It was nearing right on six o'clock when Roxy walked along the doors of the hallway. Isaac had text her their room number – 135. Around the corner and at the opposite end of the building from the Saltwater Woods' hierarchy's room. Of course. It'd been hard to tear herself away from her sister, but she had to get ready for this fancy dinner which would hopefully lead to some answers about Crystal and Isaac.
Passing a maid in the hallway who nodded at her, Roxy smiled warmly back. It wasn't until the maid had bustled into a room with freshly folded towels that Roxy let her confident façade slip. If she was nervous about having four sets of eyes gawp at her in the lobby, then how would she handle having dinner with all Alphas, Lunas, Betas and their soulmates? Then there was the fact that her and Isaac were faking their togetherness so shame wasn't once again brought to Moonlight Ridge.
A sickening nervousness churned in her stomach when she came to the Moonlight Ridge hotel room and forced herself to knock to alert her arrival when she wanted to sprint back to Cleo. Due to being exhausted at growing her "Alpha baby", she was staying in the hotel with popcorn and a movie marathon. Roxy had begged for her older sister to let her stay with her but Cleo had been firm in making her keep up appearances.
Roxy sighed as she continued down the hallway, looking down at the leather of her stomping boots. Her head was an utter mess about having to keep a façade. At Moonlight Ridge the pack members didn't seem to be questioning their Alpha and Luna's strange and distant relationship, so she'd never worried about how they were perceived. Until now. Here, she had to put on an act, only she wasn't acting. In fact, she was secretly enjoying having to sidle up to Isaac each time a pair of eyes fell onto them. Her wolf wasn't minding at all either. But she knew it was a dangerous game for her mind, for when they returned back to Moonlight Ridge Isaac would ice her out as he'd always done. She had to remind herself that while she may not be acting, Isaac was.
The brass numbers on the corridor of doors began dropping. 138, 137, 136... Just as Roxy placed her hand on the doorknob to turn it, it swung open, leaving her to ungracefully stumble into a warm, hard and well-dressed figure. Roxy's skin burnt in the most euphoric way as Isaac steadied her by the shoulders. Then they dropped away as if he really had been scolded. Roxy looked up to Isaac, finding herself staring with a slightly parted mouth, her wolf purring in pure seduction at what could only be described as a feast before them. While she loved him in his usual tight-fitting shirt, jeans and cowboy boots any day, the Alpha standing in front of her was definitely nothing shy of downright sexy. Wearing a black suit, his dark hair tamed with some spritz of water and cleanshaven, he radiated the appearance of a powerful Alpha.
'Hey.' Isaac finished his tie's knot. Roxy could imagine a hundred different things she could do with the silky fabric.
'H-Hi.' She shook herself and stepped into their room. 'You look very fancy for a dinner.'
Their room was just like the Saltwater Woods' room only with slightly different furniture. The couches and pillows still had gold trim and stitching – of course. Behind one of the sets of doors she could smell Tobias and Kayla but there were no sounds.
Isaac frowned at her, his hands tucked into his pockets. 'I told you it was black-tie, remember?'
Roxy's face dropped and she could feel her skin blanching. 'You never told me anything was black-tie!' Her voice had taken on a panicked squeak. 'Isaac, you didn't even tell me how fancy this weekend was!'
'Relax, Roxy. I figured with everything going on it might slip your mind so I got Kayla to organise your dress.'
She gave him a flat look. 'The last time Kayla organised my clothes, my butt cheeks nearly got a tan and my boobs were like prisoners breaking from their cells, remember?'
An animalistic look came into Isaac's eyes and he cleared his throat, it disappearing as quick as it'd come. 'Well she'll be risking her head if she tries something like that again.' He backed away from her, using quickly reflexes to catch an expensive looking vase before it toppled from the table he'd bumped. 'I better go. All the Alphas need to have pre-drinks together... part of keeping alliances.'
Roxy couldn't get a word in before he was gone.
Dragging out a sigh, she begrudgingly twisted on her heel to face the set of closed doors. Striding over, she rapped three quick knocks against them with the back of her knuckles. If I walk in on them doggy style...
