Fated to the Alpha Prince [MxM]

Lourence POV The night had been a blur of flashing lights, loud music, and glittering chaos. Senior prom, The full-moon ball. The last stop before freedom. I had come only after much convincing from Luoisa, the full-moon ball was the night two people would be mated in the eyes of everyone, and for some reason everyone was looking forward to it - whether if for the drama, or the prospective it could be themselves, I didn't know. Cindy - the girl I wind up drinking with - and I pushed through the ballroom doors, laughter lingering on our lips from some joke I could barely remember. The whole place reeked of perfume and spilled champagne, and the air buzzed with that heady mix of euphoria and recklessness that only came when everyone knew the end of this hell we call highschool was near. Somewhere on the dance floor, Louisa had long abandoned me and twirling in a random man's arms, her face flushed as they spun beneath the chandelier. A group of old classmates had gathered by the punch bowl, egging each other on as they snuck sips from a flask. Even the teachers were dancing - awkwardly, of course, but trying their best to keep up with the beat. I wasn’t exactly drunk, but the wine Cindy had handed me earlier had left me just buzzed enough to forget, for a moment, who I was supposed to be here - the outcast who everyone assumed wouldn't even come. We wove through the crowd, Cindy steering us toward the quieter edge of the dance floor. “Careful!” she called over the music as I stumbled slightly, bumping into her. “I’m fine,” I said with a laugh, steadying myself. “Just… a little dizzy.” We were still laughing when it happened. One second, I was turning to avoid a couple making out near the dessert table. The next, I’d spun straight into someone else - hard. The impact sent me stumbling backward, and before I could catch myself, the glass in my hand tipped sideways. A gasp. The sharp sound of liquid splattering against fabric. I turned, heart sinking, and found myself face-to-face with Thymian Mounds; the crown prince of the Lunaris pack, also the strongest pack in the world currently. Oh, and also my worst enemy since elementary school.. He stood there, frozen, as dark red wine dripped down the front of his pristine white suit. His emerald eyes locked onto mine, and for a split second, the whole room seemed to hold its breath. “Oh, no..” Cindy whispered beside me. I opened my mouth to apologize, but before I could get a word out, Thymian grabbed me by the front of my jacket and shoved me back. “You’ve got to be f*****g kidding me,” he snarled, his voice low and dangerous. “Can’t even go one night without making a scene, can you?” “You think I’m making a scene?” I shot back, shoving him off me. “It was an accident, Thymian. Get over it.” “An accident?” He laughed bitterly, gesturing to his ruined suit. “This doesn’t look like an accident.” The tension between us crackled like lightning. People were starting to notice, heads turning, conversations quieting as the crowd began to gather around us. I didn't like this attention. It was always like this with Thymian Mounds... Always the center of attention. “Look,” I said through gritted teeth, “I don’t want to do this here. Just walk away.” “Or what?” Thymian sneered, stepping closer. “You’ll embarrass yourself again? Like you always do?” Something inside me snapped. Before I knew it, we were shoving each other, fists flying, the crowd around us shouting and trying to pull us apart. Cindy was yelling something, but I couldn’t hear her over the roar of blood in my ears. And then, suddenly, everything went dark. At first, I thought I’d blacked out, that Thymian had landed a punch that had actually knocked me out. But then I realized the light had dimmed. The music cut off abruptly, replaced by a stunned silence as everyone looked up. The moonlight, which had been pouring through the skylights all night, had vanished like an eclipse, leaving the ballroom bathed only in the faint glow of the blue and silver party lights. “It’s happening...” someone whispered. And I knew it all to well, taking a deep breath to calm myself. The reason the full-moon ball became a thing.The moon's choosing. It happens around November of every year, and the moon only ever picks 17-18 year olds, hence why senior prom was always scheduled exactly for when it would be a full moon. Though it was a tradition of the Lunaris pack - those blessed by the moon - it wasn't unheard of for a non-member to be picked. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the moonlight began to return, a soft, silvery glow that grew brighter and brighter until it filled the room once more. But this time, it wasn’t shining on everyone. It was shining on us. Thymian and I. The entire crowd which had gathered because of the fight began to spread. Thymian and I had been separated by the crowd, but as we stood there, glaring at each other from opposite sides of the room, the moonlight remained fixed on the two of us. People began to murmur, shifting uncomfortably as they realized what was happening. The moon’s choosing. The main event of the Full Moon Ball. But it wasn’t supposed to happen like this. I glanced around, hoping, praying that the light would shift, that it was a mistake or perhap there was someone just behind me. But it didn’t move. It stayed right where it was, illuminating Thymian and me like we were the only two people in the room. “No,” I whispered, my heart pounding in my chest. “No, no, no.” Across the room, Thymian’s dark skin had gone pale, his green eyes wide with shock. He looked as horrified as I felt. The whispers grew louder, spreading like wildfire through the crowd. “Is it them?” “It can’t be.” “There must be some mistake.” But there was no mistake. The moon had chosen. And it had chosen us.