Chapter 20

• HAERA
• The room seemed like it was closing in on me. I felt my stomach drop into a bottomless pit and I felt myself getting suffocated by the room I was in. It was a spacious dining hall. Enough to contain way more than the twenty diginatries sitting around the table. The biggest I've ever seen yet it suddenly feels so small for me. So cramped for me. The hall suddenly turned silent. Silent and grim like a graveyard but I was the only one who knew that because it was in my head. My head was the one that drew a blank line the moment the Alpha made the ground breaking announcement. My mind was the one basking in silence unlike the hall that was now bustling with shocked murmurs, excited whispers and surprised but hushed voices. My entire being is in total disarray even as my brain tried to pinpoint exactly what was going on. Trying to understand why my mate just announced someone else as his mate. Trying to understand why he's staring at her from his own end of the table with a gentle look in his eyes. Trying to understand how the hell any of this was even possible. Was it some sort of joke? Was my mind playing tricks on me? My questions were left unanswered as I stood on that spot unable to move a muscle. I just received the greatest shock and disappointment of my life. I couldn't believe what was happening to me right then. Just moments ago I was excited to meet him after the festivity so we can decide where to go from here and what to do. Just hours ago I was cheering and rooting for him to win. I was barely keeping my excitement that he won contained yet this happens to me? Was I wrong about Alpha Zachary after all? Did becoming the Alpha of the pack suddenly change him? He was still standing right there by his seat. Still looking in my direction but his attention was solely on the alpha princess of my pack. Princess Ilvira didn't say anything to refute his claims. I waited. I waited for her to say he was wrong and that she wasn't his mate. I waited for her to say he has it wrong and maybe the scent was coming from someone else. Someone else that's standing behind her. Maybe he mixed it up because I was standing directly behind her. Because that was the only explanation I could give and the only excuse I could make up for him in my head. Even when I know that he knew I was a maid. He found out and said it was okay. But Princess Ilvira didn't say anything and just sat there looking from her mother to her Father. "Ilvira...is this true?" Her father, the Alpha of my pack was the one asking the question. Everyone at the table paid close attention as the murmurs died down. My heart hammered against my chest as I stood there waiting for her response too. And slowly, she nodded coyly. I knew it was over right there and then. Everyone gasped in shock while a few others clapped excitedly. How could it be true? Nothing was adding up. I was slowly reaching the point of insanity. "My God! Then we have more things to celebrate!" Everyone in the room began to clap and congratulate the Alpha and his future Luna. It felt like the ground should open up and just swallow me whole as I watched the excitement on their faces and heard their happy laughter's. Everything that seemed like a happy turn out of event to them was nothing but a misery to me. What changed in just twenty four hours of meeting him? Standing there, I began to question my sanity. I began to wonder if I had imagined all of the things that have happened. Maybe my life was so pathetic that I needed something like that to take me out of the misery I was in. Maybe it was all a dream and I didn't really meet my mate. But if it was a dream, why does the mate bond feel so strong? Why is his scent so delicious to my nose? I was practically going crazy. "C'mon...stand and go sit beside your mate my dear. I can't believe this huge turnout." The Alpha of the moonstone pack said. Princess Ilvira rose slowly from her seat and trudged toward Alpha Zachary. Reaching there, she paused before making a slight bow. Him returning her gesture was like me taking a blow to the heart. How could he do this to me? How could he be so blinded to this pull that was raging inside of me? How could she be his mate! My eyes watered as I watched them standing side by side with each other but I knew I couldn't let the tears roll down my cheek. I was sure Gennora was watching me. She's probably mocking me about the entire situation that even I don't understand. "I am glad that this Union wouldn't be a union between two mates alone but a union and a great headstart between two packs;The imperial pack and the Moonstone pack." Excited cheers came after Alpha Zachary's words. "On this note, we can begin the celebrations." The music resumed in earnest. Princess Ilvira sat by the Alpha prince on the left side of the table and I watched her begin to dig into the meal in front