"Excuse me?" I say aloud. "What?" Poppy asks. "Are you talking to me, Winter?" "Um, no, sorry I was talking to myself." I lie.

"Are you serious right now, Raven?" I demand.

"Yes! That was our mate, he is here! And he is looking for us!" She whined happily.

"Woah, ok Raven, chill out. Remember the conversation we had earlier?" Raven's happiness immediately faded.

"You were serious?" She asks, shocked.

"You think I wasn't?" I counter.

Raven barked in fury, giving me a headache. "Winter, that was our MATE! He knows we're here, we have to go to him!"

"No, I don't HAVE to do anything."

"Winter!" She said angrily. "Don't you dare reject him! You might not want him, but I do!"

"Raven, as long as you don't force me to do anything, I won't do anything. I reassure her. But I swear, if you force me to be with him, I'll kill myself." After I told her this she was quiet for awhile. Then she said:

"You know sometimes I really hate you." And disappeared.

The comment about her hating me hurt a bit, but I know that she'll get over it and forgive me. "Winter? Are you ok?" Poppy asked. "Yeah I'm fine. Just talking to my wolf." I say, giving a forced smile. "Oh, ok. Can I have another cookie?" Her sudden question made me giggle. "Of course."
I hold out the box and this time she picked out a sugar cookie. I choose the same and we both go back to eating and talking. I tell her about my sisters and father. I also tell her about my friends. As we were talking more girls came into the room. About an hour later, a maid comes up to me. "Excuse me miss, my I take your back? I'll just deliver it to your room, I promise." "Uh, sure go ahead." She bows and takes my suitcase. After a few more minutes, an air horn sounded at the front of the room. Everyone went silent and a formed a line across the room. Poppy and I quickly got up and went to go stand in the line as well. I squeezed next to a girl with light blue hair, and looked down where she was looking. A sharp looking woman was walking down the line, an air horn in hand. At some girls she stopped and looked them up and down before continuing to walk. When she came to me she raised an eyebrow and then continued. When she was done inspecting she walked to the middle of the room where everyone could see her. "I am Willa Kapla. That is Ms. Kapla to you girls. I will be in charge of the selection. Here are the rules. If you are disqualified, you are disqualified. There will be no whining about it. Rule number two, is that you will never, under any circumstances go to the king and queen's chambers unless you are invited. Rule number three, you shall not steal anything. If you are caught stealing you will immediately be disqualified. The final most important rule, is that the prince decides everything. If you are caught trying to influence the prince, you will be disqualified. As long as you follow these simple rules you shall be fine."

"As for the selection, here is how it works. The selection will go on for an entire year. At the end of the year, if the prince chooses one of you, the girl selected shall become his wife, queen, and mate. Each week there shall be a challenge. The winner of the challenge will be able to get to spend a day with the prince." I roll my eyes when I hear this. "After each challenge, the prince shall decide if someone should be disqualified. Up too three people are able to be disqualified each challenge. Are we clear?" There where a few scattered "yeses". "I said, ARE WE CLEAR?!?" She bellowed. "Yes, ma'm!" Everyone answered, myself included. "Good." She said primly. "Today we shall be meeting the prince. We"- She was drowned out by the excited chatter of the girls. Ms. Kapla blew her air horn. Everyone fell silent once more. "Thank you." "As I was saying, we'll be meeting the prince today. Except you shall be meeting him in wolf form. He himself, shall be in human form. You will meet him ten at a time, and and when I call your name, you shall step up. The prince shall go over to you, and if he is interested he will change into wolf form. If he does do this, then you shall have five minutes to introduce yourself to him and get to know each other's scent. If he does not change into wolf form, then you shall step back. After all ten are introduced you shall leave the room and observe through a room with a two way mirror. Then the next ten shall be introduced, and so on. Afterwards, you shall all go to your rooms to prepare for dinner and then go eat with the royal family. Are we clear?" Everyone said: Yes ma'm.

