A Servant for a Mate

Chapter 3

Tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday and I had no idea what I was going to do. I couldn't stay here in the castle; he would find me the moment he woke up. With him being a royal wolf his sense of smell is extraordinary to say the least and he would have no problem finding me within minutes. He would let his wolf out a little bit to help in the hunt of me; I have no doubt about that. The one thought that has always gone through my mind about him finding me is; how does he smell my heat scent from so far away? I would think he would have to be near me to smell it, wouldn’t I? Well that’s easy to explain...well I thought it was...I actually don't know how to explain it really. All I've ever been told by my parents is that when a male's mate goes into heat he can smell her as if she was standing in his arms. The scent is so powerful that they don't know what hits them at first. Their wolf goes crazy wanting to be with his mate during her time.
I've even heard of where the wolf takes completely over and runs through towns to get to his mate. Of course that can't happen so the moment a wolf does that he is shot on sight. Not killed, but put to sleep so it looks like a wild wolf lost its way and our people help him back into the wild. That's what the humans think we do, but it's not. We wait until the wolf wakes up and make him shift back to his human self. Then let him on his way with guards to find his mate. If he knows where she is then she is brought to him instead of risking him shift again in public. If he gets away from his guards and shift in sight of humans then he will be sent to jail until his mates heat ended. We never resulted to killing until the male wolf kills to get to his mate because he doesn’t have patience.
The moment the clock hits midnight my wolf will be trying to claw herself out to go find our mate and in the process sending out arousal hormones like crazy. And I do mean like crazy, every un-mated wolf will be able to smell me within a block. If I stay here at the castle there is a huge chance my door will be broken down and wolves shoving into my bedroom trying to get to me. They go insane from a female’s heat. It's like a switch is turned on and they are hornier than ever before. All they think about is sex and being the Alpha male, killing to get to the female even if she isn't their mate. I can't let that happen here.
I can't stay here. If I do Caden will surely kill every male that walks into my room. It would be a massacre. I love Caden to much to see him beat himself up for killing a male wolf or two that couldn’t help themselves. Being a royal’s mate my hormones will be twice as strong as a normal female wolf. The un-mated males will sense my power and their wolves will demand them to take me as theirs, even if they have a mate out there somewhere.
I know my parents are worried about me going into heat. They want the best for me and I know deep down they believe it's with Caden. He can protect me and love me like a mate should. But can I trust him to love me and not cheat? I know most male werewolves will sleep around in there early years if they haven't found their mate, but he has. Well he knows I’m here, but hasn't quite found me yet. Still he should know that I would be watching him, he is my mate for goodness sake. Gosh men can be so foolish sometimes.
Looking at my father I get enough nerve to ask him." Father what should I do?” If my father told me to stay I would, but if he told me to leave the castle I would follow his directions. After all he has kept me safe and loves me deeply to know what is best for me.
It was Friday afternoon and all our chores were done. Our family woke up early every day to do ours, so that we had the afternoon off to spend together or do something that we wanted to do privately. The royals weren't normal ones; they were nice and respected all their servants. They see it as if they didn't have us, then they wouldn't be here. We made them who they are and we can take it away. Not really but you see my point.
Since tomorrow was my heat we were all spending the afternoon inside hanging out, well mostly thinking about what to do about my it.
"Your mother and I have been talking about this for a while now sweet heart and the best thing we think you should do is go live with Nickola for a while. No one will notice your absence here at the castle and if you can get away from him long enough for your heat to go away then maybe you can come back; even though we aren't so sure that's even a good idea now. If you came back to soon there would always be the chance that he would still be able to find you the moment you walked in to the castle."
Agh, why does my life have to be so dang complicated? Why can't I have a servant for a mate? That would make my life so much easier to deal with. I wouldn’t have to feel guilty for hiding from my mate.
“Well you need to feel all the guilt in the world. No one deserves to be rejected by their own mate before they’ve had the chance to prove themselves worthy,” Annabelle spoke to me harshly.
“I can’t help it anymore. Once I ran from him the first time it was easy to do it again. By the twenty time, it was a breeze. Yes I want to be with him, but I’m not sure if I should be because of all the heart ache I’ve caused him.”
It’s true; I shouldn’t have run from him in the beginning. I’ve learned my lesson and its be a horrible one at that. Seeing all those woman in his arms destroys me, but I know I deserve it.
Bring my eyes back to my father I couldn’t help but notice how sad and depressed he looked. I know they didn't want me to leave them and I didn't want to either, but I couldn't stay here and have him force himself on me. They know I would hate him for it and to hate your mate would kill you. Yes, you can hate your mate if they force themselves on you. If your wolf can hate her mate then you can hate him also, but if she changes her mind and forgives him then you have to forgive him as well. Stupid wolf!
“I’m not stupid; you know I’m right when I forgive him for his actions.”
