"Kira dear, look at me." Layla said to Kira, taking her hand in hers and pulling her towards her.
"Take a very deep breath and exhale. You are going to do just fine there, okay?" She assured a nervous Kira.
Marco, Layla and Kira were already standing outside the hall, getting ready to go in and Layla could practically hear her niece's heart beating at an unusual pace.
Kira could not deny or hide just how nervous she was. She had never been allowed outside her pack ever and she hasn't really had the opportunity to meet other wolves outside her pack members. She could only tell their scents and pack names due to the training she had received but aside from that, she had no real experience with outsiders.
She internally feared that wasn't like her father and she didn't know how to handle situations like this or how to be around other dominant looking Alphas.
Kira nodded her head slowly, whilst staring at her aunt.
"I'll be beside you every step of the way so all you have to do is trust me and follow my lead and I promise you'll do just fine. Sounds good?" Layla assured, smiling at her.
"Now smile sweetie you look ten times prettier when you do." She tells her niece and Kira awkwardly did as told.
She steps forward and walks into the hall with Marco and Layla following from behind and together they all walk in.
All eyes turned to look at Kira, Layla and Marco as soon as they walked into the hall to Marco's arm around Kira's. They all wondered who she was at first and after hearing she was the representative of the Redmoon pack, they wondered why she was here and why exactly Frederick wasn't.
No one knew of Frederick's demise yet because the Redmoon pack had not let it out so as to protect themselves from their rivals and to also protect Kira.
Simon, the Alpha of the Bluemoon pack who also happened to be Frederick's old friend, walked towards them with a curious expression on his face.
"Layla, Marco..." He trailed off as he stared at the young lady standing with them in confusion.
"Simon!" Layla exclaimed excitedly at the sight of a long time acquaintance of hers.
"It's been a while dear Layla." He said to her with a smile on his face before quickly drifting his attention back to the young lady in front of him.
"May I ask who she is and also, where is Frederick?" He asked, his eyes not coming off Kira for one second. Kira felt uncomfortable under his gaze and felt the urge to punch him for staring at her like she was insignificant.
Layla smiled, "What a beautiful way of welcoming your guests Simon. This place really looks beautiful." Layla said, with her eyes roaming the beautiful hall.
She could tell the hall was beautifully redecorated but that was actually the least of her interest as she only tried diverting his attention slightly from Kira, who she could already tell did not like the way he had been staring at her.
"Thank you dear Layla, it definitely wasn't easy but I guess we were able to make it happen." Simon replied with his eyes still fixated on Kira. He immediate taps his palm together for a waiter and orders them to bring a specific type of champagne for his dear friend Layla.
"Good to know you still know what I like." Layla said with a small smile, taking one of the glasses of champagne offered to her from the tray.
Kira immediately shook her head, refusing to take any drink to keep her mind sharp and alert while Marco said he would prefer to take water.
"Still the same old Marco I see, always wanting to be the sober one." Simon teased a serious looking Marco, who simply smirked a little at his remark.
"You still haven't told me who this young lady is though cause I mean no disrespect but, this event cannot just be attended by anybody and you all know this. So, I'll need to know who she is and why she is here." Simon pressed on and just when Layla was about to reply to him, Kira quickly stepped in to stop her aunt from speaking on her behalf.
"Let me Auntie." She said to Layla, who immediately stepped back to watch what her niece had in mind. She knew Kira was definitely not a huge fan of the smug look on Simon's face and she was curious to know how her niece planned on dealing with him.
"I apologize for the delayed introduction Alpha Simon. The name's Kira, daughter of Alpha Frederick and new Alpha of the Redmoon pack. It's nice to finally meet you, I've heard quite a lot about you." Kira spoke up confidently, her eyes not looking down even once. Lucky for her, she wasn't what you'd call short, as she was easily taller than an average number of she wolves that she had met.
"The new Alpha? Why, though? What happened to Frederick?" Simon asked with a surprised expression as he wasn't expecting to hear anything about a newly inaugurated Alpha.
"It's a long story dear Simon but all I can say to you now is that my niece, Kira is officially the new Alpha which is why she is here in place of my brother." Layla chimed in calmly.
"Oh well then, it's nice to meet you dear Kira and congratulations on being the newest in town. I wish you good reign and a little advice, keep up with the attitude. You will be needing a lot tonight." Simon said to her, knowing very well that just like he did earlier, she would be looked down on by a lot more people.
"Thank you Alpha Simon, I'll keep that in mind." She replied with a curt nod and Simon is quick to wrap up his conversation with them before going back to whatever it was he was doing previously.
"Are you okay Kira?" Layla asked.
"Am I okay auntie? Of course, I am. I'm more than even okay. Didn't think I'd enjoy introducing myself this much and you know what? I think it's time I meet even more people. They need to know that there's a new Alpha in town and her name starts with her a freaking K." Kira replied to her aunt excitedly, as a new found feeling of confidence and pride overwhelmed. She could not believe that she had actually thought she would be intimidated by any of this people. After her short exchange with Simon, she knew better than to stutter in front of misogynistic men and she could care less if they didn't like the fact that she was female.
*****
"Why do they keep staring at us like that? Olivia, Damien's cousin, who also happened to be his third in command, asked curiously as she noticed every person walking past them always stopped to stare.
"Can you really not guess why?" Draco asked as he wasn't really surprised by the attention.
"If I could guess, I wouldn't be asking you bozo." Olivia hissed back in irritation, earning an eye roll from Draco who also happened to be her mate.
"When you learn how to speak politely, I'll give the reason why we're being stared at." Draco snapped back, gradually getting on Olivia's nerves.
Draco and Olivia had never really gotten along as kids and their constant bickering got worse as soon as they found out they were fated to be mates. They would constantly bicker at every little thing and their contrasting personalities only made matters worse.
"Can you two not start today? I can't really afford to deal with this at the moment." Damien pleaded in frustration as he watched his two best friends go at it. He knew for a fact that they liked each other but the constant arguing never failed to irritate him which is one of the many reasons he did not want a mate and he did not want the moon goddess choosing on his behalf.
"If you want me to stop, explain to me why we're getting stared at by all these old nosy people?" Olivia hissed as she was genuinely confused with why they all seemed suddenly intrigued by them.
"It's probably because we all look pretty young and they don't really expect to see young people in such an event so they're probably wondering who we are and what business we have here." Damien explained briefly to her and she slowly nodded in understanding.
"So you're telling me that they're staring at us this intently simply because we're younger than they are? What the actual hell." She scoffed, staring back at them in irritation.
"Well, it seems we're about to get approached by an overly curious