Her Calling

O N E

O N E
shawn mendes, stitches.

"Lera c'mon, we really need to get a move on, bro." My best friend Amanda whined from the other side of the door. I placed my beaded crown on my head and made my way out of my walk-in closet.

"Okay, how's this? Do I look good enough? Is my wig on straight?" I looked over at her and cursed her gorgeous naturally curled locks.

Amanda comes from a fully mixed family, any trace of black or white heritage would have to be found in black and white photographs. She had perfect caramel skin, big brown eyes, straight teeth as a result of braces in grade five and a larger than life personality. She was very much down to earth too though.

We had braces around the same time, there wasn't much we didn't do together. We were very much joined by the hip. Unlike Amanda, I was a slightly darker shade of brown than she. Brown doe eyes and natural 4C hair that's usually kept under wigs or in braids.

I was petite at only five foot five, accompanied by a noticeable chest area and rounded butt and hips. The perfect hourglass figure, so Amanda would always say.

"Oh, whatever Lera you never get anything wrong. You're gorgeous." She pushed me out my room. We then continued down the stairs and towards the door leading to the garage.

I was in a white off the shoulder dress, accessorised by the beaded belt around my waist and red beaded bangles, paired with orange gladiator sandals. While Amanda was in a pastel pink dress that was fitted yet flowy. She paired it with a pastel pick faux fur coat. Her curls straightened out then lightly curled at the bottom.

We were off to the Grand Ball, every ranking wolf is expected to attend. If not the Alpha King would deal with you and no one wanted to meet him under bad conditions. So, we all attended year in and year out. I found it a little like Gatsby's elaborate parties, no one says it but we all know the King is on the search for his mate. He hasn't found her and that doesn't put him in such a great light. Many wolves have even gone out to assume he has no mate.

That wouldn't make him less of a King, his uncle, Lonwabo, had no mate, meaning he had no kids which is why the title went down to his brother, Kenneth. He had found his mate whilst his brother was still King so he had heirs. He quickly passed the title down to our current King. King Theo, Kenneth did so because he hated... perhaps even resented being a Royal. This has been common knowledge, he never hid from that fact. So when he was appointed people were afraid, thinking his hate for his royalty would make him a horrible ruler. Fortunately it did not, he was great. Theo even better.

So needless to say we were all in good hands as long as we attended because the whole Royal family would be there. The other Gatsby-esque thing about the Ball? No one has actually ever seen the Royal family. Sure you could try and say whoever shows face to every Ball is clearly one but... everyone shows face every single year. You see new faces and old faces all the time, besides there must be thousands of people attending how would you know?

All we get is a newspaper every morning from the Royals, detailing everything they think we need to know. Every household receives the paper courtesy of the witch that resides within the Royal Castle. This is the one tactic that annoys Amanda – mainly because she has to fetch this paper from the front door of her home every day.

She thinks 'it's the twenty-first century, they really could just send an email. Or jeez, create a Twitter page, we'll check it when we wanna know if Theo has found his mate or not.'