"Alpha Superior Zakariya Frost and his Chosen Luna," the herald announced, noticing our presence.
Our abrupt entrance caught all eyes in the wide hall, but nobody dared to approach, sensing his aura. Of course, that didn't apply to a certain white-haired, red-eyed rabbit-like Alpha Superior, who walked over to us with a bright smile on his face.
"Rumors are circulating already. I heard that she's your true mate, and that you whisked her away as soon as you found her? I'm so curious Zak, who knew that an iceberg like you would be blessed by Cerne?" Rafayel said, poking fun at Zak.
Zak ignored him.
"This is Ashley Diamante, my soon to be Luna. Take care of her while I go over to Alpha Enya. I have business to take care of. Don't let her out of your sight," he said and walked away leaving a dumbfounded me and an equally flabbergasted Rafayel behind.
"He told me to make myself free because he has an important task for me to do… I guess he really cherished you, miss. To assign you an Alpha Superior as a bodyguard," Rafayel teased.
'It's not that he cherishes me, but because he is afraid I'd be able to outsmart anyone who wasn't an Alpha Superior,' I wanted to say but held back. I was quite touched that Zak didn't underestimate me one bit.
"Yes, he is very protective of me for some reason," I affirmed. Wasn't this guy supposed to be his friend? He should talk some sense into him. Rafayel gave me a grin.
"Want me to introduce you to some of the other Alphas?" He asked.
"Nah, I'm good." I didn't want to get acquainted with any of them. The fewer people who recognised me, the better.
He shrugged and stood beside me, pointing to random people and whispering juicy gossip in my ears, which I tuned out. Interesting as they were, I was not in the mood to listen to anything. I looked around and found some food on the table. Luckily, unlike most balls where the food was only for decorative purposes, they served actual food here and other people were also eating desserts.
My mood perked up when I caught sight of Claire, who was crying while eating some delicious-looking chocolate cake. Next to her was a guy with platinum blonde hair who was consoling her, well, at least trying to. He looked fairly handsome in the distance. I assumed that guy to be Rylan, the one who picked her as his mate.
I tapped on Rafayel's shoulder and he stopped speaking immediately. He looked at me with curious red eyes. I pointed to Claire and whispered, "That's my best friend. I want to surprise her. Can you stay here for a moment? You can join me after."
A mischievous glint lit up his eyes, and he nodded understandingly. I went over to the place where Claire was standing quickly. Rylan saw me, but I gestured for him to shush.
"Boo," I whispered in her ear.
A small scream rang out in the noisy ballroom, and a few people looked our way in annoyance. One glance from Rafayel made sure they didn't open their mouths, though. I grinned at Claire, ignoring the commotion I had caused.
Claire took one look at me and dropped the cake plate in her hand in shock. Rylan was quick enough to catch it, but his efforts weren't noticed by her. She was too busy bursting into tears again and hugging me. I gently patted her back as she smothered me with her hug.
"Ash! Where've you been? I've been looking for you everywhere and almost thought you ran away without even saying goodbye!" She spoke while sobbing, her emerald green eyes glistening with tears made her look terribly cute.
She was right, and I felt guilty for that. From the corner of my eye, I could see Rafayel raising an eyebrow in my direction. I beckoned him to come join us so that I could see more interesting reactions from Claire.
"No way, I just ran into an, erm, situation? Yes. Situation, that's it," I consoled her by rubbing her dark blonde hair. Rafayel made an appearance right at that moment. Rylan, who was watching us amusedly the whole time, blanched.
"I greet the Lord of the West," Rylan said, greeting the mischievous Alpha Superior, who was looking at us curiously. Claire, noticing the oppressive aura, also clumsily mumbled her greetings. She looked at me, panic in her eyes, like a little chick asking its mother what to do.
I almost laughed at how adorable she was, but held it in. The fear of being clawed at by her scarily sharp nails did the trick.
"This is Alpha Superior Rafayel Elynas. The lord of the western lands. Also, one of the 'situations' I ran into," I introduced him to her first. Usually, the person with lower societal status would be introduced first according to etiquette.
But Claire was my best friend, and I knew for a fact that Rafayel wouldn't care about these trivialities.
"And Alpha Rafayel, this is Claire, my best friend and her soon to be mate, Rylan."
"I see, delighted to make your acquaintance," Rafayel said cheerfully, looking at Claire and Rylan. He looked at them the same way I looked at Claire most of the time. Like a pair of puppies that he could tease. I shook my head. Ah, I knew from the moment I met this guy he would be trouble. He was too much like me!
Claire looked at me in confusion, and then between the both of us. I could already hear the gears in her head churning at the wrong conclusion.
"Are you guys…" She trailed off. I shook my head.
"I am the chosen Luna of an Alpha Superior, but not this one," I said.
"Miss, don't even joke about it, that guy would take my head off," Rafayel said, looking at her with wide eyes, as if he wasn't just as powerful. Rylan quietly observed from the sidelines. He seemed to have got who I was referring to and paled even further, his soft gray eyes trembling a bit.
"You're what now?!" Claire screamed quietly. I did not know how she managed to do that.
"I found myself a mate while you were looking for me," I said sheepishly.
"An Alpha Superior?" She asked in astonishment. I nodded and pointed at Zak in the distance, who was in a serious conversation with Alpha Enya.
"No, more importantly, you're mated to that granite-looking guy?" She pointed to Zak. I laughed out loud at her words. Rafayel also let out a stifled laughter, as if he didn't want to get caught laughing. Zak turned to look in our direction as if he sensed us teasing him.