Chapter 22: ²²: the ball²

Rose looked at me with widened eyes before shaking her head. "You don’t know who Mayla Kayden is? You surely live in the Starlight Empire, right?" she asked, looking genuinely shocked.

"I just wasn’t interested in news and gossip growing up, so I don’t know her. Why? Is she someone so important?" I asked, trying to sound like a genuinely clueless person.

"It’s okay if you don’t know. You have me now. I’ll keep you updated with all the gossip in the world from now on!" Rose said, patting her chest proudly before continuing in a hushed tone.

"She’s the only daughter of Elder Kayden. It’s rumored that she’s Alpha Kael’s girlfriend and is going to be our Luna soon." Her eyes sparkled as she said it, as if she had absolutely no doubt the rumor was true.

I, on the other hand, felt as though a literal bomb had exploded inside my head. He already had a girlfriend?

But Grandmother had said otherwise, and yesterday he certainly hadn’t looked like he was rejecting me because of another woman.

Had I seriously tried to seduce an already committed man?

Eww.

But... what if it was just a rumor? Yes. It had to be. Otherwise, he would have simply told me he already had a girlfriend instead of saying everything else he had.

Whatever the truth was, today I had to find out. And for that... I had to meet him.

I was absentmindedly fidgeting with my fingers when the entire hall suddenly fell silent.

Everyone straightened in attention toward the grand staircase. My eyes followed their gazes. Right there stood Kael, dressed in an impeccably tailored black tuxedo that perfectly accentuated his broad shoulders and muscular frame.

I could feel my heartbeat grow slightly frantic as I took in the way everyone around him treated him.

Even the most regal-looking nobles lowered their heads respectfully while speaking to him, as though they feared even their breathing might offend him.

And I... I had spoken to that very man like I was doing him a favour. And tonight I was planning to act like a brat all over again. I could only hope he agreed to my proposal this time.

"Oh my! Look! Mayla Kayden is indeed with Alpha!" Rose exclaimed beside me, her voice filled with excitement. Only then did I realize Kael wasn’t alone.

Two steps behind him walked a striking woman dressed in a sleek, floor-length black satin evening gown with a thigh-high slit. The dress hugged her figure elegantly, while a fitted black blazer draped effortlessly over her shoulders gave her a commanding, sophisticated appearance.

Every step she took radiated confidence.

The way she carried herself made it seem as though she believed she stood above everyone else in the room.

And the fact that her outfit matched Kael’s almost perfectly only strengthened the impression that they were together.

What was I supposed to do now?

If he already had her... Then why hadn’t he simply told me the moment I tried to seduce him?

I could practically feel every plan I had carefully built over the past few months crumbling apart as I watched Mayla smile gracefully while accepting greetings alongside Kael.

There was no way I wanted to involve myself with him if he already had a girlfriend.

What was I supposed to do now? How could Grandmother have made such a huge mistake?

And if Mayla was already his girlfriend...

Then what about the announcement he had made six months ago, saying he was willing to choose a mateless she-wolf to bear his heir?

The more I thought about it, the more irritated I became.

I looked away, suddenly wanting nothing more than to return to my room at the packhouse and rethink everything from the beginning.

But before I could... My eyes met his the man whom I was cursing again and again in my head for ruining all my plans - Kael Dreven.

He was already looking at me. I instinctively glanced behind me to see whether he was actually looking at someone else and I had misunderstood.

There was no one. So... He really was looking at me.

With that same unreadable expression, his eyes slowly traveled over me from head to toe before he bit the inside of his cheek, almost as though I had somehow annoyed him just by existing.

I scoffed inwardly. What was his problem now? I deliberately broke eye contact, turned toward Rose, and calmly took another sip of my sparkling drink.

For some reason... His mere presence suddenly felt suffocating. Maybe I really should just leave.

"When will Louis show up? It’s his birthday party after all," Rose asked, still staring expectantly toward the staircase.

"I don’t know. Maybe he’s cau—" I couldn’t finish my sentence. The orchestra suddenly changed its melody, and everyone, including Kael and his entourage turned toward the staircase.

Apparently... This was the birthday boy’s entrance.

Moments later, Louis Dreven descended the grand staircase, his sharp blue eyes sweeping across the crowd with a gaze so cold it looked as though he might kill anyone who breathed the wrong way.

Strangely... Out of everyone present, his eyes stopped exactly where I was standing.

And for some reason, he smirked.

The expression only deepened the dangerous glint in his blue eyes, making him resemble a predator that had just spotted its prey.

"Weirdo," I muttered under my breath.

He finally looked away and walked straight toward his brother.

Good. Now I wanted to curse both brothers equally.

I should have just stayed in my room.

"Rose, you enjoy yourself. I’m not feeling well. I think I’ll leave," I said, turning fully toward her and deliberately keeping my back to the two brothers who had become the unfortunate victims of the massacre currently taking place inside my mind.

Rose, however, wasn’t looking at me.

She was staring somewhere behind me.

Her eyes had gone wide like a deer caught in headlights, as though she hadn’t even heard a single word I had just said.

"Ros—"

I had barely begun calling her name when a deep voice spoke from directly behind me.

A voice I definitely did not want to hear right now.