What is the matter with you people? You all seem to be obsessed with him”, Frederick stood up and left.

“I smell of something burning. Might as well tame it before it takes the form of a wildfire”, said Tricia before getting up and leaving.

“Damian”, she heard as she was at the door.

“Beg your pardon?”

“Damian Heth Salvatore is the name”

A specially composed fanfare announced the arrival of leaders of all the seven packs. The royal castle of Balloon looked even more grand than before with all the decorations. Not only the castle, every nook and corner of the capital was polished.

Alpha Iroh and Helena were greeted at the entrance by Duke Lorenzo and Duchess Lily. They had a small talk before Frederick, Maria and Tricia were introduced. As soon as they entered the hall, they started mingling with other delegates of other packs

“… and this is my eldest child, Felix Michael Iroh”, Alpha Iroh introduced to Alpha of another pack.

Alpha Paul’s face showed irritation as Frederick was still facing the other way after the mention of his name. Maria elbowed him.

“Huh. Beg your pardon”

“Alpha Marshall of pack Gatoi”, Alpha forwarded his hands and introduced himself. Frederick shook his hand and was about to speak when he was interrupted .

“I already got your name”

“Oh”, Frederick smiled sheepishly. Aloha Iroh face palmed himself mentally.

“And I am Maria Luna Iroh “, spoke a proud voice.

“Luna? Is it really your middle name “, Luna Victoria of Gatoi.

“Yes. Mother here, had given me something else but when I reached the age of five, I insisted on changing it to Luna. After all, I am going to be one someday.”

Luna Victoria gave her a polite smile and turned to Phoebe.

“And what is the name of such a beauty?”

Maria rolled her eyes.

“Tricia”, she gave her a shot smile.

“Use your last name child. It holds power”, Alpha Marshall gave a stern look.

“Marshall”, his wife scolded.

“Difficulty of being a girl child, Alpha. A particular last name does not stick to us. Might as well use the name given to us, not shared with others, which is mine to build or destroy.”

“Careful child. Whether you agree or not you have a name and responsibilities attached to you for being born into the Iroh family “.

Tricia pondered for a while before nodding, “I shall definitely take your advice into consideration, Alpha”.

Alpha Marshall suppressed the smile trying to form on his lips. Instead, he gently place his hands on her head as if giving a blessing and walked away to catch up with others.

“Well, that went well”, said Alpha Iroh hesitantly.

Tricia pulled Frederick to the side. “What is wrong with you?”

Frederick checked left and right before answering, “I don’t know. Ronan is being restless. My mind is not functioning properly.

Tricia widened her eyes. “Do you think you are going to find her?”

“Find who?”

“What who? Your mate of course “

“I – I don’t know”, he stuttered.

“This is so exciting!”, she clasped her hands together.

“Everyone! Please have a seat!”, voice of Duke Lorenzo boomed inside the hall, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Firstly, I would like to thank all the Alphas and Nobles for taking out time to join us here. Now, I know you must have been expecting the Crown Prince’s presence but our Prince has gone to receive blessings from our King and Queen, to pay tribute to them. So we Duke and Duchess of Balloon welcome each and everyone of you to the coronation ceremony of our future Alpha and future King.”

“I hope you all have a wonderful stay at our palace “, the Duchess said, dismissing everyone.

Frederick was still feeling restless. To divert his mind, he started chatting with other guests.

“Alpha Edward”, he bowed.

“Yes?”

“I don’t see Melvin. Where is he?”, he inquired about his childhood friend.

“Oh! He decided not to come. He said that he had an exams”

Alpha Iroh scoffed. “What is with this obsession of young generation?”

“I tell you. A complete waste of time, I tell you”, Alpha Edward nodded.

Tricia tried hard not to show the irritation building. She could not cut off the words of two Alphas.

“Exactly! What is the point of learning something which is not important, whatsoever?”, Maria said, eyeing her little sister.

Tricia had tried many times before to explain the importance of formal education to her family. She had given an hour long speech to convince them. Seems like it went over their head so she didn’t try to fight this time.

“He could have been training now “, Alpha Edward added.

“Being a leader is not only about physical strength, Alpha Edward. In the human world too, he will see and learn many things “, Duke and Duchess added.

Finally someone understands. Tricia thought inside her head.

