CHAPTER 10

LOGAN'S POV

I walked into my chambers and gently closed the door behind me. The day left me really drained, and the conversations I had with my father hadn't helped either. Even if he didn't outrightly want to tell me, I knew my position as his heir was now jeopardized. Sebastian being able to find his mate before me, came with a lot of complications on my side.

"You know you could bore a hole through that wall, with the intensity of your gaze?" Layla. How did she even....

"You know..., the fact that I am unable to scent you out, doesn't give you the liberty to waltz into my space whenever you want."

"Fine! I'm sorry." She raised up her hands in apology. "I just wanted to check on you, and be sure you're okay." She muttered.

"What am I? A pup?" I muttered in mild irritation. The way my father and sister treated me, truly wasn't helping my self confidence and esteem. I know they were trying to be caring and all of that, but they had no idea that their attention only made me feel less of myself.

"Logan, do you have an idea that as your twin sister, I tend to feel your pains sometimes? I feel all of your emotions, and you do not know how exhausting it can be when I try to play my role as your sister, and you just push me away."

"What the hell do you want me to do?!" I yelled in annoyance. "Cry and lay my head on your thighs like some helpless baby would do?!"

"No!" She yelled back in my face. "But let me connect with you, like nature has made it to be. There is a reason why no one else can feel your emotions, but me! What do you want me to do when I feel these depressing emotions from you? Shut them out and act like I have no idea, while you suffer in silence? No!"

"What has anyone's care ever done for me? Has it made my wolf emerge? Has it helped me find my mate? Has it given me my rightful position as the next king of the kingdom?!! No!"

"You know what? I'm really done with this!" She threw her hands up in frustration. "You can do whatever you want with those suffocating emotions of yours! You could keep putting up that barricade to show how tough you are. I really shouldn't care. What baffles me the most, is how mad you could get atimes. So much for being a 'wolfless' prince." She hissed, before walking out on me. Instantly, I felt my heart soften and remorse kicked in. I knew I was having it bad, but Layla was too. I couldn't imagine the burden of having to feel and carry someone else's emotions as depressing and dark as mine.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, wishing she could hear it. I really was. Walking over to my bed and throwing myself on it, a thought about a lot of things, before eventually sleeping off.

By the time I woke, it was already time for the annual ball. I weakly hopped off the bed and made my way into the bathroom for a quick body wash.

Once I was done, I stepped out and pulled out my beautifully tailored suit which had been made specially for the event tonight. I tried to keep my worries at bay, but found it very impossible. What if the larger part of our guests start a rebellion against me, after Sebastian announces that Audrey Chadwick is his mate? What am I going to do?

The best my father could do, was call them to order, but it wouldn't stop them from applying more pressure in the subsequent days.

I know it sounds weird, but I sometimes, hear this thing within me, always telling me that I was made to be king. That it was my destiny to rule and bring great prosperity. So why then, was my destiny met with such a great difficulty as this?

'Maybe all you really have to do, is believe'. That was it!! I heard that feint voice in my head again? I normally ruled it off as my subconscious, but day after day, the voice slowly got clearer. Was it my wolf? Did I really have the ability to shift into my full potentials? Was my wolf trapped inside me somewhere? Was Layla right when she spoke about my rage?

A distinct characteristic of a werewolf was the rage we normally felt within. It was more pronounced than that of every other supernatural.

Just then, a knock came on my door and I muttered a 'come in'. The next minute, Liam stepped in, fully dressed for the occasion as he eyed me closely.

"And why aren't you dressed yet?" He queried.

"I'm on it?" I muttered.

"Be quick then. The king has asked that the royal family make an entrance together. Everyone is waiting at his study to take a quick family potrait, before heading to the great hall together."

"Alright." I sighed, and got busy throwing on my attire. I made sure my hair was properly combed, before spraying my favourite cologne and signaling Liam that it was time to leave. We both walked out of my chambers, my personal bodyguards following us from behind.

"Is Layla there already?" I found myself asking, and Liam shot me a confused look.

"I said you were the only one unavailable."

"Oh?" I nodded in understanding.

"Yes!" He said, eyeing me closely again. "Let me take a wild guess. You both had a fallout."

"I swear, I didn't mean to piss her off."

"Whatever, man. You can always make it up to her after the ball. For now, let's just focus on getting to the rest of your family, before the tyranic queen and her son begin to think they have succeeded in scaring you and making you depressed."

I gave him that look that says, 'really? You had no idea they succeeded?'.

"Even if they did succeed, why should they know?" He scoffed, making me smile so genuinely for the first time today. Alright then, let's go and show everyone how unaffected by the recent developments, I am!

*

*

I rolled my eyes for the umpteenth time, as Sebastian smirked at me again. What was he expecting? That I breakdown and cry? The boy really had no manners and it would have felt so good to give him a good beating, wolves apart.

Ahhh!! Did you see what I did there? 'Jokes apart', 'wolves apart'. Hahaha. Funny.

I stood from the royal family table, and made my way towards the eidibles stand, for a drink. I picked a flute of champagne from one of the almost empty trays, and took a sip. Just as I began to wonder why Sebastian's almighty mate was yet to show up, I caught the whiff of a really sweet scent.

Smiling to myself, I looked up but didn't find him anywhere around. Hmmm... that was weird. And since when did he begin to smell differently? Uncle Justin was the only werewolf I was capable of sniffing, but today he smells pleasantly different.

