Chapter 26 Chapter 26
If I was still the fourteen-year-old girl who’d first entered this pack eight years ago, my heart would have burst from the way Zane held me.
But I knew better now.
It did not change that I was grateful for the experience of royalty that I was receiving, even if it was only for two years. Or was it three? Depending on when I could carry his heir.
This was for the cameras and the royal wolves watching.
Still, his arm felt solid under my hand. And I hated how much comfort I took from that.
We walked forward along the deep crimson carpet, plush enough that my heels sank slightly with each step. It stretched from the entrance all the way to the grand doors, lined on either side by young wolves holding baskets of white petals.
As we passed, they tossed handfuls into the air.
Petals rained down around us, soft and fragrant, catching in my hair and brushing against my shoulders. It felt surreal. Like something out of a dream I’d never dared to have.
I heard from Madam Celeste that it was all part of the tradition.
But it was beautiful, still.
I glanced up at Zane. His expression remained neutral. But his hand shifted slightly on mine, adjusting his grip and steadying me when I stumbled over a fold in the carpet.
We were almost to the entrance when some pull made me turn.
I looked back over my shoulder.
Kaius stood near the edge of the walkway with Ezra beside him. Both were dressed formally, ready to enter after us.
But Kaius was looking right at me.
And then he winked.
My lips curved into a smile before I could stop myself, back at him.
At that action, Zane’s hand tightened around mine.
I turned back quickly, my smile fading.
We stepped through the grand doors.
And the world that came as the ball hall opened up.
To put it out clearly, I’d heard about the Lunar Convergence my entire life. But none of it had prepared me for this reality my eyes met.
The hall was massive, having high ceilings that seemed to stretch into infinity, held up by marble columns carved with intricate wolf motifs. Chandeliers hung like frozen constellations, thousands of crystals catching and scattering light until the entire space glowed.
Everything about it took my breath away.
The walls were draped in fabric that shifted colors depending on the angle—midnight blue melting into silver, then back again. Between each column, living vines had been woven into elaborate patterns, dotted with flowers that actually glowed. Soft, bioluminescent petals in shades of white and pale blue.
The floor was polished stone, but not uniform. Instead, it had been inlaid with a massive design of a howling wolf rendered in different colored marble. It was so detailed that I could see individual strands of fur in the pattern.
And the scent was a whirlwind between, flowers, woodsmoke, pine, earth and some wild fragrance that was hard to put a name to.
Tables lined the perimeter, each draped in fabric that matched the walls. At the center of each table sat a sculpture made entirely of ice portraying wolves mid-leap, and between howls, frozen in impossible detail.
And above it all, projected somehow onto the ceiling, was the full moon. Not a painting, or a static image. It actually moved, shifting slowly across the artificial sky, and casting silvery light over everything below.
“Goddess,” I breathed.
Zane’s hand tightened on mine again. But this time it felt like a reminder: Focus. Don’t act like it’s foreign to you. We’re being watched.
I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin.
At the far end of the hall, on a raised platform, stood two wolves in formal ceremonial attire. They were an older Alpha and Luna radiating authority and the Master and Mistress of the ceremony.
The male Alpha stepped forward, his voice carrying effortlessly through the hall without needing amplification.
“From the Fangstain Pack,” he announced. “Alpha Zane Blackthorne and Luna Tiana Blackthorne.”
Applause erupted immediately. Hundreds of hands coming together in acknowledgment.
But underneath it, I heard the whispers that I had anticipated.
“That’s his Luna?”
“I heard she was a servant—”
“What family is she from?”
“She’s not what I expected.”
The words slithered through the applause like snakes.
Zane’s expression didn’t change. He guided me forward, his hand never leaving mine.
We walked toward our assigned seats, a table near the center, marked with a small placard bearing our pack’s insignia.
The applause followed us the entire way. And so did the whispers.
When we finally reached our table, Zane pulled out my chair and after I sat, he settled beside me, close enough that our arms brushed.
The Master of Ceremonies waited for the noise to die down before continuing with the next arrival announcement.
I exhaled slowly, trying to calm my racing heart.
We’d made it through the entrance. That was something.
Around us, other Alphas and Lunas were already seated. Some I recognized from pack gatherings that I had to serve them tea.
“You did well,” Zane said quietly, his voice barely audible over the ambient noise.
I turned to look at him. Before I could respond, the Master of Ceremonies spoke again.
“And now,” he announced, “to deliver our opening address, I would like to welcome Alpha Zane Blackthorne of Fangstain Pack.”
Zane went very still beside me.
I glanced at him sharply. His jaw had tightened. And for a second, his throat worked in a swallow.
It did not seem like he had prior information, and oh, the look on his face. Was he a nervous scaredy cat too?
Around us, polite applause began.
Zane stood smoothly, the shift in his aura surprising me.
He moved to step away, but was pulled towards me. Apparently, it was the button of his suit jacket that had tangled with my bracelet.
I gasped, reaching down instinctively to untangle it but the movement was too obvious.
Every eye in the hall had already turned toward us and it was causing my cheeks turn red.
My fingers fumbled with the clasp. The button had somehow looped through the delicate chain, twisting it into a knot that wouldn’t release easily.
“Hold still,” I whispered, my face burning.
Zane didn’t move or speak.
But I could feel the tension radiating off him. The awareness that hundreds of wolves were watching this small, intimate moment play out in public.
My hands shook as I worked the clasp free and finally, the chain slipped loose.
I looked up.
Zane’s eyes were on me.
“Sorry,” I breathed.
He didn’t respond.
He just turned and walked toward the platform with a perfect posture and an expression that gave nothing away.
“It’s not your fault.” I mumbled to myself as consolation for the brief moment of embarassment that had ensued between us.