Chapter 25: Chapter 25

By the time Xander's car arrived at the pack house, the place was already being crowded by invitees. Clara could see exotic cars. Women in stunning attires and men in classic suits. One could tell how rich they were by just one look at their outfit.

Xander led Clara down from the car and they walked majestically into the ballroom. Xander looked handsome in his black tuxedo suit and red neck tie that matched Clara's outfit, his shoes were well polished and spotless and his short hair was properly combed. Everyone present in the room snapped their heads to the couples direction, watching them as they walked through the marble floor.

Their eyes never left the lady in red that walked next to Xander. Their Luna to be. They watched her eagerly, low whispers spread through the crowd as most of the werewolves present did not expect their Luna would be a mere human.

The spacious ballroom was painted in gold. Crystal chandeliers spiraled down from the arching sky blue ceiling, illuminating glimmering walls, the polished marble floor like an ice over a lake. The women were dressed in various expensive and stylish ball gowns and the men wore suits that fit perfectly on their broadchest.

Xander led Clara to a chair and signaled for her to sit before taking the seat next to her. Alpha Pius, his beta and his mate were seated together, while Xander and Clara seated next to each other followed by Lucas and his mate were already seated. The seats were arranged in order of hierarchy.

Lucas gave Clara a friendly smile before turning away and continuing the talk with his mate.

Clara sat there dazed, unable to understand anything, things felt odd to her. she could feel everyone's gaze on her. The people felt strange and Clara didn't like the aura that oozed out from them. Clara could feel her body temperature slowly rising again and uneasiness slowly creeped under her skin. She wanted to leave the place but for some reason she stayed put as if she's being held down by a great force. Her mind and body were at odds. Clara got lost in thought until she felt that someone was standing in front of her.

"Can I have this dance?" Xander's voice rang in Clara's ears, waking her up from her thoughts.

Clara stared at him for a moment, her mind wanting to turn him down but her body had already moved itself by bringing forth her hands to meet Xander's.

Xander brought her to the dance floor and they started to dance slowly to the music. The dancing floor was crowded with other couples dancing along to the sound of music.

Lucas watched as the attention completely shifted away from their side and we're now focused on the people that were dancing. He took it as a que and left the ballroom. He walked to the side of the pack house and completely took off his clothes. He shifted into his massive gray wolf and sprinted. He met with the others who had already shifted to their wolf form.

"We have to act fast, we just have 20 minutes or people will grow suspicious" Lucas told them through a mind link.

"Got it," one of the wolves replied.

They ran until they were out of the pack's territory. Lucas paused, sniffing the air for any intruder but he got nothing, he signaled for the rest to follow. Like a predator, they moved effortlessly through the woods, using the trees and plants as camouflage. They Waltz their way into the free lands with ease. The rogue had let their guard defenses down. The mystic shadow pack were having an important ceremony so they could relax for a while.

Everywhere in the free lands were defenseless except for the underground dungeon.the group encountered two rogues guiding the entrance in their wolf form. One of them sniffed the air and suddenly his head snapped towards the group. The rogue bared his teeth and dashed towards them. Liam, the youngest among the werewolves, jumped out from behind a tree and attacked the rogue. He pounced on the rogue, pinning him to the ground before biting him on the neck and the rogue laid lifelessly on the ground.

The second watched as his partner was taken down, and before the group could get to him, the rogue howled loudly, alerting everyone else that an attack was taking place. Soon Lucas and his group were surrounded and slightly outnumbered.

"Shit" Lucas cursed.

The rogues started to move in circles, trapping Lucas and his men in the middle.

"Shit is messed up" one of the Lucas men cursed through the mindlink.

"Let's wait for an opening, I don't see the leader yet, he is not among them, we still have a chance" said Lucas.

The rogues howled loudly before dashing towards Lucas and his men, and a tough fight broke out. Lucas fought with all his might, clawing and biting at the rogues and killing them in a gruesome manner. After taking down his opponent, Lucas looked around the place and he saw his men were fighting vigorously; they didn't need his help, he mind linked Landon to come with him into the underground dungeon.

Meanwhile, Drake was trying to free Skyler from the silver chains. He had searched for the keys but he couldn't find them. They were left with the option of breaking him out of the chains, but it wasn't an easy task, a chain built to hold a werewolf wouldn't be so easy to break and Skyler's wolf hadn't shown up too. Drake had only succeeded in breaking the chains that held Skyler's feet. It was less tougher than those used to hold his hands.

Lucas and Landon had managed to enter the underground dungeon unnoticed, they shifted back to their human self and quickly checked the place for treats. It was clear from any rogue because they had all gone to the top to defend, leaving Drake in the dungeon to keep watch on the prisoner. There were two long passages in the underground dungeon so Lucas suggested that they part ways and search separately. Lucas searched every space he had seen until he finally found the space that Skyler occupied.

"That chain is never going to come off like that" he said in hushed whispers but the two people were able to hear him loud and clear.

Skyler raised his head to see his best friend standing by the entrance with a smirk on his face.

"I can see you still got that humor, huh?," Skyler said.