Ever so slowly, she cracked the doors open, peaking around cautiously. Kayla or Tobias were nowhere to be seen.
'Hey, Roxy.'
Tobias waltzed out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but black slacks and a belt. Roxy couldn't help but let her eyes roam over the black ink of the tattoos that covered every inch of his dark skin, rolling over his muscular torso and arms; images of sailing ships on rough seas, scrawling scripts, faces of wolves, moons and clouds. His entire body told and impressive and beautiful story. Isaac would always be the only one to make her body hot with a pleasurable and searing heat... but she couldn't deny Kayla had scored herself one hell of a catch. The Beta's grey eyes sparkled with amusement as he caught her eyes assessing him and she felt herself flush, quickly averting her eyes down to the floor.
'Tobias,' muttered Roxy awkwardly, realising she'd been too busy ogling him to utter a greeting.
Kayla burst from the bathroom, clipping a dangling diamond earring in. She was wearing a fluffy pink robe, her face shining with make-up and her raven hair in stunning curls, pinned to one side with a glittering slide. 'Have no fear, your fairy godmother is here!'
Tobias was slipping a black jacket over his silver shirt now, the colour combination contrasting with the greyness of his eyes perfectly. No doubt that Kayla had packed his bags too. Giving Kayla a kiss on the cheek, he continued moving towards the doors. 'I'm off. I'll see you both tonight.'
'So I heard you forgot to pack an evening dress.' Kayla flicked the lights on to a walk-in robe and bustled over to an array of hanging clothes.
'Your brother didn't tell me there was a black-tie event,' grumbled Roxy, flopping onto the foot of the bed.
There was the scraping of hangers sliding, making Roxy wince. When Kayla emerged, a familiar blue dress hanging from her fingers, Roxy felt herself thrown into a trance. Slowly, she rose from the bed, her fingertips finding the silk skirts that flared from a narrow waist before travelling up to the corset bodice embodied with small diamonds. It was a beautiful dress, one which Trent and Cleo had spent a fortune on for her. But it now held such painful memories. That night, she'd gone to the White Moon Ball feeling like Cinderella only to have the prince run from her. After that night, she'd stuffed it into the back of her wardrobe. There had been the temptation to burn it, to completely rid herself of the horribly painful night, but she couldn't be disrespectful to Trent and Cleo and she had loved the dress itself. It'd remained buried deep in the back of her wardrobe in her small room at Saltwater Woods ever since.
Until now.
'How did you find this?' Roxy forced the words through gritted teeth, a ball of emotion bulging in her throat.
Kayla looked slightly uncomfortable, joining her in stroking the beautiful fabric. 'Cleo sent it... by Isaac's request.'
'Why?' It was as if the torment of Isaac's rejection had repeated itself, her loud voice cracking. 'Why on earth would he want me wearing this to a dinner where I'm supposed to wine and dine with the other hierarchies when he fully well knows what happened in this dress?'
'My brother works in mysterious ways,' said Kayla gently.
It wasn't until she'd dragged Roxy into the ensuite, plonked her into a chair in front of the large basin and mirror and began brushing her hair that she spoke again.
'I know my brother is far from perfect, Roxy, but I know him better than anyone and I know he's struggling to keep denying himself of you.' She gave her shoulders a comforting squeeze. 'Now, let's get you all made up.'
Roxy gritted her teeth, blinking away her tears as she stared at her tortured reflection. What possible reason could there be for him to do such a thing? And why hadn't Cleo said anything?
Roxy inhaled a shaky and breath, pressing her hands against the tight corset as she walked. The train of her dress dragged behind her, the silver high heels Kayla had given her clicked against the footpath lined by lights. After an hour, Roxy was finally on her way, arm linked with Kayla's, who wore a bedazzling red dress and clung to her slim figure. Her best friend had given her the ultimate makeover. Half of her hair had been twisted into a braid, whilst the rest was left to tumble around her shoulders in large curls and sprayed with glitter. Sparkly eyeshadow coated her eyelids, her face contoured by all sorts of powders and creams and her lips were glossed. A diamante bracelet hung on her wrist and a matching necklace sat between her pushed up breasts.
