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CHAPTER 1

Twisting open the latch to the window, Mavi made her way into the room with a lot of struggle and she rolled on the floor after landing with a thud.

Quickly, she stood up and dusted off the imaginary dirt she got on her clothes then she arranged her blonde hair back in place and began to look around.

"What the…" she was speechless.

She had never been here before. She had never even stepped foot into the palace but she recognized this place, this particular room that she was standing inside at the moment.

She always saw this room in her dreams right from when she clocked sixteen but she never paid any mind to it.

Never did she think she would be seeing it in actual reality, she never even thought the room would be real.

It was their pack's new moon festival and she had taken a dare from her friends to sneak into the palace without getting caught.

People like her weren't allowed into the palace. She was a part of the lower class of their pack and except she was a palace worker, only the upper class could have access to the palace without getting searched or questioned.

So sneaking into the palace and seeing a room she always dreamed about for the last two years instantly sent a warning to the wolf in her head that she had to get out of there immediately.

But first, she had to finish the dare she made with her friends because there was something to win if she actually went through with the dare until the end and Mavi was very competitive.

Quickly, she pulled her phone out of her pocket with shaky hands and logged into the group chat she and her friends had created the moment they got their first phones and she started a video call while hoping they would pick up fast.

Alicia, one of her friends was the first to pick up, and the rest of their clique, Frida and Cindy were behind her so they were all on the video call together.

Cindy, the cute one among them, was the first to gasp when she saw where Mavi was, and that made Mavi chuckle.

"Told you guys I could do it. I was going to make my way into this palace with ease so you'd better get my prize for completing the dare ready" Mavi told them and Frida shook her head.

"You have to make your way out too. Then we would give you the prize, babe" she replied and Mavi made a face at her.

"Let's see where you are, the room seems interesting" Alicia chipped in curiously so Mavi began to show them around the room even though her wolf kept on screaming at her to get out immediately.

Her competitive side ignored her wolf completely because she wanted that prize. She wanted to prove to her friends that she was the queen of mischief and the only way to do that was to do as they said… show them around the room that she snuck into.

"Everything here seems so expensive that I'm even scared to touch any of it," Mavi told her friends through the video call and they all nodded in agreement.

The whole room screamed of luxury. Everything looked so new and squeaky clean that she thought she would leave a print if she touched anything so she just stuck to only showing her friends around the room until they would be satisfied.

She walked into the closet and made sure to check everywhere out along with her friends on the phone.

Their squeals were loud as they awed and gasped at every single expensive item they saw. Then the closet tour ended and she made her way out to leave the room. She had completed the dare so all that was left was getting her prize.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened and Mavi flinched just as her phone fell to the floor. Her eyes widened in fear as she stared speechlessly because standing right in front of her was the most breathtakingly handsome man she had ever seen.

He had a deep scowl on his face, his curious bright green eyes surveyed her from head to toe, but his looks took away her focus and she forgot that she wasn't supposed to be there. She was supposed to be running away.

"What are you doing in my room?" His voice, deep and authoritative but with a calmness around it, asked her from where he stood before her and she swallowed fearfully but her throat went dry instead so she began to hiccup nervously.

She always did that whenever she was too nervous or anxious to speak.

Then they heard a loud gasp at that moment and it was coming from her phone that fell. The video call was still on and her friends heard everything. She hiccuped again.

"Hey, what's going on? Who is that?" Frida's voice asked but Mavi couldn't speak. She was too scared to make a move toward her phone in case the man would reach for her and have her handcuffed before locking her up for sneaking into the palace.

She had to get out of there immediately but her legs seemed to fail her for reasons she didn't know.

"I asked a question and I'm expecting an answer. What are you doing in my room?" the man repeated calmly with calculative eyes this time and Mavi whimpered in fear.

She always had a smart mouth with a response for everything but at that moment, she couldn't bring herself to speak. She felt tongue-tied and scared.

"I guess I will have you locked up since you won't speak" The unknown man before her added and that was when she finally recovered from her shock and found her voice.

"Please, You can't lock me up? I'll simply leave and we can both act like this never happened" she pleaded with him and he gave her another once over. He looked annoyed this time.

"I'm the alpha of this pack and you, an unknown person, just snuck into my room. You could be a spy sent to kill me and you think I would just let you go?" he replied and Mavi gasped. No lower class had ever seen the alpha ever since he was made alpha of the pack two years ago so she had no idea he was the one.

