Introspect [The Mating Games #3]

ORION KALLIS

This was the second time that Orion was taking the compatibility test and as bad as it sounded, he didn’t care nearly as much as he did the first time. If it wasn’t for the fact that he needed at least six out of eight badges to win the Mating Games was the only thing that pushed him to actually try.

He didn’t care if on paper, he wasn’t compatible with his mate. All he cared about was the fact that he now had a mate and regardless of every and anything, they would make it work.

They would have to.

This time when he went to submit the test, he didn’t have a single doubt in his mind. How could he when he had already met his mate?

In his eyes, she perfect. Completely and utterly perfect. It didn’t matter that they had barely managed to speak more than a few words to each other, and that while surrounded by so many wolves, too.

Orion wasn’t quite sure how things would work out for them now as today was the second day of the Mating Games; marking it as the scent masked mixer. From what he could imagine and the little that he had heard, the scent masked mixer was all about mingling with the other wolves and trying to feel a connection without the mate bond.

Except, Orion had already met his mate.

Phoenix Evermoor.

While her name was fiery, his mate was nothing short of angelic. With her long blonde hair that fell to her lower back in what appeared to be loose waves and blue eyes that were deeper than the colour of the ocean near the Amarok pack, he couldn’t think of what he had done to deserve someone so special to spend the rest of his life with.

It sure does make going so long without her fade away like it was nothing, his wolf murmured, a lazy smile on his face as he remembered that special moment from yesterday.

While it had been tainted by all of the guards and the Royals trying to keep the both of them separate, Orion could hardly focus on that now. Even then, if they weren’t so insistent on questioning him and his motives, he wouldn’t have noticed anything but his perfect little mate; sneaking occasional curious glances at him from over the shoulder of the guards blocking them both from getting to each other.

We’re going to see her again today, Orion reminded his wolf, not the least bit concerned about keeping the grin off his face.

They’re probably still going to use the scent masking spray on us even though we’ve already met our mate, his wolf half-grumbled.

Probably, but we’ll still be able to see her so I don’t care, Orion shrugged as he turned off the Hex Charm and stepped away from the desk. Denver had arrived especially early that morning to hand him a Hex Charm, needing him to complete the compatibility again as he was unable to submit it yesterday.

Me neither, his wolf agreed. But I am curious what they’re going to do about us.

What do you mean, do to us? he asked, surprised by the strange question.

It’s not often that wolves have already met their mates before the beginning of the Mating Games.

And never before has it happened that wolves had met each other at the Mating Games before it’s even started, Orion finished off his wolf’s sentence.

We may not have done anything wrong but I do understand why the Alpha king would be miffed off with us.

Unfortunately, I agree, Orion groaned as he finished getting dressed for the day in his finest suit. Also his newest one.

I guess we won’t find out just how miffed off he makes it obvious.

Sighing, Orion let himself out of his room, forcing himself to be sociable by joining everyone in the kitchen for breakfast. Even though both his wolf and every other instinct in his body was telling him to either stay holed up in his room, or grab something quickly and return to hole himself in his room until it was time to leave for today’s task, he pushed himself through it.

He had spent far too much of his life holed up in his little cottage, away from other wolves simply because he found the life of solidity far easier to deal with. Not only that but because he genuinely believed that that was his life; something that he was forced to live with.

This whole time he had believed that the Moon Goddess was punishing him for being ungrateful, for offending her when he had asked to not be invited to the first Mating Games that he was eligible for. Maybe that was still true but now, it appeared that he had won her forgiveness. Whether it was down to the Goddess finally taking mercy on him for suffering so much or he had never been punished in the first place, it didn’t matter.

Orion didn’t care anymore. How could he when he now had a mate? The one thing that he had craved so badly for longer than he could remember.

We’re going to have to change now, his wolf told him, all but reading his mind.

We can’t keep holing ourselves in the cottage anymore, Orion agreed, struggling to keep the pained wince off his face as he walked down the hallway; leading into the living room.

