One

            The Alpha’s choosing ceremony happens every year. It’s considered a pretty big deal here in Moonlight City. There are one hundred packs, and of those packs, five this year have Alpha’s that are looking for a mate. My sister, Nina, is extremely excited about this whole thing. Her and Mom have been planning her appearance at The Choosing Ceremony for as long as I could remember. But things had really gone into full swing the last year.

            They had the dress specially designed; Nina had her hair and makeup done professionally, and Nina expected that she would be someone’s mate by the end of the evening. Her dream was to be a luna.

            The Alpha’s Queen.

            I was twenty-four. I had attended Moon Cities version of the Ivy League. Lupine University. But after years of bouncing from major to major, while struggling to figure out what I wanted to do, I decided I want to be a Peace Broker.

            Peace Brokers were humans that went between cities like Moon City to keep the peace between immortals like werewolves, witches, and vampires. Magically, there were some places that they were forbidden from entering. But as a human, I would have access to, and so I would go on their behalf.

            Humans in Moon City didn’t really have that many options to achieve power. Immortals ran everything. Why would you have a leader that could end up dying from a cold? It wasn’t good business sense.

            But I saw how my kind struggled to make ends meet while the Immortals horded their wealth and made laws that restricted us from doing certain kinds of work. I thought that maybe, working as a Peace Broker, I could make changes that would benefit our kind. To make it so that girls like my sister Nina didn’t have to think that mating with a werewolf was their only option to become rich.

            But because every eligible young woman was supposed to go to The Choosing Ceremony, I’d had to go through the horrible process of getting a dress, makeup, and my hair done. This was the third one Nina had gone to since she became twenty-four.   

            She’d even come close. Her first year, there’d been an Alpha interested in her, named Desmond. Alpha Desmond had short, brown hair, and warm brown eyes. Nina had “accidentally” bumped into him and he’d found her charming enough that he had courted her for about three months.

            One day, Desmond went on a mission with the Peace Brokers to a neighboring vampire city, Shadow Vale. Even though they sent a rescue mission to get him, Desmond never came back. His younger brother, Damien, had taken over Alpha in a temporary capacity. Alphas had to be missing for six years before it could be official.

            When Desmond had gone missing, Nina had been distraught. Damien and Nina had become close. But Damien told her he didn’t want to make her his luna because he didn’t want anyone to think that he had been responsible for Desmond going missing so that he could get to her.

            It had been six years, however. A perfectly respectable period. Nina was convinced that Damien would choose her to be his luna that night. To be honest, I was too. I’d seen the way the charming Alpha was with my sister. He was normally the kind of guy that took everything seriously, but when Nina was around, he laughed. Then, Damien would go through the Trial of the Gods, and they would deem him and my sister worthy to lead the DuPont pack.

            I wanted Nina to get what she wanted, even if I thought the whole Choosing Ceremony was ridiculous. But I didn’t want to be chosen. I kind of had a crush on someone already. Getting picked by a werewolf would definitely make that complicated.

            My boss, Calix Grey, was the leader of the vampire coven in Moon City. He ran the restaurant that I worked at, Night Owl. It was a bar, too, and I was a waitress there. I’d gotten a job over the summer, and my first night, I’d been cornered by some drunk frat guys in the alley way when I’d been taking out trash. With a few swift moves, Calix had knocked the drunk guys on their asses.

            Ever since then, whenever I saw him, it was like time slowed down. The world became a fancy perfume commercial. Unfortunately, the feeling wasn’t mutual. Calix had lost his wife in a battle with werewolves and vampires over a hundred years ago. He didn’t date, but he did have an endless string of one-night stands.

            But I didn’t think I was a one-night stand kind of girl. So, I was going to die alone. Probably.

            I wasn’t interested in The Choosing Ceremony due to the hopeless crush, though. Which meant that while my sister, Nina, was in the ballroom of The Werewolf Center, a giant building in the center of Moon City that was large, white, and held up by roman pillars.

