Introspect [The Mating Games #3]

WENDELL ZERONE

“You missed me that much that you had to make up an excuse about a royal emergency?” Wendell chuckled as he let himself into Bernard’s office, allowing one of the guards to close the door behind him. However, the grin was quick to slip off his face as he picked up on the mood in the room. “Okay, not the right time for jokes. Got it.”

“It’s good that you’re here, Wendell. As you’ll be the next Beta, it’ll be good for you to be present for such situations,” Bryant spoke aloud from where he was sitting on the sofa, his arms stretched out over the back of if while Bernard and Talulah were in their thrones. As this was their first Mating Games as royalty, they had decided to go grand this year.

“Has something happened?” he asked quietly, taking tentative steps into the room. “Is it my parents?”

“No, nothing like that.” Talulah was quick to deny, not wanting him to worry when there was no need to. “Bernard?” she turned to prompt her mate, thinking it best if it came from him.

“Something’s gone wrong,” Bernard groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Wendell eyed the way Talulah placed her hand on his arm, suspecting that she was the only reason Bernard wasn’t bouncing off the walls right now – what with the anger and frustration that was rolling off him in waves right now. The fact that Bernard was the Alpha king just magnified everything.

“What’s gone wrong?” Wendell asked, dropping himself into the chair beside them and slightly behind. It was smaller and less grand than the thrones that both Bernard and Talulah were sat on, but Wendell couldn’t bring himself to mind. Not when he knew that this was more for show than anything else, especially since this was what tradition used to dictate before they started thinking of it to be rather outdated.

“Do you remember that wolf I was telling you about?” Bernard started off with a question, turning to face him. “The one that had never been invited to the Mating Games before even though he’s been eligible for four of them. This being the fifth.”

Wendell nodded his head, briefly remembering having heard about this lonely wolf’s situation before. At the time, he remembered feeling terrible for this wolf, unable to imagine just how lonely and sad such a life must be.

“His name is Orion and he’s been invited to the Mating Games this year,” Bryant spoke up, his lips stretched into a thin line.

“That’s a good thing, isn’t?” he scratched his head as he glanced around the room, glancing between the three other wolves.

“That’s what we thought, too,” Talulah sighed, still stroking her mate’s arm.

“Well, what changed?” Wendell continued to prompt, waiting for the ball to drop.

“Him trying to submit the compatibility test and it producing an error message saying that he’s not in the mate database is what’s wrong,” Bernard groaned, clearly frustrated at the situation that they had somehow found themselves in.

Wendell took a moment to allow the words to settle in and understand the gravity of the situation.

“If he’s not in the mate database then that means that he doesn’t have a mate,” Wendell concluded, a doubtful expression on his face. “But he received an invitation so him and his mate must be in the mate situation.”

“That’s what I thought,” Bernard told him. “I’ve had the team check three times now and they’re one-hundred percent certain that he isn’t in the database.”

“So, he doesn’t have a mate,” Talulah added.

“This man – Orion, doesn’t have a mate but he has been invited to the Mating Games,” Bryant spoke up, a dissatisfied expression on his face.

“I know, dad,” Bernard groaned aloud, slapping his fist down on the arm of his throne. “I can’t believe this is happening the first time that we’re in charge.”

“I know, Bernie,” Talulah sighed, leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek. “But it’s happened now so we’re just going to have to deal with it.”

“We’re going to have to tell him.” Bryant added.

“I know, dad. But how could this have happened? How could the team have been so careless?”

“I know,” the former king pursed his lips in dissatisfaction. “I understand that this was a mistake but this is unacceptable. This man has been waiting for his mate for twenty-five years now at least and now that he’s finally received an invitation, we’re going to have to tell him that he doesn’t actually have a mate.”

“This is an absolute nightmare,” Wendell groaned, a painful shiver running down his spine as he imagined what this lone wolf must be going through.

I know we don’t know him but I feel so sad for him, his wolf said to him. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.

Let alone a wolf who has been waiting around for his mate for so long.

“When are we going to break the news to him?” Wendell asked, glancing between the three other wolves in the room.

“Very shortly,” Talulah murmured. “I’ve asked one of the guards to reach out to his steward.”