I didn’t reply back because it always ended the same; with us fighting and that is miserable when it’s in your own head.
"Plus you know Nickola lost his mate a couple years ago and is now a mate-less wolf. You might just find that you still have that school girl crush on him. We all know that he has had feelings for you ever since you gave him your blood as a child."
"What!? He has feelings for me? Really? Why wasn't I told this? I'm always left out of the lope." My eyes bulged out of my head. He has to be lying to me. I know when I was younger I used to follow him around and look at his cute butt. I never thought in a million years he would ever have feelings for me other than in a sisterly way.
Nickola had his twenty-third birthday two weeks ago. He wanted to spend it with his family so he took us all out to dinner. We may not be blood related but to him we are family.
My pleasant thoughts were disturbed by my father's way of thinking once again. "I know this might sound nasty coming from your father, but to get over your heat you will either have to mate or have him give you release down there." He looked as if he choked on an air bubble and didn’t know if he wanted to take that deep breath in or let himself continue to choke.
"Daddy you did not just saw what I think you did!? That’s disgusting coming from you. Why would you even suggest that to me; your own daughter, your flesh and blood for goodness sake." I was blushing up the ying yang. My own dad told me I had to have sex or have him touch me down there. That's just wrong in so many levels. I wanted to gag myself. Just ewe!
In my moment of disgusted-ness I almost missed the glance between my family of three when I spoke of being their flesh and blood; just barely, but I caught it before they turned back to me. I wonder what that was about. I’ll have to ask them later, it’s not a question I need to worry about right now.
"Oh believe me sweetie, I didn't want to tell you anything about that, but I did draw the short stick and had to. I still don't understand why your mother wouldn't tell you. “He looked embarrassed, but confused at the same time. It was quiet funny.
"Probably because she wanted to watch you embarrasses yourself daddy." I couldn't stop laughing his facial expression, it was priceless.
"Probably, that woman drives me crazy." I watched as my mom smacked him upside the head for that comment. Making all of us crack up laughing. This was my family and I loved them to pieces.
"But you love her and you know it." You could tell that he loved her every time he looked at her. He would always have either this dreamy look about him or the possessive jealous look. It was quite funny to see my dad jealous. I mean come on he was a grown man, they had two kids together. What would he have to be jealous about? Mom wasn't going to leave him what so ever and he knew it. I secretly think my mom loves it when he becomes possessive or jealous because it shows her that he still loves her to death.
"That I do princess; that I do. Now are you ok with going to Nickola's house?" I didn't truly want to go to his house, but I knew I had to. I wanted desperately to stay and have Caden find me in the morning declaring his love for me. Telling me that he never meant to sleep with all those women and that he was an idiot for doing so. All I wanted was for him to be happy and love me, but I knew I was stretching my luck on that one.
"Yes father I will. Do you want to call him for me or shall I?" I chose to run away from my mate like the coward I am.
"You go get your clothes packed and ready to go with in the hour. I'll call him and let him know that you will be ready in a bit and to come pick you up. We asked him first so he would have a heads up if you did say yes."
"Of course you did daddy." I spoke while walking towards my end of the room to pack the small amount of clothes that I had. The smile never once leaving my face because of my father; he always knew how to make me smile when I was down. I made sure I packed a picture of my family, along with other nick-knacks since I didn't know how long I wouldn't be seeing them
You may ask how we know Nickola. Well that's easy my father saved his life when he was just a boy and he has been grateful ever since. It probably didn't help that before he met his mate he had a crush on me according to my father .That crush is back in full force apparently since his mate is no longer gracing this earth with us. If he gets the chance to stand next to me or play games either when we were kids or now young adults he jumps at it full steam ahead. I didn't think of it as anything more than brotherly love, but now that I think on it, some of the kisses and hugs he has given me weren't appropriate for siblings, but more geared towards lovers.
Wow, I must have been extremely blind not to see him hinting that he wanted something with me. All those envious glares from the other um-mated female servants now make since. I always thought it was because he is an officer in the royal army and he was hot is all can be. I must be really stupid to not realize he was hitting on me.
Oh did I tell you that for some stupid reason, I seem to not see what's right in front of me? Well I did now, so if it happens again which it will don't hate me too much. There could be a tiger in front of me and I would be standing there laughing at something a friend said while everyone else is running for their lives; well at least the females would, the males would kill it on spot. Anyways off topic, back to what we were talking about.
I like Nickola a lot, but I love my mate more and I don't think I could ever forget about him since he is still alive and breathing. If he had passed on to the next world like Nickola's mate did then I might like the idea more of being with him completely. But at last he isn't and I have to live with the fact that I will never be happy without my mate.
I had been so in to my thoughts that I didn't notice when Nickola walked into the room. He came up behind me wrapping his arms around my tiny waist and resting his head on my shoulder since he was a good foot taller than me. His hard body pressed up against mine sent a tiny shiver of pleasure though out my body. I know it shouldn’t have, but it did.
