BELLA

"BREAK!" Alpha Loisel yelled.

I sighed in relief and collapsed on the ground tiredly. Sweat dripped from every pore of my body as the training session of today came to an end.

It has been two weeks since we last came here and started training to make ourselves prepare for the worst.

"Bels? Are you okay?"

Through my blurred vision, I saw Onyx crouching in front of me and shaking my shoulders.

I managed to nod my head while struggling to take deep whiffs of air. "Damn, human. You're too weak to be good." I heard teddy mumble from beside me.

"Hey, she kicked your ass yesterday, remember?" Mason mumbled from the other side of me.

"Ass?" Teddy's tone held confusion.

I chuckled or more like cackled before trying to explain him. "Your-your--" I breathed in deeply before continuing, "--butt."

"Hey! You didn't kick my butt! You only knocked me down by kind of snapping my head." He spoke, offended.

People around me laughed and started chatting with one another.

Mason chuckled and handed me a bottle of water. "Here, drink this."

I shook my head and whispered, "We shouldn't immediately drink water after doing exercise."

"Oh dear, it has been ten minutes since the training was over. So, you may have a sip of it." A motherly, gentle tone reached my ears.

I sat straight and greeted her, "Hi, Orchida..." I trailed off the sentence as I needed water to touch my tongue.

I gulped the bottle and kept it gentle beside me. Blinking my eyes, I opened them properly and searched for Xanthos.

"Where's Xanthos?" I asked worriedly as he used to be the first person who would meet me after my training session.

I heard a girly squeal and someone's hands closing my eyes. "Ahh! Xanthos is cheating on you, human!" Teddy exclaimed and whispered, "how disgusting of him! Just look at his body--"

What? Was Xanthos kissing someone or something?

I swatted Teddy's hands away from my eyes and stared at the scene wide-eyed.

There, Xanthos was squatting down as though he was preparing himself to run. Sweat drops fell off of his hair and ran down his chiselled physique. He lifted his hands and wiped the sweat off of his chest. He turned his head to his left and nodded to the person who was too squatting beside him.

A huge crowd was getting formed on around them.

I stood up to get a better view of that person and felt surprised when I saw Alpha Loisel going to run with my mate.

"Hey, come on, let's go there!" I pulled Orchida's hands and pushed past the people to reach to the front.

I went near to the tracks and cheered, "Alpha Loisel! Come on you can do it!" I clapped.

"Do what, dear?" Orchida asked confused.

"Your mate to beat my arrogant and pride-filled mate in running."

I believed Xanthos heard it because he turned his head to look at me with a raised eyebrow. "You don't want your mate to win?" Orchida asked.

I smiled and nodded my head eagerly. "He's just too prideful about himself and always bothers me by relishing his talks on his own 'toned' physique."

Xanthos said in my head, 'oh? Don't tell me you didn't check my toned body a few seconds ago.'

'I hate you for knowing everything!'

'I love you too, mate.' Xanthos replied back.

Orchida laugh pulled me back from my mate-link. She shook her head. "Oh, sweety. That's so funny. now that I think, you and my daughter would've gotten along so well."

"Oh you've a daughter? Where's she?"

Orchida stared at the sky and replied, "she's up there, staring at us right now." 

My heart clenched hearing that sentence. "Her name?"

"Cristiana."

"Hey Cristiana!" I waved towards the sky. "Hope you're doing good and let's meet one day!" I turned around and smiled at Orchida to see her already staring at me with a sad smile playing on her lips.

"Thank you, my dear." She held my hand in her rough yet warm ones. "Now let's sight see our mates running." She chuckled which made me chuckle along.

I saw Teddy jump and shout, "on your mark! Get set!" All stood murmuring with each other whereas I bite my lip. "Go!"

Xanthos and Alpha Loisel got up from there respective position and ran as soon as Teddy whistled. My heightened senses allowed me to capture the two runners. If I would have been the same Bella as before, I was sure I would have missed this spectacular moment.

"Alpha! Alpha! Alpha!" The entire crowd cheered for their Alpha. I too along with them cheered and clapped my hands excitedly.

