The Choice

Selena

I wake up and I feel the sun’s warmth coming through a window. Everything smells so… sterile. I rub the sleep out of my eyes and try to remember what happened. The dinner, the door… the woods… the handsome silhouette... and I fainted… maybe that mystery silhouette brought me here? I look around and I realize that I’m in a hospital. If these are their normal rooms man I should come here more often, this is a pleasant room. I’m startled when I hear the door open.

“Oh good, our mystery princess is awake.” The nice lady doctor walks in. She looks stunning! Her dirty blonde, almost light brown wavy hair is pulled back into a ponytail, dark chocolate brown eyes, and yet she doesn’t look much older than me, if she is older than dang she has good genetics!

“H-hello?” I kinda hide myself with the blanket, but she sits down on the bed and grabs my hand to comfort me.

“It’s ok, my brothers brought you here last night. You must’ve had quite a night. They found you in a ballgown in the middle of the woods. If you’re well enough, could you answer some questions” She gives me a gentle and hopeful smile.

“Yeah, I’m well enough for questions.” I make myself comfortable on the bed.

“Well, first and foremost… what’s your name?” I giggle as she asks me.

“Selena Westwood. I’m from the Oakcrown Pack. What’s yours?”

“Makes sense, only the royals and their kingdom live there. And how silly of me, I’m Dr. Mia Stoneshire, co-head doctor of this hospital along with my brother, Connor.” She giggles as she realizes she forgot to introduce herself. “How did you get here?”

“Where’s here exactly?” That has been my burning question since I got here.

“The Moonstone pack.” She said it kind of like a question and a statement. I remember looking at maps in dad’s office, this pack is far from home. Probably dad’s point. “What do you remember from last night?”

“That’s easy… it was an awful day and night. My father, King Jasper, was trying to push suitors to me, but I said no, I want my mate. Had that talk for months, then my dad got fed up. He probably asked a friend of his to enchant some doors and my dad likes to make it a ‘ceremony’ more like a humiliating way to get rid of your daughter. Either way, I dressed up nice, hence the ball gown and cape, had my last meal with my family, and I had two choices: one was a dragon door and one was a wolf door. Obviously I picked the wolf door. Next thing I know is I’m running through the woods in the middle of the night. I briefly talked to a very handsome silhouette, but it was too dark to really see him. Next thing I know is I’m being carried by someone and I guess I was brought here.” Mia seemed so surprised by how well she could remember, and just the way her father treated her. She giggled at the comment about her brothers. Just as I finished my story to Mia, we heard a gentle knock on the door, along with a huge whiff of woodsy rum and vanilla.

“Ah, Kieran I figured you’d show up. Selena, this is my other brother, Alpha Kieran Stoneshire. I have three brothers and a sister.” I look at him in shock. The scent, and the silhouette remind me of last night.

“You rescued me??” I give this guy another look down. Now that I can see him better I can probably take him all in. 6ft4, 190lbs of muscle, that’s very strong enough to protect me. Midnight black short hair pulled back and a start of a beard and goatee. The same dark chocolate brown eyes as Mia.

“Glad to know I made a good impression.” He laughs a little as he realizes I’m checking him out. “My brothers and I were hunting dinner last night when we found you and while we didn’t find dinner, we found you. You looked half coherent from exhaustion and cold. Connor was adamant on bringing you here just to make sure you were ok. The nurses and Mia changed you from your dress to the nightgown to give you some privacy. I stayed with you most of the night, but when we figured you were just sleeping I let you sleep.”

“Why would you leave your mate alone?” I ask him pointedly with my arms crossed.

“I uh… didn’t want to scare you.” Ok that’s a reasonable answer. Brownie points for being considerate.

“That’s fair… did you know last night?” I ask him nervously.

“I smelled cinnamon, clove and something else that reminded me of my sister’s fall candles.” Mia laughed and gave me a little sniff.

“I believe the scent you’re looking for is star anise like in my chai lattes.” Mia keeps on laughing at Kieran and I blush like a pink rose.

“I thought only mates could smell each other?” That’s what I had been told most of my life, the few times that we talked about it.

“Your scent is the strongest to your mate, but to everyone else it’s just faded. Enough to recognize who it is, but I’m not being hit by a brick wall with your scent like Kieran is.” We all laughed, and it was his turn to blush.

“So when can I leave? But before I do, this room is really nice.”

“This is our VIP room since we had a hunch who you were, but the fact you’re a princess you’re still treated with respect.” Aww despite not knowing who I was they still went that extra mile for me…

“As your doctor, I see no problems in letting you go and in the perfectly capable hands of my brother.” She smiles at him and nudges his arm.

“One minor problem… I don’t have any clothes… my family didn’t let me pack a bag before leaving to go into the unknown… just the dress, cape and jewelry I had on my back was, apparently what I was supposed to live off of…”

“Well, when I get off work our sister, Raven and I, maybe our mom can take you shopping. Our parents are going to be so happy to meet you!” She squeals in delight at the idea. I don’t mind shopping, it can be fun with the right company. “In the meantime I brought some of my clothes that I was going to give to Raven. Figured she has enough hand-me-downs that you might need it more than she does.” She hands me a bag that has a long sleeve, v-neck, dark blue, simple top, a pair of dark jeans and some toms shoes.

