The Werewolf King Series

DARIUS

At this moment, I couldn’t say which I dreaded more: for this damned mating ceremony to officially steal my sister away or to spend another moment in the company of that ridiculous mate of hers.

I contemplated while sitting at my desk in my private office.

I was checking through a sea of paperwork as I continued stewing. Our family was renowned for centuries—made up of kings and queens, for Goddess’s sake. How could a pathetic little human like him deserve Arya?

I put down my pen and got to my feet, beginning to pace. Mike was sly and greasy, with nothing to his name but the claim of owning his own business. Yeah, I knew all about his business.

The guy was a drug dealer and one clever enough to cover his tracks despite being thousands of dollars in debt to his supplier.

I went to my file cabinet and pulled out the file I’d created on Mike. I leafed through it for the thousandth time.

Unfortunately, there was no chance of convincing Arya of what he was without any concrete evidence, and despite my best men tailing him the second he stepped off my land, I had nothing.

Let me be clear—if it weren’t considered an unforgivable sin to harm a loved one’s mate, I’d have had him dead and buried by now, just for peace of mind.

I slammed it shut and rubbed my brow. The thought of having Mike rotting away in my dungeon has kept me going throughout this whole ordeal.

But, the closer we got to the wedding, the more desperate I found myself becoming. I started to worry that she might really go through with it.

Goddess, what if she went through with it?

I was partially to blame for funding this lavish affair—I reminded myself as I moved back to my chair and sat back down.

I’d thrown my laptop out a second-story window after learning about her relationship with him. We’d fought, and I’d been plenty guilty afterward.

I rubbed my face and groaned. She was my sister, and while I could try to make her change her mind, this needed to be her choice. The least I could do as her brother was foot the bill, right?

I pulled out a different drawer that held a thick stack of receipts and bills. Packs from all around would be expecting a grand event for their princesses’ mating ceremony, and I would not shame her by allowing for anything less.

Honestly, though, I wish she’d stop calling it a damned wedding.

Wolves don’t have weddings—humans do. Humans like her mate, who did not deserve to lick the ground she walked on.

Her assistant, Harriet, had thankfully been able to help me push back on a few elements to make the ceremony better suited to our kind, but of course, she had to go and give birth a month early.

I caught sight of a receipt from the new planner, Rory, that made me flinch. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy for Harriet.

Harriet was a lovely omega with a kind nature, and she was mated with one of my personal guards, but her timing couldn’t have been worse.

I had thought Harriet’s early labor might be a stroke of luck, but the second Harriet had called to give Arya the news, my beloved sister was already on the line with a wedding planner from the city.

Here I was thinking contracts like that needed time to be planned out, but no, she booked her in so quickly that I never even got a chance to stop it.

I leafed through another new bill totaling a few hundred dollars for placeholders. What the hell were placeholders?

Here I was now paying for a ‘wedding,’ and there was also another human wandering around my palace. Arya was lucky that I loved her.

I signed off on the receipt and started writing checks begrudgingly. Without our parents, Arya was all I had left, and the idea of letting her run off into the sunset with that dirtbag had me seeing red.

It was my job to protect her, and how could I do that when she insisted on running off with a human?

“What are you scowling at?” Arya broke me out of my trance with her teasing question as she walked into my office.

“The budget, or lack thereof, should I say?” I replied. Although, we both knew I would have given her twice as much if she had asked.

“Was the red carpet made of rose petals too much?” She lifted up a bill covered in floral arrangements, and I rolled my eyes.

It was all too much, in my opinion, but I suppose that was why I no longer had one.

I had not had the liberty of meeting this new “wedding planner” of hers yet, but she had already cost me thousands of dollars in changes.

What I wouldn’t give for one of those ridiculous magazines to preach “less is more” for a change, not that the wedding planner would show those options if they did. They got a commission, didn’t they?

“Are you even listening to me, Darius?” Arya scolded, and I lifted my eyebrow at her in disbelief.

“Is there a reason why I should?”

“You’re the worst. Honestly! Perk up a bit before Mike gets here, will you? He’s still under the impression that you don’t approve of him, and we can’t be having that with only a few days to go,” she pouted, and I gave her a stiff smile.

Only a few days to go. Did she really not realize how much that statement pained me to hear?

Her phone buzzed obnoxiously against the ancient table our grandfathers had once sat at while discussing war and politics.

Would they turn in their graves to know it was now covered in satins and confetti? Probably not. Their lunas must have had their fair share of parties and events just as grand as Arya’s.

I looked away from her and stared out the window onto the sprawling estate below. I wished I could find my luna already.

Below, carved into the shrubbery, was an image of the family coat of arms. I stared and felt the weight of that heritage.

Twelve years I’d waited. Twelve long years of my life filled with the pressures of my people expecting me to find a luna and produce an heir to the Batton throne.

Personally, I couldn’t care less about the perfect luna or heir. I just wanted to find my mate. It was lonely, ruling alone. I turned back to my desk, trying to bring my world back into focus.

With Arya leaving, the future seemed bleaker by the minute, and I was losing hope quickly. As a king, it was my job to help as many of my people as possible.

I needed help, but so far, my luna had not made an appearance. Besides, even if I found her, would she even want the responsibility of becoming my queen?

On my desk was a picture of my father and mother with Arya and me as young pups. Women had come to me over the years, volunteering to be my chosen mate.

They might be fit for the role, but they couldn’t be my mate. I didn’t want someone cold and calculating. I wanted what they had. I wanted my other half, the woman the Goddess herself made, to be my perfect match.

It didn’t matter though, did it? She wasn’t here, and for all I knew, she never would be.