However, I noticed a few girls of the pack trying to support for Xanthos against the loud crowd.

Orchida stood there and watched her mate running with wide-eyes. "Oh, my lord! He's so young even at this age!" She rambled pieces of stuff about her mate.

I chuckled when I saw Xanthos purposely jogging rather than actually running.

Orchida squealed when her mate reached the finishing line before my mate.

I stood there and watched Xanthos dramatically fall on his knees and act as though he was out of breath. Alpha Loisel stood there, showing his muscles to his pack members and grinning in victory. Orchida ran towards her mate and hugged him even though he was covered with sweat.

Xanthos stared at them and immediately searched for something around the crowd which I was sure was for me but I hid behind Onyx who was now standing beside me.

He coughed and fell on the ground making a bunch of girls run towards him and help him sit up. I huffed and jumped to rescue who was supposed to be mine away from the girls.

"He's mine, buddies." I glared at them and knelt down to lean near his ear, "stop acting too much and get up."

Xanthos grinned and pecked my lips before getting up.

"You look beautiful when you get jealous--" Xanthos started but got cut off by the loud sounds of heels hitting the ground. Like a fast horse running towards us. But I knew it wasn't a horse by the smell of it.

"Everyone except the people part of this fragment hides!" Alpha Loisel shouted.

Xanthos scooped me in his arms and ran behind a tree nearby to the cottages. Onyx and Teddy ran to the other side of the ground whereas Mason ran far away from everyone.

The once enthusiastic environment was now silent except for the heels clicking the ground heavily. I watched Alpha Loisel and Luna Orchida run back to their cottage along with few more people.

"Xanth--"

"Shh."

Two silhouettes of the huge figure were the first thing I could glimpse from where I was standing. I narrowed my eyes to see better and saw to individuals getting down from a horse-like creature. The difference between the horse and the creature standing there was their mouth structure and their height. It was very small compared to horses and their mouth were thick. 

The two figures who got down from them were wearing a blue armour with a basket of bow and arrow hanging at their back. Their faces were covered with a blue iron mask making it difficult for me to see who was inside it.

They made their way towards the shack of Alpha Loisel and Luna Orchida and knocked thrice on the door.

The door creaked open and Luna Orchida came out wearing a pair of new clothes and had a neutral expression. She smiled politely and bowed his head, "I greet you brave, courageous, smart warriors with a warm welcome."

The warriors nodded their heads and lifted their hands before calling them twice. The small-sized horse-like creatures came jogging towards them and bent down asking them to do what they want.

The warriors took out a card before handing it to Luna Orchida. She opened it and whispered one word out, loud enough for everyone hiding at their rooms or behind the trees to hear.

"Ball." She then stared at the warriors. "Thank you for travelling long distances and for giving me the opportunity to come to a ball along with my pack members. I would show my gratitude for this forever."

Ball? For what?

The warriors nodded before climbing their respective carriage and rode away. When their smell left far away from us, we all came out of our respective hide-out areas.

"What was that?" I whispered.

Orchida ran her hand through her hair. "They were one of the king's warriors who came to invites for a ball as a new Queen is being appointed as the head of the supernatural union and the world." She continued. "I was afraid that they would have smelled anyone I was a part of the old fragment of the pack. I'm so glad that they didn't seem to know that fact." She chuckled.

"So? We have a ball to celebrate the festive of getting as new Queen? I'm sure she would be one of those who would shake her head for whatever the King would ask her to do so," Teddy grumbled.

What happened to Annalisa? Why there is a sudden need for a new Queen?

Alpha Loisel came out and gazed at everyone. "I think we need to prepare for this ball from today as the day after tomorrow is the ball. And if we don't go, then we are dead."

I was nervous about this. I didn't know what I was supposed to feel, whether happiness or sadness.

I stared at Xanthos who seemed to be in deep thought. When he felt my eyes on him, he smirked slightly before coming closer to me.

"Mate," he bit my ear and continued, "get ready for whatever is about to come. Because..."

"Because?"

"Either the power of love would win or the power of greed."