This new alpha was really one-of-a-kind. Outside the arrogance he displayed to me earlier at the back of the pack house, I admit that he truly accomplished great things at his age. Alpha Casimir and the rest of his warriors were not that easy to defeat. To defeat him and his leaders is one thing. But merging his old pack with Grey Moon to create a bigger pack was really unexpected. Because normally, the people of the defeated pack would end up being slaves or worst, killed together with their leaders. Grey Moon was lucky to have not fallen into that situation.

No doubt, Alpha Hunter was at the peak of his prime. I wonder where his mate was.

“It is true that you cannot get the best of everything. If only he had a mate, then he would have been a perfect alpha in my eyes.”

My thoughts were interrupted when my ears caught that sound from the side. It was a pair of older-looking women whom I believe were part of the original Silver Arrow Pack.

So he was still unmated? Did he not yet find his mate?

“I’m right there at you. It’s just sad that he had to pay for his father's crimes. I couldn’t imagine you losing the ability to smell your mate, knowing that it was the only thing that could confirm whenever he or she was near. Poor alpha! That evil witch was truly powerful to do that to him.”

Ah, so he was cursed. He was cursed to lose the ability to sense his mate.

While I still didn’t like him for what he had shown me earlier, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. I couldn’t imagine having all of the fame and success in life but still being alone at the end of the day. While I wasn’t too obsessed with finding my mate, I was one of those werewolves who dreamed of being with him. And to live in the reality of never having to meet your mate was really gut-wrenching.

“To begin this feast, let’s race our glasses for a toast as we await the full moon to show and wait for the blessing of the moon goddess. Cheers, everybody!”

From the side, the new beta, Beta Spike, clinked his wine glass with a spoon, signaling everyone to begin drinking.

I looked to the side and caught a glass with strangers behind me and joined others for a drink.

‘This is going to be a long night. So, yeah, cheers to ourselves!'

After we all did that, everyone got back to their own businesses but mainly talked about Alpha Hunter. The latter went to a long table with wolves in high positions. I thought he was going to introduce a Luna before, but no one showed up.

After some time, everyone noticed that the full moon was slowly showing. To complete this celebration and offer respect to the Moon Goddess, Hunter had to do a dance ritual with one of the she-wolves from the pack.

Below the stage, everyone started to gather at the center, and the eerie yet magical music of a piano echoed. Hunter stood in the middle and roamed his eyes around his subjects. I purposely didn’t bother to look at what he was exactly doing.

Hunter needed a partner. He needed one because he hadn’t a Luna yet. Every she-wolves were expectant. However, Maggie and I were different. We were uninterested in this. We didn’t need attention. We blended well in our crowd, but I stood frozen when Hunter said something.

I felt a strong kick on my chest when I felt his gaze on me, although a lot of our pack members were covering me from him. I knew he was looking at me.

“You, the lady in the long red gown….”

‘The fuck! I was wearing a red gown, but I couldn’t be too sure. I won’t look in his direction.’

But I could start to feel some stares at me and the other she-wolves wearing the same color of the gown in my direction.

“The one with the messy bun and wearing a glittering red gown.”

‘Shit! He’s really specifically asking for me, isn’t he?’ I grimaced and panicked. I felt like running away but my feet were glued to the ground.

I didn’t want to perform this ritual with Alpha Hunter. The Moon Goddess might even not bless us because I didn’t like this alpha. He had to choose another she-wolf.

I bit my lip. Hunter surely knew how to get on my nerves and make my heart race with worry.

“Aria, the new alpha was calling you. What are you doing?”

It was Uncle Stan. He looked worried and I couldn’t blame him. Everybody was looking in our direction now.

I heaved a deep sigh. I wouldn’t get out of this trouble now.

I slowly walked towards him while others quickly made way for me. I caught some envious and shocked stares while all the male population's attention was on me.

This was too much for trying to be lowkey.

Hunter flashed a wicked smirk before turning his expression to his usual poker face before he took steps toward me. He laid his hand like a gentleman, and I nervously reached out for it.

With the sound of the new music for the ritual, I closed my eyes and bowed with him for respect as we stood at the center. When I opened my orbs, I intently stared at him. I shook off all the worries and inhibitions in my body. This was just a dance. Since he troubled himself for asking me to this. I could at least get back at him through this, couldn’t I?

I wickedly smiled with the idea and saw his eyes flash with amusement watching my expression.

