Hunter (Crescent Wolves Book One)

Chapter Three

“Jesus Cass it’s too tight!”

The dress – if you can even call it that, she was trying to suck me had been dropped off by the tailors this afternoon and having been built for me hugged every curve on my body. My boobs, however, objected to it completely. Though I had to admit the royal blue went perfectly with my tanned skin and dark hair that now curled around my face flowing down to my chest. With a final push, Cassy got me in and I stepped back to admire the work. A simple dress but stunningly effective, the sweetheart neckline was flattering and the slit up the side helpful so I could move, the material hugging every part of me. Not to mention the pair of heels with straps shaping up my legs.

“Holy crap you actually look like a girl”

I frowned at my friend in the mirror, but she had a point. This wasn’t the normal me in my ripped jeans and baggy shirts. I barely recognized the person in the mirror.

The pair of dark eyes looking back.

The makeup artists that had been sent in had done a good job, though I still think the whole process of tweezers and curling tongs could be used in torture. Cassy joined in of course, and stood beside me in a flowing red scarlet gown. Playing with her blond hair, she had got done up rather than loose like me. Looking at her, she was far more suited to the life I lead.

She loved all the glitter and glamour, the grand balls. Designer clothes and politics. Catching my gaze in the mirror, she turned and took my hand.

“Stop it, Serina. We’re going to get you out of this, there’s no way any asshole is getting you. I won’t let him.”

I loved her, her stubbornness was equal to mine. When I had told her I nearly had to stop her marching down to my dad’s office and setting him straight, no doubt such an action would get her killed. And I couldn’t lose her.

“I have something for you”

I watched her retrieve a box from under my bed. Frowning, she’s clearly had that for a while. Walking over to her, now opening the box to reveal a necklace. Oddly familiar. Its dark metal chain and violet stone set in a star shape casing. I had seen it before, the realization hitting me nearly drawing tears from my eyes.

“Where… where did you find this?”

My voice shook, but I couldn’t care as I traced my finger along the fine stone, our eyes meeting hers also welling up with tears.

“Last fall, we were cleaning out some of the spare rooms drawers and I found it, I was going to keep it for your birthday. But this is far more special”

She stepped around me now, placing my mother’s necklace around my neck and clipping it and the back. I felt a zap when it touched my breastbone and looked at Cassy questioned.

“I pulled in a favor with the witches. It will mask your scent. Making the assholes job even harder tonight”

Tears fall from my eyes freely now. I grabbed her and hugged her, her familiar perfume wafting around us soothing me. She hugged me back, and I wished we could have just stayed at that moment. But already she was pulling out, pushing me away.

“Come on now. Don’t go ruining your makeup”

Even though she had tears running down her face, we laughed. Hearing the violin pickup downstairs was our que, the ball had started and so had our f**k up the marriage plan.

Hunter

Her scent hit me before I even got inside the mansion. Serina Redmoon, how that name had tortured me, kept me from sleep. It had been seven years. Long endless years, but finally I would have her, she would be mine completely. And I will never let her go.

My brother Luke smirked at me as we climbed the stairs to the packhouse. People had gathered to see us of course

. Royalty always drew in a crowd, and the ladies’ man that Luke reveled in it. Shoving him inside the door so he couldn’t break any more hearts before he'd even stepped foot in the ballroom.

“Everything okay Hunter, you seem very tense tonight?”

His smirking face was the last thing I needed. Playing with the collar of my shirt loosing my tie, I shot him a glare.

“Oh, relax brother, this is the fun part”

The fun part, yes it would be fun.

I was holding myself back from practically running down the corridors we strolled down with our guards leading the way. Not that we needed them. As princes of the realm, we learned to fight as soon as we could walk. Long training sessions with broken bones and bloody knuckles had over the years made us invincible. It was our mothers' nagging that made us go with thr guards in the first place. The recent attacks had her weary. Even now, as we strode down the hall, we were scanning for any threats.

The biggest one would be my carefree brother, however, too busy looking at the local tail than where he was going.

“You have no idea Luke one day you’ll know this pain, and I’ll enjoy watching you suffer”

I just got his usual lopsided grin in answer to that. Looking at us there was similarities. We both shared our father's height, standing at 6 foot 3. Luke however, had shining blond hair, stark contrast to my dark hair. The same as my wolf ebony coat signaling the alpha gene, I had inherited being the firstborn. Luke was my second and when he wasn’t being a complete womanizer, I could rely on him for anything. He was the only one trusted to keep my secret.

Entering the ballroom, the crowd went quiet hushing and stairing up at our presence, only the musicians on a raised stage in the far corner continued playing, a few couples dancing along the floor. Good, Marcus had followed my orders.

I didn’t want a big scene when we arrived. I wanted to see Serina comfortable at first enjoying herself.

Before I made her mine. In every way.

“Ah… Prince Hunter, how wonderful to see you, we are honored by you and your brother’s presence”

Marcus Redmoon stood at the top of the steps of the ballroom before us full of dancing couples and the soft music flowing. His smile didn’t fool me, his stance was awkward his shoulders full of tension and, his eyes looked in a wicked way at us now. How I hated the man. For some time we had been aware of his dealings and his ways of ruling his pack, brutality. I would be delighted in stripping him of everything he had dear, but for now, I played along.

“Alpha Redmoon, thank you we appreciate your lack of formality. We did not want to cause a scene tonight. We are simply here to … enjoy ourselves.”

That last comment irked him i saw the way his jaw clenched.

Good.

I wanted to do just that, when I claimed his only daughter as my own, I will have stripped him of his bargaining chip. Once I knew he had been planning to use her to gain more power among the packs.

“Yes, enjoy yourselves, of course, your rooms have been prepared upstairs as you requested.”

This was painful for the old man, even Luke was smirking beside me, his eyes gazing over the crowd as some whirled around the dancefloor. Nodding to Marcus, we broke off and went into the crowd. Luke had been right. The place was full. I hadn’t seen this many packs together since my youth. There was still a tension in the air, I could sense it.

We had certainly spoiled some plans by coming here. Good.

Now to find her, I didn’t need any help; I could find her in a darkened room. A flash of blue caught my eye at the back of the dancefloor by the grand doors leading out into the night. There, being twirled around by a man in a grey suit.

I froze.

Serina.

The world stopped spinning and everything faded as I watched her. Laughing, her hair catching in the light from the chandeliers glowing dark in the bright room. Each step she took precisely. It took me a moment to realize she was flirting. In fact, there was a line of suitors following her closely.

Clever girl… looks like I will have a challenge with her. Just as I expected.