I stood at my bedroom window staring silently into the horizon, but thoughts were swirling like a storm in my head.
It is exactly thirty days to my twenty-third birthday, which makes it exactly thirty days to my coronation. And I still didn't have a mate.
The law of my Kingdom was cruelly simple: no mate, no coronation. Without a queen, I couldn't take the throne. Without me on the throne, Astrude would be left without a ruler when my father retires. And he retires on my birthday. All this is supposed to happen in thirty days. So yes, my big day was fast becoming a nightmare.
I've been groomed for this moment my entire life, prepared to lead, to rule, but now that all seems like it will mean nothing in a few days if I do not figure something out. No one warned me that my kingdom's fate would hang on something as fickle as romance. The one thing I have never really cared about. Apparently, my ancestors were hopeless romantics. They created laws that tied a king's crown to his heart, and it still baffles me why it had to be this way. Why does love have to be a requirement for leadership? Nowhere else in the world have I seen anything like this.
But Astrude? Astrude demanded both.
The problem for me with this whole arrangement is that love has never meant anything to me. If I wanted company, I got it. If I wanted passion, I found it. But love? Love was a waste of time if you ask me. I have always thought that when the day came, Father would simply appoint a woman prepared from birth to be queen. Practical. Neat. Done.
I had thought the whole no mate, no crown was all a formality, and that when the time was right, mother would work her queenly magic and secure me a bride, but it turns out she didn't want to interfere with my nonexistent love life.
Queen Esmeralda has always been a hopeless romantic, but somewhere down the line, I had deluded myself into thinking she would be more practical towards me at a time like this. Turns out I was wrong.
I should have taken things more seriously when they had made it clear all that was at stake. A year ago, my father invited me to breakfast in his private chambers. Just the two of us.
I remember how the conversation went then. I should have known something was coming from the way he downed a goblet of red wine before even speaking.
If I didn't know any better, I would have said he was scared to have the conversation. But Father was never scared. Maybe the topic had made him slightly uncomfortable, but I knew it was because initiating the conversation with me hadn't been his idea. I didn't see Mother anywhere in the room that day, but I could feel her everywhere in Father's words."You know, my boy," he began, "a time comes in a wolf's life when the things that never mattered suddenly do. You'll be king in a year. And ruling—" he paused, pouring more wine into his goblet, "—ruling isn't a walk in the park."I chuckled. "I know, Father."He silenced me with a raised finger. "Listen. Being king is not just being an alpha. Well, it sort of is, but it is a lot more taxing. It's heavier. It's draining. You will become the alpha of all alphas, and the truth is, I would never have survived without your mother at my side. A queen's love is the strongest weapon a king has."He looked at me long and hard and then continued. "You worry me, son. You've never been with anyone. Not once. For a while, your mother and I even thought you and your beta might be… more."
I nearly choked on my food. "Linda?" He nodded gravely. "She would've made the perfect queen, and your mother would have been thrilled. But of course, you two are just friends."
Linda. Always Linda. My parents would hand me the crown tomorrow if she stood beside me. And, honestly? She would make a perfect queen. But I couldn't do that to her. She deserved love and I had none to give. She was just like mother in that sense, no wonder they got along so well. Linda was like the daughter she never had. Maybe more like the child she would be willing to swap me out with.
Father leaned forward. "So tell me. What is the problem? Don't you see anyone in Astrude fit for you? If that is the cause, then travel. Live. Fall in love. Do something, because the kingdom needs more than a lone wolf."
That was over a year ago. And since then? Everyone's been waiting for me to show up with a mate. Still nothing.
I never even cared enough to travel.
Linda thought it was a good idea to tour the world. She claimed I might have seen someone who would make me rethink my stance, but I couldn't just wake up and leave Astrude in search of love. The whole idea sounded rather ridiculous to me. Yet today I wonder if I made a mistake. I may not have been willing to travel the world in search of frivolities, but if duty demanded I had a mate, then a one-year head start would have been better than thirty days. I had really been counting on my parents to pull a Plan 'B' card. A backup mate that will fit into the role perfectly, just in case love wasn't my strong suit, as I have tried to make them see all this time.
I replayed Father's words for the hundredth time today in hopes that it would help me come up with a strategy, but still, after hours, I had nothing. Midway through my grunts of frustration, I hear a knock on my chamber door. It was soft but firm, the kind of knock only one person in the palace ever used."Come in, Mother," I called.The door opened, and Queen Esmerelda swept into the room in a cloud of lavender perfume and authority. She didn't walk into rooms; she claimed them.She took one look at my now slouched form on the chair and shook her head.
