Seven.

Lupita walked into the party hall of the Alpha's court. She hoped not to get seen so she bowed her head.

She frowned. This was the last place she wanted to be. The place reeked of alcohol and lust.

She wondered what was fun to drink. It made one behave stupidly. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as her eyes fell on the large number of drunk werewolves sprawled on the ground.

"I thought the party was held in honor of the late parents of Alpha Romulus," Lupita muttered to herself. "This looks more like a club party."

Music blared from the speakers and those who had not passed out, yet, shook their bodies vigorously to the music like they had all gone mad. Lupita shook her head as she watched she-wolves who called her a woe throw themselves at werewolves who held a high rank in the pack.

"If it weren't for the food, I would never come to this place," Lupita muttered to herself as she looked around. She hardly got to eat. This occasion was a good place to get food to eat. She knew that she would not get served but Lupita only needed the leftovers and she was sure that they would be lots of them.

Lupita began her search for the leftover food of the other werewolves. Each time she saw even a crumb, she would happily rush to it. She held a bag in which the food she could gather went into.

Like she had hoped, some of the werewolves were too engaged in the party to notice her. The ones who did just pointed and laughed scornfully. After a little while, they returned to partying.

Whatever Lupita did, she made sure she kept a safe distance from Lilith and her posse. For some reasons unknown to Lupita, Lilith seemed lost and Lupita was grateful for that.

Lupita's face fell as her eyes fell on Conan who was across the room, talking to other werewolves like he had done nothing big hours ago.

She winced in pain as her chest began to hurt. Her heart ached and this time it wasn't because she had lost a mate but because she had lost a friend. Did she blame Conan? No, she didn't. She had in fact forgiven him. He did what he had to do for his good.

"He is a jerk. He does not deserve your forgiveness," a little voice said in her head.

"Only a selfless person would accept me wholeheartedly. A person who would love me as he loves himself. Sadly, a person like that is rare. I might not meet such a person in this lifetime." Lupita sighed sadly and looked away from Conan. Her eyes moved to Maya this time and she locked eyes with her.

She hoped Maya would at least look remorseful, but Maya stared at her with an emotionless face and then she turned away. Lupita blinked back the tears that started to form.

Her mind went back to the day she met Maya. That was ten years ago. It was the day Alpha Romulus had brought her to Night Meadow Pack. She remembered that she had managed to escape from his captive and was about to cross the border. There were no Sentinels at the border as every single member was preparing to welcome their Alpha, Luna, and Romulus, who was only the heir at the time. Unfortunately for them, Romulus was the only one that came back.

"Help!" Lupita heard a cry of anguish back then. She was hiding behind a rock at the frontier of the pack. With just one step, Lupita would have crossed over to the other side and she would have been free from the terror she was currently facing.

Tears streamed down her eyes as she remembered how she had thrown away the only chance to leave Night Meadow Pack because of the cry she had that night. Since that was her earliest memory, she could not remember how she planned to get to where she came from but she felt that somehow, help waited for her outside the walls of the pack, but Lupita decided to follow the sound of the cry she had heard.

She traced the sound and she saw two grown male werewolves. One was on top of a fifteen-year-old Maya. The other whipped Maya since she had refused to stay put.

She crouched, grabbed a stone, and shot the man that laid on top of Maya on the head. The man turned to Lupita angrily and went after her. The other man joined and they both pursued her. She was small, nimble, and energetic and they got stressed out after trying to catch her for a long time without any success.

Lupita hoped that Maya would run away as she stalled the man, but Maya was near death so she couldn't stand and run away. Lupita had to keep the men busy until they got tired and slumped. Strangely, her energy surpassed other werewolves.

She went to Maya, placed her hands in hers, and dragged her along with her since she was just eight and wasn't strong enough to carry a fifteen-year-old. This slowed her down, but Lupita cared less. The only thing she had in mind was to save the girl with her, but before she could get to the frontier of the pack, the warriors arrived, and at the command of the new and young Alpha, they captured Lupita and took Maya along with them for treatment since Maya was their pack member.

More tears streamed down Lupita's chin as she recalled the words of Maya after her wounds were tended to: “In this pack, no matter what you face, just know that you have a friend that'll stand by you.”

Lupita quickly wiped the tears that stained her cheeks before they drew the attention and mockery of the rest of the werewolves.

She continued her search for food and suddenly, her eyes met that of Alpha Romulus. It felt like blood was drained from her flesh as her eyes met the cold blue eyes of Alpha Romulus.

Fear gripped her so hard and she froze. Looking away was hard. Alpha Romulus smirked and walked. She shuddered and looked away immediately.

She continued searching for food, hoping to not cross paths with either Alpha Romulus or Lilith.

"Mate!"

Lupita froze as she heard the word. Like everyone present, she looked at where the word came from and where it was directed at.

"Mate!" Lilith said again and everyone gasped as they saw who she referred to.

"Alpha Romulus is Lilith's destined mate?" Lupita was not too shocked. They were both meanies and deserved each other, but didn't it mean that Lilith would be Luna? Lupita did not know if she should be happy or not. If Lilith becomes Luna, would it distract Lilith from bullying her or would it give Lilith more power to bully her?

"I hope it isn't the latter," Lupita muttered to herself as she anticipated Alpha Romulus' reaction like every other werewolf did.

"Mate!" Lilith said for the third time with a smile on her face as she looked at Alpha Romulus.

Everyone began to murmur as they watched Alpha Romulus' poker face. He just stood with a straight face, watching Lilith as she kept on calling him mate without saying a word.

"I, Romulus the Greatest, Alpha of Night Meadow Pack, reject you, Lilith, as my mate."

Everyone gasped at Alpha Romulus's words.

"He's mean to his mate too? What a man," Lupita muttered to herself.

"She deserves it," a weak voice in her head said, but Lupita could not help but feel for Lilith who was too heartbroken to speak. Alpha Romulus strode forward, pushed her away, and continued walking. The werewolves made way for him as he walked into the crowd. They were all eager to see his next move.

"What is he up to?" Lupita asked herself as he drew closer to her. She took a few steps backward and hastened his footsteps. In no time, he was in front of Lupita.

Lupita furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. What was going on? "W—what are y—you d—"

"I choose you," Alpha Romulus said with a straight face.

"Choose who? For what? To clean your room?"

Everyone broke into laughter.

Immediately, Alpha Romulus drew closer, placed his mouth on her neck, and bit it, marking Lupita as his mate.

Everyone present froze.

None of them saw this coming.