Victoria's POV
After an hour car ride, we finally reached the Royal pack. Luckily for us we stayed near the area. Some packs took 2 to 3 hours to reach here. It was already 7pm and all of us exited the SUVs and found ourselves staring in awe the huge mansion. The Royal pack had over 2 thousand pack members but they don't all reside within this mansion. Only the royal Beta, Delta and their families, with other royalties and high rankings, get to live in the mansion with the royal family. The rest of the pack lived in separate houses. That's the kind of power and wealth the royalties have.
Other packs' Alphas and Betas come here biannually for conferences to discuss important business. All of us scurried into the foyer and up the stairways to the ballroom. It was sparkly clean and spacious inside, and velvety curtains on the glass doors were drawn to show the beautiful freshwater lake behind. The ballroom started to crowd and endless murmurings filled the hall. Not long after, the Alpha King, together with Luna Queen Natalie and Alpha prince Lewis, entered the ballroom and ascended a small platform. They stood in front of theirs seats, which looked like thrones by the way, with the queen and Lewis on each side of the Alpha king. The royal beta and delta stood below with their sons.
"Welcome all to the royal pack. As you all know it's the prince's 21st birthday celebration tonight. Please, enjoy yourselves this evening!" He boomed with confidence as he addressed the crowd, and I can feel his powerful aura radiating off. Both the queen and prince revealed no emotions and just sat there still as statues. Well they're definitely good looking enough to look like they were carved..
The Luna queen with her ash blonde curls and icy blue eyes, in her bronze evening dress she looked stunning. And Lewis, he did a back comb which showed off his sharp jaws and his bright amber eyes. The Alpha king had bronze brown hair and the same amber eyes. He looked impressively masculine in his tailored black suit.
On his command, staffs holding platters of finger food and champagne flutes cut through the crowd for people to take what they want. Teenagers began mingling and Alphas Lunas gathered to socialise with one another. The royal family similarly dispersed into the mass. All I can see is shewolfs in colourful Victorian dresses moving around, some stopping to small talk with male wolfs and vice versa. The clinking of champagne glasses and clacking of heels distracted me from hearing the full conversation the girls were whispering about.
"-is certainly a heartless man. Everyone knows how he rejected his one true mate to marry the late Luna queen Maya. And I don't think he felt any remorse remarrying the current queen either." Megan said.
Yes, everyone knew the story about the Alpha king Ivan Rowan. It's sort of a past time here in this town really. They said his true mate was a low ranking shewolf whom he met during his trip to Ireland. He went on to reject her and the poor lady met her end, driven by insanity.
We only have one predestined mate in our lifetime. A mate bond forged after the pair mark each other will naturally create a pull and thus it'll be difficult to stay away from each other for long. Not to mention the heightened impulse to mate would make it so much more insufferable. Hence, once marked (or marked and mated), rejection would be unthinkable. It'll result in excruciating pain and more often than not, an eventual death. Since the Alpha king had not done any of those upon meeting her, he couldn't have died from it.
Instead, he decided to marry the late queen Maya, previously a noble lady from Spain. Sadly her untimely death from an illness made her queen only for a short period of two years. She's also the birth mother of Alpha prince Lewis. Soon after she died, the Alpha king remarried Princess Natalie Alario, the current Luna queen. In this case, when a wolf marks another who isn't his/her true mate, the mark doesn't stay permanently and it wouldn't affect the wolf as severely since the mate bond is weaker.
Anyway, the king and queen Natalie had two sons together - prince Chace and Lucas Rowan, and therefore making them Lewis's half brothers. Both of them are presently studying abroad at Germany, but they'd be back this year around July during their summer break.
Given that I'm not from this pack and that they keep their private matters under their hats, that's the most I could gather. Well mostly from Keith. Though it's not hard to notice their stony façades. I mean seriously all royalties are the same.
"Victoria! It's the hundredth time I'm calling you. C'mon let's get out of here before we're suffocated to death." Heather shouted over the noisy background. Nodding our heads, the three of us descended the stairs to find another mass of people scattered around the living area and outdoor poolside.
They had a huge lounging space with two gigantic pools. Finally we decided to loiter around the poolside, since the open space made it easier for us to breathe in these uncomfortable clothing.
"Hey there chicas. I see you've gotten comfortable in my home." We looked to see Keith standing behind us, half grinning.
