The Fall Ball

Chapter 2

As I walk into the house, I am hit by the most amazing smell! My mother is at the stove working on supper. She looks over her shoulder and smiles at me.

"Hey Rose, how was your day Hun?" she asks me.

I smile at her as I walk over and give her a hug and hand the mail to her.

I tell her about my day. But I leave out the incident with Ashlee and John as I don’t want mom to worry about me.

Mom starts to get out the plates and she hands them to me.

As Mom finishes making supper, I set the table for her. Dad should be home any moment now. As Mom brings the last dishes over to the table and we start to sit, Dad comes through the door.

He always has a smile on his face when he walks in the door. He never brings his burdens from work home with him. He makes sure we have his full attention when he is home with us.

As we are finishing our meal, Mom and Dad both get this distant look on their faces. I have learned that this is the face they make when they are mind-linking with someone else. Mom and Dad don’t mind-link around me often as they know it is difficult on me.

I can’t mind-link as it is a gift you receive from the Goddess with your wolf. They both come back to reality and smile.

"We have to go to the pack house; Alpha Jake has an announcement to make for all of the pack." My father tells me.

"Do I have to come? I don't have a wolf, so am I really even part of the pack?" I ask them.

"Yes. With or without a wolf you are a part of this pack. You will attend all meetings that are for the whole pack." Mom says to me.

We get up from the table and leave the house. We walk over to the pack house.

The Opal Moon Pack is not that large, we have about three hundred pack members. Upon walking up to the beautiful mansion, we hear the chatter of all the members. We walk into the ballroom. It has been set up with chairs, everyone steps in and begins to find a seat.

My parents go over to a group of our neighbors and sit down. Most of the older teens are seated in the back. My parents tell me I can go sit with them. I shake my head and say I don’t mind staying closer to them during the meeting.

After everyone is in a seat, we hear a loud booming voice. It's Alpha Jake. He doesn't need a microphone; wolves have excellent hearing. Once he gets everyone's attention, they all quiet down.

After the room is silent.Alpha Jake smiles as he looks around at all the pack members.

"I have an announcement to make, it includes all of you, so listen up." His voice projecting out to the entire pack.

John is sitting in the back with my other classmates, Ashlee is sitting on his lap. They are giggling and talking in hushed voices with each other. Alpha Jake looks towards them, he is not happy.

“John, as future Alpha you should be up here next to me. I have been kind enough to let you sit with your friends. Now, please be respectful, quiet down, and listen to what I have to say. What I have to say is especially significant, especially for those of you that have not found your mates yet."

At this, he gets a lot of murmurs from the pack as the unmated members get excited about what he has to say.

"This afternoon, I received a call from an especially influential person. Alpha King James has reached out to me as well as the other four Alphas.” Alpha Jake takes a minute to look around the room again.

He continues, "The Alpha King has invited all of us to the palace. He invited all the packs to come as well. The Alpha King has extended his invitation to all pack members, but he has requested that all unmated pack members travel to the palace. The future Alpha King Ash will be celebrating his birthday on September fourth, which is two weeks away. This is the year that Ash turns eighteen, and the Alpha King and Queen will be having a ball in hopes that Ash will find his mate."

At this moment, all the members get excited and start talking to one another. But over the crowd one voice is yelling.

The voice is yelling at me, as I turn, I see Ashlee…

She is now standing up and walking towards me.

"Since you don’t have a wolf, you should not go to the palace. The purpose is to find his mate, his destined mate, chosen by the Goddess herself. I don’t think they want non-wolves to show up," she says and smirks.

I get teary eyed, my parents are looking at her, then they look at me and they pull me into a hug.

At this moment, the Alpha is furious, and you can feel his alpha aura coming off him.

"Ashlee, what do you think you are doing? You have no right to talk to any member of this pack that way", Alpha Jake says.

"Well, I am dating the future Alpha of the Opal Moon pack, so won't that make me the future Luna?" She asks with a smile on her face.

At this moment, the Alpha is so angry that his aura is causing the members closest to him to bow down and show their necks. It’s a way of submitting to him.

Alpha Jake walks over to her and looks her in the eyes. "You may currently be dating him, but you are not his mate. You have both turned eighteen already, so you would know if you were mates or not. You are not his mate, and you are not the future Luna of my pack."

At this point, he turns and walks away from her. He walks up to me and takes me into his arms. He gives me a hug and rubs my back. It is soothing to me. As I relax, he relaxes as well, and his aura returns to normal.

Once I was feeling a bit better, Alpha Jake says, "Regardless of having a wolf or not, Rose is a part of this pack. She is special. We don't know why she doesn't have a wolf. We don’t know where she came from as she was found in our woods as a newborn. She has grown up here, along with our children and has given us no reason to doubt who she is."

He turns to me, "Rose, you will be attending this Ball as it is also your birthday. You will also be turning eighteen this year, and we have no idea what your future holds for you." At this Alpha Jake walks away and moves back to the front of the room.

"As your Alpha, I will be leaving a week before most of you. The Alpha King has requested a meeting with all the Alphas before the ball. I will expect most of you to arrive the night before the Ball as there will be a full day of festivities and the Ball will be held in the afternoon." He lets us all know.

"Have a good evening, everyone. Let me know if there is anything you need from me. I can’t wait to see you all at the Fall Ball!" Alpha Jake says while walking off the stage.