Lucas's Talk
"You're here alone?"
I've lost count of how many times I've heard this question since I stepped into this ludicrous masquerade ball.
I flick my gaze at the person before me. The woman wears a long fitted red slit dress with blonde hair hanging over the middle of her back, her blue eyes seductive under the large feather mask, her lips plump and in perfect shape.
Pretty tantalizing. She must be an alpha, considering she wasn't afraid to greet me.
"Care for a drink?"
She picks up two glasses of booze from the tray a server, a beta, carries around the ball and offers me one.
What's with her confidence?
Her eyes show she's certain I'll accept her glass.
I gaze down at her beautiful hand and evaluate her from the pricey, glistening jewelry she's wearing. My eyes land on the ring on her index finger.
The alpha symbol framed in a triangle…
An A-list alpha?
Associating with this kind only brings trouble.
I mark that in my mind before raising my glass for her to see, politely turning her down.
She can't take that, it seems…As I'm about to lower my glass, she grabs my arm with her little hand in vexation, and I swat it off by instinct.
"How dare you…"
Before she finishes, someone grasps her hand from behind. The girl halts and turns around abruptly with rage.
"Hello, Miss Alice."
I know that voice right away. Because of this man, I'm stuck in this stupid function instead of enjoying myself at a club somewhere.
"Mr. Zal?"
His mask barely conceals his outstanding features like a radiating aura.
"I'm pleased to see you again."
His lips curl into a smile…the one saved for the females only.
Zal steps in between me and Alice. The moment he turns his head, I decode his message as, 'I'll take care of this,' before he diverts the problematic alpha's attention from me.
"I knew I'd see you here." Zal distracts her quite well. Once Alice realizes whose hand it is, she ignores me completely. "Do you have time for a conversation?"
She slips her arm into his and he leads her away from my area.
How fast…
I take another glass from a server and return the one I've had, observing the party in boredom.
Even if this is a private function supporting medicine, not all of the guests are internal personnel.
Actors, artists, top celebrities in the industry, pilots, researchers, S-list businesspeople, and politicians, including the hunter organization working directly for the national exclusive agency, are all here.
This is a gathering of alphas, nothing relating to medicine.
'The Secret of Alberta'
It's a function using codes as invitations. Ninety percent of the guests are of high classes, alphas and higher ranks, or betas who bring benefits to the alphas.
I've never attended this kind of function, but I know there's nothing normal about it.
"Why did you come to a function with your identity hidden?" Zal asked, appearing in front of me, looking quite irritated.
"What about it?"
I answer him with a question, cheekily lifting my eyebrow as usual.
"You're just looking for some beta to have fun with." My glass hovers in the air upon his words. "What about an omega?"
Zal speaks while nodding at those omegas walking around as servers. 'Special servers with collars, serving only S-list alphas and higher ranks.'
"I'm afraid I'll stumble across a flirty alpha instead." Like that Alice girl.
"Not fancy her?" He knows exactly whom I'm talking about. "She's like, at the top."
"Have you?"
My short question earns a smile from the corner of his lips.
"No."
"Shut up, then."
Zal accepts a glass from an omega handing it to him in fear. He chugs it all down and crushes it to bits in his grip.
"It seems you have a lot on your plate lately." Zal fixes his challenging gaze on me. "Alphas are better than those disgusting monsters, nonetheless."
Zal is messing with me on purpose. I calmly sip on my booze and reply.
"I caught a werewolf yesterday. I'll give it to you if you want to try."
Zal rolls his eyes upon hearing that.
"You know I hate wolves," he heaves a sigh. "Good thing you told me first. I won't go to your place for a while."
Great. He jumped to the conclusion without asking if I'd welcome him.
Since my apartment is close to the hospital where Zal works, he often visits my place like his own home.
Without being any considerate…
"It's not like I want you to…"
I pause mid-sentence when someone in a long black dress walks past with a fragrant scent wafting over my nose.
This scent…
"What do you not want me to do?"
Despite Zal's question, I watch the delicate figure saunter through the crowd, ignoring him.
Her dark hair sparkles in the dim light, her fair skin standing out so much I can't take my eyes off it.
More importantly, that scent…I'm sure of it, though the smell is rather mild.
"Lucas?" Zal snaps his fingers at my face. "Are you listening?"
I pass my glass to him as a response and follow her into the crowd, leaving a short reply.
"Be right back."
I stride along the way she's walked. Her unique scent lingers like the only clue leading toward her, but, even if my senses are sharper than other alphas, I've lost sight of the girl I'm looking for.
I'm sure she went this way.
I sweep my eyes around the hall patiently before smelling the mild scent in the air.
How long has it been since I felt fascinated by something?
Spotting a small back moving toward the smoking area, I march over.
That must be her.
I step close to her from behind and seize her arm as she's about to push the door open with her small hand.
"Uh!"
The woman with lean arms turns to me in surprise. I pull out her mask in a split second and, when I see her face, I halt.
"What are you doing!?" shouts the little woman, yanking her mask from me.
No…She's not the one I'm looking for.
"My apologies." She's visibly upset. "I mistook you for someone else."
"Are you insane? Have you no idea who I am?"
While I understand her anger, I find it unnecessary to kick such a big fuss.
"What the hell are you waiting for?" she snaps at two male betas in suits, supposedly her bodyguards. "How could you let this happen?"
