A Second Chance Mate

Chapter 2-The Ball

Lexi's Pov

I looked at the clock on my nightstand, which read four o'clock. I sit on a chair in my room while Erika fixes my hair for the ball tonight. I think about how these last two months have been hard on me, as I had to listen to Becca insult me every chance she got. I didn't want to go tonight, but I promised Erika I would go and wouldn't disappoint her. "There," Erika said to me. When she finished with my hair, I got up from the chair to stretch my legs and walked over to my closet to grab the dress Erika had picked out for me two months ago. After getting ready, I went to the mirror in the corner of my room. As I looked at myself, I was shocked. I had on a turquoise form-fitting strapless evening gown that showed off my cleavage, and in the back, it hid all but the top of my scars. My makeup made my crystal blue eyes pop even more with the shimmering champagne eye shadow and a hint of pink blush on my pale face. My hair was curled and put up elegantly. Seeing myself dressed was different, but I had to admit I looked great.

"Wow," was all I could say to her. She looked at me with a smile, clearly proud of her work.

"I always knew you were gorgeous, but damn, I'm good," she replied. After we were both ready, we headed downstairs.

When we entered the living room, my father sat in his recliner chair, watching a television show and drinking a beer.

"Now, maybe you will find someone who will take you dressed like that," he said as he looked at us.

"Thanks, Dad," I said. He has been on my ass ever since my birthday to find someone who would take me so that I could get out of his house. He couldn't wait to get rid of me so that he wouldn't have to look at me since I looked so much like my mother, and he blamed me for her death. I asked if he would ask the Alpha and Luna to let me go live in a different pack, but I got wiped from asking him that. Alpha Xander and Luna Cordelia were unaware of how my father treated me and would probably kill him if they knew. The Alpha and Luna were friendly, kind and cared about the people in the pack, which is why I couldn't believe how much of an arrogant ass their son was. Erika and I headed out of the house and into my car. We drove to the packhouse, where the ball was taking place. The packhouse sat at the top of a hill overlooking the whole town. It was a big white house with arched double doors. It is where Alpha and Luna live with their son, Bata Jason, and his mate, which means that this was also Becca and Erika's home. I hated coming here because of Aaron, so Erika came to my house to hang out. After I parked the car, Erika and I got out. We walked up to the front doors, which were already open, so we walked in and headed for the ballroom. The ballroom was dimly lit, with enormous chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and maple wood floors, with tables lining the sides of the room. As i looked around the ballroom, I saw a lot of people there, including the Alpha's and their Luna's from the Moon Valley and the Moon Stone packs, along with their Bata's and other members of their packs and even some pack members of the Crimson Moon pack. Still, I hadn't seen the pack Alpha or Bata.

"Let's go," Erika said as she grabbed my hand. She led us to where people were dancing.

"Erika, you know I don't dance," I said, pulling my hand out of hers.

"Awe, come on, please," she begged me.

"Fine, but only one song," I said. I let her drag me the rest of the way to the dance floor. We started to dance to an upbeat song.

"Is that Alpha Dominic Black?" I heard a girl next to me say to one of her friends she was dancing with. I turned to look where they were. Sure enough, Alpha Dominic was walking into the ballroom. Dominic is the Alpha of the Crimson Pack, the most feared pack. All I could see from the dim lighting was that he was tall and had dark-colored hair, and I could see his muscular build through the suit he wore. He looked at me, and when our eyes met, I heard Athena say, "Mate."

"What? No, this can't be," I said to my wolf, with terror in my voice.

"He is our second chance mate," Athena replied happily. Finding a second chance mate is rare, but it has happened before when a wolf was rejected or lost its mate. I had never expected to find a second chance mate.

Dominic's Pov

I hated going to the annual winter ball, but my Bata Grant told me it would be rude not to come and that I needed to find my Luna. An Alpha needs a Luna to keep himself from going mad; it doesn't matter if it is his destined mate or a chosen one. I have tried to find my fated mate for the past two years but had no luck, and I refused to take a chosen one because I didn't want to take her away from whom the moon Goddess had selected for her. The bond of fated mates is much stronger than that of chosen mates. When this occurs, the other's fated is either given a second chance mate or can take a chosen mate. Since I didn't want to be the cause of that, I focused my energy on building a reputation for being the most prominent and most robust pack. Most other packs fear mine now and don't dare to challenge me. However, we still have rogue wolves who try from time to time. I now stand in the Blue Moon pack. A pack that was not big. The Alpha and Luna of this pack were good people, but unfortunately, once their son became the Alpha, he would ruin the pack with his arrogant ways. I had met him a few times before when his father took him to the meetings between packs, and he always thought he was better than us all. As I entered the ballroom, Grant stood beside me smiling; he loved coming to this thing, trying to find his mate. I looked around and locked eyes with a stunning she-wolf in a turquoise evening gown on the dance floor. "Mate," I heard my wolf Aztec say.

"We found her," I said to my wolf.

"Yes, who knew that she was here in this pack all this time," he replied.

"We must go to her and claim her," Aztec continued.

I began to walk toward her, and I could hear people talking, wondering what I was doing. I didn't care, though. I was used to people talking about me because of my reputation. As I approached her, I could smell the most intoxicating scent of honey and lavender. It drove my wolf crazy; he wanted to claim her as ours, but she ran out of the ballroom before I could reach her. Aztec howled in my head with fear of being rejected by our mate. As she ran, I watched another she-wolf and a male follow her out of the side door.

"Follow her," Aztec demanded me.

"She looked scared," I said to him.

"Then we must show her that we will love her," he responded.

"How can we do that if she won't let us near her?" I asked him.

"We keep on trying," he says matter-of-factly.

"I hope you know what you are talking about," I replied, knowing he would stop talking to me if I didn't listen. He had wanted us to find our mate since he came to me when I was eighteen. I turned and headed in the direction our mate ran.