Groaning when I see the needles set up on the bedside table I try to look away from them. "Ryder asked me to do them but I remember when I had to get them that they hurt even when I had Maxon close. They're stronger than normal fertility injections so I can't imagine how your body takes them." "You had to do it as well?" I ask as she fiddles with the large needle. "All high ranked wolves have to do it. Anyone ranked higher than Major General excluding the council. Because we are so high ranked it's important that we produce heirs." Her voice is quiet and I'm glad to know that it isn't only me that is uncomfortable from this. "How old were you when they did it?" "I was a couple months younger than what you are now, three and a half years ago. I've known Maxon since I was little. I grew up with the boys, Cyrus is my twin brother. When I was eleven my mum told me that I couldn't hang out with them anymore, it didn't make sense but I grew apart from them. It was after my seventeenth birthday that I bumped into Maxon in the hallway. I wasn't supposed to be anywhere near them, and I realised why the second his skin touched mine and I felt those shocks and my wolf told me that he was mine. They were keeping us away from each other because we were so young. A week later they started the injections because they knew there would be no way to separate us." She smiles at me lost in her memories. Tilting my head at her I call her attention back to me by asking my next question. "What about heat? Shouldn't you have already had pups?" I'm not sure how to phrase the question but I leave it for how it came out. "It's unexplainable for how it happens but it's difficult for the same ranks to get pregnant to far from you." Swallowing deeply I pull my legs in. "Cole is a year older than Ryder and when his mate got pregnant off her heat it pretty much told him that he'd find you soon but don't worry about it Lottie. As soon as it starts your body is going to be burning so hot that you'll be craving Ryder's touch to cool you down that everything else will disappear and you won't regret anything that happens even after it finishes." "I don't want to be a mum." I whisper watching as she sets the needle back down. Ellie squeezes my thigh. "The maternal instinct of a queen is astounding, not to mention how many people you will have to help you." Ignoring the warmth of her touch I stare down at my feet forcing the last question that I have for her out of my mouth. "What's the chance of the prophecy being true?" "It's fated as much as it was to us to be born into our ranks and to be mated to who we are." When I don't reply to her she stands up from the bed and I can see the nude pumps that she has on. She holds her hands out towards me helping me up from the bed whether I want to move or not. "Come on let's get you dressed we have a lot to do today." I wince when she has me on my feet but she hooks an arm around my waist to help me into the walk in wardrobe. It's the first time that I've been in the room and I'm surprised by how luxurious it is. Ellie helps me down onto the cream upholstered seat that's sat near the glass topped island made of a black wood. Through it I can see a lot of jewellery, a lot of expensive jewellery. The entire back wall of the room is just shoes, very high shoes with flat ones sitting beneath them in small cubes of the similar black wood. On the other two walls on opposite sides of me are clothes, on my right are Ryder's suits in closer to the end of the room with causal ones closer to me and more clothes in the cubes separating the bays with three seats of draws on the floor beneath it all. The same goes for what's on my right where Ellie is shuffling though. There a large handful of dresses that reach the floor and puff out taking up most of the space but there are more casual clothes than formal dresses. "Ryder wants you in a dress for today but I can sense you burning those ones with your eyes, he'll have to be satisfied with this." Twenty minutes later I'm standing looking at my reflection in the mirror. Ellie had pulled my hair up into a low ponytail and put a light coverage of foundation over my face and the tiniest bit of mascara. Her hand was steady with every movement and I couldn't believe the small difference made by the makeup it was subtle but I looked so much more like the Queen they all expected me to be. I was actually wearing a skirt. The loose material felt nice and when I turned it moved with me. The pattern was a sort of floral type thing and the colours were dull but it suited me and the black sleeveless top that finished just below my belly button. Both Ellie and I were going to meet Ryder for lunch and then whatever Ellie was keeping from me had to be done afterwards. When I walk out of the room Reynolds and Charlie give me a quick look and then avert their eyes with a quick clearing of their throat. I don't have time to react to what just happened with them before Ellie is pulling me out the door and down to where I first had breakfast with Ryder. When we got close to the room I can hear arguing from the other side of the closed door. Maxon is nervously stood near it with his arms crossed up over his chest with another guard that I've never seen before standing behind him. "Max?" Ellie questions her eyes flicking nervously to the closed door to the tea room. When Ellie gets close enough to him he places his hand down on her waist and pulls her into his side. "The meeting with the Council didn't go as we expected." The yells in the room are growing louder and more defined and I can easily sought Ryder's voice from his mothers and fathers. There's a large crash and I go to step into the room sensing distress and anger from my mate but Reynolds takes my elbow to stop me. "I am the King not you, neither you nor the council's orders come above mine. Get out now." I can almost feel the growl he lets out through my own chest. Alexander is the first to exit the room and the rage is vibrating off him. He doesn't look at anyone as he makes his way past us but for the smallest second I see his eyes flick down to me. Allie follows him out next but she stops and her arms wrap around my shoulders and she pulls me into a hug. "I'm so sorry Lottie I had no idea he was doing this but Ryder will never let him do this to the both of you don't worry." Alexander reaches out for his mates' hip but she immediately slaps his hand away, he growls at her and some of the guards shift uneasily on their feet but all I can do is watch how her facial expression doesn't falter in the slightest.