The Mallapers: A Rejected Mate Story

Chapter Three

Leyla's Point of View

I trotted along and caught up with Nona who looked at me briefly. Her eyes were scanning my face. I could see her worry and she was hesitate in asking me anything as she did not want to arise suspicion. I knew that Nona understood what was going on as she regarded everything with her eyes. She gave me a look to say that we would discuss this back at the cottage.

We entered the dining quarters where the room was filled with extravagance. The floors and walls were white marble, there was gold lights adorning the walls. The chandelier was warmly lighting the room with numerous diamonds. There was a large white table which was filled with the finest silverware and china. Glasses were clearly crystal and the the chairs had the finest silk cushions on them. I could understand why Nona would always complain about the money used to finance the Royal pack. The room had been transformed from when I used to play here as a child. There was no warmth or personal pictures of the family which I remembered was once proudly displayed on the walls. It reminded me of a show home or a private dining room at a restaurant. It felt empty and materialistic. It was far from what was decorated by the previous the Queen mother.

Nona went to her appointed seat and I followed and stood next to her while we waited for the Royal Family to sit. The Prince had entered the room and his gaze was at the floor. His face appeared conflicted and confused as to what had just happened.

The King and Queen sat on their chairs at the head of the table. The prince was sat by his mother who appeared to be studying his face.

"Please sit, you are guests here." King Alexander said.

"Thank you your highness." Nona replied. I bowed my head gracefully and followed Nona's lead to sit in our seats for the evening. As we sat food was placed on the table by the Omegas.

"Thank you for your service this evening Omega Clare." I said. The Queen's head snapped my direction and she almost had a face of disgust, which she quickly hid behind her smile.

"I did not know you were acquainted with the Omegas Leyla, especially to be on such a personal level and know there name." Queen Lamia stated.

"Your majesty I have always been acquainted with all members of the pack regardless of their status. Without the Omegas where would the pack be today? They contribute to the feeding of the troops, the cleaning of quarters, they support the doctors with the sick and injured. They are very important to the everyday life of the pack and without them we would surely fall as a race" I said humbly, I was scared to look into her eyes and she her cold demeanour.

The King laughed and shook his head, shocked by my response. He replied "Yes Layla you are quite right, you speak like a true leader. Whoever is blessed with you as a mate would be very lucky my dear girl."

I could feel my face turn red like a Tomato at the topic of mates. I lifted my gaze towards Prince Ryan who's face had equally gone gone red, but he looked angry and hurt by what his father had said. He almost looked like he wanted to kill his father. "Thank you my King, but really it is thanks to Nona's teachings. She educated me well." I smiled as I turned to Nona who was looking at me and mouthed thank you to me.

"My King, is there anymore news on the missing wolves?" Nona asked.

For the past decade many wolves appeared to be disappearing. It was unclear where they were or what had happened to them. A lot of the wolves who had been declared missing were unmated Omega's. In the last year, Pack's were ordered to take censuses of their pack members and it was clear that this was becoming a problem. It had only been recognised following the disappearance of Lady Reneé who was the daughter of a Beta at the Lumos Pack. No one knew where she went, there was rumours of her disappearing in the middle of night and that she was mated to a Rogue wolf. Numerous search parties looked for her and trackers failed to locate her or a missing body. It was almost like she never existed. Her family hoped she returned but so far it had been six months and there had been no leads, no sightings and no clues as to where she was.

"No Nona, we still have no confirmed location for the missing wolves. There are speculations that the Mallapers are responsible, but there is yet to be any conclusive evidence of this." The King replied.

"They must be responsible since there is correlation between the incline of missing wolves and the records of the Mallaper's rising." Queen Lamia stated.

"I'm sorry but please excuse my ignorance, but who are the Mallaper's." I asked and looked to Nona timidly.

"Looks like you weren't that educated" Ryan whispered across the room. The Queen smirking at her son's response. The King looked at Ryan with a stern look as if to tell him to be quiet. Ryan looked away from his father and sighed "Sorry my rudeness Leyla."

"Sorry about that little one. We do not discuss the Mallapers as we do not want the community to become afraid and weary. Unfortunately we do not have much information about the Mallapers only what appear to be rumours of dark creatures who are roaming the land. It is unclear what they want or what they are searching for. Intel is telling us that they are an upcoming threat but they have yet to provide any substantial evidence." He sighed and rubbed his temples.

"My dear husband if they are considered a threat by our intel, then we must follow their lead. We can never underestimate the enemy." Queen Lamia replied as she clicked her tongue. She appeared frustrated at her mates lack of trust for the intel department.

"My Queen" he snapped. "Like I have said before to you many nights we do not know who we are dealing with and we do not know that they are responsible for the missing wolves. It is impossible to act against an enemy we do not know and it is stupid to act against a group who may not pose a threat to us." He retorted. The Queen huffed and stabbed her fork into the food on her plate as she did not reply and she curtly nodded at him.

There was an awkward silence after that. I had never seen two mates respond the way the King and Queen do. Considering the amount of songs and poems about the King and Queen that inspired love amongst their people, there relationship seemed, different. I wondered what they were like behind close doors, maybe this is the perception they have amongst guests. I suppose they have to be 'proper' as it would be deemed inappropriate to be always touching each other. They both seemed conflicted and didn't appear to agree on much, but I would never voice this as I would seem rude and would most likely get punished.

I sighed as the dining room filled with the clattering of cutlery and plates. A deathly silence filled the air, tension was rising between the King and Queen, as well as the tension between me and my mate.

This was going to be a long night.