The Werewolf King's Bride

I heard the knights murmuring among themselves. All of them greeted us at once. Because of Demetrius, who was walking beside me with a very strict look on his face, the knights were fidgeting.

"Look here, you morons! I am Her Highness\'s personal knight!" Perita exclaimed very loudly, looking at her brother and the other two knights I met the other day.

Perhaps Perita was the only exception who did not care whether the king was there or not. She always thought of me as her master and she listened to me the most. To be precise, she only cared about what I would think, not what Dem would think.

"Calm down, Perita," I said while she was holding her chest up in pride with a bright red look on her face. "She is cute, huh?" I muttered, looking at Dem.

"Cute, my ass!"

"Hey, you are too mean," I nudged him with my elbow.

"Do what you want. I will wait here," he said.

Perhaps because Dem was looking away, the knights did not seem as uncomfortable as before. Perita introduced me to some of them though I did not need any kind of introduction.

"Your Highness, look at that guy\'s hair. He hasn\'t showered in three years," Kade laughed, pointing at a guy\'s hair which looked very dry and tangled.

"Shower is only a material thing that\'s not really necessary," he said in his defense.

"He is so gross. He smells," Perita said. "Don\'t come near Her Highness, you idiot!"

"You\'re too loud, Perita," Azriel said. He was the one who always told Perita off. Perhaps because he was her brother, he liked to do so.

"I don\'t understand why Her Highness would choose Perita as her personal knight. I could do a better job," Kade said sulkily.

"Don\'t ya try to take me down, you brat!" Perita slapped him at the back of his head. "Her Highness knows that I am good at my job."

\'Well, it\'s not me who chose her in the first place... Not that I can say it now...\'

The knights were kind of surrounding me, making jokes and laughing. Dem was looking at from a side while the commander stood beside him. I had seen the commander once before and exchanged greetings with her, nothing more.

She was in her fifties but still was as fit as ever. I envied her as well. She was very cool and always walked with her head high. If someone saw her, it would be natural to like her.

"Her Highness is famous among the knights," I heard the commander saying to Dem. "The knights are basically crazy about Her Highness. I think it\'s after that throwing dagger incident that Her Highness got this famous. Everyone respects her and talks about her as if she is the best person ever. I also quite like Her Highness. She is very respectable."

It was very embarrassing hearing someone else praising me to Dem right in front of me. Perhaps they thought I had not heard.

The time I spent with the knights was fun. One of the knights gave me a flower made with thorns. It was a rose.

"What\'s that?" Dem asked, looking at the flower in my hand as we were on our way back.

"Ah, a knight gave me. It\'s a rose made with thorns," I said. "Isn\'t it beautiful?"

"A knight made it?"

"Malek made it. He is good at making different artifacts with thorns," Perita said. "It\'s his hobby."

"Malek?" I muttered. "I couldn\'t catch his name because of the noise."

"Knights are mostly very loud, Your Highness. Christophen is one of the exceptions," she said.

"Yeah, he is really quiet," I nodded. "I guess he likes to be like that."

"Probably," she said. "It\'s hard to understand that guy."

"Yeah, but he is the one who told me that you were a good choice as a personal knight," I said.

"When did he do that?" she asked, surprised.

"He whispered into my ear," I said.

"Whispered?" Dem muttered, looking at me.

"Yeah..."

Perhaps I should not have phrased it like that which I understood a while later after returning to our room.

"We did it just this morning," I said, as he kept kissing my neck as his hands roamed over my body.

"I know..."

"I can\'t. I am too weak now," I said.

"Not even once?"

"No...," I said. "Not even once. I just can\'t..."

"Alright then," he said in a disappointed tone.

"What\'s wrong with you? You\'re being different all of a sudden..."

"I hate it when you\'re close with other men," he said bluntly.

"Huh? But I kept a reasonable distance," I said.

"I know... I just... I am sorry," he muttered, hugging me from behind.

\'His insecurities are really worrying...\'

"Dem, I understand that you\'re my husband. But still, you can\'t be like this all the time," I said. You should sometimes see the boundary."

"Are you mad?"

"A bit," I said.

Sometimes his actions truly made me angry. I knew what he was like, but even he needed to understand a few things. I was his wife, not his toy. He could not just try to control my acts. And it was not like I was flirting with a man or being too clingy. I kept my reasonable distance while being friendly.

"I was wondering about a thing..."

"What is it?" he asked.

"The kid... If it\'s a girl, what will be her name?"

"I don\'t care. Anything is fine," he said and I glared at him. "Well, something meaningful..."

"It\'s alright, you don\'t have to think about it," I muttered.

"I didn\'t mean it," he said quickly. "I am just not good with names."

"That\'s why I said it\'s alright. I will find something," I said. What if I did not live for long? I needed to find a name for the child as soon as possible. I could not rely on Dem about this.

Sometimes I would lose the ability to argue as well. It was very tiring these days. So, I decided to give up as soon as possible.

I had no idea which part of him to blame. He was careless about everything except me and his duties. I did not want him to be like this at all. At least, he should try to change, just a bit. But I never saw him trying at all.

"If you\'re angry at me, you can yell. Don\'t keep it in yourself," he muttered.

"I am tired..."

"Then I will leave you alone for a while," he said and gave me a peck on the lips. Perhaps he left for his study.

I sighed and took off my dress. I hopped on the bed wearing nothing but my underthings. The book that Dem gave me that day was on the table.

I did not know what could be in the book that he wanted me to read it. But I decided to give it a shot anyway.

The Werewolves

There were two worlds connected by three passageways. Humans, a being that cannot shapeshift into another animal, populated one world. They do not possess any kind of power.  They are, in a word, weak. As centuries passed, their appearance changed for the better and it will keep changing as well.

There were the moon goddess and the black lord in the other world. Two diametrically opposed beings who both claimed to be gods.

They fell in love and created werewolves, a different being that resembled humans, but could shapeshift into werewolves. The appearance of werewolves, like that of humans, evolved over time. They became less like werewolves and more like humans over time, but they retained werewolf characteristics.

And the most powerful werewolves are referred to as Alphas. There have always been five Alphas who have established five kingdoms around the world: Lacuna, Querencia, Mazazine, Trouvaille, and Ataraxia. As kings, the five Alphas ruled the five kingdoms. Their ancestors have Alpha blood coursing through their veins.

Unlike humans, who can have any human as a lover, werewolves can only be with one other werewolf. They are referred to as mates. A werewolf can only have one mate, and if that mate dies, the werewolf becomes weak. The mate bond can be fulfilled by marriage where they bite into each other\'s skin, marking them, and then they have to share a night and mate until the sun rises.

If two werewolves who are mates do not do this, they will not experience the effects of a mated werewolf, such as full moons and power loss after the mate dies.

The moon goddess chooses the mate for a werewolf. But Alphas can choose their mate. The mate can be human as well.