Alpha Vaughan

Chapter 13

Beautiful. Elegant. Splendid. Those words could hardly describe the room to full effect.  

Glittering down impossibly high ceilings were giant chandeliers casting light on wooden planes and gilded steelworks. The wide room splitted into many divisions--a bar being one of them! A red antique rug covered the wide floors, and on it, collections of upholstered furniture and glass figurines were dispersed liberally.

The bed in this room was even bigger than the one in my last room, and that was saying something. 

The omega bowed and said, "I'll have some food brought up to you, Ma'am Hilda."

Tearing my gaze away from a large plasma screen TV, I faced her. "The former omega that'd been assigned to me during the Festival, will she be replaced?"

The lady nodded. "Yes, O--"

"No," I said cutting her off. "I want her--Nayla--as my personal omega." I couldn't loose two friends in one day.

Her eyes widened a bit. "But, Miss, you'll need someone that can prepare you for Court life."

And what did that really entail? Wasn't it knowing the scoop on every Noble's life and using the dark ones against them whenever they became pricks? Somehow I knew Nayla would do a splendid job at scoop collecting. "I insist," I said firmly.

With a muttered, 'Alright, Ma'am,' she turned and was gone.

A section of the beige coloured walls was covered with oriental paintings. These probably cost a shitload of money, I thought, coming to peruse them closely. My eyes drew on the lifelike painting of a sallow-faced little boy seated on a low rock. His legs waddled in the water, a fishing rod and a tall stack of gold sitting beside him. Despite the riches at his side, he reached a malnourished hand towards the fishing rod...

The doors flew open. I sharply turned to face the intruder. In walked Nayla. "Miss!" she shrieked, her face a rictus of excitement. Drawing closer to me, worry replaced her excitement. "How are you?"

I summoned a smile for her sake. "I'm fine."

She released a relieved breath. "Good. Because Tabitha's planning on kicking your ass on the field."

Confused, I asked, "Tabitha? Who's that? And, what field?"

"Tabitha's like the strongest female werewolf in the pack, and she's in charge of, like, a division of other strong female warriors too."

"Females are allowed to fight here?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, Alpha Vaughan's not particular about gender when it comes to war."

I stored that bit of information in my memory. "And why does Tabitha want to kick my ass? And how is she so sure I wouldn't kick hers?" I said with false bravado.

Nayla hooted excitedly. Then explained, "It's a customary tradition all part of determining if a shewolf's strong enough to lead us. And Tabitha's so sure because," Nayla grew somber, "because she found out you're... A Latent."

The word was uttered like a curse. I've felt like one for nineteen years. Inhaling a breath, I shrugged. "Yeah, I'm latent, but still much of an ass-kicker, so Tabitha better watch her tail."

Nayla's almond-shaped eyes watched me closely. In her gaze, curiosity battled with the fear of offending me. Curiosity won out. "What is it like? Being latent?"

It sucks. "I can't say, because I don't know what it's like being a full werewolf."

Her eyes appeared thoughtful. "Okay, mate-wise, here's one. We smell really unique scents off our mates. What does Alpha Vaughan smell like to you?"

I searched my thoughts. "I...don't know. He smells normal, I guess." At least as normal as I thought a regular man would smell. Like cinnamon, leather and... Man.

"What?" Her eyes widened. "Okay, here's another one. Charges of electricity travel over our skin when we're being touched by our significant others. Does the same happen when Alpha Vaughan touches you?"

Just raw, hot desire. Having this conversation with a fourteen year old suddenly seemed uncomfortable. "No, it doesn't. Wouldn't that, I don't know, electrocute me to death or something?"

She snorted, then began laughing. "I've always thought so, but the adults say it's... Pleasurable."

My face scrunched.

When she'd gotten a grip of herself, Nayla stared at me openly, perplexed. "Latents are really rare. I'd even say as rare as Links."

Links. Creatures from different species who're believed to have direct connection to their makers. A werewolf Link hasn't been heard of since, say, millenniums ago. "Yeah, so I guess I'm something of a celebrity around here."

Nayla chuckled. "An understatement. The whole pack's eager to meet you. The Alpha's court, not so much."

My brows went up at that. "Why?"

Nayla explained carefully, as if not wanting to hurt my feelings, "The males there all think it's quite abominable for a Latent to be our Luna. The females, well, they've harboured hopes that Alpha Vaughan would settle down with any one of them. So it's not exactly good news to them hearing he's found his mate, and a Latent at that."

Anger boiled in my gut. "Well, they can all have him for all I care!"

She paled. "Shh, Miss, the walls have ears."

"If by walls you mean Vaughan, then I'll be pressed to agree with you; because he's as unfeeling as one." I stood, pacing.

"What happened?"

Stopping, I told her, "Let's just say, he and the men in his Court are no different in their opinion of a latent being their Luna."

Her jaw slackened. "Well, that's... Awful."

Sighing, I sat down on a settee and resolved not to think about him.

At length Nayla said, "We all had quite a scare today, thought you wouldn't make it out alive."

At the reminder of the attack, grief clawed at my chest. "Well I did," I said silently. But the one person in the world that mattered most to me didn't. I stiffened. I'd started to think of her in past tense; as if she'd died. Was the feeling I felt in my gut that she was still alive just an illusion created by me to soften the toll her death would have on me? No, no, I couldn't afford to start doubting myself now. I had to find her, and that was final.

Seeing my unsettled look, she instantly assured, "It's a good thing Alpha Vaughan's doing his best to track down the Hunters and get information out of them."

Instantly I stood. "Where is he?"

She rose as well, "What?"

"Where is he?" I repeated. "There's no way I'm letting him do this without me." I started to head towards the doors.

Nayla panicked, coming to stand in my way. "Just think, Miss, with the way he'd reacted to you being in danger today, Alpha Vaughan wouldn't like it if you got involved. He'd looked right about to take on an entire coven of vampires alone!"

Her words fell on deaf ears. Undeterred, I sidestepped her and made my way out the door.

"Miss!" she called, hurrying to catch up with me. 

I stood in the middle of the wide hall, not knowing which way to go. "Do you know where he is?" I asked again.

"He's in a meeting," she replied reluctantly, coming to stand beside me. At my side, she exhaled heavily. "If you're so bent on meeting him now, then a faster way to get there's this way." She turned and led the way into a lengthy corridor.