"Your home?" Megan lifted her eyebrows. "Your grace?" She curtsied with a questioning look.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Heather joined in and placed her hand over her chest, faking a hurt expression.
"Alright alright. I'm only an occupant here, happy ladies? It's still counted as my home." He pouted laughing. Yup Keith and his family lived here since his dad Phillips was a senior pack warrior. The three of us merely shook our heads amusingly. We got some champagnes to drink and fooled around for a bit, occasionally pausing to judge others. It's harmless fun I swear.
"I have to go to the washroom. Gotta pee," I said softly. I left the clique and made my way into the mansion. I scrunched up my nose at the crowded living room so I didn't care to look for the washroom on this floor. I held up the length of my skirt and went up to the third storey to look for a vacant washroom, a clean one at the very least. Then I was stopped in my tracks..
Soft muffled musical notes resonated down the hall with a light mellow timbre, unique to that of a piano. I peeked around to see zero other souls. Curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to find the source of the sound. I tipped toe slowly down the hallway and the sound grew a tad bit louder and clearer. The melody was beautifully haunting and depressing. I wonder who was playing the piano?
Before my question could be answered, the tune stopped abruptly, as if the pianist had just vanished into thin air. I waited a while, hoping the music might come on again. Then I remembered what I was here for.
"The washroom! How can I forget!" I cursed under my breath and quickly ran the opposite direction towards the washroom. After I'd finished, I came outside and this storey felt more desolated than before, if that's even possible. So I gave up and went down to rejoin the clique.
"Took you long enough Vic.. We're dying of boredom here. And Keith has been annoying as hell." Heather rolled her eyes playfully.
"Am not!" He retorted.
"Sorry guys.." I smiled sheepishly. I decided against mentioning the piano to the rest. Doesn't seem necessary to talk about a futile exploration, so I just dismissed it.
"Listen, how 'bout we go back inside to grab a drink or two? Got a few friends I want to introduce." Keith suggested.
"Got nothing to lose. Alrighty then," Megan replied. Heather and I sent each other an unspoken glance and shrugged at the same time. We didn't really enjoy crowded places but might as well, we're bored and sober.
While walking back, we unknowingly passed by Lewis Rowan. He was swirling a glass of brandy nonchalantly while leaning one arm on the bar, and chatting with his friends. But I realised whenever he smile or smirk, they never reached his eyes, just like how he always acted in school. It's the same old emotionless gaze.
'Wait a minute... he's staring right back at me!' I panicked for a split second and tried not to let my eye contact falter under his scrutiny. So I glared back and narrowed my eyes before rolling them at him. We entered the living area and Keith had a glass of gin on the rocks while we got ourselves some shooters over at the bar.
"Megan, Victoria, Heather, this is Oliver, Seth, Xavier and Aaron. We train here together as pack warriors." Keith introduced us.
"Ahh so these must be the girls you went to school with huh Keith. Pleasure." the guy called Oliver said. He kissed the back of my palms as a kind gesture.
"Pleasure's all mine" I replied. Xavier and Aaron did the same for Megan and Heather respectively. We chatted at the bar, and I must say they were all pretty charming in their own ways. Too bad that's just that. No mate connection for all of us.
As Megan and I gradually became tipsy, we sort of flirted along, just mildly. Heather was still slightly uptight so as a good friend I offered her some more drinks, since I noticed Seth was being shy at one corner with Keith and he occasionally stole glances at Heather. Keith seemed to catch on that too. So him living to his wingman standards, he walked over to me and blocked off Heather while she was talking to me.
Now the two of them were shoved aside by us with an awkward gap in between them. They shyly looked at each other briefly and finally Seth came closer and struck a conversation with her, blushing red.
I chuckled giving a look to Keith. Boy do they look good together. Thankfully Keith trusted all of them enough to introduce to us. Like I said he's a good bro so he definitely know what he's doing.
Not Long after, Keith's not doing too bad himself, talking with a pretty lady, while I excused myself from the group to get some air.
I opened the back door that led to an empty field with a forest behind it. I sat down on the the back door steps and could hear muffled noises and music from inside the house. I stayed for a good 5 minutes before standing up to leave. Once I opened the door, I knocked into someone, hard, my head to his chest.
"Seriously... That hurt." I said annoyed, until I saw who it was and I stood there stunted.
A/N: Modifications here (Apr 2018)