Chapter 4

The next morning, even before the sun rose, Castellana woke up. She felt like she just had the best sleep she ever had since she started working as a model. Aside from that, she felt more than refreshed. She stretched out her arms and greeted the morning with a good mood. Adding to that, the fragrance of sandalwood incense filled the room.

Only when she looked around did she realize something. The room was not the assigned room she shared with her sisters. Not to mention, she actually slept on the couch. A huge question mark marked her face when she saw the king-sized bed broken in half as if someone had just entered and decided to destroy it.

Her gaze then landed on her bra lying right on the table. It was only at that moment when she looked at herself. She was not just braless, but she was wearing a large-sized white dress shirt paired with only her panties. She sniffed at the shirt.

Realizing that it had the same mint scene as Alpha Alaric, she did not hesitate to take it off and threw it on the floor. Castellana put on her bra before looking for her other clothes.

"No, no, no," she muttered with dread plastered all over her face.

She just found her shirt ripped apart and there was just no way it could cover her up. Tears stung her eyes as she looked for her pants. When she did find it, tears ran down her cheeks out of relief that it was still in one piece. She put it on and had to resort to wearing the white dress shirt since it was the only thing she could use at the moment.

She had no idea how she even ended up in that place, but what made her cry even more was the fact that she seemed to have done it again with Alpha Alaric. Despite it being the second time, she could still not remember a single thing about it. Out of frustration, Castellana slapped herself.

"Get ahold of yourself!" she almost exclaimed.

Wanting to leave the room as soon as possible, she scanned the vicinity first and made sure that no one was around. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to ever know that she spent the night in the alpha's room. She did manage to sneak out at the back of the palace and rushed to the Moon mansion, where she found her sisters still asleep. She headed into the bathroom and tore the dress shirt into shreds. She even went as far as soaking the pieces in bleach to cover the scent of the Ivanov alpha.

"What the actual... fuck..." she muttered upon seeing her reflection.

Red spots marked her skin, from her neck to her shoulders and down to her abdomen. They stood out even more so because of her pale complexion, hence, she took a quick bath and covered them up with make-up. The moment she was done, Ivana came into the bathroom.

"Castel... Where have you been? You missed the assembly last night," she said, still half-asleep.

"Something came up so I needed to take care of it," Castellana replied, which was partly true since the last thing she remembered the other night was her situation being in heat. "So... What did they say during the assembly?"

"Starting today until the fifth day, it will be training days. The sixth day will be a ball held in the main palace, then the last day will be the mate hunt." Ivana proceeded to wash her face after stealing a glance from her sister. "Anyway, what are you going to do about the invitation?"

"What invitation?" Diana questioned as she entered the bathroom.

"Invitation to the Global Top Model Competition," Ivana replied, freezing the eldest sister in her place with her eyes wide open.

"No way!" she exclaimed while Castellana remained quiet and left the bathroom. "Isn't it a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be able to participate in that competition?"

"Uh-huh."

Diana rushed out of the bathroom and hugged Castellana with so much excitement.

"Congratulations! You are totally going to dominate that competition. I am sure of it!" she said. "What are you waiting for? You should go now."

"I... I'm not going," Castellana said, which immediately turned Diana's mood sullen.

It was as if she was the one directly affected by it. She let go of her sister and was about to speak, however, their attention shifted to the door when there was a sudden knock.

"Huh? Who could it be this early in the morning?" Diana muttered as she stood and opened the door to see who it was.

Much to her surprise, it was the Ivanov pack's scary beta. Since he was a six-footer in height, she felt like she had become more of a midget right before him.

"Where's your sister?" Zack questioned.

"Castel or Ivana?" She slightly raised her eyebrow.

"Castellana."

Diana gazed at her sister and mouthed to her that she was the person Zack wanted to speak to. As much as she wanted to hear whatever they were going to talk about, Castellana shooed her away before she stepped out of their room.

"The elders are summoning you. Follow me," Zack said before he turned his back on her and led the way to the main palace.

For Zack, the pack's beta, to be the one to come and escort her, unnerved Castellana. She felt like she would be persecuted despite not committing anything. Could they have found out about where she was last night? Was it considered a huge sin to sleep with their alpha? Would they even believe her if she told them that she had no recollection of what happened? Those questions tugged at her, making her more nervous by the second.