Why was his scent getting stronger though? No, it was becoming just too strong! It had never been that way. Slowly, I felt my senses being overcome by this scent, and almost immediately, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see a worried looking Liam.

"Are you okay?" He whispered, considering the very sharp ears of werewolves. We didn't want any other person having an idea that I wasn't okay.

"Where is uncle Justin?" I managed, wanting nothing more in the world, than to completely bask in the intoxication of that scent. It just smelled sooo good! I needed to find uncle Justin.

"He is over there." He pointed to a table at the extreme end of the hall. Impossible! I know I could normally scent him out, but not when he was that far off.

"Liam, something is wrong with me." I muttered.

"What is wrong with you?" I turned to see my worried sister looking up at me. It would have been the best time to offer an apology to her, but there was presently a bigger issue on ground.

"I can scent uncle Justin from such distance."

"That's not possible." Layla muttered, looking at Liam in confusion. "Liam what's going on?"

"I also have no idea. I only just noticed he didn't look alright."

"I don't feel alright either." I squeezed my fists tightly, trying to douse the urge of just finding whoever had that scent, and hugging them so tightly.

"Explain how you feel?" Layla prodded.

"I perceived a scent. At first, I thought it was uncle Justin, because he is the only one I weirdly have the ability to sniff out."

"But it also seems weird that it's not really his scent. This smells different. Too much. So intoxicating, but in a great way." I found myself smiling crazily.

"Oh, my goodness!" Layla gasped and looked at me with such inexplicable excitement in her eyes. "Logan, I think you just found your mate!"

"What?" I looked at her in pure shock, but Liam's supportive nod made me realize they weren't kidding. "What?" I repeated, feeling partly euphoric and partly shocked.

"You just feel like finding whoever it is, and sniffing as much of their scent as you can, right?" Liam asked, and I nodded in agreement.

"You really just sniffed out your mate, Logan." He grinned so widely. "Look around the hall quickly. Anyone your heart pulls you towards, that's the one. The closer you get, the closer her scent intensifies. Go." He shoved me from behind, making me head towards the entrance of the hall. That was the angle the scent was drawing me towards.

I finally approached a certain figure from behind, that seemed to be drenched in that glorious scent. Her full black hair had been beautifully adorned with colorful pins, and it seemed to be that she just made a majestic entrance into the hall, because all eyes were clearly on her. Now, on us.

If this worked just the way I've heard, I expected her to have turned to me already. She was supposed to sniff me out as well, not so? She seemed to have been conversing with one of the palace maids, which only made me impatient. I wanted to turn her to myself and hug her endlessly, sniffing all the essence in her scent. Goddess! I couldn't believe this was really happening!! My happiness knew no bounds. She clearly didn't know how long I had waited and hoped she would come to me. It wasn't as if I had waited for so many years, but considering my status as a wolfless prince and all, the possibility of finding my mate was quite slim. For the first time in years, it felt like the goddess thought fondly of me.

Finally, she turned to me and the shock on her face, was very much expected. I know! I was shocked as well, but eventually, happiness set in. I waited for her to finally let a smile grace her extremely beautiful face. Ohhhh, I was really lucky this time. My mate was sooooo beautiful, and was it safe to say that she exuded a really powerful aura? I know it felt weird saying that, but that was just the way I felt. Deciding I would help bring her back to the present, since her brain had probably gone on a shock vacation, I gave a wide smile and said the words.

"Mate."

Immediately, some of guests in the hall released gaps. It was then that I realized how silent the entire hall had been initially. Soon, I began to hear several whispers and in the matter of seconds, the whole place was mess. So many people whispering at the same time, was simply noise. But all of that were the least of my problems. My major problem was the fact that my just found mate, had a considerable amount of tears in her eyes, and the sadness in her eyes made it clear that those weren't tears of joy. My heart fell to the pit of my stomach as fear took over. Why... why? Why was my mate so unhappy? I thought it was a joyful thing for one to find their mate? Personally, I was thrilled.

I was still swimming in confusion when she suddenly ran off and made her way out of the hall. Oh, goddess! Something was definitely not right. I stood deeply rooted in my spot, unable to move after the action of my mate just dawned on me. Was this what I thought it was? She clearly did not want me. She wasn't pleased over the fact that we were mates. Was she going to reject me?!

No no no! I couldn't even think of it.

"What are you doing?" I heard Layla whisper behind me. "Go the hell after her."

Without hinking twice, I did as she asked and ran out of the hall in the same direction she went.

Thankfully, her scent was pretty much still strong, so I followed it all the way to the garden. I spotted her standing beside the rose bush, but before I could make my way to her, someone else did. The more shocking and confusing part was who the 'someone else' was. What business did Sebastian have with her? I wanted to go to them immediately, but her next words made me stop in my tracks.

"How could this happen to me?!" She cried and fell into his embrace. I was more confused because he hugged her back, muttering words I really couldn't make out. "Please Sebastian, don't leave me!!" She cried harder. "You know that it's you I want."

What? Why? How?! Why would my mate want him? It didn't even make any sense to me. It didn't make a single sense until I heard the next thing Sebastian said.

"Oh, my Audrey.... calm down. We would find a way out of this mess."

What?!! Audrey? As in..... Audrey Chadwick?