The Prince’s Unwilling mate by Mutya

Griffin 68
Ayla was serious about working harder on becoming and about getting her affairs in order. Last week I had been too busy to speak to her much. Now it was the other way around. She must be doing some solo work too because even when Mom has the evenings off Ayla is busy. She is doing this for our future though, and I can hardly blame her for it. So as much as I miss talking to her, I never complain about the lack, of contact. Soon I will be able to fall asleep next to her every night and wake up next to her every morning. And then all of this will be worth it
To keep myself busy I started with Ayla’s office, I didn’t want her to have to wait until Mom cleared her office and my parents agreed with me. Luck would have it that there was an empty office across the hall from mine. Normally the princess would be the one to decorate her office. And I wasn’t going to decorate all of it. I would just paint the walls lilac and put a white-washed wooden floor in. Of course, I would also put a wall of bookshelves in. Just like the one I had installed in my living room. I asked the contractors within the pack to give. that the most priority they could give a new job.
They did and had just like I hoped managed to install the bookshelves in a week. Tonight Krystel was coming over to my chambers to help me pack them. Ayla had sent me a TikTok telling me she would have cried if that had happened to her about a boyfriend surprising his girlfriend by placing wrapping paper over a new bookshelf. Just like you would wallpaper a normal wall but using wrapping paper and sticky tape. It would get pretty late since we had our monthly pack
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dinner tonight. I planned to wrap the bookshelves tomorrow afternoon right before Ayla would come home. But Krystel told me she couldn’t make it. So now I would have to just make it happen tonight.
As introverted as I am, I used to love the pack dinners. The titles and ranks never fully disappeared but as leaders, my parents and I were pride ourselves for the fact that we were like equals with our pack members. As long as they speak with respect they can come to us with every worry or complaint. Not just about general pack life or little disputes between pack members. But personal grievances with us too. We never really got any, and the ones we did get were never big. Lately, however, pack members have been coming up to me to complain about Ayla. Telling me I need a mate who is all in. Part of it is them wanting to see me happy, and I am. I am happy with Ayla but I have to admit she hurt me a lot in the beginning. Sometimes it did not feel fair she didn’t give me a proper chance. Now she has, and I know the reasons for her taking it slow. I don’t think you can ever understand the pain of being rejected by your mate. To make things worse, it was her best friend and he let her get hurt by pack members after rejecting her.
Tonight would no doubt serve as an excuse for pack members to walk up to me and tell me I could do better. With Conan. being so on edge lately, and with me knowing she was almost ready to take the last steps. It would be hard, not to snap and tell them everything. But I promised Ayla that we could tell them together. My pack doesn’t know but, she actually wants to make a good impression on them. I get ready regardless because I cannot sk ip this dinner either, I just have to try to make the best of it.
22

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“Prince Griffin, I am sure I am not the first one to tell you this”
Adrian started.
I knew what this was about, and just as I feared when I was getting ready. He was not the first and probably wouldn’t be the last one to tell me how I could do better. It left me counting down the hours until I could retire to my chambers. Just as I was about to open my mouth to not so kindly stop Adrian from going on Krystel came to my rescue. She placed a gentle hand on Adrian’s shoulder before speaking to him.
“Listen, Adrian, I know you mean well, but every member of the royal family knows Ayla’s backstory and we all adore her. Don’t you think you can trust all of us enough to take that as a good sign? Besides things will get a lot clearer sooner than you might expect it”
was
Adrian nodded, almost hesitant. and I could see that he still very reluctant about giving Ayla a chance. Krystel had just left him with two lousy choices. He could either say he ought himself better suited to protect me than the entire royal family. Or he could trust us, despite his apprehensions. He chose the latter as he rushed off after a quick goodbye, but even the blind could see he was not happy about it.
The thing that surprised me was the teasing wink Krystel shot me when she said things would become clearer soon. I had been the one to tell her that Ayla would need to settle some affairs before coming to live with me soon.
“I think we’ve been here long enough to get excused, let’s gift wrap us some bookshelves” Krystel beamed
Goffin oll
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Her enthusiastic suggestion distracted me from the peculiarness of her teasing. I wasn’t so much excited about fake wallpapering with wrapping paper. As I was excited about seeing Ayla unwrap this surprise. So after saying my goodbye to family and friends Krystel and I made our way to my living room.
Wrapping the bookshelves wasn’t as easy as I figured they
If would be. It took Krystel and me the better part of the night. We were exhausted by the time it was done but we finally managed to. And I had to admit it looked cute. Krystel hugged me goodbye and made her way home. I looked at the wall of wrapping paper that now was the eye-catcher in my living room. Feeling happy with the knowledge that the next time I would be here was when Ayla was here and would see my surprise. With that thought in mind, I closed the door and made my way to the bedroom. I was exhausted, I barely had the energy to keep my eyes open long enough to brush my teeth and check if Ayla had sent me anything.