Ms. Kapla nodded at a maid who was holding a box. The maid walked down the line and handed a small piece of paper to each. When I got my paper I looked at it. On it was a number: forty-eight. I looked over at Poppy. She shrugged and showed me her number. It was thirty-two. I showed her my number. She shrugged again. When the maid was done giving everyone a number, she went over and stood by the wall again. "As you can see, all of you have gotten a number. These numbers are randomly picked, and show which number you are. Now follow me." She turned abruptly and walked out of the doors. We all followed her. She led us to a large room with nothing but a door, three walls, and a huge glass panel where the fourth wall should be. On the other side of the glass was the king and queen seated on there thrones, between them was Prince Loëk. He was handsome, I hate to admit, but that didn't mean I wanted to marry the guy. However, when I saw him my heart skipped a beat. "What the heck? Eh, it's probably nothing." I brushed it off, and noticed the other girls reactions. Some of them were giggling stupidly, and others where fanning themselves. Thankfully, Poppy was not one of these, but she did sort of gap for a second before blushing and turning away. "Everyone, QUIET!!" Ms. Kapla yelled. When everyone was silent once again, she gave one order. "Shift." I closed my eyes and imagined shifting into my wolf. My hearing, smell, and sight sharpened. I went on all four. I grew fur, and when I opened my eyes I was a wolf. Everyone else had shifted into a wolf as well. I was amazed at all the different colors, sizes, and builds they were. I myself, was a large black wolf, sprinkled with silver. I looked over and saw that Poppy was a medium sized, light brown wolf, with a patch of darker brown fur on her right ear. I nudged her playfully. She pushed me back. Pretty soon we were play fighting, making fake swipes at each other. Eventually we calmed down and sat down like everyone else and looked at Ms. Kaplan. She checked her watch and the said: "one through ten!" Ten wolves stood up. "Follow me." The ten wolves followed her out of the room. I felt someone forcefully shove me aside. I stumbled a bit and turn to see who hit me. It was a large blonde wolf, with green eyes. She gave me a superior look and then flounced off. I swallow back a growl. We all turned to the glass to see what would happen. A few moments later the door in that room opened and Ms. Kapla and the girls entered. We could hear anything because of the glass, but we could see that Ms. Kapla was calling out one of their names. One of the wolves stepped up. The prince walked towards her and looked at her. He then lowered to one knee and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He must have been smelling her scent. After a second he opened his eyes and shook his head. The girl he had just shook his head at, deflated a little and then turned and walked to the end of the line.

Ms. Kapla called another name. The next girl stepped up. This went on until the prince had inspected all of the wolves and had not seen interested in any of them. He looked at Ms. Kapla and waved his hand for her to dismiss them. She nodded and said an order. All of the girls stood up and followed her out. She came in and called for the next ten wolves. Ten wolves got up and followed her out. Of the ten, I see the blonde wolf who had pushed me only a while ago. Ms. Kapla brought them into the next room and did the exact same thing as she did with the last bunch. The prince didn't seem anymore into them then the last ones. That is, until he got to the blonde wolf. He looked mildly interested and then transformed into his wolf form. My heart began going a hundred miles per hour.

"That's him!" Raven said, happily. "That's our mate!"

"No. . . No way. Raven it can't be him! Anyone but him!" I say, panicking. Raven, no!"

"Yes! It's him!"

"No!"

As I argued with Raven I noticed how beautiful Loëk's wolf was. He was a large wolf, with snow white fur and piercing blue eyes. The blonde wolf obviously thought that the prince was very into her. I see her straighten and push herself towards him, so their chests were touching. A growl built in my throat. "How dare that whore touch our mate?!?" Raven howled, outraged. Every nerve in my body was just tingling to go into a frenzy and rip her apart limb by limb. I shake my head, trying to clear it of Raven's murderous thoughts. This is not me! This is Raven! I don't care who he chooses! I fight Raven for control over our body. Eventually I won the fight and when I looked up, I saw Loëk flinch away from the blonde and wrinkle his nose in disgust. I couldn't help but feel a dark satisfaction. Loëk turned back into a human and continued. The blonde looked shocked that he had refused her, and flicked her tail in anger. Not wanting to look at him anymore, I turned away from the window and looked at my paws, still struggling for complete control. I didn't look up when Ms. Kapla came for the group. I did glance up after a few minutes and saw (despite Raven's growling) to my delight, that Loëk had turned into a wolf and was sniffing Poppy with interest. "Good for her." I think happily. He continued to sniff her for a while, but then backed away and shook his head slightly. Poppy's ears drooped in sadness, but she got up and went to the back of the line. Finally, when he was done with inspecting them, Ms. Kapla brought them back and called: forty, through fifty. Nine other girls got up and went to her. I remained sitting. I took a shaky breath and stood up as well. As I was walking out of the room with the others, Poppy gave an encouraging wag of her tail. I try to give one back, and leave the room.