"How is my beauty doing today?" He purred as his lips lightly grazed my neck.
I couldn't help, but blushing, I always felt so loved and attractive in his arms.
"I'm good, can we get going, I really don't want to stay here too late. I only have four hours until its midnight and I don't want to get stuck here when I go into heat." I went to grab my bag, but Nickola already had it in his hands.
"That's fine by me. Bye David, I will give you a call tomorrow night to give you an update on how she is doing ok."
"Thank you Nickola, you don't know how much this means to us." I kissed and hugged my family goodbye. I would see them again so no tears were shed. It wasn’t like I was moving across the country; it was only outside the castle gates.
"It's no problem at all. I would do anything for Claudia and you all know it."
He truly didn't know how much it meant to us. We never told him that I was his Prince's mate. We trust him, but being the fact that Nickola is the captain of the royal guard of werewolves he would have to tell his Prince or at least the King and Queen.
Not just because I would be the next Queen, but because I could be in danger if anyone ever found out that I was his mate. I'm not a strong wolf so I wouldn't be able to hold my own in a fight let alone a murder attempt. If anyone saw the tattoo they would know and it would put me and my family in danger. I know sooner or later the Prince will find me and I hope that he won't be to mad at Nickola or me for that matter. Nickola could be punished severely for hiding me away from the Prince. It could mean death. I wasn't willing to put a death sentence on him, but I had no other choice. I hope that in the end Prince Caden will forgive me and if he truly does care about me then he will spare Nickola from any form of punishment.
As he finished speaking with my dad he grabbed my hand with his free one and dragged me out of my family’s room, down the servant’s stairs and out the back of the castle where he let go of my hand to shift into his handsome grey white wolf right after he stripped down to nothing. I usually averted my eyes when he did that, but this time I didn’t and let me tell you; he has a fine backside. I grabbed the bag and jump on his back as he lay down on the ground. Whenever we traveled places this is how he liked it. Me to ride on his back gripping his fur while hiding my head in his neck. He was a gigantic wolf so it was easy for me to get my full body on him. I slide my bag over my back so I could still bring my head down and not get hurt from the wind.
When a wolf runs, no human eye is sharp enough to see them because they are too fast for the human eye. So of course the wind would hurt like heck if I kept my face in it for too long. I loved to peak out every once in a while to see the tree’s pass us by or to feel the piercing of the wind against my cheeks.
His house was nice, not too big but not too small. It was a bachelor pad to say the least. When we were at his front door Nickola pressed down on a pad that was hidden in the wall next to the house. The door popped open letting us walk in without having him shift naked in the street. I crawled off his back and turned away while he put clothes on.
"Claudia?" Turning around I find him in a pair of sweatpants that are hanging dangerously low on his waist. I bet he did that on purpose. Bad wolf, bad boy!
"Yes?" I knew my cheeks were incredibly red from the blush of seeing him naked.
"You will be staying in my room tonight ok. I know your parents have told you about what happens during heat and how your wolf will be going insane with need. She will want to be pleasured by her mate, but she will settle for any wolf she deems strong enough for her. If she will allow me to I will curb your heat tomorrow midmorning if your mate has not found you by then. I will give him five hours to find you. I know for some females it is torture to go through their first heat without a mate or strong male wolf by their sides. I will be that strong wolf if you want." As he spoke he brought his hand up to cup my cheek rubbing his thumb back and forth. The small amount of pleasure it gave me calmed my nervous a tad bit.
I pulled out of his grip walking towards the couch. I wanted to sit down before I fell down. He was confusing me; this whole thing was confusing me. Should I have told Caden I was his mate or should I have done what I did? Should I let Nickola pleasure me and one day make me his? I like him, but not sure if I like him that much. What should I do?
“You should have listened to me when you first bumped into him eight years ago. You should have stayed and let him mark us as his. You should have never run away like a coward.”
It was an understatement that my wolf was still pissed off at me. But she let me make my own mistakes and now I have to deal with them. She learned to block her scent somehow so that he wouldn't be able to smell us when we were near him. His wolf would never know the difference between me and another female if he smelled me or even looked me in the eyes. I had been wearing contacts to make my eyes not as readable to his wolf.
I didn't think it would work, but one night he almost caught me. It was four months ago. I was walking around the grounds listening to the night when I saw him. He had been watching me. His wolf could tell something was different about me, but not what. He knew I wasn't his mate, but there was still a connection that confused him. As the night wore on we ended up sitting across from each other on benches. I made sure not to touch him; if I did the ruse would be up. We talked about random things, like what our favorite foods were or our hobbies. I tried to strain my voice, though I could tell that his wolf came out a couple of times. He wanted to know who I was, he didn't like the fact he couldn't figure me out. Shortly after we started to talk I excused myself saying it was getting late and that I had to be up early. As I stood up, he went to grab my hand to help me; I pulled back in the nick of time. Running away for the second time, I think it hurt worse than the first.