“Thank you for asking me to do this, Alpha.” I sardonically emphasized the word alpha, which turned his eyes into a gold glint.

He placed his hands on my waist while my hands were on his broad shoulders. I didn’t leave his eyes, and neither was he. Our attention was only on each other, forgetting all the prying eyes fixated on us.

“I can’t find other interesting she-wolves around here, kitten. However, I still haven’t forgiven you for disobeying me,” Hunter lamented. We gracefully danced through the beat of the rhythmic music.

When the music changed, it was my turn to slowly get back to him. He was supposed to stand idle as I danced in a painfully slow manner. I purposely slowly caressed his skin as I walked around him. Then I moved towards him and pressed my delicate body towards him and whispered, “Oh, is that so? Can’t this understanding alpha forget what this bad kitten did earlier?”

Hunter’s eyes darkened. He gritted his teeth as his sharp and hot gaze landed on me. His gaze landed on the tiny space between us, especially on my exposed smooth cleavage.

The side of my lips raised. This man undoubtedly was enjoying this. When the music changed, I stepped away from him and flawlessly danced again, gently doing hand movements. I held the fabric of my gown and carried the side of it, exposing my legs, and threw it gracefully to the other side.

His eyes never left me as I attentively seduced him. After a long minute, I was almost done with the she-wolf part of the ritual and softly clap and stand in place. I looked at him with flirtations and mockery, challenging him. It was now his turn to dance.

Hunter also circled around me with his deep and hot stare fixated on me. He took a step forward and closed our distance, making my heartbeats go wild while his hands were busy worshipping me like I was Moon Goddess. He caressed my skin, and I felt my skin burnt with his touch. I clenched my fist as I muffled my gasps.

Our positions were changed. The temptress was caught like a rabbit under the big wolf's grasp.

“That’s quite a show, kitten. I admit, I enjoyed it,” Hunter said huskily.

‘Moon Goddess, why did you put me in this position?! I’m sorry, but I really can’t respect this man!’ I whispered to myself.

I was about to speak my mind when I felt his hot breath approaching my lips. ‘What he’s planning to do? This is not part of the ritual.’

I shivered with anticipation and breathed nervously. Before Hunter could close our distance, he stopped. He licked his lips with a dark desire apparent in his eyes and held my hands to put them again on his shoulders.

My face turned like a ripped tomato with embarrassment. I expected a damned kiss.

I avoided his gaze, and we did some final waltz again to finish the ritual. After we did that, everyone slowly formed pairs and danced. I didn’t stay to his side and swatted his hands away without others noticing it.

Hunter smirked and gave me a warning glare before I quickly strode to our table.

I tried to look for the rest of my family for support and explained that humiliation, but they were busy dancing in the crowd. Even Maggie was paired with a young boy.

What a night!

Maggie was still catching up with some friends while Uncle Stan was talking to some elders in our old pack. They seemed to have a great time reconnecting with everybody. While me? I still couldn’t get over what had happened on the dance floor.

Alpha Hunter intentionally shamed me. He intentionally embarrassed me and that was a fact!

“Aria, calm down. Calm down, okay? It’s just a dance. I am sure that not everyone noticed that supposed ki—whatever you want to call that. Just move on, okay?” It was my wolf Bella, trying to console me on the biggest humiliation of my life.

“But hey! You really look stunning tonight. No wonder why Alpha Hunter had started to take an interest in you, kitten,” she continued to explain and joke. She even imitated how Hunter referred to me as a kitten, which really lightened the atmosphere when I muffled a chuckle.

I pouted when Bella kept teasing me through the mention of Hunter's annoying endearment, kitten. Every time I tried to defend myself by explaining my side, Bella would only heartily snicker. Nonetheless, she still made me smile, albeit I was abashed, worried, and annoyed at the same time. With Bella around, I could be the same girl I used to be.

So, as a result, my worries slowly dissipated and focused on arguing with her. But when I caught a glimpse of that arrogant alpha, my blood boiled once again.

For all they knew, their new alpha had a foul character. They thought he wasn’t the usually overbearing type of alpha, but he was the worst. He was even lustful. I felt his wanton need when we bickered and danced, considering we just met today, and he successfully masked the scent of it to not disturb others. Usually, powerful creatures like him could do it. But still, he acted as if I extremely wronged him.

Now, he even put me in a tight spot. I just went back to the pack. Some might welcome me or ignore my presence, but I was sure I would be the main course for the gossip circulating in the pack because he chose me to be his partner for the pack ritual. There were lots of she-wolves to choose from. Why did it have to be me?

