Wymond, The Cursed Beast: He's My Mate (Mated to Beast King Werewolf Romance Series Book 2)

Arabella's point of view.

LEGENDS CREATION COLLEGE, BEVERLY HILLS.

"I'm so scared. I don't think I'll attend the Selection Parade."

"Me too. What if we don't come out alive?"

"My mom said the King eats human flesh."

"Same here. My mom said he prefers the flesh of young virgins."

"I heard he's very old, ugly, and has two very sharp fangs."

Ugh. These were the words echoing through every hallway. The whole school was in a total mess; every girl I walked past was having a serious conversation about the Selection Parade.

The Selection Parade took place every five years. It was an occasion where girls who had come of age, from eighteen to twenty-five, from different species—werewolves, vampires, witches, elves, and dragons—were chosen and taken to the King's palace.

Although we didn't know the reason they did it, because all the girls who were taken there always came back having lost their memories. They didn't remember and couldn't say what happened or what they saw there.

Another five years had come, and it was putting all the eligible girls on hot seats. Sadly, I was one of those eligible girls this time.

Every girl was walking on eggshells now because the Selection Parade was fast approaching and everyone was scared. Honestly, I was scared too.

Not wanting to hear any more words about the Selection Parade, I hastened my pace and rushed toward my first class for the day.

I had not seen the King yet, but I believed these girls were kinda exaggerating—although I knew for sure that he was old and ugly.

"Hey, Ara." Someone called me from behind.

I stopped and looked back only to see Daphne—my best friend since diapers—jogging toward me with a bright smile on her face. As usual, she was dragging Dante, her twin brother, along.

"Let go of me, you beast," Dante cursed, trying to get away from her.

"Let go of you?" Daphne scoffed. "In your dreams. Not until you refund my money... every penny!" she screamed in his ear, making him wince.

I stifled a laugh at Dante's expression. Well, I couldn't blame him because his sister always seemed to forget we were werewolves and we had super hearing.

"I didn't force you to give me your money. In fact, you begged me to accept it," Dante said.

They had stopped in front of me by now, but I didn't stop them from arguing because I wanted to watch some drama and have a good laugh. Besides, with all this talk about the Selection Parade going on right now, I thought having Dante around would set my mind at ease.

"...wanted to reject your money, but you desperately begged me to accept it."

"You're..."

"You were crawling after me, crying for me to accept your money," Dante said in a mocking tone.

Daphne slapped his shoulder as hard as she could, but it didn't seem to do any harm to him.

"You're exaggerating things here. Also, you tricked and lied to me."

"I didn't lie," he defended himself.

"You lied."

"I didn't."

"You lied."

"I said I didn't."

"I said you lied."

"I didn't."

Alright, I guessed it was time for me to cut in, or they were going to keep on arguing all day. I cleared my throat.

"I didn't..."

"Dolphin," I cut in, and they both turned to face me.

Dolphin was my nickname for Daphne because it kinda sounded like her original name—Daphne, Dolphin. Haha.

"What did Dante promise to do for you?" I asked her.

"He promised he'd stay over at Grandma's tonight and take care of her for two days, but now he's taking back his words," she explained.

I looked at Dante, but he quickly looked away from me and started whistling, which meant he was guilty.

I closed my eyes briefly, puffed out some air, and then massaged my temples softly.

"Dante isn't to be trusted with money. Why do you always believe his words and fall prey to his scams?" I scolded Daphne.

"Hey, I'm not a scam," Dante quickly defended himself.

Daphne and I both raised our brows at him. He chuckled lightly and nodded.

"I'm just very smart," he said.

"Mr. Smart Pants, you're just too lazy to work for your own money," I retorted.

He released a tight smile, grabbed Daphne's shoulders, and pushed her toward me.

"Sorry to disappoint you ladies, I just got myself a job last night. It's at the King's palace."

"What?!" Daphne and I exclaimed at once.

He grinned widely, nodding his head.

"Oh, yeah," he replied.

"Are you crazy? Why did you go look for a job at the palace? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Daphne asked worriedly.

Dante shrugged his shoulders, shoved his left hand in his pocket, and waved at us.

"I'm off to class. My mate's waiting." Then he ran off.

Daphne closed her eyes and pulled her hair in frustration.

"My dad's never gonna agree to this. Wait, I should mind-link him and inform him of Dante's craziness," she said.

Her eyes glazed over almost immediately. I patiently waited until she was done, and we started walking again.

"What did your dad say?" I asked.

"He's gonna have a word with Dante. He sounded angry, and I believe that talk is gonna involve his fist," she laughed evilly.

I shook my head. She must have done this gossip to get back at Dante for taking her money. She and her brother could be so childish sometimes.

"Did you watch the news?" Daphne asked.

She threw her right arm around my shoulder, and we headed toward our class. We both had the first class together.

"You know I hate watching the news. It adds nothing to my life," I said.

"It adds nothing to your life, but it makes you aware of the things happening around you."

I scoffed.

"We're wolves. We don't really need news or whatsoever."

"Of course we do," she replied.

I sighed softly.

"What about the news?" I asked. I didn't want her to continue preaching in my ears.

She looked around shortly, pulled me closer to her even though we were already close enough.

"A body was found last night at the Wizardry Forest," she said in a low voice.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Rumors had it that he was killed by the Beast King," she whispered even lower than before.

"Rumors?" She nodded. "It shouldn't be rumors anymore. We all know he's the one behind all the killings," I said.

Daphne nodded slowly in agreement with me.

"I don't know why they'd make a killer our King. He should be removed."

I gave her a daring look.

"Why are you staring at me like that? Aren't I saying the truth?"