I hadn’t left my room for a week after that. No one cared that I didn't show up to work as my family worked longer days to cover my shift. I had told them everything and again they asked why I didn't go to him and beg him to forgive me for not telling him who I was and why I ran. The truth was I didn't really know why I ran. Yes, I was scared and I don't think I'm worthy of him, but I've seen the pain I've put him through from my rejection. From me not coming forward over these past years, it has drained him. I despise myself for causing him so much pain it killed me on the inside. I was too ashamed now to speak the truth that I stuck with the lie and falsehood.
Coming back to the present I think on what Nickola had said before spacing out. Oh that's right he was talking about pleasuring me. Is he really going to touch me like that? I knew he liked me that way, but hearing him talking about it was like a wakeup call.
"Depending on how strong your mate is, is how hard your heat will affect you." He was talking about my mate? Wow, I must have really spaced out for a bit. Looking at him, I tried to understand what he was talking about. "If your mate is a servant then you will barely have a heat and all it will take is for him to either pleasure or mark you as his to end your heat, but for example if your mate was let’s say, Prince Caden then you will go through hell and back until he marks and mates with you. It’s weird being a royal wolfs mate, he has to do both otherwise you will be stuck in heat until he comes for you. That's why it was so easy for our Kings to find their Queen’s. It’s not normal for a female werewolf to be in heat for months on end, so when it does happen, word spreads like wild fires about it to every inch of the world. The King finds out and if he hasn’t found his mate by then he flies out right away to where ever she is located. If she isn’t the King’s mate then one of his high ranking officers and when he flies back home he brings her with him to see if she truly does belong to one of them. If not she is given to one of the males who have lost their mate. It’s the only way to end her suffering.”
I hope that doesn’t happen to me. If he is telling the truth then that means I will stay in heat for the rest of my life and I don’t think I could live like that. Caden would find out sooner than later.
“If you are the mate of Prince Caden; which I pray that you aren’t because I would be in serious trouble and the trust I have with you would be broken." Oh great now I feel like crap for lying to him. "You see if I tried to mark you while you’re in heat, his wolf and him would go insane with blood lust. They would want my head on a spike for touching what belonged to them by right. Please tell me now if he is your mate. I know for a mate that you know who your mate is, but say that he rejected you. I need to know it wasn’t the prince Claudia. Please tell me the truth.”
Oh no! I did the first thing that came to my mind, I lied. “No he isn’t the Prince. My mate wanted someone with more power than a servant girl.” I tried to look heart broken, but I think he saw right through it.
“Good, well not good, but you know what I mean. I want to let you know that if you’re lying to me, I will find out because in the end your heat would never end, unless he came for you.” He gave me his stern look, making me cringe back into the couch.
I'm in big trouble; very big trouble. I lied to my only true friend and I’m going to be in heat for the rest of my life. This day couldn’t get any worse could it?
“How long do normal wolves have heat for?” I didn’t know why I didn’t know this info and he did; it was backwards if you asked me.
"Normal wolves will have heat for a day if they are pleasured, marked or fully mated; if they aren't then anywhere from a day to a couple months. Like I said before, it all depends on the rank of the mate. If you are a royals mate it could last you a life time, but usually by a year he has found you. At least I would hope he would have." The grimace on Nickola's face was scaring me. If he thought it was bad then I was in some deep shit.
Standing up I turn towards him. I was tired and wanted to go to bed. It was now 10pm and I wanted to get those two hours of sleep before my world turned upside down. "Ok. Well, I guess can we go to bed now. I want to get this whole ordeal over with as fast as I can. Where is your room?
"I'll show you just follow me. Don't freak out in the morning if you’re tied to the bed. It will only be for your protection, I promise you. I may love you, but I would never ever take advantage of you in that state unless it’s to end your heat." Looking at him, I could tell he was hiding something. I knew he wouldn't take advantage of me, but there was something else he was keeping from me; what could it be?
Then it hit me, I heard him say he loved me! I did it again, I didn't realize what he said and now I feel utterly stupid. He loves me. Oh crap, I'm in so much trouble it's not even funny anymore. This was going to be a very long weekend if he loved me. I knew it would be really hard for him and his wolf if I begged him to pleasure me. I wouldn't be mad if he didn't because I knew it wouldn't work. Only my true mate could take the heat away even if Nickola marked me.
Sighing I follow him upstairs to his bedroom. He drops my bag of clothes on the bed and turns to me. Leaning down he brushes a kiss against my lips then walks out.
Shaking my head clear of the shock from his kiss; I change into my pj's and crawl into bed. Closing my eyes, I dream of a happy ever after.