"You've been brooding again, Gabriel. I can smell it on you," she says. Worry and Amusement laced her tone in equal doses. The two were a strange combination that made me wonder if she had come to mock me or provide a solution.I rolled my eyes.
"What does brooding smell like?"
"Like frustration, fear, and too much pride sprinkled with foolery." She crossed the room and placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing just enough to remind me she was stronger than she looked. "Tell me. Have you given any thought to what the future holds for us all?"
"What future?" I muttered.
Her eyes narrowed. "Don't be clever with me. You know exactly what I mean. You need a mate."
"I know that mother," I say quickly, before she can launch into another speech.
"Any chance you can help me out now? We are running out of time. It will be as simple as pulling a rabbit out of a hat for you.""I know you have young women you have mentored for years."Mother's lips curved into a wry smile.
"It is even simpler if you allow your heart to lead you instead of your head."I rolled my eyes at her dreamy reply.
"My head is what's kept me alive this long," I shot back. "Love is impractical, Mother. Dangerous, even. It's a luxury I cannot afford."She sighed, moving to the window where the moon hung like a silver coin in the sky.
"That is where you are wrong, Gabriel. Love is never impractical. It is the foundation of everything. Without it, every throne crumbles eventually. You think you can outwit loneliness with strategy? You cannot." Her gaze snapped back at me, sharp and unyielding.
"And don't you dare think you can trick me by saying duty is enough. Duty is cold. Love is fire. Without it, you will freeze, and so will Astrude. I have tried to teach you better than this, but you have remained unyielding." I swallowed hard.
"It is too late for me to learn now."
"Do you think your father could have ruled for over thirty years without me at his side? Do you think he could have endured betrayals, wars, endless nights without a bond to keep him whole?"
I didn't answer.
She stepped closer, lowering her voice. "You may not believe in love, but love believes in you. It waits for you, whether you want it or not. And when it finds you, it will not be practical, it will not be logical, and it will not wait for your permission. I just hope you do not do something stupid first." Her words hit harder than I expected.
My mother had never been one to mince words. "Then what do you suggest I do?" I asked finally. "Pick some girl who looks at me with puppy eyes and hope lightning strikes before the coronation?"
Her eyes softened. "No. I suggest you stop looking at every woman as a calculation. A queen is not a piece on your chessboard. She is your partner. She is your shield and your undoing. Treat her as anything less, and you will lose everything." Her hand brushed my cheek, briefly tender.
"You are my son. You were born to lead. But even you cannot carry this kingdom alone. No one can." And with that, she turned and swept out, leaving the scent of lavender and the weight of her words behind.
Mother's visit didn't help to quiet the storm in my head, not that I had expected it to. She insists I should marry for love, not duty. Easy for her to say; she and Father were childhood sweethearts, having grown up together and planned their lives together. They had the kind of bond forged over years that one would think they were either joined at the hip or that the werewolf gods had crafted them solely for each other. They had the kind of love that lasts a lifetime. Beautiful, yes. But impossible for me, especially now with a ticking clock over my head. I couldn't find love in twenty-two years, but somehow, she thinks I will find it in thirty days.
Queen Esmerelda was ever the hopeless romantic, and even though it worked out for her and she was always right, this is the time I think practicality rules the day.
Thirty days to my twenty-third birthday.
Thirty days to find a wife, a queen, a mate.
Thirty days to take over the kingdom from my father. And I have no clue how to achieve this. It is clear now that I will not be getting a surprise bride from my parents. If they were planning to help me, they would have shown their hand by now. Knowing my mother, she would have at least tried to get me acquainted with the prospective bride by now, with hopes that we would fall in love before the coronation. I would have even pretended to play along out of sheer desperation, but alas, I am on my own.
Tonight, I finally decided on a plan. I'd ask Linda, my best friend, my beta, to help. She knows me better than anyone, and if anyone can find the right woman, it's her. I know she won't rest until we figure something out. She will even recruit the rest of the pack on this little quest to find me a bride fit to be queen of Astrude in thirty days. Maybe I should've done this months ago. But better late than never. Still, thirty days isn't much time. Hell. I'll just have to make it enough.I need a mate to claim my throne.