“Thank you, and thanks for the nightgown. Since I doubt using an enchanted door to get back home to grab some of my stuff is a possibility, I’ll need a fresh clean slate. To be honest, I’m ok with leaving princess life behind. Sure it was nice having the title, but I felt more like a chess pawn than a daughter especially when I became of age, at 18. I was able to shift, but my parents didn’t let me so I don’t even know what she looks like or what her name is…”

“That’s kind of insulting for a wolf not to know who half of her is.” Kieran spoke up and looked surprisingly angry.

“Tell that to my parents… I had my first shift at 18, and that was it. They didn’t think it was important for me to shift to find my mate. That my wolf just knows… and while I think I got lucky finding you I think you knew before I did. I feel like I don’t know how to be a proper wolf… could you train me like a real wolf? How can I be a proper luna if I’m not trained?” I could feel tears welling in my eyes... I could feel tears welling in my eyes… I feel both Mia and Kieran grab my hands. Kieran wipes away my tears and I lean into his hand.

“Yeah, we can train you. When do you want to start?” He looks at me with the most genuine eyes and I feel like I could get lost in them…

“How about after I change out of this nightgown?” I grab the bag of clothes and head towards the bathroom. It doesn’t take me long to change, but I check myself out in the mirror behind the door; the clothes all fit, the shoes are cute, and I put my hair up in a ponytail thanks to some elastics that were in the bag as well.

“At least our future Luna has good taste. You look comfortable.” I like the sound of that…

“I am comfortable. Thanks. So how about that lesson?” I smirk at them and they just laugh with me.

“I can get off in five minutes. Just let me change from my coat and put it in the office.” She leaves to do that and I finally have time to be alone with Kieran.

“It’s nice to finally meet you.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” He kisses the top of my head while enjoying our hug.

We all laughed, and it was his turn to blush.

“So when can I leave? But before I do, this room is really nice.”

“This is our VIP room since we had a hunch who you were, but the fact you’re a princess you’re still treated with respect.” Aww despite not knowing who I was they still went that extra mile for me…

“As your doctor, I see no problems in letting you go and in the perfectly capable hands of my brother.” She smiles at him and nudges his arm.

“One minor problem… I don’t have any clothes… my family didn’t let me pack a bag before leaving to go into the unknown… just the dress, cape and jewelry I had on my back was, apparently what I was supposed to live off of…”

“Well, when I get off work our sister, Raven and I, maybe our mom can take you shopping. Our parents are going to be so happy to meet you!” She squeals in delight at the idea. I don’t mind shopping, it can be fun with the right company. “In the meantime I brought some of my clothes that I was going to give to Raven. Figured she has enough hand-me-downs that you might need it more than she does.” She hands me a bag that has a long sleeve, v-neck, dark blue, simple top, a pair of dark jeans and some toms shoes.

“Thank you, and thanks for the nightgown. Since I doubt using an enchanted door to get back home to grab some of my stuff is a possibility, I’ll need a fresh clean slate. To be honest, I’m ok with leaving princess life behind. Sure it was nice having the title, but I felt more like a chess pawn than a daughter especially when I became of age, at 18. I was able to shift, but my parents didn’t let me so I don’t even know what she looks like or what her name is…”

“That’s kind of insulting for a wolf not to know who half of her is.” Kieran spoke up and looked surprisingly angry.

“Tell that to my parents… I had my first shift at 18, and that was it. They didn’t think it was important for me to shift to find my mate. That my wolf just knows… and while I think I got lucky finding you I think you knew before I did. I feel like I don’t know how to be a proper wolf… could you train me like a real wolf? How can I be a proper luna if I’m not trained?” I could feel tears welling in my eyes... I could feel tears welling in my eyes… I feel both Mia and Kieran grab my hands. Kieran wipes away my tears and I lean into his hand.

“Yeah, we can train you. When do you want to start?” He looks at me with the most genuine eyes and I feel like I could get lost in them…

“How about after I change out of this nightgown?” I grab the bag of clothes and head towards the bathroom. It doesn’t take me long to change, but I check myself out in the mirror behind the door; the clothes all fit, the shoes are cute, and I put my hair up in a ponytail thanks to some elastics that were in the bag as well.

“At least our future Luna has good taste. You look comfortable.” I like the sound of that…

“I am comfortable. Thanks. So how about that lesson?” I smirk at them and they just laugh with me.

“I can get off in five minutes. Just let me change from my coat and put it in the office.” She leaves to do that and I finally have time to be alone with Kieran.

“It’s nice to finally meet you.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” He kisses the top of my head while enjoying our hug.

“Maybe after training I’ll call my family to let them know I’m ok.”

“I’m sure they’d appreciate that.” He gives me a gentle squeeze and leads me out of the hospital.