“Even our Prince was sent to the human world for his education”, she added excitedly.

Duke and Duchess gave her a smile.

“It was important to show the Prince that there is a world outside. He needs to maintain a good relationship with human leaders in order to maintain the secret of the existence of our kind-“

His words came to a halt when he noticed a change in Frederick demeanor. He seemed to appear more restless than before.

“Frederick?”, Alpha Iroh called but Frederick was long gone. Michael, his wolf had taken over. He held his nose high and sniffed the air. After roaming here and there, his eyes transfixed on a girl. A very pretty girl.

They started slowly advancing towards each other, gathering everyone’s attention.

“Hi”, came out a breath from Felix.

“Hi”, she nodded shyly.

“Hi”, he repeated.

“Hi”, she chuckled. Everyone chuckled.

“What is your name?”

“Um- Chloe. Chloe Jane Liman ”

“Of pack Portion!”, shouted Naomi’s younger sister, Janet.

“Chloe Jane Liman of Pack Portion, do you take me, Frederick Ronan Bennett of Delta as your mate?”, Frederick kneeled in front of her.

“Yes! Yes”, she replied with a teary eye.

Frederick got up. “Do you want me to take you away from here “, Frederick whispered into her ear.

“Everyone is watching”, she scolded.

“Fine”, Frederick muttered under his breath defeated.

“Finally”, Tricia Laughed. “Help take revenge on him, will you?”

Maria gave her a smile. Luna Helena engulfed her into a hug, while Chloe's parents, Betas of Adrien, started conversing with Alpha and Felix. Soon, congratulations came in order.

“I cannot believe that a Beta’s daughter will be above me from now on wards”, Maria scoffed and approached the table.

Seeing Mary hurt by that comment, Tricia put her hand on her shoulder but being desperate to be on Annabelle’s good side, Mary ignored her and ran after her so called best friend.

At the table, conversations revolved around the recent event lately, Frederick and Chloe.

“A future Alpha kneeling before a girl. A sight to watch “, the Lunas laughed.

“Son! You drowned our name”, Alpha shook his head in disbelief.

“Yes!”, Maria chimed in.

“This whole taunting ordeal prolonged when Christopher, future Alpha of Pack Portion too joined with some snarky comments. Most of the people agreed with him.

Frederick and Chloe looked mortified.

“Well, my brother was brought up to treat a lady with utmost respect. By kneeling, he showed his utmost devotion and sincerity towards his mate”, Tricia defended.

“Now. Now. No need to get offended pup”, Christopher teased her.

“Alpha Iroh, Luna Helena”, Duchess Lily gathered everyone’s attention. “It is commendable how you have taught your son to Revere his mate and your daughter to have opinions of her own “.

This made everyone shut up.

Maids came and cleaned the table after completion of dinner. Then all of them were shown towards their respective chamber.

>>>>>>>>

It was the middle of the night. Stars had covered the skies, but not the crescent moon. It shone the brightest. Tricia was staring at the luminous moon. She could not sleep. Her long white silk nightgown shone as well. Feeling restless, she decided to take a walk.

With the help of the directions given by the guards, she reached her destination. The garden. It exceeded her expectations.

The garden was filled with lush green grass and trees whose leaves were of other colors but green. To her dismay, some of the flowers glowed in the dark. Fireflies illuminated the whole surrounding, competing with the moon itself. She had never seen a more spectacular view before.

As she was watching the magnificent waterfall fill up a nearby lake, she felt a strong presence.

From behind a tree, a man emerged. A man so gorgeous that it made her heart stop. From afar, she could see that the man was wearing a white cotton pirate shirt over black breeches.

Travelling across everything, their eyes met.

It was like the world had stopped spinning and the time had taken a pause. They were lost in each other’s eyes for like an eternity. The man started walking toward her without breaking eye contact and stood in front of her. He must be the gardener.

That was when she took time to notice his features. His chiseled jaw made a twitch. Although his eyes were sharp, they held a strong emotion for her.

He opened his mouth to say something. She felt her heart constrict when it wasn’t something to that she has wished to here .

“What are you doing here?”

His velvety voice was low but it held authority. Now that she was out of the trance, she felt power radiating off the man’s body. She automatically broke the eye contact and lowered her eyes.