The Mating Gala

Chapter 1 - Dance class

~Melanie~

"Melanie! Wake up! You are going to be late!" my mum called from downstairs.

I sighed. "Why do these dance classes need to be in the morning and on Saturdays?" I thought to myself as I let out a soft growl. As I got dressed I looked in the mirror, I had my long wavy brown hair cut yesterday and it looked beautiful against my slightly sun-browned skin. 

Then it hit me: Only 3 days left! "Oh my" I sighed nervously. "I'm going to meet my mate very soon." my heart skipped a beat at that thought, my wolf filled with joy as the bright blue eyes of the girl in the mirror started to sparkle and darkened a shade. Completely lost in thought I forgot I was in hurry.

"Melanie! If you do not come down NOW you will have no time for breakfast!" My mum warned once again from downstairs. "Crap," I thought "now I'm really going to be late".

I ran down the stairs, slightly bowing my head to my mum. "I'm sorry I'm late," I said while quickly sitting down for breakfast. I ate the food as fast as I could and stormed out the door to dance class yelling: "I love you mum, see you later".

I ran down the street to be greeted by my best friend Lyria who was also clearly in a hurry. We gave each other a quick hug before we ran further down the street together. We got to the packhouse as fast as we could where the elders, and former alpha and luna, Thorus and Lora awaited us for dance class. Luckily we were just in time getting there as the class started seconds after we arrived.

As elder Lora raised her voice everyone went quiet. "Now you all know the royal gala will be soon and I am sure you are all filled with excitement! Let's start dancing, shall we?" she said while taking Thorus hand. "As you know you there will be three dances you will participate in while at the gala, the opening dance, the mating dance, and when in luck the claiming," Thorus said. "We will start with the opening dance today! Find a dance partner please."

I looked around and saw Devon didn't have a dance partner. When our eyes crossed he gave me the: 'sure, I'll dance with you' nod. But as I approached him Rossina, the daughter of our alpha leaped in front of me grabbing Devon's hand. Not really wanting to go against her Devon's lips read sorry without him making a sound.

As the daughter of the betas, I am very socially skilled and simply love most of the pack like family but Rossina is the only one I really can't stand. She is the most selfish wolf ever, always claiming to be the most beautiful in the pack. With her long but very curly bright red hair and muscular but feminine build, she surely is a fair looking woman, but the way she goes about it is outrageous. Always in the need to tell others how amazing she is.

I looked around again and didn't see anyone who was left in the first place, then I noticed. "The b***h" my wolf whispered to me as I saw what Rossina had obviously seen before me. Only Jared was left. Jared was an omega which wasn't much on an issue to me but he didn't seem to care about hygiene at all. Something my sensitive nose did not appreciate. His slender figure suggested his last workout was a long time ago and his dark hair was messy and greasy. I looked around once more but clearly, he was the only one left.

I acted like I didn't see him until elder Lora walked up to me with Jared and said: "We are going to start, I see you haven't noticed yet but Jared is also still without a partner." I looked at her hiding my anger and forced myself to walk to the dancefloor next to Jared, I didn't even consider touching him until I really had to. While blindfolding myself I thought: "At least I didn't have to look at him while dancing the first dance."

"The opening dance is danced with a blindfold over our eyes. It is a teasing dance in which you will touch as many attendants of the ball as possible in one dance. With a bit of luck, you will already be able to confirm your mate is attending. Though you will not know who it is until you find him or her at the mating dance. Now let me warn you, do not take the blindfold off before the music stops or you risk being removed from the royal gala. That means you will lose your chance to meet your mate this year." Thorus explained to us.

The music started and we started dancing, my feet doing it so automatically by now my thoughts drifted off to the ball that was yet to come.

"By now I have heard this over and over again over the past years I have been taking classes. Whatever happens, do not remove your blindfold. The thought of it is so romantic though, briefly touching the hand of my mate would shoot me right into wolf heaven, I'm sure. I can only imagine but I am positive I would be so impatient to find out. It would be really hard to control myself not to rip that blindfold off my face right when I felt it."

While dancing I counted how many hands I had touched already. thirteen ... fourteen ... fifteen, that was all, I waited for the music to stop at any moment now, but it did not. Confused I kept dancing as I again counted to fifteen. And again. And again. Why did we keep on going I wondered. After ten rounds of touching all the guys' hands, I wondered out loud: "How long do we need to keep going?"

Elder Lora heard that and said: "about twenty more rounds."

"Twenty?!" I thought "why so many?" I asked respectfully. "Because thirty is about half of the number of rounds you will be dancing at the ball." Elder Lora answered. I felt dumbstruck, that was a stupid question. We were training for the actual gala here. There would be so many men there it was impossible to touch them all in one dance. My wolf saddened a little at the thought that would mean it was possible I wouldn't meet my mate at the first dance. 

Finally, the music stopped. The youngest among us were already complaining their feet hurt from dancing this long.

