Punished for touching her

The lo fi music resonated in the golden lit hall as numerous couples danced and developed their emotions. Precisely, situationship as they say which Martha was looking for too. After all, it would not hurt any bit if somebody would get laid with an authoritative person for a few gold coins and rubies.

Danielle wanted the dance to end as soon as possible because the man’s intense soul sucking stare was making her uncomfortable. She had no clue if the werewolves were always like that or that man was someone special in being the top tier pervert. But it did make her grow cautious from him as she kept her gaze fixated on him not to make the man suspicious.

Soon after the music stopped and the dance ended, the man bowed down to the lady with respect though he had a grin over his face. Whereas Danielle followed his lead and flung her arm out courteously for the man to kiss the back of her hand. No doubt there were some set norms for the civilians to pay heed and nobody could boldly dare to be ignorant to them.

'Finally this is over. I can rest assured now that he is not going to hurt me.’

Danielle muttered to herself with a sigh of relief while the gaze of the mysterious man was still glued on her face. He could see the anxious expression on her beautiful face which displayed her uneasiness by his presence. But that man was determined in his stance.

Whereas, Martha was still dancing with the person who apparently seemed a rich beta count. Since the handmade loafers and the signet ring he had on his finger were the biggest sign of his wealth. The kingdom Selene was led by the supreme alpha Cyrus Rhaziel, while every state had its own beta count with further classified and split into numerous omegas.

'Martha, O' girl, what are you even doing? How can you even let anyone touch you so easily? These betas and other counts are just a bunch of perverts.’

Danielle thought to herself with a bitter taste in her mouth, upon seeing that the count had been taking Martha out of the palace and she had a wide smile on her face. Whereas, Martha gladly followed him without any complaints.

Well, anybody could predict what would happen ahead, since that was the reason for going to the ball. And every single ball night brought numerous such fated couples or situationships to develop. Martha and the count were not a surprise since Danielle knew for what purpose Martha had dressed up so fancy and neatly.

'Come on girl, you can't simply believe anybody in the ball blindly like that.'

The lady curled her fingers into fist and wanted to knock some sense into her friend. But that was definitely not a place where one could act rashly. That would be a brave move to ruin the ball of alpha Cyrus Rhaziel, knowing the consequences for the insolent behaviour would be severe for sure.

Meanwhile the man in front of her who just had a dance with Danielle, grew closer to her silhouette while she was zoned out completely to realise anything. She was focused on how to draft ways to get back home since Martha was gone and would probably return at dawn. It left her worried and conscious immediately as Danielle grew angry over the thought that Martha left her.

With the unique scent of hers intoxicating his senses during the whole zoned out moment, the count could not restrain himself and instinctively his canines enlarged. Danielle could not sense any changes happening around her which made her unable to grasp the physical change in that beta count.

'Just a small bite and lick would not hurt, right?'

He knew that werewolves were not allowed to drink blood from humans. And it was a law created by alpha Cyrus Rhaziel to provide the protection to the humans at maximum. Nobody was permitted to mate with someone forcefully, in that case the marking would be considered nullified.

Similarly there were certain other rules which prevented such forced marriages and forceful mating. It provided the civilians an assurance that the alpha would not let anyone get mistreated. There were numerous regulations which helped the humans survive in kingdom Selene which was a dominated region of werewolves.

'Damn, she is inciting my senses and surprisingly I'm unable to restrain myself.'

The man muttered to himself and concluded that something was definitely different about her but still the answer was a mystery.

'If Martha goes away then how am I supposed to go home?'

Danielle was still in her thoughts that she did not realise anything odd around her and was totally unaware of the man's advancements. His eyes turned bright golden and was about to bite her exposed neck in a jiffy with his super speed, but a loud thud sound resonated in the hall.

Specks of dust rose in the hall and everyone gasped immediately not acknowledging what had happened since there was just a trail of dust. It led their confused eyes towards the wall which had a huge spot and bricks were broken. Everything happened in a few split seconds which did not let any one of them be able to see what storm actually occurred there.

Danielle became terrified and covered her mouth with both hands with terror in her eyes. The lady's lips were troubling and she could not move her eyes away from the man who was literally stuck into that hole. The beta count who was just talking to her a few moments ago was now badly sunk into that hole.

The impact of the push was huge which broke the bricks and created a round sunken shape. Danielle had no clue who could do that especially with that power. Similarly the rest of the people who attended the ball were equally confused. Meanwhile a voice resonated with authoritative confrontation which snagged everyone’s attention.

"Lord Hawthorne!"

Curtis, the beta of alpha Cyrus, who was clad in black from head to toe. He immediately dashed towards the count with a guilty expression because he failed to protect what was his master’s. The man who was just dancing with Danielle was now stuck in the spot and groaned while wincing in pain as he tried to get out of the hole.

Danielle trembled as she had never been put into such a situation which was triggered by her. It was a fortunate decision that she had been wearing a long dress to cover her shaking limbs. Or else anyone would have seen her frightful condition which would have embarrassed her.

"How dare you attempt such a bold act rashly!"

A loud magnetic voice resonated in the enormous hall which was earlier filled with gasps. And now every single head turned towards the source of the voice, which came all the way from the other side of the hall.

Every single person knew that Curtis was appointed to speak on the behalf of the alpha. And apparently he was the one to utter the words, which felt like a death sentence to Lord Hawthorne. It was an expected and on point reaction since there was no way anyone was permissible to act recklessly under his watch.

Especially, when it involved the possible mate of alpha Cyrus Rhaziel.

Every soul present in the hall standing in every square corner held their breaths and immediately bowed with their one knee on the floor. While women presented greetings and respect by bowing with extremely low heads. Since beta Curtis was directly a speaker for the alpha everyone was forced to respect him and accept his decisions.