“So, who do we have here? Ah! It’s the woman who caught Alpha Hunter’s eyes!”

Just as I was thinking the same thing, a scandalous voice exactly expressed what was on my mind. And yet, the woman who uttered it was not from our previous pack. I am sure she was with the arrogant Alpha Hunter previously.

My eyes glazed over her. The woman was undeniably beautiful, with blonde hair, expressive eyes, and a to-die-for body. I never knew the girl, as this was the first time I went out to socialize with the rest of our pack after coming back here a few days ago.

“Hmmm…Hi…” I uttered. I tried posing a faint but sincere smile while offering my hand for a handshake. “My name is Aria Hemmingwood.”

But instead of taking my hand, her face frowned. She scanned me from head to toe before throwing me a disgusted look. “How dare you offer your dirty hand to me. Don’t you know me? I am Chloe Witchwork, the future Luna of this pack. If I were you, I will stop seducing Hunter. The nerve of you to do that! You are nothing but a lowly, slutty, good-for-nothing she-wolf!

I took back my hands, extremely surprised by the way she acted. I thought she approached me to possibly make friends but I was wrong. How stupid of me to think about that!

I clenched my fists, wanting to clear my side. While it looks like I played with Hunter earlier, it doesn’t mean I was interested in him. Furthermore, I didn’t tell him to pick me to be his partner. And if I was to turn back time, I would rather not choose to be picked by him. And this was exactly the reason why. “Miss Witchwork, let me make things clear. I am not interested in Alpha Hunter and most of all, this pack’s new Luna. You are barking at the wrong tree here.”

Chloe gasped and rolled her eyes. She glared at me while she was rendered speechless.

“Pretending to be the victim, eh? Are you trying to make a fool out of me? Well, let me tell you this, omega. Don’t mess with me if you know what is good for you. SO BACK OFF!”

I sighed. A part of me wanted to equally challenge her to defend myself but I chose not to. I didn’t want to mess with her pack more. I was merely wasting my time if I did.

So instead, I turned my back and intended to leave the gathering this early. Besides, the ritual was done. I didn’t have anything to do here. I better rest and prepare myself to accept the pack duty, and the next time I ran to Hunter in the upcoming days. He would surely call us at his office for dissemination of duties. It was one of my piles of dilemmas, to be honest.

Unfortunately, Chloe’s friends moved towards my front and blocked my path.

I rolled my eyes and bit my lip.

Chloe grabbed my arm from behind, giving me a deathly glare. “No one turned their back on me!”

I sighed before taking back my arm. This girl was really testing my patience. “Please, I don’t want any trouble. If my presence really bothers you, then I would gladly go home.”

I waited for them to get the signal that I was not in the mood for this petty fight. I wanted to go home and rest, but they were making it hard for me to get that simple wish. I kept waiting for them to clear the way, but they still didn’t move. We were starting to gather some attention. I didn’t like it. My blood was starting to boil with irritation.

“You don’t want any trouble? Dear, you were already in trouble when you tried messing with my property. Is this the way your guardians raised you? Ah! Maybe, it’s their idea for you to use your body to climb your status. Did your father teach you how to spread your legs to the alpha to get what they want?”

Chloe’s remark was below the belt. Since I was taken by Uncle Stan from his abusive brother, he became the father that more than I could ask for. I wouldn’t let anyone malign or taint his name. Not now, not ever.

The thin string of patience I had was starting to get thinner. One wrong move, hell would break loose in this pack. I couldn’t care about my image or anything else.

“What did you say, Chloe?” I asked. My voice was laced with killing intent as I took some steps toward her. I felt my eyes blazing, like the color of the gown I was wearing.

But instead of stepping back, Chloe repeated what she said. “I said, your father is a pimp and you’re his prostitute.”

With a fierce dash, I aimed to break her neck. But the bitch dodged my attack and grabbed a handful of my hair. I did the same. I didn’t remember what had happened next. All I knew was that we were now doing a catfight in the middle of this celebration.

The warriors started to appear and stopped us. I also saw Maggie and Uncle Stan. Chloe looked hurt with an obvious scowl on her face while the other she-wolves' who ridiculed me were mortified. They immediately dispersed and left Chloe behind.

Maggie gave me a mind link, asking what had happened but I chose to ignore her. Meanwhile, Uncle Stan looked disappointed and shook his head. With that look, I already knew what he meant.

