2. Confess Your Feelings II

Stealing the scroll turned out to be rather easily. All I had to do was instigate a fight between another contender and Layana, and Beta Randale came running, slipping the scroll in the back of his pocket. Grinning like a fool, I had taken it and squeezed in my name at the bottom corner of the page, right before Alpha Kier’s official stamp.

Then I’d caressed the paper before returning it where I’d found it.

I am lowering another tray of desert before another male—an Alpha in his mid-thirties who keeps looking at me like I’m his meal—when I feel it. The aura change in the room. The electricity cackling in the air. The hair rises on my neck and skin.

I don’t know how, but I always know when Alpha Kier is near. His presence is as fundamental to my being as the air I breathe. I feel it my soul and body, jolts and crippling warmth. My heart beat speeds up to a point where it stops beating—if you understand what I mean.

There’s his scent too. He smells like snow, musk and something woody. When he passes by me and I sniff him, my insides melt completely. Thrice, I’ve snuck into the Alpha’s room to steal his clothes. He has too many to notice when one goes missing. Or three. I wrap them around my pillow and fall asleep to his scent in my nose.

I am unapologetically in love with him and I am not ashamed to scream it to the ends of Neradia.

“Move your legs! The Alpha is here! Exit the hall!” Head Maid Leah says, ushering the lot of us out through the back door. Shooting a quick look in Lovette’s direction, I slip behind a pillar, trusting its wide structure to keep me hidden.

I stay perfectly still until the gigantic double doors are shut and the Alpha’s presence is announced.

I peek around the pillar and let out a wistful sigh. Seated on the podium with his head propped on his fist is the love of my life. The only man in my dreams. His flaming red hair tumbles down his shoulders and his luscious lips tilt into a hard smile as his mother whispers something to him. Cunning hazel eyes do a sweep across the room, as if searching for something, someone. His beauty is the kind that dumbfounds you. Every curve and structure of his face is crafted to perfection. You look at Alpha Kier and you want. You need. You desire and crave. He takes your breath away and leaves you gasping for air.

Clad in a regal jacket and pants bearing the colors of the pack—black and gold—he looks so good.

Beta Randale climbs the daiz and whispers something into Alpha Kier’s ear that has him nodding curtly.

The Beta turns to the crowd and addresses us. “Welcome. . .”

I don’t hear a single word of his address. I’m too busy staring at the Alpha. As if sensing me, his head turns in my direction and I duck behind the pillar, heart jumping. When I peer out again, it is time for the maidens to introduce themselves formally to him.

My heart skips as one by one, they all head before him and answer the questions asked by the former Luna, his mother.

My feet grows colder by the second, and when Beta Randale pauses, staring at the list with confusion, I know it’s my turn.

“What is it, Beta?” the Alpha’s mother asks.

Beta Randale pauses. “There’s a name. . .There must be a mistake. . .”

Alpha Kier looks bored. “Call it, Randale. Don’t waste my time.”

Beta Randale pauses, then shakes his head with disbelief as he says, “Jessamine Everhart of the Sunfire pack.”

My heart is beating so fast, it feels like it will burst out of my chest. This is it, Jess. Go get your Alpha.

Back straight as ramrod and head held up in the air, I leave my hiding spot, walking through several rows of elegantly dressed women, their clothes a great contrast from my old, torn uniform. I ignore the gasps that fill the air and the common question they’re all asking.

A maid?

I come to a halt in from of the daiz, keeping my gaze fixed on Alpha Kier.

My knees have gone weak. He’s looking at me. I am the object of his interest and he is staring at me right now. I could die happy like this.

“Surely, this is a joke,” his mother says. She turns to Beta Randale. “You were tasked with crosschecking the names on the list. How did an Omega’s name get there?”

When Beta Randale doesn’t respond, she turns to me, cold green eyes piercing mine. “You must know this is a mistake. You have no place here. A maid and an Omega cannot be considered for the position of Luna.”

I don’t look at her. I keep my eyes fixed on Alpha Kier who’s watching me with feline amusement, and I say the only thing that comes to heart. “It might be a mistake, but my feelings for the Alpha are not. I, Jessamine Everhart, an Omega with nothing to her name seeks your hand in marriage, Alpha. I want to be your Luna. I love you.”