The Choice

Selena

It was late by the time Gwen came to us. So I just let her crash in my room. I haven’t been able to sleep well since I’m not sleeping with Kieran yet, but to be honest I’m willing to wait until our mating ceremony to move in with him, but that’s something we’ll talk about. We made it into my room, plopped her stuff down and just fell asleep. The next morning I heard a faint knocking on the door and from the rum and vanilla scent I could tell it was Kieran and it made me smile.

“Good morning, beautiful.” The compliment made me blush. To be honest, I’m not used to anyone complimenting like that before.

“Good morning, handsome.” We smile at each other and I’m so tempted to kiss him. So I give into temptation. I gave him my first, ever kiss… and it was amazing! “Wow…” I blush at my brashness.

“Was that your first?” He seemed genuinely curious. I nodded shyly and smiled. “I’m flattered.”

“It’s not like I dated much before you…” as in never…

“Why don’t I get my parents and we can meet in my office to figure out our new arrangements.”

“Yeah that’s probably a good idea.” I realize we didn’t really talk about it so it’s probably a good idea to get advice from his parents. I also realized that I had never been in his office before. It was a large office, enough to fit 10 normal people, but maybe 6 werewolves. A solid desk of some medium dark wood, a comfortable couch near the desk and some chairs for extra guests.

“What’s going on, Kieran?” Caroline asked nervously.

“Last night Selena’s sister, Gwen ran away from home and wanted to start a new life here like Selena. She was going to have the same fate as Selena and didn’t want that so Selena said she could come here. She’s currently asleep in Selena’s room.” His parents looked shocked at his news.

“Caroline? Jacob? Are you ok?” I ask them nervously “I know it’s a bold decision, but it was mine. I couldn’t let my sister have the same fate as me. Having guys’ pictures shoved in our face for political gain and alliances and no care nor affection… that was my life before coming here…” I hang my head down remembering that life… not that long ago, but with the kindness I’ve been shown here it feels longer.

“I’m so sorry sweetie… of course she can stay.” Caroline gives me a sympathetic smile and I give her a little smile back.

“Well, that answers one question. Second question.” Kieran speaks up between the silent conversation between his mom and I.

“She came here on horseback, what do we do with the horse? With the weather turning we can’t permanently keep her outside.” I had the same question as well. I didn’t see a barn here.

“Well…” I tried to speak up and everyone looked at me with a smile. “Maybe we could take an unused home on the territory, completely empty it out and use that as Midnight’s barn. An extra room for whoever needs it, the kitchen can be used as food prep for her, hay and a blanket on the ground as a bed. That way we don’t have to completely build a barn from scratch.” The three of them mull over my idea. Kieran smiled at me proudly as I spoke up.

“That’s not a bad idea princess. I can get some warriors on that.” He kisses my forehead in appreciation. “Well, that settles the horse, but what about Gwen?”

“Gwen is an excellent horse rider so I’m sure that can come in handy. She and I can share a room for now until our mating ceremony.” I blush at the thought of mating with him.

“I have plenty of rooms, I’m sure she’d want her own space.” Kieran cups my cheek and I lean into it. His dad clears his throat reminding us they’re still there. I blush since I almost forgot they were in the room.

“I can help you plan your mating ceremony. It’s kind of like a human wedding, and with your parents most likely not going to be there.” Caroline offered, and I smiled.

“I’d like that. I have no idea how to be a luna… I may have been a princess but my parents and my brother, Jude did all of it. Gwen and I just lived there. Gwen found happiness in horseback riding, but to be honest I didn’t find much happiness there. Maybe journaling. Gwen brought back my old journal from when I lived with my parents...” Kieran gives me a side hug. I give him a little smile. “Yeah life before coming here was miserable. At least Gwen had her horse rides…” I admit I’m a little jealous that she at least had a hobby.

“Well now, that you’re here you don’t have to worry about that anymore. You can do almost anything you want (within legal reasons of course don’t want your dad coming here and executing us)” Kieran is half joking about it, but I’ve seen the executions of criminals before… it wasn’t pretty. I still get shivers about that.

“Anyway…” Caroline looks at him like he’s crazy. “Point is if you want to figure out who you are, you can. For me, I like to sew and cook. I know it’s old-fashioned but what can I say it’s relaxing. So do what you find fun and relaxing. It can be practically anything: writing, sewing, cooking, music, horseback riding, get a pet, whatever you want! But also, I can help you with learning luna duties and your mating ceremony. We’re in our early 50s so it’s almost time for us to pass this craziness along to Kieran and you. We wanted to wait to pass it along to one of our children, but when the twins said no and wanted to be a doctor and a pack warrior, Mia wanted to be a doctor like Connor, and Raven wanted to take over the businesses, Kieran stepped up. All we had to do was wait for his mate… he didn’t play around like other alphas, but he had some pleasant friends that were girls. One friend you had that you were close with was Georgie, Georgiana Ashbridge.”

“Should I be worried about her, I’ve never heard of her until now?” Oh great I’m going to be fighting with an ex...