As the two girls lifted the skirts of their dresses to ascend the staircase, Roxy could see dressed up people through the grand windows of the upper level. Some chatted on the balconies outside, mostly males, over a glass of what seemed to be scotch by the way her nostrils burnt. Ballroom music flowed from the balconies' open doors. If Kayla hadn't spent so much time making her look utterly stunning, she'd have spun on her heel and hightailed it out of there. Sensing her nerves, her friend gave her arm a comforting squeeze.
'I'm not going to leave you the entire night, so don't worry about a thing.'
Roxy had never been so grateful for her best friend. A small ball of anger rolled around in her. It should be Isaac escorting her in. He was the one wanting her to play pretend all the time. He was the one putting her in this position in the first place. Kayla had explained to her as they'd got ready that the Alphas and Betas congregated with each other first.
'Some bullshit way to solidify alliances before shit hits the fan in the meeting tomorrow,' Kayla had said while releasing a section of Roxy's hair from the iron and watching the curl drop against her shoulder.
So she supposed she couldn't be too petty about it.
After climbing the ten steps, which might as well have been twenty in a corset and heels, a doorman opened a heavy looking set of doors. Their heels clipped and clopped across the polished floor of the foyer before being muffled by the carpet staircase. With the heaviness of her dress train and the tightness of the corset, Roxy was puffing by the time they reached the closed doors of the ballroom. A violin played a solo. Voices chattered. Glasses clinked. There was the loud reverberating laughter of jolly men. Scents mingled; sweat, perfume and hairspray. A cocktail for a werewolf migraine. But like a shining beacon, she could pick Isaac's out easily. Unlike the other wolves in the room, he wasn't lathered and soaked in artificial scents. There was still a trailing of the Moonlight Ridge pine trees with a natural smell of wood and dirt. Roxy and her wolf inhaled it deeply, finding themselves at home in a manufactured world. Another doorman opened the doors to the ballroom, blasting the two girls with unmuffled sound and undiluted smells.
Kayla tugged her towards a landing, where a staircase descended to where everyone mingled. Couples danced to the music on the dancefloor, reminding Roxy of being spun around and around tirelessly by male werewolves eager for her to be theirs. People chatted, heads nodding along to conversation and with the odd over-the-top laugh with the head throw back. But then, everything stopped. Roxy's arm instantly gripped Kayla's tighter in their link. The couples stopped dancing to come to a stumbling stop and look to the staircase. Even the band seemed confused on how to proceed, playing a few awkward strums of instruments before ceasing completely. The men which had been on the balcony rushed back inside, each of them nudging and whispering to one another. The chatter stopped. A snort of laughter was the last sound to be heard, the source being a young woman who was now tomato red with embarrassment. Roxy gulped, feeling hundreds of sets of eyes burning into her.
Kayla, who seemed unperturbed by the attention, simply picked up the hem of her dress and gently tugged Roxy onto the first step with her.
'Just breathe and focus on where your feet are going,' she intrsucted behind a wall of smiling teeth.
Roxy gave a brisk nod, counting the steps as they descended. Kayla was an image of confidence with her head high and shoulders rolled back. Meanwhile Roxy looked like a clumsy child gripping onto its mother's hand as it waddled down the steps. She could barely walk in heels on the flat and here she was trying to navigate a large staircase with an entire ballroom watching. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen... It was at the last few steps that she allowed herself to become distracted. Towards the back of the room, hiding near the shadows lurking on the edge of the room, she found his piercing green eyes. They were watching her with a strong intensity. An intensity that made her gasp for breath, her chest ache with suffocation in a worryingly pleasurable way... and forget where she was putting her feet.
The crowd gave a small gasp as she stumbled down the last couple of stairs, her ankle twisting at a strange angle which had a hot pain shoot up her leg. It was nowhere near as painful as the red-hot embarrassment coursing through her body now. She could give snorting lady a run for her money in looking like a tomato.
