The Prince's Mate

Chapter 24

The king and queen's home was grand, as expected, but I was getting used to shiny, expensive objects and paintings that should've been in museums and not homes. In fact, their home was quite similar to mine; it was just slightly smaller and more traditional. At least the palace pretended to be modern. But I guess the king and queen might've been more old school than me and my mate.

"I see you've finally tamed her down to a civil woman." The king practically shouted as we all got seated in the parlour.

I nearly snarled at his comment, but restrained myself when the thoughts of the collar searing my skin came back to me. Bennett must've sensed my anger because he placed his hand on my knee as he forced a laugh.

"Yeah, she was a wild one but she came to her senses eventually." He agreed.

Now I wanted to growl at him, but I forced my wolf to stay calm and instead focused on things around the room, like the horribly classic, but somehow elegant wall paper. I wondered if the queen or king had picked it out or if had simply been there for ages. With staff to fix up every crack and seam I had begun to notice that these houses would never age or crumble in the slightest. My palace would still be here and look just as gorgeous long after I was dead.

The king and the prince talked between each other, mostly discussing things I didn't care to understand while the queen and I sat quietly, never uttering a syllable. When I thought the queen wasn't looking I would appraise her, then quickly look away before anyone had noticed.

I was no longer sure how I felt about her. When I had first met her, when she had dragged me into the vehicle, away from my family and home I had hated her with everything I had in me. I wondered how she could be so cold about such a massive event in my life when she of all people should understand how I felt.

But the stories of the war had eased my hatred towards her and, instead, turned it towards the king. How on earth could a man choose to keep his mate captive when she was so unhappy she literally started a war just to get away from him? Even Bennett was willing to let me go after he was crowned king, he just needed me to push the mating process along so he could get the crown.

The king was a brute, that much was clear. But I didn't know about the queen. She had been forced to be this man's mate against her will and he seemed to be less than a loving man. But she was so cold and hostile as well, almost like she had adapted herself to be just like the man she hated. I had never seen her smile once. I knew there was no way she could be happy with a man she hated, but wasn't there some joy in having a son, in being a queen? Wouldn't she want to help me, not make the transition from my old life to my new life harder?

"Well, I think we should get going, Brooklyn has been complaining about not seeing enough of me and I promised her some quiet time together." Bennett explained, standing up.

I smiled, trying to validate his statement with my expressions, but my mind was still on the queen.

"Well, it was good to finally see your mate, son. Hopefully she stays this docile." The king joked, but I could feel his unforgiving eyes on me.

Bennett just chuckled as if he had told a joke, took my hand, and began leading me to the front door. The queen still said nothing as the men chatted about upcoming events and she didn't move a centimeter when the king hugged Bennett good bye.

Once we got to our home Bennett left me to do as I pleased while he went to his office and began talking on the phone. I was itching to talk to someone about the queen; I wanted to figure her out. I felt awful for her and I felt like I could relate to her on some level. But I couldn't do that, and I had to be cautious, Donovan was already in hot water because of me and he didn't even know it. So I went to the kitchen, only to find lunch had already been prepared by the kitchen staff and supper had been started.

So I fell onto the couch and read a book until I fell asleep.

When I woke up I knew I had allowed myself to sleep for too long, I was groggy and still exhausted. But it was dark outside now; the days were getting shorter and colder so it probably wasn't much past five in the evening. Still, if the sun was going to hide so was I so I dawdled up to my bedroom only to find Bennett splayed out of the bed, looking upset.

"Shouldn't you be out waving at adoring crowds?" I asked.

"Probably." Bennett mused.

"Then why are you here?"

"You were much kinder in front of other people. I suppose I like the way you act better than I like the real you, maybe I should drag you to more meetings." He said, ignoring my question.

"Oh god, please no." I said, wrinkling up my nose, "Those meetings are horrendously boring, I have no idea how you do it all day, everyday."

He laughed a little, "I really don't know either. I guess I'm more used to things like that then you could ever be."

"Well, I wasn't raised to be royal. My family would've been content with me being mated to the manager of the store I worked at."

"Most princesses start out like that, just seemingly random women that end up here." Bennett mused.

"Really? So your mother was just like me at one point in her life?" I asked.

"I would guess so, she came from a smaller pack. She had a good family, though they were boarding on the more human spectrum of things as far as the mind set goes. They were more liberal than any other werewolves at the time and considering that gay rights and women's rights weren't fully acknowledged at the time it was quite rare."

"Your mom is a feminist?" I asked in disbelief.

"Was. I hardly think that my father would allow that kind of ideology. It was cause an uproar." He mused. "People really don't like change, especially when it goes against tradition."

"But wouldn't he want his wife to be happy. I know their meant for each other so they should, in theory, balance each other out, but it seems that he's just over ruling her." I inquired as I began unbuttoning the ugly blouse I still had on.

Bennett politely averted his eyes, smiling coldly, "Your mother might be treated like a queen by your father, but that's not how it usually goes. Men are responsible for disciple, control, finances, the children, everything really. My mother was treated worse than most mates are treated. She does not have a say in anything, but even in normal relationships, the woman has very little say."

I slipped my blouse off, but slipped into the darkness of the closet before taking my bra off. Bennett seemed to have a never ending supply of self-control, but I still had a little bit of decency and fear in me. I shimmied out of my tight skirt and nearly sighed in relief when I slid into comfortable sweat pants and a loose tee shirt.

"So your dad pretty much met your mom then instantly over ruled her every decision, even when she started a war just to get away from him?"

Bennett eyed me up and down when I came out of the closet before answering, "No, it didn't start out that way. She was a lot more than he could handle at the beginning, but he changed that as quickly as he could. He didn't want to fight with her, he had no interest in power struggles, but he wasn't willing to lose either."

"So what did he do?" I asked as I slid into bed beside him.

Bennett rolled away from me and shut off the lamp, "I don't know what he did to her, no one will talk about it. But I can tell you that it was a lot worse than the collar."

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