As if welcoming a renowned figure from a foreign country, the girls lined up evenly on both sides, paving the way to let handsome and dashing men walk into the ballroom.
Some came alone, and some came with their partners. The girls were getting hysterical. Furthermore, they couldn't see the faces of the lads because they all wore masks. What do you expect? It's a masquerade ball, after all.
To preserve the right to hide their identity as Alpha or a werewolf, this kind of party would only be held once every five years.
Many pairs of eyes searched for the figure of a young man with white hair, but… they couldn't find one with white hair.
Of course, they couldn't find him, for Lyodreck had dyed his hair dark brown. That way, no one would surround him just because of his white hair.
By the time the Alphas entered the ballroom, almost all Alphas were silent because they detected a familiar odor. Lyod himself also smelled the same smell making his Beta feel confused.
'What is it, Alpha?' asked Douglass via his mind-linking.
'There's a vampire here.'
'Vampire? I don't smell anything.'
'It's a gifted noble vampire.' said an Alpha from the Sabretooth Pack. 'Be careful.'
The Alphas finally decided to split up to find the intruder vampire. They suspected that the vampire would leave as soon as she smelled the packs in this room.
Nevertheless, they wanted to make sure no humans died from blood loss.
Even though they have the pact agreement, not a few noble vampires would infiltrate the mortal realm so that they could drink human blood. They didn't suck it dry, yet the human viewed the vampires' presence as disgusting and dangerous creatures.
While the Alphas searched for the vampire's whereabouts, Lyod tracked the smell of his mate. Strangely… he couldn't find her.
Did the girl not come?
Understanding what his Alpha was thinking, Doug whispered to Iona.
"Iona, he is getting restless. Can you find your friend?"
"Let me see…." Iona glanced around for her childhood friend, but since everyone was wearing masks and she hadn't seen Quinn in four years, Iona couldn't find her right away.
"Iona?"
Iona turned to the side when she heard someone calling her name while patting her shoulder. She saw a girl with dark brown hair in a graceful and elegant silver dress.
"Quinn?"
Quinn smiled widely as she nodded her head once. Instantly Iona jumped up to hug her childhood friend tightly like a child jumping from a new toy.
"Oh my, Quinn! I really miss you!" her cheers made Quinn chuckle. "Look at you now! You look stunning."
"You're too much. You look sexy too," added Quinn as she returned her friend's embrace.
"Where is she? Does she come?"
"She does. But, why do you suddenly want to meet Aria?"
Iona did contact Quinn and said that she wanted to meet Ariadnne. But she didn't tell her friend that she wanted to meet Aria because Alpha Lyod wished to meet his mate officially.
She didn't know why she was hiding this fact, but she felt it would be better if the white Alpha's mate matter were hidden for now.
She was worried that the news about Alpha Lyod having found his mate would make Letti angry and do something to get rid of Aria.
Iona didn't know what Aria was like now. If Aria were still the same as before, a weak and unprotected girl, she worried their Alpha would lose his Luna before they know it.
Well, she was sure that Lyod could protect Aria from anything, but she doubted that the white Alpha would be able to win Aria's heart while the girl hated werewolves.
Even though Quinn was her best friend and she could trust the girl, she still didn't want to risk the chance to let Quinn spill this little secret.
"No reason. I want to be friends with your friends too."
"Sure. My friend is your friend too." luckily, Quinn didn't feel suspicious and started looking for her missing friend. "Hmm… strange. I'm pretty sure she was there before I left."
As if he had received a clue, Lyod slipped his way through the crowd in the direction Quinn was pointing. He was trying to trace the smell of his mate in vain because the blood-sucker ruined it.
Each noble gifted vampire could ruin one's smell to the point it disturbed a werewolf's tracking nose.
He felt the smell of this vampire made all the smells in this world fade, and it felt like he only smelled one kind of scent.
Lyod kept walking while focusing his sense of smell on the fragrance he missed. By the time he arrived at the spot, he could finally smell the intoxicating scent. It was faint, but it was enough for him to find her.
He followed the scent and walked towards the back door. Then, he saw a piece of cloth as soft as silk from behind the tree.
The cloth was nothing but a long lace shirt from his mate because it had the same smell as Aria.
'Go get her!' exclaimed his wolf impatiently.
On the other hand, Aria, who didn't know someone was about to approach her from behind, clutched her chest in pain.
She didn't know why her chest felt tight, and her whole body felt like it was burning. She felt something alive from inside her body and was about to come out, wanting to devour her from within.
What is this feeling? Why does it hurt so much?
Aria didn't understand what was happening to her body, and she didn't know that her pupils were slowly turning red.
Just as she wanted to scream to relieve the pain and heat from her body, she heard footsteps.
Her labored breath and the heat disappeared as soon as Aria turned around to see the intruder. Her eyes returned to normal so that no one knew her pupils had changed.
Aria breathed a sigh of relief when she felt she was no longer in pain, but Aria felt as if the world had stopped spinning when she saw something she didn't expect.