The swan princess (reimagined)

The first time you saw that annoying werewolf you were barely a kid. He was visiting over the summer because he was the son of someone important, you weren’t sure who. You didn’t care. You just cared how annoying he was and how he always went behind you, following you like a puppy. You guessed he might be a puppy after all, because of the whole werewolf thing. You didn’t understand that too well.

When you started to grow, things became weird. You started to feel things when you looked at him, things you didn’t recognize. It was like tiny bugs were running around your insides, fluttering when you looked at him for a while. He kept being annoying, and you two kept fighting over everything. Your parents didn’t mind it too much, it was just a kids game after all.

One thing led to another, and before you realized you were a teenager. He kept being annoying, but in a way that didn’t infuriate you anymore. He was annoying because he was so pretty, when he turned and chased you down at the garden you laughed and laughed as he jokingly snapped his fangs at you. It was more playful than annoying, and the things that fluttered inside of you became more and more insistent. They became what you learned to call feelings. You had feelings for him, but he didn’t say anything about having feelings, so you didn’t either.

But when he saw you talking to another for the first time, you weren’t expecting him to turn into his wolf and snap at the dude. He pissed himself in the middle of the court and both of you were chastised. You didn’t know why he reacted like that, and he didn’t say. He walked away without looking back. But you followed, you always followed.

After what felt like a lifetime, he confessed he liked you, his wolf liked you. You two were too young to understand that meant something more than just liking, but your first kiss was so sweet and so magical that every single flutter inside of you turned into butterflies. You felt like everything made sense in that single moment.

Years later, when he asked your hand in marriage, his alpha told you “it took long enough”, and explained what mates were. Your werewolf fiance was as stupid as you thought when you were kids, he had all the signs but he didn’t recognize it. But even though he was stupid, you weren’t better yourself. Someone, probably your maid, told you that those butterflies you felt when you kissed, those weren't just feelings, you were in love with him.

And everything just… clicked.