Today was the pack’s gathering and an important day for all of us. This was for the unity, peace, and strong bond of the entire pack under Alpha Hunter's leadership. I might be punished severely or not for doing this.

I needed to calm myself. I closed my eyes and inhaled a lot of air before I exhaled and opened them again.

The moment my eyes saw the surroundings again, I saw Hunter looking at me from his previous spot with the high-ranking official of the newly merged pack. He drank a glass of wine, calmly put the glass on the table, and stood up as if he planned to approach me. His movements were all in slow-motion in my view as I heard my heart beat with anxiety and excitement for him.

Silence suddenly overtook the gathering as I watched every bit of his movement.

I couldn’t see everyone else and could only hear our breathing and heartbeats like we were one.

This was going to be a mess.

What was Alpha Hunter up to?

Why was he moving towards us?

Our attention abruptly went to Chloe when she wailed, and her crocodile tears flowed. “A-Alpha… Alpha Hunter, that bitch did this to me! I was only talking to her, but she suddenly goes berserk and wanted to kill me. I didn’t do anything wrong. This is all her fault!”

The side of his lips curved up when he glanced at me before he helped Chloe stand up and check her wounds.

Go to the pack clinic to check if you fractured some bones. I’ll deal with this accordingly,” Hunter powerfully said. He eyed a particular pack warrior and ordered him to accompany Chloe, who hurriedly adhered to Hunter's command.

“Continue the celebration!” Hunter yelled, which brought my mind back to my graving situation. Everyone who witnessed the scene dispersed and acted as if nothing had happened. And then, he turned his gaze to me.

“Go straight to my office tomorrow,” Hunter muttered before he vanished at my confused sight.

“How about you let me run loose to the woods for a bit because you promised me last night, Aria?” Bella excitedly chirped, interrupting my thoughts.

I thought Bella wasn’t around since she was silent since I woke up this morning.

“Are you sure? I thought you don’t want me to be on Alpha Hunter’s bad side again. What if we came in late? He didn’t set a specific time to meet me in his office.”

Bella scoffed and became silent again. I looked at how the sun was positioned and spread its rays of light towards our surroundings, including at the plants we passed by as I kept walking now to Hunter’s house. Based on the condition of the surroundings, I could estimate or tell what time it was.

Depending on how plants followed the path of the sunlight, and what animals were doing, it was now easier because I was now back living in a civilized area. It was one of the key takeaways I learned from living on the mountaintop for almost a year. This knowledge came in handy, especially since we didn’t have a way to determine the time before. Maggie taught me how to know it through observing nature.

“I think we can spare several minutes to take a run. I think it’s not even 7 o’clock in the morning yet. Besides, he wasn't around. He should be anywhere near his house since he asked us.”

Bella was still silent, but I felt the gush of her excitement surging in our interconnected souls.

I smiled and went to a nearby huge old tree. I hid behind it and quickly removed all my clothes and swiftly went up to leave all my clothes at the closest tree branch.

Moreover, deep inside, I was ecstatic that Bella wanted to run in the woods for a while. Then I didn’t have to make up a reason to not go to Hunter’s office this soon.

I prepared myself for shifting into my wolf form while I felt the cold breeze of the morning as I went down the tree with all my nakedness. The sounds of my bones cracking echoed and later, My wolf surfaced, flaunting her mystifying and wonderful beauty.

One thing, I could thank Moon Goddess for was my wolf’s magnificence. She was beautifully white, a rare color for she-wolves. Moreover, there was an old legend saying that there was something special with white werewolves because it had been decades before they showed up in werewolf history. But I didn’t know the other stories about it. Besides, Bella wasn’t born with white fur, I had shared before that from grey color, she suddenly shed the color of her fur to this white when I turned seventeen and six months old. Did this have anything to do with us meeting our mate 6 months from now?

It was too early to tell.

I felt flying and refreshed when we ran into the woods. Upon her carefree sprinting from the edge of the woods, Bella suddenly censored another wolf with mixed colors of brown and cream-colored fur not far away than twelve meters away from us. Based on his appearance and smell, he was not one with the assigned pack warriors we got used to seeing around.

Bella made sure to mind-link the other wolf before nearing our distance, saying we weren’t rouges or from the other packs because we were both unfamiliar with each other. The other wolf confirmed he wasn’t alone or a wandering wolf when his orbs glinted a bit, indicating he checked our scent while he was still away from us. We also did the same again because we couldn’t be too sure too if they weren’t from other packs even, they could strongly mind-link us.

