Fire And Ice

Chapter 76 - Stares and Whispers

Callum's P. O. V

'She's here.'

On my way to the ballroom, with Brittany on my arm, I stopped in my tracks. Those were the first words Cade had spoken to me in months.

Brittany shot me a deadly look, "What is it?"

'Why have you stopped in the middle of the hall like a fucking idiot?'

I smiled at her, "I forgot something in my room. You can go on ahead while I-"

Her nails dug into my arm, almost tearing the fabric, 'Whatever you forgot can wait. I am not entering the Mate Ball without my damn mate.'

I nodded slowly, "Whatever it is can wait. I'll get it later."

We continued on, but my mind was looking for Cade in his dark corner, 'What do you mean by she's here? Who's she?'

'Our mate. She's here.'

With the scents of at least two thousand different Werewolves, it was hard to pick a single one out. My thoughts went back to two days ago, when I'd smelled someone vaguely familiar while taking something to Harry in the Alphas' side of the palace.

'Do you mean the person we smelled two days ago?' She'd smelled familiar, but months of crying into her torn clothes long after the scent had faded had branded every note of her scent on my brain.

That wasn't the same girl I'd driven to death.

He didn't respond, so I was left wondering why he would think that. I chalked it up to the essence of the Mate Ball.

I spent the next hour being led around by Brittany, in dances, to conversations, to prop her up in front of Alphas of important packs. Over the last few months, Brittany had pretty much cemented herself as the pseudo Alpha, even though the title had already been passed to Harry a few weeks ago. Not that he made it hard. To him, being Alpha was sitting in the main office with his feet up as he barked orders at me and the others next in command.

An hour in, Brittany ditched me to dance with the Beta of another pack, batting her eyelashes at him as he led her onto the dance floor. I let out a sigh of relief and looked around for a drink.

The sound of the grand doors opening drew my attention. A blonde wearing a yellow dress that made her shine like the sun walked in, and stepping in behind her was a raven-haired woman. The moment my eyes landed on her, my heart stopped and sped up all at once,

She wore a black and red dress that would make any man weak, with her hair a on top of her head, leaving her neck bare and me longing to mark it. As she passed a look over the ballroom and descended the steps, my eyes were glued to her form, watching every gliding step she took, every shift in the canvas on her face. I didn't stop watching, even when she chose the Blue Alpha as a dance partner, amused and engaged as they exchanged words between twirls.

Then she announced herself as an Alpha.

'Harry, Callum,' Brittany called the moment the words left Ari's mouth 'I need one of you two to go dance with that attention whore. Her pack is new and weak so she'll jump at the chance to ally with us.'

Harry started moving before Kylie grabbed his arm with a pouting complaint.

'Let me do it.' I told them, hoping my eagerness wasn't apparent, 'It won't look good if our Alpha offers a partnership to them personally in front of everyone. Let me go as a delegate.'

Across the room, Brittany rolled her eyes, 'Fine. Just don't fuck it up.'

I weaved through the crowd of men looking for a dance, my heart beating and my hands shaking compounding with every step. Finally pushing through, I stood behind her and she must have sensed me, because she turned to look at me.