“Oh no no no, she’s harmless, they never really dated. Just friends from what I remember.” Maybe it won’t be so bad. Course that’s what they all say…

“What happened to her?” Just for curiosity’s sake…

“Oh, we still keep in contact with her parents. They’ve been good friends to us over the years.” Caroline says so casually but it’s really making me nervous. What if she’s a crazy lunatic that wants to be luna and wants to get rid of me so she can have Kieran for herself… ugh…

“She’s not the crazy type that’s just nice so she can take out the competition so she can be luna… speaking hypothetically of course…” Everyone looks at me like I’m crazy.

“No, of course not. We thought they were going to be mates, but obviously that didn’t happen. Which is fine, we’re so happy to have you in our lives, Selena.”

“Alright…” Great… that gives me a lot of confidence…

“Anyway...” Kieran gives her a mad growl. Apparently he didn’t intend to tell me about her. “You two can talk about luna stuff and the mating ceremony another time. No matter what they say about Georgie, she and I are just friends we never dated, she’s just a good friend.” He glares at Caroline as he says that. “You were given to me and I’m going to enjoy having you as my mate. I don’t wish someone else was my mate. You make me happy.” That calms my nerves, and he gives me a hug to help me calm down. Breathing in his delicious scent helps…

“Thanks… I think I’m going to go for a walk in the backyard. Good meeting...” I walk out of there pretty quickly. I can hear them arguing behind me as I closed the door, but to be honest I didn’t want to hear that his mom was considering someone else for what was rightfully mine… I got that enough from my own parents…

Jasper (Selena’s dad)

I’m about to head into the office when Jude comes up to me with a note.

“Dad did you see this?? It’s from Gwen…” I grab this note from him and read it for myself

Dear mom and dad,

At this point I’m long gone when you read this… and I’m not going to come back. I’m going to live with Selena. I don’t want the same life she had and I want my own love. I know you’re going to be super mad at me but at this point there’s nothing you can do. I’m not going to sit around and be used as a pawn in your political game. Jude, I love you and I hope you do the kingdom proud.

Love,

Gwen

“Crap! I have no idea where Selena went!”

“But what about the enchanted doors?” Jude asks me with a worried look on his face.

“They can go to any pack. The wizard who made them just picked one.”

“So why not just ask him?”

“Because he went back to his own kingdom, and it’d take days for him to come here!” I let out an angry growl. “Why did she have to leave!? We treated her so well here!”

“Yeah, she may have been the favorite while living here, but she saw how you treated Selena and didn’t want that same fate. She may have been a shy ‘yes dad’ kind of wolf, but one since you didn’t let anyone shift that’s rough on anyone. Two you saw what she said she doesn’t want to be a political pawn like the rest of us. Liam and Selena both got what they wanted, and that was their destined mate. And when I’m king, this political game of setting up people will end!” He yells at me and I’m actually surprised. He never talks to me like that.

“Where did this come from!?”

“I’ve wanted to do that for a long time and it’s cost me relationships with my siblings! I’m only here because I’m heir to the throne, that’s it! I will rekindle my relationships with them and you won’t be able to stop me!”

“I can not pass down the title to you.” I threatened.

“Fine! Then I’ll leave too! I can live with Liam! Maybe I’ll get lucky too and find my mate in his pack.” He pushes at my shoulder and walks away. Damn if I don’t have an heir to the throne then we’ll be ruined!

Selena

I sit outside in what I’m guessing is the community garden near the packhouse and just sobbing. Hearing that there was potentially another girl before me hurt. I’m not surprised since he’s a handsome guy but still hurt. I can hear footsteps coming close to me and I expected it to be Kieran, but to my surprise it was Mia and Raven.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen in your first meeting?” Mia asked me. I looked at her with surprise at how she knew that. “Mom and dad told us before they went to the office…” I wiped away my tears and nodded my head sadly.

“They talked about some girl and how they guessed she was going to be Kieran’s mate before I came along. It almost sounded like they were hopeful it was going to be her instead of me.” I sobbed into my lap.

“Mom mentioned Georgie… ugh,” Raven let out an annoyed scream. “Nothing happened between them. They met through mutual friends and sure they got close over the years, but once they found out they weren’t mates, she backed off. She moved onto taking a job at the local daycare helping with pups.”

“He hasn’t seen or heard from her besides professionally in a while. You don’t have to worry about her.” Mia reassured me.

“It just hurt… one moment they’re happy to have me in the family, talking about the mating ceremony, and the next they’re talking about another girl!” I sobbed harder, and it just made me angry. I feel one of them rub my back and it calms me…

“I can only imagine how hurt you must’ve felt, and we’ll bug mom about that later, but right now you need a hug.” Mia gives me a long hug and I just sob into her shoulder. I cry for probably another twenty minutes before calming down fully. “As your doctor, I say you should do something fun to cheer you up or do something that relaxes you. I heard you kept a journal, maybe you should write down your feelings.” She tries to give me a hopeful smile and I meekly give her a smile back.”

“Ok…” I head up to my room where I bump into Gwen riding Midnight around the territory and making friends. At least she’s happy, and that’s all I could ask for. I go to our room and realize her stuff is gone, maybe she was offered another room by Kieran. I don’t blame her for wanting her own space. I see on the desk the necklace and journal I had asked for. I write in it for a good thirty minutes before taking a nap.