Chapter 93
Chapter 93
Katy POV
Ace had hinted that he was going to come to meet me in the night and I was craving for his touch after an exhausting evening. I wore a pink lacy lingerie with nothing beneath it. My shorts were too short and revealed a lot of skin on my legs.
However, when I opened the door, I was taken aback to see Beau Jordan standing there. Immediately, my hands shot to my chest.
“Hi!” he said, his l*ps quirking up.
“Hi!” I replied, my gaze darting behind him, wondering if Luce was with him.
“How are you?” he asked, his eyes locked with mine.
“Tired…” I said, feeling extremely awkward.
He chuckled. “Yes, I’m sure. I just came here to apologize about Luce’s behavior.”
Surprised, I opened my m*uth and then closed it:
He shook his head as he quietly laughed. “I know you are surprised to see me, but I thought I’d take this opportunity to meet you. We live in that penthouse,” he said, pointing to the sixth floor. I was astonished at the thought of him potentially spying on me, but his next words eased my worries. “Don’t worry, we aren’t living here at the moment. We are staying in the main castle with Luce’s parents and have vacated this residence temporarily for this event.”
“Oh, okay,” I said and bit my lip. I scratched my eyebrow. “It’s okay. I can handle Luce.”
His brows pinched momentarily, but he groomed his expression instantly. “She’s sweet and very protective of her family. So please don’t mind when she’s acerbic.”
Really? I stared at him, narrowing my eyes. “Are you her mate?” the question came out of my m*uth before I could stop myself.
“No, I am her chosen mate. My father is Alpha of the Fjord pack, and we are two brothers. I am the younger one.”
“I see…” I took a ragged breath. “Is there anything else you’d like to say?”
“Oh, no!” he said, checking his watch. “Nice meeting you!” Turning around, he made his way towards the elevator, taking large strides. He glanced at me before entering it.
I found it extremely odd, but I closed the door and went back to my bedroom, wondering what it was all about. Beau seemed like a nice wolf, but he was Luce’s chosen mate, which meant that Luce’s mate was somewhere out there and she might have rejected him. I closed my eyes with a thousand questions in my mind. Ace, hadn’t come yet. I was sure that he was changing his clothes and then he would rush to me.
I jerked open my eyes to a heavy knock. Startled, I leaped out of bed, greeted by the warm rays of the morning sun. “Shit!” Ace hadn’t come and my heart sank a little.
“Miss Katy!” Lily admonished me as she stormed inside, along with Lilian, when I opened the door. “Do you know what time it is?” My eyes landed on the clock and it chimed 8:30AM. I shrieked and rushed to the bathroom. “Since you couldn’t join us for breakfast, I brought your food here,” she shouted as I was brushing my teeth.
According to the schedule, our next task was to gauge strength, agility and if we had any special powers. For that, we had to be presented in front of the king and queen and the council by 9AM. I
wore light brown slacks, along with a tank top. I pinned my hair up
neatly.
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“You should wear something more revealing, Miss Katy,” Lilian grumbled. “You should see what other girls are wearing. I saw one wearing a bloody bikini top over shorts.”
“And I saw one wearing a bandeau with jeans. Like she would move and her boobs would spill out!” Lily added. “And look at you!”
I chuckled. “I am fine like this,” I replied. “This is a contest, not a nudist party I signed up for!” The sisters grumbled, but I just shook my head. As I tied my shoelaces, my mind went to Ace. Why didn’t he come to meet me last night? He didn’t even pick up my call. An ominous feeling settled on my shoulders, which I couldn’t even shrug, no matter how hard I tried. Why did Beau come to meet me out of the blue? Everything was so strange that I felt like I was in the vortex of a storm.
We arrived in the main hall only to find that almost all the contestants were already there. Lily and Lilian stayed out with the other maids. Alicia was standing at the back, her eyes on a raised platform where the king and the queen were standing along with Ace and a woman in a black robe with a hoodie. Her dark and cold eyes landed on me and a shiver ran down my body. She averted her gaze and looked at others.
“Who is that?” I whispered to Alicia.
“I don’t know,” she said. “The Alpha is going to make an announcement before the task.”
“What announcement?”
She shrugged. “Don’t know. They are quite discreet about it.”
From the corner of my eyes, I saw Ace climbing up the platform and he went to stand with his father. He scanned the crowd to look for me and when our gazes locked he clenched his jaw. Dread pooled in my belly as the ominous feeling returned. Our eyes
remained locked with each other.
Alpha Soren announced, “The Selection is a revered tradition that our pack follows. We’ve invited all of you to participate and we want everyone to have a fair chance. However, we know that with so many of you, Ace may be biased towards someone in
particular.”
My entire body seized with dread as a different kind of feeling settled in my bones. They were doing their best to throw me out of the
competition.
Alpha Soren declared, “We’ve made the decision to place Ace under a spell, eliminating any potential bias.”
I gasped, as did the other girls. Goosebumps crawled on my skin.
“They are f*cking mad!” Alicia whispered to me. “This is so insane!”
A lump formed in my throat. I shook my head lightly, begging Ace to deny it. But Ace looked like his hands were tied. He stood there frozen, tongue–tied. And I realized he was already under the spell. This was just a show. My heart went out for him.
I searched for our bond, but it flickered like a thin tendril on the verge of breaking. Tears rolled down my eyes, and I saw Luce smirking as she looked at me. I lowered my head because I didn’t want to show my weakness to them, but I was feeling horrible for
Ace.
I made a silent promise to the Moon Goddess. For him, I was going to win the contest.
“Witch Corella is going to cast a spell on him now,” the Alpha said.
Witch Corella chanted spells, and Ace was covered in thick clouds. It was all a show. The clouds dissipated soon, and she
announced, “I have cast the spell.” Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.
“Witch Corella is going to cast a spell on him now,” the Alpha said.
Witch Corella chanted spells, and Ace was covered in thick clouds. It was all a show. The clouds dissipated soon, and she announced, “I have cast the spell.”
I clenched my fists on the sides to stop my wolf, Ara, from howling in pain. ‘We’ll make it, Ara,’ I said to her. ‘Just be with me.’
‘But I want my mate,’ she cried.
I knew that by not sensing Ace’s wolf, she might go moon crazy and so might Ace and his wolf. We were so short of time.