Chapter: wolf bond

***Casper***

I'd never known anyone who resisted the mate bond. Thankfully, the moon goddess had destined Bethany, the woman I loved, to be my fated mate.

Secretly, I planned this proposal with Roy, Lucien, and some female friends. Now, I was sure Bethany would be shocked.

My phone chimed as Roy and Lucien texted me that they were bringing Bethany to the park. I smiled, my wolf excited within me. We were going to claim our mate!

I arrived at the park, holding a diamond ring and a cardboard sign that read, "Will you marry me?" As I approached Bethany, my wolf jumped with excitement.

I knelt down, ring in one hand and sign in the other. Our intimate guests took out their phones, and started recording the moment. "Will you marry me?" I smiled, my heart racing with excitement.

Instead of the joy that I was expecting, anger flared in Bethany's eyes. Rage welled up in her chest as she stood frozen in embarrassment. Her eyes narrowed, staring daggers at me.

"What is this?" she spat, her brows furrowed in a frown.

"You're my mate," I replied, my voice trembling.

But she didn't care. "I reject you. I reject you as my mate. I've told you repeatedly I don't want a relationship, and yet you went ahead with this."

My heart jammed at her words, and I bowed my head in shame, my hands slightly fidgeting, but she didn't care, instead, she shook her head with much vehemence, flung the ring away, and walked out on the event.

My voice refused to cooperate with my heart, my heart heavy with rejection. I couldn't find the words to speak. A thug in my heart, an overwhelming sense of rejection.

She had rejected me. Pain seared through me, a mix of pain and restlessness radiating within. I watched as she left, my eyes burning with disbelief and hatred.

I remained on my knees, frozen in embarrassment. Roy and Lucien rushed towards me, pulled me up, and led me into the car.

"It was all a waste of time," I muttered, humiliation burning my cheeks. Our guests had recorded my most embarrassing moment.

Roy and Lucien tried to console me. "It's okay, she'll come around."

I took my phone and sent Bethany a text message: "I will marry no other but you, and I will make you pay for the humiliation you've put me through tonight."

With that, I settled into the car, and my friends drove me home, the sting of rejection still fresh.

As I tossed and turned in bed, I couldn't shake off the embarrassing moment when Bethany rejected me. The pain lingered, and I couldn't imagine attending the graduation ceremony the next day with this humiliation fresh in my mind.

I sprang up, packed my bags, and booked the next available flight to my kingdom. I needed to escape before dawn broke. The thought of the news spreading across campus while I was still there was unbearable.

A few hours later, I arrived in my kingdom. As I moved around, I noticed people staring and gossiping. Thanks to my wolf keen sense of hearing, I could pick up their conversations.

"Rejected! The crown prince, of all people... That's humiliation at its highest!" they whispered among themselves.

Since no one approached me, I owed no one an explanation. I headed straight to the palace, expecting a grand welcome. Instead, I met the king’s furious gaze.

"How dare you, a royal blood, allow yourself to be humiliated, embarrassed, and rejected by an ordinary omega?" he thundered.

His voice echoing in my head like sting rays.

“Have you forgotten about the curse?” his bearded jaw thrust forward.

I blinked in disbelief, I had thought that my father's anger was about keeping the Royal family reputation intact, I didn't know that it was because of a myth that my father was so furious.

“Father, It's a myth,” I watched with my eyes filled with disbelief, “how can you believe in that,” I muttered under my breath.

But my father's eyes glittered with unshakable resolve. "Have you gone out of your senses? You call the curse a myth?"

"Yes, Father, it's a myth," I insisted. "A curse that says when a royal blood is rejected, they're never to be seen in daylight? Father, come on, we're not vampires, we're werewolves! I walked in daylight to the palace, so how is it true?"

My father shook his head. "I've spoiled you. I didn't raise you right. If I had, you wouldn't have thrown away our culture and customs, claiming they're ordinary myths."

"I had prepared for you to return and marry Allegra, my friend's daughter," my father continued, "but instead, you got rejected by an ordinary omega."

"Father, she's my mate, and I couldn't resist the mate bond," I explained, carefully picking my words, although he is my father, he remains the king of our Kingdom.

My father snapped back, "See where your mate has landed you? This is why we've always arranged for a bride for the royal family— to avoid rejection."

"She was my mate; I didn't know she could reject me," I protested.

"You made it worse by making it a public scenario," my father scolded. "If she had rejected you in private, it would have been better than unleashing this curse on yourself. Now, what do I tell Allegra? What do I tell Allegra's father?”

I stood before my father, listening to his words. I had put myself in this position, I didn't like Allegra, and that was the main reason I had thought of bringing Bethany over.

"You'd better hope it remains a myth, as you've suggested," my father concluded, his deep voice echoing around me, "because no one would want their king to be a cursed king, doomed never to walk in the daylight."

I shrugged dismissively and headed to my room. As the future king, I was about to start a new life. I recalled the text message I sent to Bethany— an empty threat only meant to intimidate her, I have no plan whatsoever to settle down with a woman who is cold and void of emotions.

Exhausted from the long flight, I retired to my room to rest. It was good to be back home, where everyone was at my beck and call— a huge difference from my life at school.