The Prince's Mate

Chapter 41

Two months later I was living in a tiny apartment in Denver with Cassandra. The transition had been smoother than I had imagined, but I suppose a big reason it was so smooth was because no one knew. My pack didn't disown me, didn't declare me a rogue. They all just assumed I was going back to the palace to be with Bennett for the rest of my life. And I wasn't going to tell them any differently. I even told them I was bringing Cass with me so she could get a taste of the royal lifestyle.

Cassandra didn't seem to mind the change too much, though she asked a lot of questions that I had no answers to, like why she couldn't shift whenever she wanted to or when she would find her mate. Sometimes I wondered if I had made the right choice for her, then I remembered being collared and I didn't doubt myself anymore. I think the hardest part for Cass was being away from my dad, but he came down as often as he could to make sure we were okay.

I ended up taking a simple book keeping class as a start to my accounting dream and everything was going relatively well for me. I felt a little odd walking around with such a massive secret on my mind, but I slowly started to feel more normal. And once my book keeping course was completed I jumped right into a bachelor of arts degree. It wasn't a degree I ever saw myself taking, but it allowed me to explore everything from English literature to Astronomy. I loved the courses I was taking, they blew my mind on a regular basis, and the people in those classes were even better. On Friday nights when I knew Cass was safe in the apartment I would slip over to the bar with some of my friends and unwind over a couple of beers after a stressful week.

I had to make ends meet, even with my dad's help, by working a part time job. It took time away from my studying and Cass, but I tried to make it work by utilizing after school programs and her hip hop classes. All in all, I thought we were doing pretty good for ourselves, even if I wasn't bursting with happiness all the time.

It felt like every time I walked out the door I saw happy couples holding hands, embracing, or just spending time together. It made my heart ache a little. I knew that I would find someone after my wolf dissolved away, but I couldn't help but feel a pinch of worry. I had loved Bennett, more than I thought I ever could, but I suppose that was the power of the mate bond. And when I saw normal human couples together I wondered if they loved each other that deeply or if they weren't even capable of loving that much. Maybe my love for a human would feel like a gentle gust in comparison to the hurricane I felt for Bennett.

These thoughts occupied my mind one day while I was trying desperately to study my sociology notes. Then, to shatter the last strand of concentration I had left, there was a heavy knock on the door. I sighed and unfolded myself before shuffling over to the door and opening it.

"Donovan." I blurted in shock.

"Hey." He said casually, like we were friends who saw each other everyday. He shoved his way into my apartment and kicked off his shoes and he surveyed the room. "Nice place you got here, I can see why you haven't come back to the palace." He said sarcastically.

"How did you find me?"

"Well, I have records of every werewolf ever. It wasn't hard to figure out that you had gone to college, and it wasn't hard to pin point you because your dad is pretty oblivious to people tailing him." he answered, flopping down on a chair at the kitchen table.

"Are you a spy or something?" I hissed.

"Should be, think I would make a good one." he agreed.

"I've never seen you like this, what's going on?"

"You aren't my boss anymore, Brook. I don't have to be all formal with you now."

"Then why are you here?"

"Right, I almost forgot." Donovan dug through his jacket pocket and retrieved a few crumpled up pieces of newspaper. "Thought you might be interested in reading some of these. I don't think you get werewolf news all the way out here. Would probably scare the humans too much."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the crumpled papers, pulling them open before I read them. At first I didn't believe what I was reading. I had to read the first article twice just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Then I read the next article, this paper being published two weeks later and my heart rate increased. And finally, I read the last and most recent article, feeling slightly dizzy with confusion and excitement.

"Are these real?" I demanded, still not believing my eyes.

"I'd offer to google it for you, but I don't think we'd find much since you're using human wifi. So you'll just have to take my word on it. They're real. All three of them."

I read the headlines over again, just to be sure I wasn't disoriented. The words stared back at me. Use of collar abolished. Women permitted to reject mates. Male wolves on trial for abuse to mates.

"But how?" I gasped.

"Because the king can do whatever he wants."

"Bennett did this?"

"Yup, he did. I don't know if it's because he wants you back and he's trying to impress you or if it's because you actually changed him. Doesn't matter I guess, he's passing a lot of laws about women's rights now. A lot of people didn't listen at first, then he started taking people to court and putting them on trial with she-wolves in the jury. Things went south for bad mates very quickly." Donovan explained, looking less than concerned.

"Donovan, this is amazing. What he's doing for female wolves everywhere, it's amazing." I whispered. "Why didn't he tell me?"

Donovan laughed a little bit. "If my mate ran away from me, leaving me stranded in a diner after she told me she didn't want to be part of my life anymore I wouldn't go after her either. Not only that, but Bennett told me that he promised to let you go if you got him to be king. He was just keeping his word. He wouldn't be a very strong king if he went back on his promises and forced you to stay with him when you didn't want to."

"But this changes everything." I said, "If I had known he was going to do this I never would've left."

"Ah, so you baled on him during a very hard time when he probably needed support?"

"Donovan, please, I don't want your relationship lessons, I know I screwed up, okay? I just want to know why he hasn't come to tell me that he's making these changes."

"He's proud. You should know that. One of the proudest men I've ever met. He's struggling like hell without you, but he won't come crawling after you since you basically kicked him to the curb. This," Donovan pointed to the newspapers in my hand, "is his way of making things right. He wanted it to be your choice if you came back to him, not the other way around. So, what do you want? Do you want to lose your wolf, live in this tiny apartment, and tear your father apart between his pack and his family? Or do you want to come see the king with me?"

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