A lot is going to change We’ve got a mate now.

That we do, he couldn’t help but grin.

The fact that the grin remained on his face as he joined the others at the dining table worked out in his favour perfectly.

“What happened yesterday?” Jarvis from the Mexican pack asked him, sliding a stack of pancakes toward him.

“There was a mix up with my test,” Orion shrugged as he reached for his cutlery, eager to get stuck in; all while pushing himself to open up a little more.

“What kind of mix up?” one of the she-wolves asked, a curious glint in her eyes.

“The king where I finished the test but couldn’t finish it,” he was chuckling now but, in the moment, he was both immensely panicked and enraged.

“What the fuck?” Jarvis swore from beside him, as if unable to hear what he was hearing. “If that was me, I would have totally freaked out.”

“I would have done a whole lot more than freak out.”

“Trust me, I freaked out a lot.”

“So, what did you do?” Simi from the Indian pack asked, a bewildered expression on her face.

“I went downstairs to find Denver,” Orion began the story, a small smile on his face as he knew how it ended. “He was with a bunch of stewards but none of them had ever seen such an error message.”

“What did the error message say?” Simi asked.

“It said that I wasn’t in the mate database,” Orion said. “Anyway, he managed to get into contact with the Alpha king who then called me down there,” he paused to chuckle at the bizarre expressions all around the table, none of them able to believe that he had met the Alpha king on the first day of the Mating Games – something completely unheard of. If Orion’s mind wasn’t so clouded by the fact that he had met his mate yesterday, he would have been completely mystified by meeting the Royal couple yesterday, too.

“What did the Alpha king say?” Jarvis asked, putting down his fork as he couldn’t focus on eating now. When Orion glanced around the table, he wasn’t surprised that everyone had stopped eating and instead, were hanging off every word that came out of his mouth.

As strange and frightening as this experience was, to have all these pairs of eyes around him, focused on him, watching him, giving him their utmost attention, he felt highly uncomfortable. Instead of clamming shut and marching back into his room which was his safe haven, he forced himself to continue.

A lot of things in his life would be changing so, what better time to start than now?

“The Alpha king, queen, Royal Beta and even the former king was there,” he chuckled at the chorus of gasps sounded around the table. “They apologised for what happened but said that since my name wasn’t in the mate database, then that meant that I didn’t have a mate.”

“That’s not possible. You were invited to the Mating Games, right?”

“Yes. Yes, I was,” Orion nodded in confirmation. “They said that I received the invitation by mistake and apologised for it.”

“What happened next?”

“The Alpha king said that I could stay on the island for as long as I needed but ultimately, I wouldn’t be able to take part in the Mating Games as I wasn’t invited,” when his lips curled up at the corners toward the end, he received more than a few peculiar expressions

While an uproar began around the table, Orion threw his head back and laughed. He was surprised that he was able to laugh about the situation so soon after but now that the grass was starting to look greener, he found himself able to laugh about many things.

“Is that what you’re doing now?” Jarvis questioned, a horrified expression on his face. “Just hanging about?”

“No,” his smile tipped up even higher at the corners. “I ran into her on the way out.”

At his admission, another uproar around the table and when Orion laughed this time, it was the most genuine he had felt in a really long time.

As fun as it was to be the centre of attention for a few moments, at heart, he still didn’t feel all that comfortable. So, when the opportunity came, he was quick to turn the conversation over to everyone else. While they talked about how they felt, some happy, others nervous and a few even downright scared, he felt nothing short of excited.

How could he not when his future was finally starting to look brighter?

But when Denver approached them, making a point of making his way around the table and coming to stand behind him, Orion knew that the implications of the events from yesterday were far from over.

“Orion,” the steward called out to him, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder. “The Alpha king would like a word with you before today’s task.”

Gulping, Orion finished his mouthful of pancake and rose to his feet, allowing Denver to lead him out of the apartment and toward the palace.

It wasn’t like he had much choice in the matter, anyway.

-

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Layla Knight

05.06.2021