Page 1 of Finding Love with the Fae King

Chapter One

Melina

“Melina,wearewerewolves,”my best friend spoke to me at the edge of the forest.

“I’m sorry, what?” I shook my head calmly and folded my arms against my chest. Did she really think I had time for this?

“It is true, Melina. The signs are all there. All the questions you had about our community growing up are there! Just put the pieces of the puzzle together.”

“Tulip…” I sighed, and her new boyfriend held her close from behind. He continued to nuzzle into her neck, smelling her. What a creep. I couldn’t understand why he was here. She just met the guy a week ago at her community dance mixer that I had always refused to go to. They always talked about meeting their mates or soulmates or whatever. I wasn’t about to get put into that drama. They had been glued to the hip ever since.

“I am telling the truth. Just watch.” Tulip took off her clothes, first her top and her pants. Panicking, I grabbed her arm.

“What in Goddess’s name are you doing!?” Her new boyfriend, Alec, smirked. “What’s so funny?” I snapped.

“The way you used Goddess. It’s referring to the Moon Goddess. Werewolves kind of worship her.”

I stared at him blankly. It was just a slang term her whole family used, and I picked up on it. Heck, I practically lived with them for years. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Tulip. She was standing in just her bra and underwear, and I swore I heard Alec growling.

Tulip’s body grew hair and broke into pieces. She didn’t scream once, and within seconds, she had turned into a large brown wolf. It was larger than your average wolf, and she stared into my eyes. Her bright blue eyes looked back at me and gave me that signature wink she liked to give.

I stood completely still, my hand still out from trying to grab her arm as she took off her clothes. Alec smiled and puffed out his chest like he was so proud of her. My breathing had stopped, and Tulip slowly walked up to me, nudging my leg and letting out a whimper. Looking down at her, I wasn’t afraid. It really was her.

Holy cow.

Thinking back on the little remarks of them talking about an alpha, sometimes slipping the word “pack,” and people checking the “territory,” smelling me, smelling each other, her exceptional speed in gym class. It was there staring at me in the face, and I was blinded by it all with stupidity.

My best friend is a werewolf.

It had been like any other morning. I had woken up at the cabin that my parents had left me when I was only thirteen years old. After thirteen years of marriage, they decided it was over. They never fought, at least in front of me. They both had their own jobs, requiring them to travel a lot.

When I was young, I met my very best friend, Tulip, in a sandbox at the park. To match her favorite color of tulips, she always wore a purple dress. I couldn’t tell you what sparked my interest in going to talk to her because I was a very shy child. I did, though, and sharing my shovel with her to make the best sandcastle out of the entire park made her day. She didn’t have many friends either, and we left that day knowing we would be best friends till the end.

Our mothers noted how well we got along. Several more times, we met at the park, and my mother finally asked for Tulip’s mother to have regular playdates. That soon turned into Tulip’s mom babysitting and, even more so, spending the night. However, Tulip’s mother didn’t mind me.

She took me in like her own, and I think she felt sorry for me. My parents weren’t always around. My dad was a traveling physician, and my mother was an airline flight attendant. They had multiple nannies that took care of me, but when you have your best friend and her mother love you like you’re her own daughter, you essentially get free childcare.

Several times growing up, I would accidentally call Tulip’s mother Rose Mom, and she would brush it off. She said I could call her anything I wanted and continued to do so for the rest of my younger days. She was more of a mother than my incubator, anyway. The few days a week I was at home with my parents, they were busy on the computer and making calls. No time for me. I hated it there, and I was officially over it. There were several arguments as I got older, begging them to spend time with me, go to the mall, or even just sit down as a family, but they never did.

I questioned why they even had me if they were going to be so busy until, one day, I found out. I had just tucked myself into bed, and I could hear them talking in the next room. They weren’t home enough to realize just how thin the walls really were.

“I just can’t do this anymore, Matthew.” My mother sighed.

“I know, but we have a few more years with her, and then it will be done,” he said to my mother, Kathryn. “We used to be so in love. Did a child really break us apart?”

“I just can’t believe we were that careless that one time. I never wanted kids, and now she is begging for time with us, and I just want to focus on my career. You aren't happy. I'm not happy. Maybe having a childdidtear us apart because of one careless mistake. It ruined everything. We should just have a clean break right now,” my mother choked.

I had had enough. I got up from my bed and pushed their bedroom door open. “Is that it? That is how you feel? You never wanted me?”

The look of shock and guilt was on their faces. It was the truth, yet they couldn’t speak it in front of me. I stood my ground and folded my arms together.

“That’s fine. Now I know the truth.” My face was stern. I knew my maturity was more so than my peers at thirteen. I had to be. There were nights I was too embarrassed to go to Tulip’s. I didn’t want them to know my parents were gone again, so I did things on my own.

“If you all would be happier, get a divorce,” I spat. “Just get me a house near Tulip and some money to live from until I turn eighteen, and I won’t contact either of you again. A clean break, just like you wanted.”

In my heart, I hoped they would say they were being selfish, that they really cared about me and would never wish it. That they were going through a rough patch and were saying things they didn’t mean. My heart was crushed even more when they agreed.

Tulip’s mother got permission from the community that they lived in and put me in a cabin on the edge of their land. Rose was given full guardianship of me without hesitation. She would often tell me how she felt I should have been a daughter of their family. Tulip’s father, Elm, a man of few words, told me I was welcome into their home, but I had refused. They had taken care of me for far too long, and the guilt crawled up my spine every night. My now-new mother scolded me for the longest time until she finally allowed me to stay at the edge of the property. She always said it was a safe place to live, and I would always be taken care of and protected, but I brushed it off as just some motherly, calming words to ease my mind.

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