"Tired already?" Elder Thorus laughed. "At the gala, you will dance up to three times as long per dance but I can promise you. The moment you touch your mates hand you can dance the entire night without feeling your feet. Because you will feel like you are flying." He said with a twinkle in his eyes giving elder Lora a loving smile, who brightly smiled back at him. 

Seeing them look at each other like this made me desperate for the days to go by. I wanted this too, just someone who would look at me like that for the rest of my life would be a dream come true. I felt my wolf make a small hop of joy inside me. "Yes! I will surely find my mate at the ball and I don't care who he is, omega or alpha I will love him till the end of time."

Dance class continued as we went on to the second dance. The mating dance. This dance was to be the most exciting moment of the evening at the royal gala. The dance that would help find your mate. My wolf made a small hop of joy again at that thought even getting a bit nervous.

After the instructions from elder Thorus, we started dancing again. This time without a blindfold and actually holding each other while dancing. Though it was still a rather short time holding each other as the dance was again made to touch as many attendants as possible in a short amount of time. It was by now I noticed that Jared was a pretty good dancer. But before that thought could even finish in my mind I heard the queue in the music that had me swap dance partners. When everyone had swapped one time Lora started telling us couple by couple to leave the dancefloor to practice exiting and entering the dance when others were already dancing. We also had to practice to dance alone as it was possible to be without a partner for a moment. This dance could take hours but the more time went by the more likely you would finally touch your mate and could leave the dancefloor as all mates that found each other left the dancefloor together.

"We are taking a short break now!" Elder Thorus announced as the music stopped.

It was noon by now, we had danced all morning. I walked over to Lyria who ended up leaving the practice mating dance with Devon and was still talking to him. I saw an opportunity there. "Hey," I greeted them both. "Are you two tired yet?" I asked. "Nah, I could dance all day if that's what it takes to find my mate," Devon said with a bright sparkle in his eyes. He meant every word. Both Lyria and I nodded in agreement. Lyria turned her head to Devon and asked me: "How do you think he'll look in a suit?" "Hmmm," I said, "I think it would suit him." Devon started laughing. He had always seemed to be the only one who'd catch my word jokes right away. I laughed with him mostly because of the confused face Lyria was making. When Lyria finally got it she shook her head, smiled, and said: "it's a miracle you two aren't mates." Devon and I laughed even harder, Then I said "Us mates? Really? Nah. We are better off as friends, we are too crazy together." Meanwhile, Lyria had gone lost in thought, I snapped her out of it "What's up?" I asked. "Well, you know, ... the prince" she stammered. 

"The prince? What about him?" I asked with a smirky smile on my face. Lyria started to blush. "Well, wouldn't it be amazing to have the prince for a mate? I mean there is a chance... And if not we might get to dance with him," she said while a smile curled up her face. "I couldn't care less honestly," I replied. "I will love my mate regardless of who he is." Devon stared at me in disbelief. "You'd not even reject an omega as the Betas daughter?" He asked with some insecurity in his voice. "No," I said with confidence. "I am not letting my one chance at true love slip over whatever my mates rank will be. My parents will have to accept my mate for who he is."

"That's the spirit!" Someone behind us suddenly said. We didn't need to turn our heads to see who it was. Elder Thorus asked us to come back to the dancefloor to practice the last and most intense dance, the claiming.

My plan had worked, by staying with Devon during the break I managed to claim him as my dance partner for this last dance so I didn't have to be so close to Jared nor his smell again. Rossina was clearly unhappy about that turn of events as she shot me an angry look when seeing us already standing on the dancefloor, ready to start as she came back from the breakroom. She first refused to dance with Jared but that did not last long as elder Lora asked her: "Is this how you are going to act if your mate turns out to be someone just like him?" "I would reject him, yes. I couldn't possibly be mates with a low life like him. My mate will be an alpha," She scoffed with a fierce look, challenging elder Lora. Who clearly did not accept this. "With that attitude, you are not worthy of the position of luna. Go apologies to Jared, NOW and you will dance with him," Her eyes darkening with each word she growled. "Sorry," Rossina muttered as she paired up with Jared staying completely silent. I gave Devon a satisfied smile which he returned, even chuckling a little.

We danced the last dance ending with Devon breathing on my neck and my wolf totally lost in the dance imagining my mate marking me right there and then, as that is what the claiming dance was made for. I could see in Devon's eyes he was imagining the same. It was clear as day, our wolves were more than ready to find our mates. As soon as the dance was over Rossina ran away from Jared, dragging one of her friends along out of the packhouse.

The class ended I thanked the elders for the class and walked out of the packhouse with Lyria, dropping her off at her place before going back home. We once again talked about the prince and her nerves for meeting him, she even admitted to having dreamt about it. "wouldn't it be great if he turned out to be her mate? She seems to really like him even though she never met him before." I wondered as I walked home.