Preface: Summoned

I am being summoned.

                                                                    ~*~

                                          King Alexander II and Queen Sofia I

                                                   Request your presence

                                           To an honored tradition of our kind

                              The Unmated Ball in Honor of our son, Prince Robert

                      On Friday, the eleventh day of May at eight o'clock in the evening

                                                                  ~*~

I gulp as a reread the letter again and again, the cream paper becoming heavier in my hand as I sit there on my purple covered bed. Why was I being summoned, I am a freak! I have one of those weird genetic traits that sometimes appear in families, kind of like webbed feet. No one can see that, but mine, everyone can. My eyes are clouded red, like blood. I tried to wear contacts, but there is something about our werewolf systems that dissolve them.

"Iris" my mother's voice meet my ears as my bedroom door opens to reveal my beautiful mother. My mother is tall and slim with golden blond hair and a heart shaped face, her eyes crystal blue and she has high cheek bone. She looks like a model, like most female werewolves. "Iris, darling I've brought you something" She flashes me her beautiful pearly white teeth.

"What?" I turn around narrowing my blood red eyes as I spot a black clothing bag in her right hand and a white box in the other.

"A dress" she smiles again.

"What for, Mum?" I snap not liking where this is going.

"For the Unmated Ball"

"I'm not going" I state in a matter-of- fact kind of way.

"Yes, you are! You have no choice, you have been summoned" She said staring down at me. I sigh deeply, running my hand through my golden hair.

"Fine" I snap. The Unmated Ball is a ball that only happens  every one generation. The next heir to the throne needs a mate, so the Royals summon every unmated female to their palace so they can choose out of all the people there. It is just like a beauty pageant where every girl there wants to be picked as the winner! "But it's  stupid and I don't want to go" I huff crossing my arms over my chest.

"Oh, hush! You'll enjoy it and you never know, you might get picked" she winks at me placing the clothing bag and box on my bed before sitting next to me. " I know it's a few days away so I picked out a dress for you."

I gulp dreading to see what is in that black bag. For some reason I feel like it is my body bag.

"Ready to see your dress?" She smiles excitedly at me as she hangs the bag up on my wardrobe before slowing unzipping the bag. She pulled the bag off and there, was a black floor length dress. It was quite simple with hardly any detail what so ever apart from the skirt being made from lace. The top was strapless and made from silk; it was a simple A-line dress. I smile drinking in the dress with my eyes.

"Yeah" My mum clapped jumping up and down "You like it" she smiled throwing herself at me to embrace me. "My little baby girl is growing up" she starts to cry.

"Mum" I shift awkwardly in her wet embrace.

"Oh yeah I forgot about the shoes" She pulls back grinning. She hands me the box where a pair of black high heels sit.

"Thanks mum" I hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. "Will you be coming?" I asked getting nervous.

"No darling I can't, but your father will. It's a tradition for the father to accompany his daughter to the ball."

"Has Harper been summoned?" I asked about my sister.

"Yes,  she has" my mum smiled.  I sighed knowing that I was not going to be the center of attention when Harper was there and I thanked the Moon goddess for that. Hopefully I can be there for about an hour or two and be gone before you know it.

Harper is like my mum with a model figure, but honey brown hair like my father and icy blue eyes like my mum. She is out-going and loves to party. She had many male suitors, but my father declined every single one saying they weren't good enough for his little girl. My father was trying to find me and Harper good matches for the family and for ourselves but so far none came up to scratch.

My mother and father had five children all together; I have two older brothers and one younger sister. The oldest, Samuel is mated with two beautiful daughters and the next oldest is Ollie who is 20 and still unmated. Harper and I are next, we are twins and then there is little Carrie who is only 10.  We are a big family, but my father being Alpha he needs both sons and daughters. Samuel is going to be the next Alpha, but if he doesn't produce a son it could be pass ed down to Ollie if the pack refused Samuel's daughter.

"You ready for the ball Sweetie?" My father's voice cut into my thoughts as I was brought back into reality.

"Yes" I sighed as I looked over the man in front of me. He had a large frame that took up most the doorway of my small room. His hair was honey brown and his eyes chocolate brown. Standing next to him is my model-like twin Harper who is grinning at me with excitement.

"Oh my god, Iris! You need to see my dress, oh I need to see yours, too" she squealed clapping her hands together. I hate girls, I thought to myself as I rolled my eyes at her as she pushed her way into my already cramped room. "Mine is baby pink and big" she said grinning widely at me.

"Great" I try to sound enthusiastic about the whole thing.

"Aren't you looking forward to it?" she questioned me prodding my shoulder as our parents disappear out of my room.

"Not really" I admitted looking at my dress hanging on my wardrobe door, dreading the day I am going to have to wear it.

"Why?" She asked shocked at my truthful answer.

"Your beautiful Harper, but I'm gonna be the freak show" I sighed getting down to the root cause of my dread. "I don't like people staring at my eyes all the time."

"Maybe you could wear contacts?" She suggested unhelpfully.

"They dissolve and make my eyes feel funny" I sighed in defeat.

"Who cares anyway, Iris ,you're beautiful in your own way. So your eyes are slightly creepy. No one will care they'll be too busy looking at the prince" she grinned playfully punching my shoulder. I nodded agreeing, but my stomach filled with an uneasy feeling of worry and dread. Why had I been summoned anyway? I sighed.

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JUST A LITTLE BACKGROUND...

Werewolves (in this story) don't have mate as in like soul mates! They chose who they mate with kind of like normal wolves. Males have to woo the females and if a higher ranking male comes along then the lower rank has to back down or fight for her. If two of the same ranking wolves wants the same female there is a fight to the death or the female can pick, the latter normally happens.

The father can also chose who his daughters have as mate as it kind of like a political marriage or the female has complete chose. However once every generation, when the next kings comes of age (20 for a male) then all unmated females, 18 or over are summoned to him and he can chose whoever he desires out of all the girls present.

In the terms of soul mates they do in fact have soul mates but they are rare and hard to find in any case so most just have the female they desire in their pack or a nearby packs. Its not like in normal werewolf stories where they know by looking into each others eyes or there is a spark when they touch, it just like love at first sight.

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Sorry for any mistakes made!!

CarbonMoon

xxxx