'So close.' Kayla held both her hands so Roxy could righten herself, helping her dust off and straighten the skirts of her dress.
'Why are they all watching us?'
Kayla laughed. 'They're not watching us – they're watching you.'
Everyone had snapped their eyes away now, the band resuming their previous tempo and the men returning to the balconies, although she was continuing to get side glances with hands covering talking mouths.
'Me? Why me?'
Kayla laughed again, nodding politely to people as she moved them through the crowds. 'Because, silly, you're the she-wolf who got the Alpha everyone wanted. You're the Luna of Moonlight Ridge.'
It was nearing midnight as Roxy took a sweeping glance around the ballroom before thrusting the juicy strawberry beneath the flowing fountain of chocolate and popping it into her mouth. She couldn't stop the moan that broke through her lips before taking a napkin and wiping her mouth. Thank Moon Goddess someone had the brains to cater a chocolate fountain. It'd been her saviour the entire night.
After a quick peck on the cheek to greet her to keep the prying eyes sated, Isaac hadn't come within a metre of her the entire night. Whenever she looked for him, he was talking seriously with another Alpha about politics, although that talk was meant to wait until tomorrow night. However Isaac never did play by the rulebook.
Meanwhile, Roxy had been constantly getting badgered by nosy wolves. They had huddled around her, encircling her like a pack hunting a deer. The hackles of her wolf had been quick to rise, the both of them feeling intimidated by not only the invasion of personal space but the pressure of answering the questions without raising suspicion. Isaac hadn't given her a list of formulated answers, in fact Isaac hadn't prepared her for this weekend at all. As usual, he'd thrown her into the deep end and left her flailing. Questions about their relationship had been thrown at her from all sorts of directions. The most eagerly asked being, why wasn't she marked yet?
It'd been Kayla to rescue her, her petite figure furiously elbowing its way through the crowd and whisking Roxy away like a knight in shining armour. Staying true to her word, Kayla hadn't left her side the entire night... until Tobias had asked her to dance. Roxy had been hesitant for her to leave her side, panicked that as soon as her guard dog left the vultures would once again circle. But the once crowded ballroom was now steadily emptying as people turned in for the night, and it would be selfish of her to make Kayla suffer alongside her. So the buffet had become her refuge. So much so that the catering team had given her plates laden with mini quiches, pastries and desserts before offering them to anyone else. Then once the catering team had clocked off, the kitchen crew had brought her a large bowl of strawberries so she could drown her sorrows in a delicious way.
Roxy's eyes found Isaac once again, now chatting to yet another Alpha on the edge of the room. She'd noticed that Crystal was like an annoyingly beautiful shadow following him at a distance wherever he moved. Roxy's gaze narrowed on the she-wolf who was chatting to a posse of friends. Crystal was stunning – even her jealousy wouldn't deny that fact. The young girl was slim with sharp angles. Her skin was a creamy porcelain, her hair a pale blonde. Her eyes were a frosty blue and wide. And while Roxy had stumbled about in her heels during the night, more so caused by her aching ankle, Crystal seemed to float along the ground wearing a plain black but flattering ball dress.
There was an awkward clearing of a throat on the other side of the buffet and Roxy softened her gaze to look at the waiter standing anxiously with his hands tucked behind his back.
'Sorry, Luna Winters but my boss has said we need to clean the final dishes.'
Roxy sighed sadly. 'I suppose I can't force you all to work late to tend to my pity party.'
The waiter gave an awkward smile and Roxy forced herself to look away as the chocolate fountain and bowl of strawberries were taken away. Kayla and Tobias continued swaying on the dancefloor despite the band now packing it in. Isaac was still talking to his friend, not even giving her a second's glance, and Crystal continued to eye him like a piece of meat between laughing falsely with her minions. Roxy frowned, her teeth grinding. What was their history? What linked them? And why was Isaac so paranoid of it?
'I'm glad someone took it away,' said a voice gruffly, a silhouette sidling up next to her.
