Chapter 3

AVA

I spent the rest of the night hiding. Not literally, but I might as well have. Every time I caught even a glimpse of prince Cane's piercing gaze.

I ducked behind a wall, a curtain or even a particularly large waited. Anything to keep my heart from leaping out of my chest.

An actual, bloodline-of-the-moon, bow-before-him, wears-crowns-on-special-occasions prince?

Oh. My Goddess.

He was a prince? A fucking prince and I had disrespected him.

My stomach twisted violently. I pressed a hand to it, afraid I might puke all over the silver -plated serving trays.

I called him a bumbling idiot, to his face.

I groaned, dragging a hand down my face. What if he told his father? What if I got summoned to some royal court and beheaded for disrespecting the crown?

"Oh, Goddess!”

"What are you doing here?"

The sharp voice of Mrs. Dominguez yanked me out of my spiraling panic. I spun around like I'd been caught stealing food.

"Uh..." I scrambled for words, eyes darting like I could find an excuse lying on the floor. "I was just…”

I fidgeted with the hem of my shirt, brain scrambling to lie but offering absolutely nothing useful

"I mean, I was trying to...uh…”

"You know what?" She snapped her frown deepening. "I don't even care. Just get your butt out there and serve some drinks before I toss you out myself."

I nodded so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash. "Yes, ma'am!"

Grabbing the nearest tray of wine flutes, I practically flew out of the kitchen like my life depended on it, which given the price situation, it might very well have.

As I walked back into the glow of the ballroom, I whispered to myself under my breath. "Just one more hour. Serve, smile, and disappear. Hopefully before he notices me again.

As I stepped out into the ballroom, I glanced around and sighed in relief when I didn't find the prince anywhere.

He was gone but the gorgeous blonde he'd been talking to was still there, glaring at… was she glaring at me?

Oh, shit. She definitely was.

I quickly looked away and began to move towards a nearby wall, trying to act as natural as possible. The last thing I wanted was to attract attention from any royals. They weren't particularly known for their kindness.

Once I was safe behind a pillar, I looked over at her and sighed in relief. She was now speaking to other women just as beautiful and well dressed as her.

I sighed again in relief when she completely turned her back on me and made my rounds around the huge hall. Before I knew it, the drinks were gone and only one was left.

I made my way outside the hall to where commoners like me stood.

“Oh my God, he is so handsome!” I caught a snippet of a few girls conversing.

“I wonder who he is going to pick…” another girl said.

“I wonder who that girl he was talking to is…”

“The poor fat girl?”

I gasped. “I am not fat!” I whispered under my breath.

“I think she is a waitress,” another girl said.

“He's definitely picking princess Leah to be his Luna, she's the only smart choice,”

I groaned. Of course this night had turned out to be an absolute nightmare.

I walked past the girls, hiding my face behind the tray. As soon as I got to a well hidden pillar, I sighed. This really was a nightmare.

I glanced at my phone and frowned. I still had 40 minutes of this hellhole before I'm finally free… to go back to my own hellhole of a pack but at least it was familiar.

I stared at the last champagne flute on the rest and stole it. I deserved some too. Without thinking, I downed the entire thing. The sparkly rich taste spread across my taste buds and I moaned in pleasure..

“Damm, this was really nice,”

“There you are,” A familiar voice said behind me and I almost peed my pants.

Cane…

No, Prince Cane.

Slowly, I turned around with a smile on my face.

“Cane… I mean, your highness,” I bowed clumsily .

“Before you say anything, I'm really sorry for those things I said. I didn't mean it. I don't hate the price… please don't kill me,” I blurted out, panting.

Cane chuckled.

“I don't plan to.”

I blinked. So, be didn't plan on killing me?

“Stand up, you look ridiculous bowing like that,”

“Oh, thank you.” I forced out a smile.

“I'm sorry I left. My father wanted to introduce me to some…people…”

“Ah, no need to apologize, I'm sorry for bothering you,”

“Bothering me? You were and are the highlight of my evening,”

Something about his easy going smile scared me. I felt like if I wasn't careful, I could really get in trouble with him.

“You still don't feel it, do you?”

“Feel what?” I asked.

“That you're my mate,” he said.

I burst out laughing. “You're are hilarious, your highness, really,”

Almost as soon as he said it, I felt a strange tug in my chest wqam, terrifying, magnetic nut before I could process it.

"She's your what?" A sharpie voice sliced through the air like a blade..

We both turned. Princess Leah stood a few feet away. Her perfect lips curled into a sheer, her ivy blue eyes darting between me and Prince Cane or was it Charles?

"She is your mate? A common waitress, your mate?"

"What? No, he was joking," I stepped forward to speak but Leah's hand connected with my face and then she splashed me on the face with champagne.

"You will speak only when spoken to, servant!” She was biased, loud enough for everyone to turn towards the commotion.

I stood frozen, heart hammering in my chest as the humiliation settled over me like a storm cloud.

Then I saw her, my stepsister standing just behind Leah, a smug, satisfied smile on her face.

“What? Did you actually think I'd let you embarrass the family? Or wait, maybe you thought you could actually pull the prince. You're not even an Omega, you're a rogue with an erratic tiny wolf.” She chuckled.

The entire ground warrior murmured and laughed and I was taken back to my pack.

With the need to get out of there, I ran out of there, tears streaming down my face.

What a humiliating night.