"Old habits die hard, bro." Lucas replied. Pushing himself away from the gate and walking towards the duo, he picked a pin from the ground as he walked.

"Let me," he said and Drake moved away from the chains and got a proper look at the man who just walked in.

"Why are you not wearing any clothes?" Drake exclaimed.

"Get over it," Skyler rolled his eyes. Nudity was something that was common among the werewolves. It didn't bother much if one person wasn't putting on clothes, males especially. Drake was only making a fuss.

The chains fell off of Skyler's wrists and fell to the ground. Skyler rubbed his wrist, feeling the scars and come cut that was yet to heal.

"Thank you, Lucas," he said sincerely.

"Don't thank me yet, it's not over, Xander is about to be crowned, you can thank me by taking what's rightfully yours" said Lucas.

"Have you heard from Moon? Lucas asked. Skyler shook his head. He was strong and healthy now, why then is his wolf refusing to come to the surface. His wolf Moon had never been this weak so he wonders why he wasn't showing up.

Lucas nodded, not liking the news of Skyler wolf being absent, Skyler would have to fight his brother for the throne and Skyler would need his wolf's strength to do that.

All three walked out from the room and walked through the passage, meeting Landon, who had just finished searching every room in that other passage. He paused his step when he saw Skyler. Unable to hold his excitement, Landon subconsciously ran to Skyler and embraced him, not letting go until Skyler let out a fake cough and Landon withdrew his hands away from Skyler with an award smile.

"Welcome back" he said and turned back and started walking out of the dungeon.

"That was weird," Drake whispers and they climb out of the dungeon one after another. By the time they reached the surface, the warriors had already killed half of the rogues and had the survivors on their knees. The warriors too were injured, but no life was lost. Their eyes held respect for Skyler as he made his way out from the underground dungeon. That gave a slight nod to him as he stood there and took in the warmth and brightness of the day. Skyler would love to bask in it but he had his title to fight for. He searched the place for Emmet and when he couldn't find him, he turned to face lucas.

" Where is the leader?" he asked and Lucas shook his head. He didn't know where the rogue leader was either. Liam came forward and handed Lucas a white short.

"Burn the bodies and bring the captive to the pack's prison" Lucas instructed before leaving the place with Skyler, Drake and two members.

They walked until they reached the border between the free land and the mystic shadow territory. A girl stood there with a small sack in her hands and a worried expression on her face. Lucas's eyes narrowed when he saw the she-wolf, he could already tell she was a rogue from the way she smelled.

"What do you want?. Asked Lucas and the girl almost peed on her pants and trembled out of fear. She stuttered, unable to make any sentences.

"This is my sister, Margaret. Skyler said he would give us a place in your pack?" Drake said, sounding more like a question rather than a statement.

"Skyler nodded approvingly to Lucas and he finally dropped his hostility towards the girl. Lucas had no problem with it either, Drake had been very helpful and he knew Skyler wouldn't have been able to leave that damned dungeon if it wasn't for Drake's help.

He instructed one of the park members named Desmond to take her to his cabin

and asked her to stay there until things were settled and they would find her and Drake a place in the pack house.

Lucas instructed the second pack members to stay in the border and keep watch, while waiting for the rest of the warriors who were still dealing with the captured rogue.

They tried to hasten their steps so that they could reach the ceremony in time. It has been more than 20 minutes now. Lucas knew someone would have noticed his absence by now, and he didn't know how long his mate would be able to cover for him. Drake and Lucas would have been able to make it to the ceremony in time if they shifted but they couldn't leave Skyler alone to walk by himself, because Skyler hasn't been able to shift into his wolf form.

Back in the ballroom, the werewolves were enjoying their time in the party, drinks were being served and the last dance had just ended and it was not time for the main event. The first mating process and then the crowning of the Alpha and Betas along with their mate.

The mating process has three parts. This is done publicly in the presence of everyone present in the event. The couple will cut their palms and let the blood drain into a bowl and let the priestess perform some ritual on it, and then give it back to the couple to drink, uniting them as one mind before they proceed further to collect the titles and crown. Note: This part is done only by the Alphas and Betas along with their mates.

The second part is the Marking and it is done privately. Each mate would mark their partner by biting them on the neck, leaving on the neck a unique symbol on the neck of the mates.

The last process is the Mating. The marking drives the female into heat. And the duo come together to breed.

Pius and his beta turned to face their children, everyone was present except for Lucas. Lucas' father, Alec, frowned deeply. " Where is Lucas?" This question was directed to Lucas mate.

"He stepped out to use the bathroom," she said. That was the only excuse she could come up with in that short time and seeing the look on their faces, she could already tell none believed her. So she could only pray that Lucas shows up in time.

As time went by Clara became more uncomfortable. The atmosphere felt strange to her, she would sometimes find changes in the eye color of some of those that were present in the ball and it gave her goosebumps but still she remained seated on the high chair that faced the rest of the crowd. She glanced at Xander who sat next to her. He seemed to be enjoying himself too.

Although Clara hadn't been to a ball before now, she still could tell that this one was definitely different from a ball. It looked more like a practice of a certain tradition. As much as she wanted to flee this place, something kept pulling her back, making it impossible for her to even move a muscle.