The Werewolf King's Bride

I heard the door opening. I knew it was him. I was thinking if he would like my look or not. What if he did not like the way I looked tonight? Would he rethink his decision of marrying me?

"I\'m ready," I said, turning to face him.

He just stood there, looking at me, as if time had stopped. His expression was unreadable. I did not understand if he liked how I looked or was horrified.

"I\'ve never worn something this fancy before... I\'m not sure if I look okay," I mumbled.

"You look beautiful," he said, approaching me and my legs froze in the place. He stroked my cheek with his knuckles and I shivered slightly, feeling a sudden chill. "Just perfect. Red suits you."

"Thank you," I muttered shyly.

"Do you like it?" he asked.

"I do. It\'s beautiful, but it\'s_ expensive. You shouldn\'t have given me something this expensive."

"Don\'t ever say that," he said gently, but I could sense the warning in his voice. "You\'re my bride. I\'ll give my bride whatever I want, I\'ll cherish her, I\'ll make her the happiest person in the world. Moreover, you\'re the future queen. You deserve to have the most expensive thing in the world."

"But..."

"No buts, my bride," he said, pressing his index finger on my lips, "Tonight, everyone will know who my bride is. They will know their future queen. And tomorrow, you will be mine and this kingdom will get its queen."

"It feels unreal, Demetrius."

"Nothing is unreal, my bride. This is all real and you\'re with me, the place where you\'re always going to be."

"Why me, Demetrius? Please tell me, why me?"

"You will know when the time comes, my bride. Be patient," he said gently. "We should get going now. Everyone is waiting for us."

"Okay. Are you sure that I look okay? No one will laugh at me, right?"

"No one will dare. And you look perfect, my bride," he said and kissed my forehead. "But I am curious as to what will you do if someone tries to take me down."

"What do you want me to do?"

"When you\'re my mate, I would want you to do something I would do. But now, you can do what you want."

"In that case, I would probably ignore them. But if they crossed the limit, I would give them a piece of my mind," I said.

He smiled. "And if you need any help in that, I\'m always there," he said with a handsome smile that only he could give.

I gulped. Now that I thought about it, having him as my husband was not going to be as bad as I thought. It was true that I was afraid of him, but I could try to get over the fear or try to avoid him if that was the case.

"I\'ve lied to you once, my bride," he said suddenly.

"What?" I asked, my voice a bit shaky as I tried to think of what he could lie about. Did he lie about marrying me or did he lie about liking me? Or did he lie about not hurting me?

"Remember when you asked me if I can read your mind? I said no that time," he said as he brought his face down to my ear, "But_ I actually can read minds."

"Then why did you lie to me before?"

"Because I wanted to know what you think about usually, but now- I think I should not keep this from you. But there\'s one thing, my bride. No one else knows about this."

I could not believe he told me a thing that no one else knew about. It was a huge secret after all. Was I that trustworthy?

"You\'re trustworthy; at least I want to trust you. And I know you won\'t break my trust, my bride," he said. "We should go now, my bride."

"Yes," I said.

"Don\'t break my trust, my bride. I don\'t like the ones who do so."

I gulped. It was not like I would break his trust, but I still wondered what he would do if I did so. Would he kill me?

"You don\'t need to know that," he said, reminding me again that I had forgotten that he could read minds.

I slipped my hand through his arm as he led me out the door. My heart was thumping in my chest despite my best efforts to calm myself down. I still doubted what kind of impression they were going to have of me. A lot of the werewolves bowed at us on the way. I felt quite uneasy, but Demetrius kept giving me reassuring nods and my heart would thump even crazily at this.

He led me down the stairs. I had a lot of difficulties climbing down the stairs wearing this long dress, but he kept his hand on me to help me down, and thankfully, I did not fall on the way.

"Just relax," he said as soon as I took the last step. "And breathe."

I took a deep breath and looked at him, like a little girl waiting for praise for doing as told. He kissed me on the forehead and smiled at me.

The door of the great hall opened, revealing hundreds of people there. As they saw their king with an unknown girl who barely managed to stand still, I heard a lot of them gasping. Were they mortified seeing me?

Demetrius did not seem to care. He walked towards the high table with a proud and still look on his face. I had not seen this side of him. He smiled a lot with me, but now, he was a completely different person with a high personality, pride omitting from every part of him.

I saw his mother, sitting beside the biggest chair in the middle of the table. She smiled at us. There were two vacant chairs in the middle that I guessed were for us. I saw his sister Evelyn, brother-in-law, niece Ava, uncle, and aunt, but there was one more person that I had not seen before. He was perhaps a few years older than Demetrius. He had brown hair and light brown eyes.

He was sitting at one corner of the table right beside his mother who was telling him something, but his eyes were fixed on us or precisely saying_ on me.

He gave me a smirk for no reason and I could not help but feel uncomfortable. I looked away from him hastily. Demetrius helped me up to sit at the high table right beside him. All the eyes were on us now and suddenly, I started feeling self-conscious.

"Don\'t worry, my bride. Just relax and give me a smile," he whispered into my ear.

I managed a smile and he nodded at me with a small smile that I was sure no one else could see. I heard Evelyn chuckle in amusement, sitting beside me.

"You look really pretty tonight," she said, with her dashing smile that resembled her mother a lot.

"Thank you. You look amazing too," I said.

She laughed. "Of course I do. I have to look good for my husband after all," she said, nudging her husband who kissed her cheek affectionately. The love between them was so pure and clear that it melted my heart. No wonder they got such a wonderful baby Ava because of their love.

I smiled at them and then again saw that man oddly looking at me. I wanted to ask Demetrius who he was but then decided against it thinking it might not be the right time to ask him that.

He nodded at me, perhaps meaning that he would tell me later. Of course, he could read my mind- I kept forgetting.

He stood up after a while and everyone fell silent. The silence was filled with his powerful aura in the air, making anyone shiver. The way everyone looked at him, was full of respect and fear at the same time. But he did not care for any of that.

"Tonight, this kingdom will introduce a very important person," he said, looking straight at the people ahead. "I, King Demetrius Easton of Querencia, introduce the future Queen of Querencia Blue Learley."

As he offered me his hand and I accepted it and stood up, everyone gasped and cheered at the same time. I could not believe it was truly happening. Somehow, a girl like me had become the bride of a powerful king who was also a werewolf in a whole new world. Perhaps I was an outsider here, but with him beside me, I could feel how everything was going to change and this was going to be my home.