His Selected Mate

Chapter 13

I dropped my roll and immediately looked around. At the entrance of the kitchen stood Officer West. He must have smelled me too because his eyes were looking around until they landed on me. He made his way in my direction and smiled when he saw all the bread I had on the counter. "I was coming to do the same thing before my next shift." He walked towards the same door that kitchen boy had opened and a minute later he came back with his own pile of bread.

"I'm glad you caught on when I looked at you." I let out a quick, sarcastic laugh. "It did look a little weird Officer West." I picked up my bread roll and began eating it. He made a face, "Please, when it's just you and me, Tobias or Toby will do just fine. "Okay. So, was there anything you wanted to talk about? I tried to look for you but your scent led to the barracks and I couldn't just walk in there by myself." He nodded. "I understand. I just wanted to talk to you, werewolf to werewolf." I motioned for him to get on with it.

"As you probably guessed, there's a lot of werewolves at the palace and I figured you woulda' had some questions." I had finished my roll by the time he was done talking. I thought about it for a second and realized he was right, I guess I did have some questions. I sat on the counter and grabbed my second piece of bread. "Do you know how many werewolves live here at the palace?" He was silent as he thought about it for a moment. "Maybe 100, 120. Most of us are guards but the rest are scattered through out the rest of the palace staff."

"What do you all do during a full moon?" He took a bite of his bread roll and nodded. "As a guard, personally, I can't do it in my quarters since we have to share them, wasn't lucky enough to have a werewolf for a roommate. Same thing for the maids and the butlers, they have to share quarters. Most of us go outside into the woods surrounding the palace-"

"How do you all get there? Certainly, the cameras would have seen hordes of people going outside at night," I said cutting him off. "We discovered an underground tunnel that leads to a way out in the deepest part of the forest. You're welcome to join us this full moon although you don't have to since you've got a room to yourself."

"Thank you for the offer," I said absentmindedly, "although I'm not sure if I'm going to spend the full moon in my room. I don't want to leave claw marks everywhere or tear sheets and pillows. I mean, how would I explain that to my maids?" He looked at me as if to say 'I understand your frustrations.' "It's not easy to maintain this secret in a place with such high surveillance and with so many people running about."

I know I wanted to spend the full moon with Maxon but that was before he figured out that I was his mate. I needed a plan B. Tempest would you be against spending the full moon with the other werewolves outside? I asked. I don't see why not. I voiced the next idea that came into my head. "Since my bedroom isn't really an option right now, is there anything else besides going outside?"

"Well, there have been a few werewolves that have spent the night in one of the safe rooms, you know, the ones for the palace staff. They're durable enough to hold you but the only downside is that you'd have to let someone know, otherwise you could be stuck in one of those rooms for a couple days. You'd have to go with them and show them which room you're going to pick." We were silent for several minutes as we finished our diverse selections of bread. Suddenly Toby broke the silence with a question. "How have you been enjoying the palace food? It's good right? The stuff they feed the guards is pretty good so I can't imagine how much better the food you're eating is." I grinned. "The food is amazing. For once, there's enough to satisfy me." As I finished that sentence I thought about my family. Sure, the checks the Selection was sending would be helping them but they certainly weren't eating like me. "I just wish my family was here to enjoy it with me. Goddess knows they need it."

"I understand. I was a Seven before I was drafted. Thankfully, I was sent to the palace and the money I make is enough to help my family back home when I send checks."