Chapter 2: What Is Your Name?

Alpha Rowan bent down to pick up the contact lenses case, and Adriana realized that it was him who smelled so divine. It had to be his perfume or the fabric softener they used on his clothes.

For a very brief second, she thought this was what it'd be like to meet your fated match. They'd smell divine, and one would immediately know that they were the one. But the fleeting moment went away just as fast. 

That couldn't be the case. Adriana was a lowly servant who had grown up as Alpha Darien's maid after he killed her traitorous parents for trying to usurp his leadership. She was no one, and this man was the Alpha of a pack. 

"I'm... I'm so sorry," she said, feeling Rhonda's hateful look on her. 

When Alpha Rowan stood, he fixed his greyish-blue eyes on Adriana, looking at her quizzically. 

"She can be so clumsy!" Rhonda said, snatching the case from Rowan's hand and pushing a stupefied Adriana away. "You can go upstairs."

Adriana turned, wanting nothing else but to run away and hide. The event hadn't even formally begun, and she had already messed up. With her head lowered, she rushed towards the stairs, but a firm grip caught her arm before she made it to the first step.

"What is your name, girl?" said Luna Marie. She had the same eye color as Alpha Rowan, so she had to be his mother or close relative. 

"Adria," she said softly. 

"Her name is Adriana. Please forgive her. She really isn't house-trained yet," Luna Mona said trying to usher Adriana towards the stairs. 

"You remind me of someone I knew a long time ago," Luna Marie said, giving Adriana a warm smile. "What are your parents' names?"

"She never knew them. They passed away a long time ago," Luna Mona interjected. With her bony hands, she grabbed Adriana's shoulders. "She really should get going." 

"How old are you?" Luna Marie continued questioning Adriana, the grip on her arm getting stronger as Luna Mona tried to push her away. 

"She's-"

"I asked her, Luna Mona," Luna Marie interrupted Luna Mona giving the woman a polite, but stern smile. "We've heard her speak, so I believe she can answer for herself."

"Eighteen," Adriana said, accidentally glancing in the direction of Alpha Rowan. He kept staring at her, his expression unreadable. A mix of curiosity and bewilderment was etched on his face, but Adriana didn't know what to make of it.

Was he disgusted by her? Pitying her?  

"Well, I won't keep you from your duties. I'll be seeing you at the Moon Goddess ball?" Luna Marie said, finally releasing her arm. 

"She's not going!" Rhonda said quickly and then frowned, apparently realizing she had answered for Adriana again after Luna Marie said she wanted to hear the answers from Adriana herself. "Um, she's sick. Recovering. From a nasty flu. We wouldn't want her spreading it among the guests."

"All ladies aged eighteen and above have to attend," Luna Marie said. "She looks fine to me."

"Marie, I don't mean to sound rude, but you shouldn't worry about the household help," Luna Mona said, finally nudging Adriana towards the stairs. "I'm sure you must be tired from the journey. Let me show you to the guesthouse." 

As soon as Adriana freed herself from Luna Mona's grip, she ran upstairs, taking two steps at the same time. In a second she was in her room, or the room she used as her bedroom. It was really Rhonda's second closet, where a pile of used mattresses in the corner functioned as her bed. 

With a long sigh, she dropped herself onto her bed. Soon. Very soon she'd be able to escape and never return thanks to her well-guarded secret. 

The Turnbulls didn't know she had already managed to shift a few years ago, and that she had been secretly training to run. 

She never shifted, though. If she got caught, her secret would be out, and in her human form, she could just tell people that Rhonda was making her do laps as punishment for breaking something. 

A strange feeling settled into her when she finally relaxed. The Alpha's perfume seemed to be embedded in her nose, and she couldn't get his face out of her head. He was so handsome and unlike anything she imagined an Alpha to be. After all, Alpha Darien was the only one she had ever met, and he was old and cruel. 

This man... His reddish-blonde hair and gray eyes had made such an impression on her, that she knew she would never forget his face, even if she never saw him again. With Alpha Rowan on her mind, she closed her eyes, feeling drowsy after having stayed up late, running around the basement. A short nap was all she needed, and it probably wouldn't be long before Rhonda came to find her. 

Just as she began to give in to sleep, she heard voices coming from outside the door and her eyes snapped open. 

"There really isn't anything to be sorry about, Luna Mona. We don't need an entire house. Mom and I will be fine over here." It was Alpha Rowan. The closer he came to the room, the louder his voice got. 

"There are other guest houses! We can have one prepared for tonight," Luna Mona said. 

"Moooom! He said he'll be fine here." Rhonda's voice, of course, was the loudest. "This room is perfect."

Adriana heard the shrilly creak of a door opening, and she knew the door they had opened was the one in front of Rhonda's room. She suspected that Rhonda had done something to the guesthouse Alpha Rowan was supposed to be using so he would have to stay in one of the mansion's many spare rooms. 

The voices became muffled noises as they apparently entered the bedroom. Then she heard more footsteps and one loud creak as the door closed. Adriana stood and stepped towards the door of her room, edging her ear towards the keyhole. 

"Honey, are you sure you'll be all right here?" Luna Marie said.

"Well, at least it doesn't smell like a skunk," Rowan said. 

"Mona is hiding something about that girl," the Luna whispered. They had to be really close for Adriana to be able to hear them. "I can't shake the feeling that I know her from somewhere."

Adriana's eyes widened. There was no way Luna Marie knew her. She had never been outside the pack, and the woman had never been here either. 

"You must be confusing her with someone," Alpha Rowan said.   

"Hmm, I don’t think so. I have a good memory. Well, I'll see you downstairs. Don't take too long." The sound of Luna Marie's footsteps indicated she had left, but Alpha Rowan hadn't moved. 

The door to Adriana's room abruptly opened, making her fall back onto a pile of clothes, and a wide-eyed Alpha Rowan looked down on her from the doorway.