LUNA ASTERBELLE’S POV
The crowd has gone wild all of a sudden just because of the appearance of this woman, who had no manners. She didn’t even bother introducing herself. She literally attacked me from the get-go.
"What’s the matter with you?" I furiously asked as I tugged my arm away from her grasp.
The woman raised one of her eyebrows. "Don’t you know who I am?"
"Yes. That’s right. I don’t f*cking know who you are, and neither do I have the slightest interest in getting to know an imbecile woman!" I raised my voice at her.
I took a short glance at the butler after I yelled. Butler Zen had his mouth open out of surprise. Although I think that there was something else in his mind that bothered him.
"Miss Asterbelle, stop. Don’t make a fuss out in public. This won’t do you any good if this reaches the Alpha." Zen gave me a warning.
I heaved out a loud sigh. "Excuse me? Am I the one who started this? You should be blaming and lecturing her and not me. I’m completely innocent here," I complained as I was pointing at her.
Zen shook his head as if he refused to side with me. "She’s not a mere woman that you can lecture, Miss Asterbelle. This lady in front of you is none other than the Crimson Moon Pack’s mother of all, Yuki Holmes."
My eyes twitched in pure confusion. However, every single question inside my head was indirectly answered when Alpha Holmes arrived at the scene.
"Yuki, go back to your dorm. I never told you that you could freely show up here, right?" Alpha Holmes said with such a calm tone.
The two looked like they were blood related, but the butler mentioned earlier that Yuki was technically their mother. Though maybe Yuki was simply a role model of a mother and was actually the sister of the Alpha and the Beta.
Yuki stomped her feet as she went beside the Alpha. I wasn’t shocked to see how she casually held his hand, as if there was some romantic involvement there.
"I heard from Nero that some random girl dared to touch my precious dress. Now tell me, Shin, why won’t I rush back here to verify if Nero was telling the truth? You know how often he tries to fabricate stories just to make me believe him," she mumbled.
Our eye contact didn’t falter, even when she was talking to him.
"I was the one who gave Luna your dress," Alpha Holmes replied, his tone suddenly turning cold.
I wanted to speak to say that it wasn’t true, but I noticed the Alpha’s gesture to me, saying that I should just keep my mouth shut and let him handle everything.
They continued to argue about the same topic, so I utilized that to take my leave. I didn’t realize that the butler managed to follow my tracks until I stopped walking.
"Why are you following me?"
"You might go out of the house. I’m just doing my job," Zen answered, and it doesn’t sound like he was lying.
"I just want to cool my head."
"Do you really have time for that? The auction would begin in about an hour or two, and you’re still not prepared for what you should and shouldn’t do," Zen muttered, which only added to my worries.
I sighed. "What’s so special about her? Everyone seemed to be delighted just with her mere presence." My curiosity grew larger as time passed by.
By the way that the Alpha talked to her, I could pretty much tell that she’s not that ordinary. He was kind of careful not to say anything that might make her furious or something. As if Yuki Holmes held greater authority over the rest of the Crimson Moon Pack than the Alpha himself.
I had no other choice but to head back there; fortunately, she was no longer in sight.
The Alpha made me go upstairs and stand in front of him. He had this stern expression on his face, enough to tell me that I shouldn’t try to mess with him right now.
"You haven’t heard from Alpha Brian about the auction yet, have you?" Shin asked straightforwardly.
I shook my head once. "We’re not that close. He’d rather see me die than have a smooth conversation with me," I answered without thinking twice. "What’s the auction for anyway?"
Alpha Holmes hissed, which was probably because of the casual way I spoke to him. "The auction was prepared for none other than you. It would be your sole opportunity to show your worth, so it’d be best to come prepared later."
He closed the distance between us at the same time that he placed his left hand on my cheek.
"Your father offered to sell you to me. I gladly refused for your sake, since I wanted to let the others have a chance to bid and fight against me," he whispered to my ear, his hot breath making me shiver.
I partly closed my eyes as I stepped back, but my attempt wasn’t successful when the Alpha suddenly pulled me into an embrace. I could hear the loud thumping of his heart, and yet I couldn’t feel anything else other than fear.
Fear that Jerome would see me trapped in someone else’s arms.
"L-let go of me, Alpha Shin!"
"C’mon, Luna. Don’t call me so formally; it doesn’t suit you at all," he teased me with such a playful voice. "You can simply call me Shin or whatever you prefer. Just don’t think of me as an alpha. I would certainly appreciate it if at least you could see and treat me as someone normal…"
He tilted my face upward to meet his gaze.
"I’m fed up with everyone calling me Alpha…"
My eyebrows furrowed with the words I perceived. There’s no way that I’ll end up being this madman’s partner. I’d rather have the wolves in my previous pack humiliate me all they want.
"Alpha Shin, please let go of me. You’re hurting me with your tight embrace," I begged him.
After a few seconds, I was finally set free. My body felt numb as electricity rushed through my veins. I turned away in hopes that he’d give up on me. However, he only ordered me to get myself ready within half an hour.
Alpha Holmes also emphasized that I should wear the dress that Yuki desperately tried to remove from me. It was a treasure that cost more than the cost of a whole mansion.
The butler and I crossed paths again. But this time, he didn’t look that interested in me or how I dressed. I kind of expected that he would be the first one to compliment me.
"Can’t I abandon the auction, Butler Zen?" I asked.
A short gasp escaped from his mouth. "Just do what you’re told if you want to get over this quickly."
He went out of the lobby without giving me directions to the venue where it would be held. So I helplessly followed the rest of the people, who were all going a specific route.
Wondering if I was on the right track, I saw a faint aura of the man that I’ve been longing to see. I tried to hasten my movements to catch up to him, but the moment that I did, the aura disappeared into thin dust. There were no traces of him left.
He was always like that; his aura never stayed with him, as if he were hiding it on purpose.
Jerome…
Eman…
Where are the two of you now that my life could be at risk?