of her with so much grace than I could ever muster. I let my mind take the same lane it has always taken all my life. Princess Ilvira didn't seem out of place sitting beside the Alpha prince. I imagined myself sitting there beside me and the sight wasn't as pleasant as the one of princess Ilvira. She sat there gracefully. Her face was flawless and her skin was white and creamy. No hair on her head seemed out of place as the black mass of hair was let down to Cascade over her shoulders and down her back. Her eyes were a sharp color of brown and they were as confident as the expression her face held. She was dressed in silk. A very rare fiber of clothing in the woodlands that mostly differentiates royal births from normal Wolves. The color of the silky dress was red and matched the color of her full lips as the material spread all around her, enough to sweep the floor whenever she walks. Her aura Commanded power and spoke volumes that she was an Alpha blood and a royal birth. She was an exceptionally beautiful woman. Perfect in every sense. Perfect for him. Anyone would choose that...over a measly maid but I was still finding it hard to believe what was happening to me. Everyone seemed okay. None of the maid seemed to care as most of them looked tired and just wanted to retire back to their rooms for the night. But I was going crazy. They all began to eat and talk as they did. I watched the Alpha and his supposed mate from the corner of my eyes. I saw him say things to her that made her smile and show off be beautiful set of white teeth. My heart clenched in my shirt. "You there!" A sharp voice broke into the excited and happy voices of the people in the room. It got my attention too because it was a loud and deep voice and it so turned out that the person was referring to me because he was pointing to me. It was one of the guests sitting on the other side. An elder from one of the Packs. My attention was drawn away from Alpha Zachary as i turned to the man calling for me. Did he catch me staring? "M--me?" I stuttered. "Get me that bottle of wine and come pour it for me." He said. My eyes roamed around for the wine be was requesting for and I caught Dina's eyes before I saw the wine in front of me. The look in her eyes was a clear warning for me not to make any mistakes. I gulped, grabbed the wine and with my still unstable legs, I walked over to the other side of the table where the elderly guest was sitting. I bowed slightly and reached for the golden cup in front of him. "Before we make a toast to this amazing discovery, I would like to know how you met. I'm sorry but it's simply hard for a father to believe that his little pup isn't so little anymore." The Alpha of my pack said and everyone bursted into fits of laughter. I slowly began to fill the cup but my hands were shaking and unsteady as my heart hammered against my chest at the thought of what Alpha Zachary would say. He merely chuckled. "It's a long story but I can say my mate right here is the most interesting person I've ever met. How we met is something I consider as a precious memory for the both of us and how she changed my life in just a day is something I'll never forget." "I never knew you had such a sweet tongue. My daughter is so lucky." "I believe I am the lucky one. Your daughter's words to me are what put me in this position. She told me not to give up. She told me that it didn't matter who I was, I also deserved the best. She–" "What the hell!!!" The loud voice stopped the Alpha's angsty speech and also pierced into my ears. Everyone stopped talking, spoons stop hitting plates and the music stopped. Everyone had their attention turned to the person who made the loud cry. It took a minute to realize that it wasn't just the man I was pouring a wine for that they were looking at because he made the noise. They were watching me who had lost concentration from listening to the Alpha's speech and have started to fill the cup to the brim with wine. So much that it started to pour out of the cup and into the laps of the elder, drenching his silk clothes. My eyes widened in horror and I let out a shocked gasp that made me lose control of my hands and right then, the cup and the bottle of wine slipped out of my hands, fell to the ground and shattered into a million pieces. I shifted to the back out of shock. My hands shook as I looked down at the messes I had created. The one on the elders clothes and the one the floor. "You wench!" The elder bellowed and stood to his feet. My legs shook in fear but I still needed them to get away from the wrath of the man before me. What did I just do? "I'm sorry..." I whispered, finally letting the tears take control of me as they began to roll down my cheeks. I kept repeating the same words over and over as I turned on my heels away from the elder that was stalking towards me. I fled out the open door.