"D-Did I do something?" she asked as they entered the main palace.

She could not even bring herself to appreciate the grandeur of designs because of how her anxiety gripped her.

"I have no idea, but there is nothing to fear if you know that you did not do anything that goes against the pack, except for having vampire blood," Zack replied without sparing her glance.

They descended a set of stairs before coming face to face with two huge doors. They were trimmed with gold, from the sides even its doorknobs. Right in the middle was a golden head of a wolf with a pair of purple eyes seemingly made of precious gems. Zack opened it halfway and motioned Castellana to enter.

She thought he would still accompany her, however, the moment she entered, the door shut behind her with him still outside. She could hear her heart pounding loudly against her chest as the utter silence greeted her. Despite the silence, she could sense the presence of several werewolves in that dimly lit room. They weren't seated in one place. They were scattered around the place as if they had a plan to attack her in all directions. Their strong scent made her want to flee, but there was nowhere out there. Besides, running away would make it look like she truly did something punishable so Castellana could only gather her strength to face the Ivanov pack elders.

"I... I came just as you wanted," she said, trying her hardest to keep her nervousness in control.

One of them stepped forward. Unlike what Castellana had been expecting, an elderly woman with a rather friendly and relaxed expression approached her.

"You spent the night with the alpha, right?" she asked without beating around the bush.

Castellana wanted to answer her, however, she was simply tongue-tied. It became harder for her to breathe as if the air in the room had grown thinner. Her hands shook as one of the elders closed the distance between them.

"There is no use lying, dear. I saw him carry you into his room last night and you just left before dawn. Is there something you two haven't told us aside from having sexual relations behind our backs?"

Even though she was smiling, Castellana felt like it was a threat directed at her.

"Is Alpha Alaric your mate?" she asked, taking another step closer with her hand reaching towards the young woman.

No words came out of Castellana's mouth yet she managed to shake her head lightly. Seeing the hand of the elder, it triggered her anxiety to fully consume her. It suffocated her, rendering her weak and too vulnerable.

"Come on. There is no need to be so shy about it. We will definitely support you as the alpha's..." She stopped mid-sentence when all of a sudden, Castellana fainted the moment she held her on the shoulder.

"The reason why we chose you to speak to her is because you have the friendliest face among us," one of the elders said as he stepped out from the dark. "But look what you did. You scared her so that she even fainted."

"Shut up! I just touched her while being nice so I do not think I am the reason why she passed out!" She then held Castellana's forehead to check if she had a fever or something, but she could not tell either way. "Is she normally this cold because she is a vampire or is she this cold because she is sick?"

"Let's just bring her to the infirmary."

While one of them brought Castellana to the infirmary to be checked, the others were left behind and surrounded Elder Karen, Alpha Alaric's grandmother.

"Are you really sure about that half-vampire being the alpha's mate?" Elder Gaius asked. "If she was, then why is the alpha acting like it is nothing?"

"Hmph! You know how my grandson despises the Sullivans. Even if Castellana is indeed his mate, he would deny it. However, we must not allow his hatred to grow any further if we want him to sire an heir."

"That may be true, but what if he insists that he does not want a vampire-blooded woman as his mate? You also are aware of how stubborn the alpha is."

"Then, we will have to take great measures. Either way, I already have a plan so don't worry your asses."

While Castellana spent half of the day in the infirmary still unconscious, the joint training proceeded without any hitch. Alpha Alaric and Zack overlooked the training and when they walked past a group of younger werewolves from the Fajardo pack, they overheard their conversation.

"Castellana's in the infirmary? Why? Did something happen?" one of them asked.

"I don't know. I just saw her mate looking after her when I went there to fetch some bandages."

"Her mate? Who?"

"Who else? It's none other than Calvin. Why else would they be inseparable if they aren't mates?"

When Zack and Alaric walked away from the group, the beta could not help but speak out what he had in mind.

"So... She already found her mate," he commented. "I wonder why she still spent the night with you when we went to the bar a few nights ago."

Alpha Alaric chose not to say anything about that.

"I saw you with her this morning. Where did you take her?" he asked instead.

"The elders summoned her. They thought she was your mate, but I guess they were wrong."

This halted the alpha and turned to Zack with a darkened expression.