Danielle lifted her eyes sneakily and daringly only to see the mighty alpha for the first time who was known to be pleasing to every human eye. Well, that was what she thought. Danielle boldly mistook Curtis for the alpha with the way he made his grandeur appearance.

'Is...is he?'

Danielle gulped down her fears after all anyone would have reacted the same way after watching the scenario. Lord Hawthorne was barely able to gather energy to stand up on his wobbly legs and with the help of his butler who supported him.

No matter how powerful the count was, no one in the hall had more strength than Curtis. Yes, he was the one to throw that powerful blow of air aimed at the insolent count. Since he was directly associated with the alpha he had some perks blessed by the moon goddess. Curtis was destined to protect and take care of the alpha, he was also responsible to cater the search for his mate.

And the very idea made the strength of King Cyrus unimaginable. Since the question was obvious if his personally taught and trained confidant was powerful, then the alpha king himself must be mighty in terms of grasp over his abilities.

The whole hall grew silent for a moment that only Danielle dared to have a sneak peak since curiosity killed the cat. All she could see was a sturdy and stern looking man in the front of the staircase with his torso slightly exposed in that white shirt and the muscles he had were worth drooling.

Curtis had glowing golden irises which were slightly darker than the rest of the werewolves. And it was definitely a sign for others to respect his presence and decisions. Of course, he was the personal messenger of the noble alpha Lord Cyrus Rhaziel, and even royal bloods were obliged to obey him since the king was behind him.

"How bold of you to attempt to breach the rules,"

Curtis glided down the golden staircase which rested in the middle of the hall. While his sleek black hair tied in a long ponytail with a golden hairpin moved gracefully. Just like his master he was also an epitome of handsome-ness.

Dressed in black suit with silver dragons imprinted on the shoulders he looked imposing and the intent stare caused an extremely dangerous aura. Everyone gave him way and scattered into two groups gasping about the pitiful fate of Lord Hawthorne. Beta Curtis approached him with his eyes intently staring at the bold culprit.

"And that too under the roof of alpha’s roof!"

His voice echoed in the hall along with a noise of sharp breaths of others, while the guilty count was unable to concentrate on anything. The perverted culprit count was unable to generate any excuse to justify his actions since nothing was going to work effectively.

His head was still spinning as he stood there with his butler, although he could see a double image of Curtis and could hear his words.

"I believe you assumed that the noble lord would not take any notice. Tsk, how ignorant of you!"

Beta Curtis mocked him and halted in the middle of the decorated hall which was about to turn into an altar. While Danielle clutched her dress with the imposing aura coming from Curtis who was standing right in front of her but facing towards Lord Hawthorne.

Whereas King Cyrus was absent from the scenario!

"N- no please, forgive me."

Lord Hawthorne immediately knelt in front of Curtis not bothering to care about his reputation and honour and pleaded for mercy.

His voice stuttered and he began to slap himself hard with consistent sobbing and begging for mercy.

"I...I got swayed, my lord. Please….I beg you, spare my life."

Curtis did not respond or even flinched at his act instead he reached for his hairpin and took it out letting the long hair loose, with an effortless flung of arm the long needle pierced his forehead from the middle.

Danielle gasped loudly seeing blood oozing from his forehead as his lifeless body fell and decomposed into a black smoke leaving the golden hairpin. It was an unusual sight to behold and the only explanation people could derive was the special hairpin Curtis had. It was definitly the doing of that pin that a werewolf killed by it would turn into a smoke leaving no trace of death. Curtis walked up to it and picked the pin which was a gift from king Cyrus and licked off the blood with his piercing gaze intently at terrified befuddled Danielle!

It was obvious that there was no way werewolves could perform any such feats of turning someone into smoke. But somehow the beta Curtis was one peculiar case who was blessed by the moon goddess with some particular perks. It was highly unusual for werewolves to die and turn into ashes then transform into smoke. But since Curtis was blessed by the moon goddess when he was a child,the beta was born a hybrid which increased his strength compared to other ordinary werewolves. 

It was still a mystery to everyone including the court and other authoritative people of kingdom Selene that how did they both even meet. The friendship of a werewolf and a hybrid specifically who had vampiric blood running in his veins. Since those two breeds were known to be each other’s enemies from eons. The vampire race was a prideful one and they were not known for serving others, and the very thought made everyone confused as to why would Curtis willingly serve the alpha. 

The enigma had kept everyone in a quizzical state since nobody could really comprehend or conclude anything about that part. It was clear that Curtis was serving as the beta for Cyrus which meant that he put down his pride to serve the alpha as his servant. But the question which was raised here was, why would the beta Curtis willingly do that? Was it some kind of mystery or curse they two had in between them which forced the two men to get bound to each other?

It appeared that in the midst of the chilling endless winter the kingdom Selene was not as simple as it seemed. The alpha was ruling the kingdom all alone with the help of his beta Curtis, it did raise many such questions that how a sick alpha was able to pull such power. It was evident that it had something to do with either Curtis and his powers or the moon goddess had blessed him. However, it was still not clear if that was it or something else, some other mystical power was involved? 

There was a lot of mystery around the alpha Cyrus, the sole ruler of the kingdom itself. Who was he? What background did he have? Where did he even come from? Because there was a rumour among the elite counts that the supreme alpha Cyrus was a rogue wolf. Some said he was the personal bodyguard of the former king and deliberately killed the previous Lord to seize the throne. None of them had splud proof about his identity or anything, most had not even seen the alpha themselves due to his habit of staying in the shadows. 

Since Curtis was the one who dealt the matters up front with everybody and was the messenger of the alpha, the people started seeing and predicting Cyrus from the vision and personality of his beta. Hence, which in turn earned him all those questionable and notorious titles and reputation.