            Instead of being inside where the party was, I was out on the balcony, looking at the garden that was lit up down below. The purple, glittery, off shoulder dress that I was wearing was too tight and so were the shoes. So, I’d taken the heels off, and had them on the floor next to me.

            Inside, I could hear music playing softly from the orchestra that had been hired for the evening. I stared out at the city lights, also up at the stars that were overhead, shining brightly. It was gorgeous. The Werewolf Center had a large garden too, where I could spy on people doing all sorts of steamy things.

            Down below, I saw two people enter the garden. One of them was an older man with salt and pepper hair. The other was a blond woman, who I recognized as being the headmistress of Lupine University. She was on the welcome brochures I got every year at school. Always wearing a blazer with a pearl necklace around her neck. I think she was also part of the werewolf pack my family had sworn fealty to for protection in Moon City but I wasn’t sure.

            “What do you mean, he’s coming home?” the blond woman demanded. “He wasn’t supposed to come home! He was supposed to be dead!”

            “I mean, exactly what I told you. I tried to convince him that he didn’t need to be here but…he insists that he is going to choose his mate tonight. He’s alive, he’s coming home, and he’s got a mate in mind.”

            “You know what that means, David. He’s going to choose HER. He can’t!” the woman blurted. “She’s not supposed to know…that was why we hid her in the first place! If people find out what we did, we’ll never be able to get people’s trust again when you become Alpha.”

            “He’s an Alpha. He has a right to be here. There’s nothing we can do. But The Trial by Gods will still take place. Anyone can be Alpha as long as the gods approve. All we have to do is wait until the full moon. We’ll do what we need, and I promise you; everything will work out the way it should. For all we know, it isn’t really him. Maybe it’s an imposter that the guards saw…”

            The blond woman, whose name I thought was Alice, looked like she was sucking on a lemon. Her arms were crossed. “You don’t think that he’ll mate with that girl, do you? That could be very bad for both of us. You know what happens when….”

            The older man shook his head. “No. He always made it very clear that he thinks of Julia as a little sister. But when I talked to his beta, he confirmed he definitely has someone in mind. The last person anyone would expect, too.”

            “Wonderful!” Alice groaned. “I bet it’s that other bitch from that pack we hate. Come on, we’d better get inside. People might suspect something if we’re together.”

            The two older people went inside. I let out a laugh. At least that was one, good thing that The Choosing Ceremony was good for. Drama.

            My phone vibrated in my pocketed then. I pulled it out from my purse and stared, surprised to see the word BOSS flash across the screen.

 I answered it. “Hello?”

“Iris, is that you?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Mr. Grey. Is everything alright?”

“You’re at The Choosing Ceremony, aren’t you?”

I took a breath. Maybe this was it. Maybe after all of this time pining, Calix would admit that he was in love with me. Maybe he was calling to beg me not to mate with someone. “Uh, yeah. I am. Why? Is something wrong at the bar?”

“No. But I need you to meet me in the Werewolf King’s chambers. Now.”

My heart pounded against my chest. “Wait, you’re here? At The Choosing Ceremony?”

“Yes. I’ve been working with them for some time on a secret project. I don’t have anyone I trust nearby, but I knew you were here this evening. Can you come find me?”

Damn. Not an I love you confession. “Uh…sure. Where exactly is the Werewolf King’s chambers?”

“By the portrait of The First Werewolf King. It shouldn’t be too hard to find. Text me if you get lost and I’ll send someone to find you.”

“Okay. Um…I’ll be there soon.”

“Thank you, Iris. I’ll see you in a moment.”

I put my phone in the black clutch purse I carried and went to go look for the statue of The First Werewolf King.

It took me a moment, and when I got there, Calix was waiting for me. Calix was tall, with long, jet black hair that went past his shoulders, and was so pale that the circles under his eyes were purple. He wore a black suit with red stripes and smiled when he saw me. “Hello, Sweetie. I’m glad you could make it. I’ve got a terribly large favor to ask.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I already told you that I was good for picking up more shifts. Is that what you came all of the way out here for?”

He laughed. “Not at all. In fact, I need you to marry a werewolf.”

“WHAT?”