"Forgive us, Miss Aim," says one of them uneasily. Both charge forward to drag me away from her.
"Touch me if you dare."
Upon the sudden change of my mannerisms, the bodyguards retreat from the hint of pheromones emitting from my body.
"Useless fools!"
The little woman bellows. Given her haughtiness, I assume she's a high-level alpha.
Since those betas are shuddering in fear, she confronts me, trying immensely to intimidate me with her pheromones. I feel nothing, though.
No one interferes. Everyone watches like this is a TV show.
"Aim is at it again." I hear someone conversing a few steps away. "Who's the unlucky one this time?"
"Probably a new alpha. He's unfamiliar."
A new alpha? My lips curl up.
I'm a new alpha?
I wish to correct them, but I don't want to waste any more time on this silliness.
The woman before me glowers. The moment she raises her hand, I shove her against the wall with one hand around her fair neck.
"L…Let go," she stutters in terror. "Let go of me."
This. This is the right thing.
"Where's the sharp-tongued girl earlier?" I ask evenly.
I desire no fight, but this woman forces me to follow my instinct.
My pheromones spread until other alphas recede from the pressure. Once her face goes pale, I release her throat.
The small figure loses her balance, her legs weakening, but manages to hold herself up thanks to the wall.
She locks her frightened eyes on me and touches her neck, where the hand-shaped bruise is visible.
"Go away." Just a short sentence sends her scurrying out of my sight.
I sense a dozen pairs of eyes on me. When I turn around to head to the zone inside, things have turned back to normal as if nothing has ever happened.
I gaze around in irritation. I've failed to find that person, and the mild pheromones are imperceptible now.
Damn it!
I get a glass from the nearest server and drink while returning to Zal. As he's not waiting where he was, I stride outside for a smoke.
This is not even a large ball. How come I couldn't find a woman?
I reach for a pack of cigarettes in my suit pocket and take out my lighter. No sparks come out, probably because I dropped it in the water last week.
"Wanna light it with mine?"
A familiar voice speaks from behind, drawing my attention.
"Sylvia?" I recognize her voice, though it's been a while. "When did you come back?"
She sparks my cigarette with hers first. Smoke blows out between her plump lips as she flicks her eyes up at me.
"You're one to talk," says Sylvia, tapping her cigarette between her long fingers under the see-through black fabric. Her pheromones radiate frustration.
"Did Zal force you to come?"
Hearing the name of the culprit, she heaves a sigh of weariness.
"He dragged me here."
Sylvia is Zal's sister. Since Zal and I have been friends for ages, I'm indeed familiar with her. I've known her since she was a little girl until she grew up to be an alpha full of experiences.
"Are you going to catch up with him?" I ask. "Or not?"
"No," replies Sylvia curtly. "I saw my friends."
"Suit yourself, then." Knowing her personality, I choose not to press on.
Despite several alphas smoking around us, the area is in silence. Partly because of the pheromones of a high-level alpha like Sylvia and partly because of the boundary I set.
"Do you know what's for today?" asks Sylvia all of a sudden.
"No." This is my first time here. "What do they usually do?"
She inhales the smoke leisurely.
"There was a slave auction last time." I nod, unsurprised. "And they auctioned snowflakes last month."
"Snowflakes?" I repeat, then realize what she means. They're addictive stimulant powder, popular among alphas, illegal due to its powerful effects. If betas or omegas consume it, the result can be deadly.
Hence the masks, I see.
"You want some? I'll share it." Her voice may hold no seriousness, but I know she means it.
"Keep it." I own something numerous times stronger than her drugs.
"You got something better, huh?" Sylvia catches on. "Give me some."
I stare at her in contemplation. It's not that I can't share, but she might be overdosed on the powerful drugs due to our physical differences.
"No." Sylvia pouts. "Ask Zal if you want to try it."
"As if he'd let me." He wouldn't, of course.
I stub my cigarette on the cap rail and toss it on the floor before nodding at Sylvia as a signal that I'm heading inside. She tilts her head in response and lights another cigarette from her pack.
"Shameless beta."
Hearing Sylvia mutter under her breath, I stop in place. Before I ask, 'What happened?' I follow her gaze into the ball.
I spot Zal talking to someone in a friendly manner but can't see the other party, shielded by other guests.
I turn my gaze to Sylvia, sensing her exasperation. She inhales the smoke deeply, drops it on the floor, and grinds it with her foot in annoyance.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"That girl." Sylvia points in her brother's direction. "She keeps coming to him."
"Isn't your brother a playboy?" This is nothing new. "Is this one special?"
"She's a beta."
I understand her detest toward other ranks.
"Betas belong with betas." Sylvia sounds so displeased that the person about to open the door gives up. "What is she thinking mingling with alphas?"
"She looks quite nice. I suppose she's trying to catch an alpha to upgrade herself."
I look back at Zal while Sylvia complains in vexation. I'm about to remind her that her brother wouldn't be tricked so easily and that it's likely to be the other way around, when a guest moves out of my line of vision, revealing whom Zal is chatting with.
She's the woman in a black dress!
My blood stops momentarily. My senses awaken and sharpen again.
Dark hair and fair skin standing out in the crowd.
There's no mistake this time…my gut feeling confirms.
I've been looking for her all this time just to find her talking to my best friend?
What the hell is going on!?