“This has never happened before,” Bernard’s lips turned down in a harsh frown. “An invitation has never been wrongly sent out before, not in the twenty-five years that the Mating Games has been running. What could have changed this time for this to happen?”

“I have no idea,” his father answered honestly. “Nothing has been changed in the way invites are sent out in years.”

“This is going to reflect so negatively on us,” Bernard groaned. “We have to deal with this issue with the utmost sensitivity.”

Both Bryant and Wendell nodded in agreement. When Talulah didn’t voice anything aloud, they all turned to face her.

“I don’t understand how they could have gotten his name and details if he wasn’t in the mate database in the first place. It just doesn’t make any sense.” Talulah murmured in a quiet voice, a thoughtful expression on her face.

“I believe you’re right, daughter,” Bryant hummed in agreeance. “They must have gotten his details from somewhere.”

“Unless someone has done this on purpose.”

“I don’t understand why someone would do something so cruel on purpose. Especially since the person truly affected by this situation is Orion who has been waiting more than half his life for his mate.”

“Wouldn’t that mean that his name was in the mate database at some point?”

“It sure does seem like it, but then that also means that it was then removed at some point.”

“And for reasons would a wolf be removed from the mate database?”

“When their mate has been taken away from them…”

“Or their mate has died,” Wendell struggled to swallow those words, his mouth suddenly feeling very dry. Even though he wasn’t the one directly affected by this terrible turn of events, he couldn’t help but feel devastated by such news.

“This couldn’t have happened to a worse person,” Bernard groaned. “This wolf has gone without a mate for so long and now we think that his mate has died in the time between it took for his invitation to be sent out, to when he tried to submit the compatibility test.”

“We need to keep these speculations to ourselves,” Talulah spoke firmly, her lips pursed in all seriousness. “At least until we can prove this.”

“I’ll check with the team any wolves that haven’t arrived to the island yet,” Bernard spoke aloud, already mind linking some of his staff to look into the matter; all the while keeping things under wraps.

Before anyone could say anything further, a knock sounded on the door though they had already sensed the wolves the moment they began walking down the very long hallway that led to the office.

“We don’t have time,” Bryant grumbled, rubbing a tired hand down his face.

“Whatever we do, nobody mention about his mate possibly being dead,” Talulah all but demanded. “Let’s not kill the man before we’re able to prove anything.”

Nodding his head, Bernard turned his attention to the set of double closed doors, “Come in,” he called out, prompting the guards to let themselves into the office.

Wendell watched curiously as a tall, well-built wolf was led into centre of the office with a steward by his side. The both of them kept their heads down in respect, waiting for the Alpha king and queen to address them first as was expected.

“Orion Kallis,” Bernard began in a loud, powerful tone. If Wendell wasn’t the Royal beta-to-be, him and his wolf would have been forced into submission. “It’s a pleasure finally meeting you.”

“The pleasure is all mine, my king,” the wolf replied, still staring down at the ground. When prompted to, he finally raised his head and glanced at both Bernard and Talulah, though made sure to avoid eye contact as to not aggravate their wolves despite the tense situation that he had somehow found himself in.

“I understand that you were unable to complete the compatibility test, Orion,” Talulah began. Despite what she had said earlier, her facial expression was soft and the pity shining clearly in her eyes.

“Yes, my queen,” he replied respectfully.

“Could you please tell me exactly what alert popped up?”

“It said that I wasn’t in the mate database,” Orion informed them, saying exactly what they had been discussing just before he had turned up. “I don’t mean to speak out of turn but if I’m not in the mate database, what does that mean?”

At his question, an eery silence filled the room. Talulah, Bernard and Bryant all shared looks as they mind linked each other but Wendell couldn’t bring himself to join in on that painful conversation.

None of them needed to say anything to realise that Orion already knew that something wasn’t quite right. Watching the wave of emotions swallow him, drown him alive, already heartbroken even before learning the truth, Wendell had to look away.

He couldn’t watch. Not when such raw heartbreak was already evident on his face.

“I’m so sorry, Orion, but it appears that you were invited here by mistake.”

-

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Layla Knight

02.05.2021