Reaching out to the human soul deep inside the wolf, I introduced myself. Maybe it wasn’t bad to have a friend now we were staying in the pack.

“Hi, I am Aria Hemmingwood. Nice meeting you! You and your wolf seem nice. Are you on patrol?”

I greeted through our mind-link, while we were both still in each other’s wolf form.

“Oh, I know you! You were the she-wolf Alpha Hunter performed the pack ritual with, right? Your name is quite popular. It was a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Hemmingwood. I’m Clark Nicholas, and yes, I am actually on patrol,” Clark chattered.

“You can call me, Aria. It’s nice—”

I stopped midways when a loud cry of a child from the restricted area of the woods echoed. It wasn’t restricted for nothing. That place was full of stones, and marshes, and too dangerous for those who haven’t shifted to their wolves.

Bella and Clark’s wolf rushed to the area and were careful not to walk into some of the marshes. “Help me! Mommy! Daddy! I’ll follow you now. I won’t stray away from home and run to the woods! Please, help me!”

As we near the source of the cry, we heard the pup’s voice clearer. He sounded adorable and pitiful at the same time. Through Bella’s eyes, I saw that he was stuck in a marsh, and the boy kept sinking because he kept struggling within it.

Clark’s wolf roared to tell the kid that we were here to save him, but the kid cried louder instead.

“I’ll change into my human form Clark. Spare me a minute. We can’t help him if we are in our wolves’ form,” I mind-linked him.

It didn’t take us minutes before we were back in our human forms, but Clark was still half-naked. He was also good-looking, but he had a softer feature for a guy.

“We’ll save you, pup. I promise. Stop moving or you’ll sink yourself deeper.” I tried to encourage the boy who seemed really scared right now.

“Mommy?” the pup asked. I chuckled and shook my head. Clark stared at me with adoration before I cut his look and asked what our plan was.

“I had an idea, wait.” Clark deliberately made a rope from the materials that could be found in the forest and after some quick two minutes, he finished it before he tied it to a tree. He pulled it to test if it was strong enough to hold his weight and it seemed it could.

He told me his plan and we tried to execute it.

“Little one, please reach for my hands. We’ll get you out of that. Trust me,” I cooed to the boy. Hesitant he still reached for me while I reached for Clark’s hands. He pulled us with his strength, but it wasn’t enough.

“In the count of three. Pulled the kid stronger too.”

“Roger that.”

“One… two… three, pull!”

I felt we successfully pulled the boy out of the marsh and due to inertia, we didn’t estimate where we would land. The pup safely landed on the muddled part, but I fell into a hard and warm thing. I smelled a manly scent and my face immediately flushed with embarrassment.

“I-I’m… I’m sorry, Clark!” I said and was about to get away from his chest. However, a familiar voice boomed and made my body quicker with fright.

“What do you think you are doing here? Isn’t this place restricted? And you even brought a kid here?!”

“Shit! We seemed we had forgotten something, Bella!” I complained and scrunched my nose. I only wanted to come late, but not totally forgot about him. I hurriedly stood up and help the kid get up like Alpha Hunter didn’t catch us in an embarrassing position.

While helping the kid get up, he cried. “I’m sorry, Mommy! Daddy! I’ll not do it again!”

I reached for his face and dried off his tears while Clark got up and report to Alpha Hunter. “Sorry, Alpha we heard someone asking for help and the sound led us to hear. We didn’t mean to break the law.”

Hunter’s face was still dimmed, his face twitched before he furrowed his brows and commanded, “Take the kid to the pack clinic before you bring him to his family.’’

Then he stared at the kid and gave him a warning glare, saying, “Pup, remember to obey your parents and never wander to the forest again. Are we clear?”

The child muffled his cry and nodded. He might have an idea who was speaking to him. Well, he made the right judgment, and I couldn’t blame him because Hunter was giving off a terrifying aura.

“And you, Ms. Hemmingwood. Come with me!” I felt thunder hit me with nervousness when he said that. He was still furious.

“Won’t you explain yourself?” I was about to speak, but he didn’t let me and send some words that left me shaking with irritation. “Let’s talk about that great flirting skill of yours later. Follow me to the office after five minutes, I will check some things first.”

Hunter immediately dashed away, leaving me clenching my fist.

For a man, he had such a tactless mouth. I bridged my brows together and hurriedly retrieved my clothes before I came in late again and received another hurtful remark.

Hope I can stay calm in his office.