"Of course you are, but telling me can change nothing... why not go talk to the Twelve Elders about it?" I suggested calmly with a hint of sarcasm.

"No, thanks," she said, shuddering as if she just thought of something unpleasant.

Well, hearing of the Twelve Elders was truly something unpleasant. They were the least people you'd wanna cross paths with—they were second in command after our Beast King.

"I wish my mate would just show up and I wouldn't need to go to the palace," she sighed. "I don't wanna see the Beast King's ugly face." She cringed.

I laughed and stopped in front of our classroom. I turned to face her and patted her shoulders.

"Don't worry. You won't remember his ugly face even if you see it," I told her.

I was indirectly reminding her that every girl that came out of the palace wouldn't have any memories of what they saw or what happened in there.

"Hmm, you're right," she agreed.

"Let's forget about the Beast King. It's time for class." I nodded at our class.

She tilted her head and took a peek, then gasped.

"Mr. Clovis is already in. What should we do now?"

"Em..."

"I don't want him to scold me today again. He's gonna tell my dad I came late to class and my dad's gonna..."

"Daphne," I interrupted her. "Breathe."

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"We're taking the back door," I said, pointing at the back door.

Daphne smiled, then gave me a thumbs up.

"You're so wise."

"Of course, I know that," I replied cockily.

★★★★★

Another yawn escaped my lips as my eyelids twitched sleepily, but I tried my best to shake off the sleepiness.

It had been almost twenty minutes since we entered Mr. Clovis' class, and honestly, his classes were extremely boring, which was always making me fall asleep halfway through his lectures.

Another yawn escaped my lips again. Maybe I should get some sleep because I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Hey," I called to Daphne softly. "Mr. Clovis' lectures are boring me. I think I'll take a nap... wake me up when he's done."

Her eyes widened.

"A nap in Mr. Clovis' class?!" she whisper-yelled.

"Yes, I have a part-time job later. I might as well catch some sleep," I said and rested my head on the desk.

"But he's..."

I closed my eyes and tuned her out. Sleep. Oh, sweet sleep.

★★★★★

"ARABELLA HUMPHREY!"

A voice shouted, and my eyes snapped open as I sprang up immediately. Then I heard a series of laughter.

I looked around with a frown until I realized I was still in the classroom. I looked to the front and saw Mr. Clovis glaring daggers at me.

Uh-oh. Guess I've been caught.

"Arabella Humphrey, you always fall asleep in my class!" Mr. Clovis shouted.

I twisted my lips nonchalantly.

"That's because your lectures are boring," I grumbled.

But unfortunately for me, everyone in my class was supernatural creatures and we all had super hearing. They heard me perfectly clear and roared with loud laughter.

"What did you say?" he asked in a very angry tone.

"Nothing," I answered quickly.

Mr. Clovis' face grew red from anger. He banged on the table and stormed toward me, waving his forefinger at me.

"You think this is funny, right?" he growled.

He stopped in front of me and glared at me.

"Detention for you."

"Detention?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Mr. Clovis, we're no longer high school students. You know that, right?"

"Well, you're behaving like a high school student right now," he replied.

My mouth parted slightly as I wanted to argue, but he didn't let me speak.

"You're leaving this school premises by 8 PM!" he said, leaving no room for arguments.

I sighed and quietly nodded my head. It wasn't right to sleep off while a lecture was going anyway.

"Good." With that, he stormed out.

I sat down and glared maliciously at Daphne, who was laughing like the rest of the class.

"His face was hilarious," she said, banging on the desk.

"And that earned me a detention. Ha-ha," I laughed sarcastically.

"Oh, right."

"Hm." I hummed.

We started packing up our books, getting ready to head to our second classes. We had different classes for the second period.

"I would have loved to stay in detention with you, but I have to go over to my Grandma's after school," Daphne said.

"Excuses. I understand you, though."

She grinned.

"You know I love you." She leaned forward and kissed my cheek.

"I love you too."

★★★★★

The rest of the day went by in a blur, and before I knew it, it was already closing time.

I rushed straight to Mr. Clovis' office immediately after my classes. I didn't want anymore of his nagging.

But unfortunately, he had already gone home when I arrived. I wouldn't have come to the detention had I known he wouldn't be here.

So, I took it upon myself to sleep throughout the detention period. After all, I might work overtime tomorrow because of this stupid detention.

Finally, it was time to go home. I gathered my things and rushed out of the school. Everywhere was extremely quiet since all the students of Legends Creation had all gone home.

My stomach growled loudly, urging me to make it home in time and get something in my stomach. But unfortunately, from the school to my home was quite far. The only shortcut to my home was... the Wizardry Forest.

*Yeah, it's a shortcut but least safe,* I heard Amy, my sassy wolf, nag in my head.

I rolled my eyeballs.

"Why do you easily get scared?" I asked.

*I'm not easily scared. I just avoid what's gonna cause me trouble,* she replied.

I scoffed and smirked wickedly.

"It's decided then. We're taking the woods," I said, referring to the Wizardry Forest.

What could I say? I loved opposing Amy because she got on my nerves sometimes.

*You're very stubborn and...*

I shut her out and headed towards the forest. I was too hungry and couldn't wait to get home.

★★★★★

Whoa, it was so dark here. I panicked mentally as I stared at the woods—the Wizardry Forest—ahead of me.

I had made it to the entrance of the Wizardry Forest, but I didn't know if I should continue or turn back and take the long road instead.

Staring at the woods was giving me an eerie feeling, and it was making my palms sweat weirdly.

*Are you scared now?* Amy mocked me.

I scoffed.

"Scared? Never."

*Then go in, but count me out when you meet trouble.*

"As if I need your help," I retorted rudely.

I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply, and ventured in. I prayed I didn't come across danger, though.