Roxy rolled her eyes at Trent, folding her arms across her stomach. 'I'll admit, I may have gone a bit overboard.'
Trent chuckled warmly and shook his head. His gaze followed Roxy's between the dancing couple, her soulmate and Crystal. 'Tough night?'
Roxy watched as Tobias dipped Kayla back gently longingly. 'I've never been so confused.' She darted her eyes to Isaac. 'Do you know how tormenting it is to be so in love with someone but to have to act being in love for them, when they don't love you back?' She gave a scoff, one which was strangled to a quickly growing lump in her throat. 'Of course you don't. You and my sister are disgustingly perfect for one another.'
Trent gave a sad smile. 'The Moon Goddess doesn't throw soulmates together for no reason, Rox. It's always fated. I believe she brought you to Isaac to help him heal. There's a darkness in him, there always has been.' He shrugged. 'Scares the shit out of a lot of wolves.'
'Yeah, well, he's been through a lot. The entire pack has.' She sighed heavily. 'But when the Moon Goddess put Isaac and I together I'm pretty sure she was drunk on star power.'
Trent chuckled.
'I thought you'd be a bit more annoyed about how he's treating your little sister-in-lore. The other kids in the pack couldn't so much as poke me without you threatening to have them in boot camp for a week,' teased Roxy.
'Of course I'm fucking not okay with it,' growled Trent. It was enough for Isaac to glance over to them, his eyes taking on a curious look. Roxy knew that even though he could, he wasn't listening in on their conversation. 'Do you think I like forcing you to stay somewhere where you're emotionally tortured every day?' He shook his head furiously. 'But it's the only way to keep you safe for now. We'll find whoever is behind all this and then–'
'And then I'll be coming home,' finished Roxy softly. She chewed at her lip. 'How are we gonna explain that one?'
Trent sighed weightily, undoing his tie so it hung kinked around his neck. 'We tell the truth.'
Roxy's eyebrows shot up and she turned her back to the rest of the room. 'But if the committee finds out that he...'
Trent looked at her steadily. 'Look, Rox, at the end of the day this is your fate we're talking about. If you don't want him to be punished for his crime then we won't go down that path, but he needs to be held accountable for what he's done – doing – to you one way or another. It kills Cleo and I to sit there with our hands tied, forcing you to be near him. So when our hands can be untied...'
'I understand.' Roxy turned back around to face the ballroom. 'What's the story with Isaac and Crystal?'
Trent's jaw clenched. 'No one is quite sure, but I've heard it's a deal between Regent and Moonlight Ridge. Crystal seems to be the token.'
'Oh.'
They stood in silence for a while. The cogs inside Roxy's mind were whirring at a dizzying pace, like a detective connecting strings to pins to put the pieces together. Trent gave a large yawn, one which told Roxy she would be losing her remaining confidante in the room. Kayla and Tobias were now nowhere to be seen, most likely running away for a rendezvous in the gardens. When Trent remained by her side, staring at nothing bleary-eyed she gave a smile.
'It's okay, Trent. Go be with Cleo and that little peanut of yours.'
The brightest of smiles illuminated his face. 'She told you.'
'And all the graphic details to go with it.'
He gave a laugh. 'I'm glad she can finally share it with you. It's killing her to be apart from you for so long.'
'Yeah, well, she can have a nice break after raising me since I was six.' Roxy chuckled, but Trent gazed at her seriously.
'She'd do it all again, Rox, and so would I.' He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and squeezed her shoulder. 'Don't stay up too late, okay?'
Roxy watched him walk away, beginning his ascent up the staircase while a warmth blossomed inside of her from his words. The rays of sun turned to shards of ice though when she turned back around to watch Crystal sashay her way over to Isaac, who seemed to be hiding in the shadows of the room. His Alpha friend was gone, leaving him exposed much like she had been without Kayla. Maybe the waiters had slipped some Dutch courage into the chocolate fountain or maybe she was damn tired of tolerating Isaac's shit. Whatever it was, it had her storming over with her skirts hitched and tornadoes swirling around her.