possibility.  I am well aware that you are passing harsh judgment on me because of the facts that I was raised by no one and that I am a she-wolf of a lower rank. On the other hand, you aren't familiar with me at this point in time. So don't prejudge."