After Hearing Their Thoughts, I Chose My Rival as My Mate Chapter 01

After Hearing Their Thoughts, I Chose My Rival as My Mate Chapter 01

I looked at Cedric Vale, the Alpha heir I had grown up with, and suddenly heard his private thoughts.

[I had already sworn myself to Serena in secret. If Aveline chooses me as her mate, I’ll use my father’s recent death as an excuse and say I’m in no state to complete the bond.]

Then I looked at Lucian Hale, the royal tutor who had always treated me with gentle patience.

His face remained calm, but bitterness flickered in his eyes.

[I’m only kind to Aveline because I’m afraid she’ll bully Serena. If she insists on sealing the mate bond with me, I’ll drink a witch-brewed sterility draught and keep both my body and my wolf loyal to Serena for life.]

Serena was my younger sister, the little pack princess everyone in Silvercrest Pack adored and protected.

I let out a quiet sigh. Just as I was about to tell my father that I was willing to go to Bloodfang Pack as part of the political mate alliance, I heard a grief-stricken thought coming from the corner.

[Cedric and Lucian are both worthless. If they won’t do it, I will!]

I snapped my head around.

The man sitting in the wheelchair was Rowan Blackthorne, my longtime rival, the one I had been at odds with for years.

He had once been a commander.

Now everyone called him the broken Alpha.

[Why won’t she look at me? Is it just because my legs are ruined?]

[If the medicine intercepted at the border really can heal old bone injuries, I could return to the battlefield immediately.]

[Then I’ll personally lead the warriors back against Bloodfang Pack, and no one will ever have to send her there as a political mate to be humiliated.]

That medicine?

I remembered that in the smuggled crate of medicines my border informants had sent back two days ago, there had indeed been a remedy for old injuries sealed away by a witch.

Once I realized I could hear other people’s private thoughts, the Mate Selection Ceremony became much simpler.

From his throne, my father, Alpha King Aldric, looked at me with a warm smile.

“Aveline, why are you still standing there? These young Alphas are all waiting for you to speak.”

I swept my gaze over the so-called candidates in the hall. They were impeccably dressed and standing straight, but not one of them was looking at me.

Every single one of them was looking past me, toward Serena behind me.

My father did not notice.

He trusted me too much, and he also trusted that none of them would dare slight me.

He raised a hand and pointed toward Cedric.

“Cedric grew up with you, and he is the heir of the Vale family. If you choose him, I can rest easy.”

Cedric immediately dropped to one knee. “Alpha King, my father has only just passed. I’m in no state to seal the mate bond.”

My father frowned. “Then you can be pledged to each other first. Aveline is still young. She can wait.”

Cedric’s back stiffened, but he kept his head lowered.

[She’s actually making the Alpha King pressure me for her. Aveline really has been in love with me for years. She thinks she can use his favor to force me to bow.]

I almost laughed from sheer anger.

I was in love with him?

Why didn’t I know that?

“Father, the Vale family and the royal bloodline are already tied together. If we seal the mate bond too, it will only invite gossip.”

Cedric immediately cast me a grateful look.

I only found it ironic.

My father nodded. “You have a point.”

Then he looked at Lucian.

“What about Lucian? He is older, but he has taught you for years and has always treated you with real care.”

Lucian pressed his lips together and looked at Serena with sorrow in his eyes.

[Serena, I’m sorry. Even if I’m truly forced to become Aveline’s mate, I will never mark her. My heart will always belong to you alone.]

His melodrama made my skin crawl, I shook my head at once.

“No. He’s too old.”

Lucian jerked his head up, as if he could not believe I had just rejected him in public.

Cedric immediately slipped into the patronizing tone of an older brother. “Aveline, Lucian has always been patient with you. How could you hurt him like that?”

I looked at him coldly.

“What about you? You and I grew up together, and everyone outside this hall thinks we are close. Now Bloodfang Pack has specifically demanded a royal political mate alliance, but you refuse to be my mate. Doesn’t that hurt me too?”

Cedric’s face flushed, then went pale. He could not say a word.

My father sighed.

[Aveline is just like I was when I was young. She is proud and stubborn. If she is truly sent to Bloodfang Pack, she will suffer terribly. And yet these fools cannot see a single good thing about her.]

My eyes stung. My father had always favored me.

Even when Bloodfang Pack demanded a princess from Silvercrest Pack for a political mate alliance, he had still managed to buy me enough time for a Mate Selection Ceremony.

But I had been born into royal privilege. It was only right that I shoulder a responsibility for the pack once.

“I’ll go as the political mate.”

The moment I finished speaking, Lucian was the first to frown and stop me.

“Aveline, the old Alpha of Bloodfang Pack is brutal by nature. After he dies, by their rules, you will be forced to be passed on to his heir. That is not an alliance. It is humiliation.”

I scoffed. “If I don’t go, then Serena will have to.”

The hall fell silent in an instant. None of them said a word.

Only Serena sobbed softly, as if she had suffered some unbearable wrong.

After a moment, Lucian gritted his teeth and stepped forward with the look of a man making a noble sacrifice.

“If you are determined to do this, I am willing to…”

A sharp tap cut him off. Everyone turned toward the sound.

Rowan Blackthorne sat in his wheelchair, his silver-gray eyes sweeping coldly across the room.

Then he spoke slowly.

“Have all of you forgotten that there is still someone else here?”