Ms. Kapla leads us to the door next to us and opened it. Immediately, his scent overwhelmed me, making Raven go bonkers. I had to fight for control while she strained against me, wanting to run over to the prince and greet him. I managed not to look at him as I entered the room and sat down in the line. Since I got the number forty-eight, I was eighth in line. I take a quick glance up at him. His aqua blue eyes met mine. He stared straight at me, never once looking at the other girls. His scent was so powerful, it threatened to nearly cause Raven to take control. I held her back, determined. "May Jones!" Ms. Kapla addressed. A small wolf with dark grey fur and brown eyes stepped up. He wretched his eyes away from me and looked at her. He quickly shook his head. May (that's what I'm assuming her name is) got up and went to the end of the line. "Helen Yark!" A medium sized wolf with brown, black, and white patches stepped up. He shook his head again, barely even looking at her. She went to the back of the line too. One by one, Ms. Kapla called their names and each of them stepped up, only to be rejected by him. Much to quickly, it became my turn. "Winter Leaves!" I took a deep breath and stepped forward. He immediately shifted into a wolf and went up to me. Raven strained for control again, but I firmly kept my hold on her. Loëk gazed at me with wanting eyes. He stuck his muzzle into the thick fur around my neck and growled with delight. I had to keep an extra strong grip on Raven to stop her from taking over. I was very much aware that everyone was staring at me. I stiffened. He stopped nuzzling my neck and pulled away slightly to look at me. He whined and tilted his head. I shuffled a bit backwards and stared at my paws, desperately trying to keep my cool. I hear him whine again but this time he was amused.

He walked forward and began nuzzling my neck again. I tolerated it, because I'm guessing if I suddenly started snarling at him, especially with the king and queen so close by I'd be in a lot of trouble. It was when he started nipping at my neck with affection, did I lose it. I was having a hard enough time keeping Raven under control. I did not need this guy to start getting all lovey-dovey on me and make it even harder. I flicked my head away and refused to look at him. He whined in confusion and tried to come closer. I snapped my head towards him, stood up, lowered my head and showed my fangs. The room was filled with shocked silence. Loëk looked the most surprised. He tried to get closer, but I snarled at him. The message was clear: Stay away. He stopped moving and hesitated. His eyes flashed from aqua to blue, meaning his wolf was trying to take control. Before one of them could take over the other, Ms. Kapla yelled, "TIME!" I thanked the Lunar Goddess for Ms. Kapla remembering the timer. I practically ran to the end of the line and sat down. "Sarah Mathews!" Even though Ms. Kapla had said her name, no one moved. "SARAH MATHEWS!!" She yelled, snapping everyone out of there stupor. A medium sized, light gray wolf with hazel eyes stepped forward. Loëk refused to look at her. His gaze never left me. After a few minutes, Sarah awkwardly walked to the end of the line. "One more person. Then I can go. One more person." I think, staring at the two-way glass. "Jane Glass!" The final wolf stepped up. When I saw her I gasped. She was a beautiful large silver wolf with bright jade green eyes. I don't care if I am his mate, he must be crazy to ignore someone as breathtaking as her. Seeing me stare at her, he cast a quick glance at her. He got up with a huff and walked over to her. After giving her a quick sniff he shook his head and went back to staring at me. "Everyone, up. We're leaving." Ms. Kapla ordered. We all got up and turned to leave. "Wait!" Loëk yelled, shifting back into his human form. "Leave Winter! She's"- Your highness. Ms. Kapla cut in. "Winter Leaves is going to get ready for dinner. You shall see her again there. Now come along girls!" I silently celebrated how awesome Ms. Kapla was as I walked out. Raven was whimpering, but I ignored her. I didn't look back.

After all. . .

I never wanted to meet my mate in the 
                            first place.