So he was the alpha? Was that why he was so good-looking? Did she just sneak into the alpha's room and get caught by him? This was bad! Really bad!

"You got caught by the alpha? Oh my goodness! Mavi, run away now!" Cindy's voice rang out in a high-pitched tone from the phone and the man, now known as her pack's alpha, alpha Armand, turned his gaze to the phone then he shifted his attention back to Mavi whose eyes were still wide like saucers and he smirked.

"Your name is Mavi uh?" he asked her and another round of gasps was heard from the phone.

"I am so sorry Mavi. I shouldn't have called your name… oh lord, I did it again. I'm just going to end the call now. Bye!" Cindy's panicked voice broke the heavy silence in the room and the sound of the video call ending was heard from the phone.

A deep scary silence loomed in the air afterward.

Alpha Armand wasn't saying anything but he also wasn't taking his eyes off Mavi. She couldn't keep up with his stare because it felt like he was reading into her soul and she felt uncomfortable.

So she looked down instead and played with the hem of her knee-length and black bubble dress while desperately hoping that he wouldn't have her locked up.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice when he walked toward her and placed his hand under her chin to make her look at him.

Her breath hitched in her throat, her lips parted in shock when her eyes met with his, and as she looked up at him, the scent of something peculiar but sweet filled her nose.

Scrunching her nose in reaction, she saw alpha Armand do the same thing and she was glad that she wasn't the only one perceiving this new, unexplainable scent.

Their eyes locked again and she saw his eyes widen as he looked her over from head to toe in shock this time.

While trying to understand why he was looking at her like that, her wolf suddenly spoke to her in her head.

"You've found your mate, Mavi. Alpha Armand is your mate" Her wolf confirmed the reason for the new scent she perceived and her jaw dropped in equal shock. Alpha Armand was her mate? Were there any more surprises to come for her that night?

"You have got to be kidding me," she said out loud and he scoffed.

"What did you say your name was again?" Alpha Armand asked her and she wondered if it was a good idea to remind him of her name.

Well, he was the alpha. It wasn't like she had a choice, she had to tell him.

"Mavi"

"Daughter of what family?" he inquired and she shook her head.

"I'm an orphan. I lost my parents in an accident" she replied and his eyebrows scrunched as more shock took over his face. She was in the lower class.

Alpha Armand was finding it difficult to speak as he realized that his mate was from the lower class of the pack. In the history of new moon festivals and mating in their pack, an upper class had never been mated with a lower class so having it happen to him for the first time was mind-blowing.

He had to reject her though. He already had a girlfriend that he wanted to make his luna, so Mavi or whatever she called herself would have to kiss being his mate goodbye because firstly, he couldn't have a lower class as his mate and secondly, he wasn't planning on breaking up with his girlfriend, Valerie no matter what.

"Then tell me your surname, Mavi" he finally spoke, and she looked confused.

"What do you need my surname for?" She asked him and he ran his hand through his hair. He looked like he was running out of patience.

"I'm your alpha so I don't have to explain myself to you. Or do I?" he retorted and she sighed.

All she wanted to do was run away and have a private meltdown over the fact that she got caught by the alpha after sneaking into his room in the palace and also because he was her mate. She didn't even know what to think because her mind was currently blank.

"It's Mavi Darwin. That's my name and surname" she told him and he dragged in a long breath while nodding his head.

Then he met her gaze with empty eyes this time and Mavi wondered what was happening. She was too scared to ask because she thought she wasn't supposed to speak so she just watched him cluelessly.

"Mavi, daughter of Darwin. I, alpha Armand of Kugon pack, reject you as my mate so our ties have been cut and you have no reason to see me as your mate anymore. You are not my type and I have a girlfriend" he told her and she was the one who scoffed this time.

Did he think he was all that and could just reject her? Not like she ever wanted to be his mate or become Luna of this pack anyway. So he could shove his rejection up his proud ass and stay with his girlfriend or whoever she was.

"I reject you too, alpha Armand Donakin. Not like I ever wanted to be your mate anyway" she fired back at him with anger blazing in her eyes.

He was about to reply, surprised that she was rejecting him too when they both began to hear footsteps coming toward the room and Mavi knew she had to leave immediately.

"You can keep the Luna position to yourself. I'm out of here" she hissed at him before running to the window and he rushed after her but he was too late to get her just as the guards he had secretly called came into the room.

She was gone.

Mavi, the mystery girl from the lower class of the pack, who was his mate just seconds ago was gone.