“Who wants a broken mate after all?" Lucas sneered at me, with hatred in his eyes.

"I will rather remain mate-less, than to be married to someone like you Lucas; you disgust me!" I fired back.

Both of us glaring at each other, making it obvious that we could not stand the sight of each other.

Lucas was the junior brother of the Alpha of the Ice-crest moon pack, powerful and feared by everyone including our neighboring wolf packs. He is the chief warrior of the Ice-crest wolf pack, and has bagged many different laurels to this credit.

He is notorious bully, who uses his position to lure innocent young girls to bed and to those who refused his biddings, he will forcefully take and nobody dares question him.

Several occasions, he had attracted inter-tribal wars to the pack because of this his notorious act, and in almost of all the occasions, he had emerged winner due to his powers and the powerful alliances he had gotten for the pack.

And after such inter-tribal wars, he would come back to the pack triumphantly with captives who would later become slaves in the palace.

I was not born of royal blood, but I was raised and I grew up in the palace. My late father, Alpha Sapphire was the leader of my wolf pack, the smallest family in Ice-crest clan, who is not too many in number nor powerful enough to protect our territory.

When I was barely 8 years old, a war broke out in our clan which took the life of my father, and caused the loss of my pack family.

And the Alpha-king; Alpha Magnus seized our family land and declared it a possession of the royal family, and also took my mother in and made her one of his wives. And on my mother's request, he allowed me come live in the palace with my mother and I was raised as one of the members of the royal family.

Living in the palace then was very difficult for me, especially whenever I remembered that my father died because of the Alpha-King and my family inheritance taken away from us by him, I couldn't help but feel even more hatred for him.

With the help of my mother, who is now one of the king’s wife, and the maids and royal servants of the palace who loved and cared for me due to my mother's kindness towards them, I began to loosen up and lived freely in the palace.

"There is no point in crying over spilled milk Naomi, Alpha Magnus is kind enough to take us in as members of his family instead of slaves; why not let us enjoy these moments while it lasts, especially when we cannot do anything about it". My mother had said to me on one of those days I was still rigid about our stay in the palace.

"I will grow up someday, and I will fight and take back my father's inheritance ". I had said. This made my mother to smile, and we made light the situation at that moment.

The royal family eats together, in the huge dining table in the dining area; huge enough to contain more than a dozen people at the same time. And whenever we have dinner together, certain family decisions are taken there and everybody's opinion of the matter is always welcomed.

Most times, the issues troubling the pack are discussed here too; especially when Lucas is back from war and is around to have dinner with the family.

"So Lucas, how did the meeting with the elders of Night-Shade City go?" The Alpha had asked Lucas one evening while the family was having dinner.

"The meeting went well, Chief Keeve finally agreed to go into alliance with our pack and is ready and willing to render help in any way he can to us on demand. And to further portray his sincerity, he has requested that a day be fixed for the two families to meet at a party, and his sons would pick a wife from the daughters of our family". Lucas had said, a proud smile of achieving an assignment dancing round the corner of his mouth as he munches on his food.

"Wow, this is great! Even better than I had expected". The alpha said, laughing heartily.

The love and trust Alpha Magnus had for his junior brother Lucas was immeasurable. He always has this confidence whenever Lucas was to execute any assignment, and he did it to perfection.

The Alpha always obliged to every of Luca's request, no matter what it was, and will always support him in everything. Hence Lucas would always go Scot free even when he committed any of his notorious activities.

"This family will be hosting a great party in a fortnight, and so all hands must be on deck to make it a success. Chief Keeve is a noble man, and to have him come for a ball in our house with his family is an honorable thing. So therefore, we must make sure they are all comfortable, including the members of his entourage when they arrive". The Alpha said, dishing out the information to all his wives, urging them to get their daughters who are of a marriageable age, ready, prepared and acceptable for a noble family's acceptance.

The party was to be celebrated in a fortnight. The first day was for the preparations and getting everything worthy of a noble party ready. The professional event planner was invited, and with the maids and servants available to help out, she prepared the hall for the ball, the exquisite settings, and everything was prepared in grand style.
All the daughters of the royal family, including myself, were not left out. The professional event planner also made sure every one of us was looking our best; befitting of royalty. We were all looking so beautiful that no man was believed to ever reject any one of us.

The personal maids assigned to each one of us selected the best ball gowns in the whole pack, each beautiful in their unique colors, with matching handbags and shoes. Beautiful flowers were tucked in our hair to complement the beauty of the dress.

"Put on your beautiful dress Naomi, and stand before the mirror. I want to see the beautiful creature my daughter has grown into". My mother had said, as she walked into my room while my personal assigned maid was getting my dress, my accessories and shoes out for easy access tomorrow.

"Mother, the party is for tomorrow, what is the point of me wearing the dress tonight when you will still see it tomorrow?" I had protested.

"Come on Naomi, don't deny your mother the privilege of being the first to see the beauty you will radiate tomorrow, I want to go to bed tonight with the memory of your beauty and dream of the equally handsome man from Night-Shade family that will be honored to pick you as his wife". My mother had added, winning my heart.

She then beckoned on my assigned maid to dress me up quickly and she made me stand before the giant wall mirror in my room, and admired me.

"You look so charming my daughter, there is no point denying the fact that you will be the first to be selected as a bride to the noble gentlemen of Night-Shade family tomorrow."

My mother has a way of praising me that gladdens my heart, especially when it comes to my beauty. In my mother's eyes, I will be the one and only Luna of a noble Alpha, who will love me and only me- and will never marry someone else besides me.

After my mother had gone back to her room, I decided to take a walk outside at the garden. The roses were looking so beautiful that I would always make them the last thing I see every night before I go to bed.

Every night I would be the only one in the garden, admiring the roses, feeling their tenderness with my palm following the outline of every curve of the beautiful flowers.

On silent nights I would communicate with the roses in my head, and imagined them whispering back to me. That feeling would always gladden my heart and make me happy.

But tonight, it was different. I was not the only one in the garden that night. Interrupting my quiet time in the garden that night was Lucas, the least person I expected to see for the night.

"I can see you like the roses, they are beautiful aren't they?" Lucas had said, as he walked in and approached me; interrupting my beautiful moment with nature that night.

"Yes they are beautiful" I said quietly, I don't like Lucas at all.

"They are just as beautiful as you are". He added, with his arm stretched forward and made to touch my face but I took a step backwards.

"What do you want?" I guess my straight up question took him aback because Lucas took a quick glance at me with a little frown on his face.

"I want you to take a walk with me tomorrow, there is a beautiful rose flower garden in a faraway land I would like to show you. I know you will love it there." Lucas made it sound like a command and not a request.

What guts!

"You seemed to have forgotten what tomorrow is in this family; I will not be having any time for frivolities. And if I do have the time, I will definitely not be spending it with you". My voice now growing a little angry, reflecting my current state of mind.

How dare Lucas ask me for a walk? More so, on a day so special like tomorrow; a day that would decide the course every female member of the royal family would tread for the rest of their lives.
How dare him?

"Of course I know what day tomorrow is to the royal family members which is why I am offering you a walk alone, to tell you a secret... Something about you.... and your existence in this palace". Lucas drawled out the words while staring at me with a mean look on his face.

"A secret? About me?!" I asked in a hoarse voice, and confused eyes that searched Lucas’ face for an answer.