The Alpha King's Human Mate Chapter 118: Bonus Chapter - Alessia & Lily (2)

Bonus Chapter - Alessia & Lily (2)

“The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you be someone else.”

EE Cummings

From the time she could talk, there were a few things Lily Bellevue knew for certain.

One: she was a werewolf.

Two: her father was the Alpha of one of the largest packs in the Pacific northwest.

Three: one day, she’d grow up to have a mate.

Four: the greatest gift she could ever give her father, and her pack, was to be mated to a strong Alpha. Someone that could forge a new alliance with her pack, and make them stronger.

That was her purpose.

Her brother would grow up to be a powerful leader, and she’d grow up to marry one. She’d felt the pressure her whole life, but it got extensively worse the day she turned sixteen and shifted for the first time.

That’s when the clock really started.

When she didn’t mate with any of the warriors in their pack, her father was ecstatic. It meant she was even more likely to end up with another pack’s Alpha or soon-to-be Alpha.

All Lily felt was dread.

She wanted to feel the same excitement her friends did whenever they gushed over their future mates. She wanted to be thrilled about the possibility that she might end up as some powerful, swoon-worthy Alpha’s Luna, but…

She didn’t.

The thought of some muscled man curling his arms around her at night or filling her belly with babies did nothing but make her stomach sour. Of course, she could never tell anyone that – especially not her father.

She’d come to terms with who and what she liked long ago. Being gay wasn’t a revolutionary concept, at least for humans.

But for a werewolf with the weight of family expectations and pack alliances resting on her back?

It was a problem.

🩷🩷🩷

Lily realized her time was up at seventeen-years-old.

“...however, I have a feeling there’s another ulterior motive at play. The King has asked for every Alpha child, including our daughters. His son has just turned twenty-five and he’s still mateless. I believe this is another opportunity for the prince to search for his mate…”

Her father droned on, but Lily hardly listened. She could already read between the lines and figure out this “diplomatic meeting” meant nothing good for her.

She didn’t like to admit it, but it was a good play from the Alpha King.

The pool of eligible Alpha children of age was probably pretty small, but Alphas tended to mate with other Alphas. The chance of his son’s mate being amongst the group, however scarce, was high.

And gathering them all in one place? Well, that was just convenient – it saved the Prince the trouble of traveling to every corner of the world to find his mate.

“Oh my God, Lily,” one of her friends, Mila, gushed. “Are you excited? What if you’re mated to the prince?”

“I’ve heard he’s gorgeous,” Camille sighed from besides Mila. “Plus, he’s the strongest werewolf in the world. Imagine the sex…”

Lily, who could feel her face growing pale, smoothed her features into the carefree smirk she’d mastered years ago. “Who cares about the prince?” She shot back. “It’s being Queen that matters.” She played with a coil of her blonde hair as she added, “Besides, I’m not the only Alpha daughter in attendance. There’s going to be girls from all over the world. I doubt I’ll be the lucky girl.” She made sure to give a dejected sigh, as if she really was disappointed.

“Even if you’re not mated to the prince, you’ll probably find your mate there,” Mila pointed out, “There’s still going to be plenty of future Alphas there. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them is your mate.”

Oh, right.

It wasn’t just the prince that Lily had to worry about, it was also the gaggle of future Alphas who’d spend the entire time in a metaphorical dick measuring contest.

Yeah, the last thing she wanted was to be mated to one of those.

She caught her father’s eye across the room. There was a gleam in his eyes, the same gleam he’d had the day she turned sixteen.

Lily swallowed and looked away.

Across the room, Clark was engaged in conversation with one of the elders. She looked white as a ghost, probably from the revelation that she’d need to attend this trip too.

As to why, Lily couldn’t say.

It’s not like she had to worry about these things – not really.

Clark didn’t carry the pressure of pack alliances or a strong mating bond like she did. You’d *think* she did with all the moping she did, but she got off easy. She got to spend a few days in a castle, and come home without some testosterone-driven Alpha riding her ass.

Lily wasn’t sure she could say the same.

“Prince or not, what do you think your mate will look like, Lily?” Camille asked.

“Handsome, of course,” she said.

“And?” Camille pressed. “Handsome is so generic. You’ve got to give details!”

“Fine…tall, curly hair, and nice eyes,” she said. She’d spent years convincing her friends that she was just as boy crazy as they were. She knew the right answers to these questions.

“And a big dick,” Mila added with a giggle.

“I bet Warner has one,” Camille sighed dreamily, gesturing to one of the pack warriors speaking with Sebastian.

“Whoever mates with Warner is a lucky girl,” Mila said.

If there was such a thing as a pack hearthrob, Warner was probably it. With dark, curly hair and sun-kissed skin from long days of training the new wolves, he could’ve easily been a model if he was human.

He must’ve felt the gaze of the three girls because he turned to look their way, blushing when he made eye-contact with Lily.

“He totally likes you,” Camille whispered, “You’re stronger than I am. I would’ve jumped his bones the first time he looked at me like that.”

“I would never,” Lily said.

That was a lie.

She had jumped Warner’s bones. Last summer, she’d flirted with him at a pack party, and then ended the night tangled in the sheets of his twin bed. It had been an impulsive, one-time thing that had left Warner trailing after her like a puppy dog ever since.

The whole thing had been more of an experiment than anything else. An opportunity for her to see if sex with a boy might awaken some dormant attraction in her.

It didn’t.

And if sex with the hottest boy in their pack hadn’t changed her mind about men, she didn’t think some powerful Alpha or a prince would.

She couldn’t tell what scared her more – spending the rest of her life with a man who’d never truly make her happy, or mating with a woman and disappointing her entire pack.