His Rogue Luna

With a gesture from the king, the orchestra began playing some upbeat classical music. The people already on the dance floor moved away so the large space was empty. The king and queen both stood up and hand in hand walked down from their thrones and into the center of the dance floor. They both embraced and began waltzing elegantly. After a few seconds, we took our cue. Kieran and I joined on the dance floor, as did the rest of the group.

Kieran had his arm around my waist while the other clasped mine. I kept my hand on his shoulder, trying to keep my footing with this large dress. It was hard to remain indifferent when I could feel thousands of eyes on us but a squeeze on my waist made me snap out of it.

"Relax. You're doing amazing," he murmured softly. I gave him a soft smile, leaning closer to him and relaxing in his hold and letting him guide me to the music.

Despite the impromptu dance lessons I had last night with a rather frustrated Viktor yelling at me, classical dancing was very much not my thing. Kieran however, was a natural and looked positively regal twirling around in time with the music. "You know what you remind me of?" I whispered.

"What?" He asked back, giving me a small smile at my amused expression.

"A prince," I answered, stifling my laugh at his confused expression. "A Prince out of a fairytale novel. All you're missing is a noble steed and a pretentious accent," he furrowed his brow, almost pouting as I barely held back my amusement. "I'm offended. I'm a mighty alpha. If anything I look like a king, a ruler of beats," he smirked.

"You keep telling yourself that," I snorted.

We came to a stop and that's only when I had realised we had danced one round already. More couples were joining the dance floor since the king and queen had danced the first dance.

"Pardon me Alpha," I turned around to see the vampire king standing with a smile on his face. Kieran looked as surprised as I did, tightening his hand on my waist before letting go.

"Of course, Your Highness," He gave the king a small nod and stepped away. I gave him a smile, watching as he walked towards the queen who stood alone.

"Your hand my dear," I slipped my hand into his cooler one. The music continued and the king took the lead, his red eyes analysing me for a while. I met his gaze, deciding to break the silence. "This is an extravagant ball. I appreciate that you threw this for us all," I said, giving him a grateful smile.

"Of course. I am humbled to be the king and witness such a historic alliance come forth," He smiled back.

"You and your mate look wonderful together. Do you have any children together?" I blushed at the question, caught a little off guard by how personal it was.

"No not yet. We had to postpone our joining ceremony due to the attacks," I shook my head. That was definitely the first thing I wanted to do after we sorted out this whole mess.

"That's a shame to hear. I am very curious about werewolf customs. I have had very limited interactions with other species," he hummed.

"Well, some details vary between packs but our lives essentially revolve around the Moon Goddess. I'd be happy to show you our pack should you ever choose to come over to the States," He gave me a genuine smile in return. "Of course my dear. I would love to," We stopped dancing and he let me go.

"I'll let you go back to your mate," I nodded in return as he stepped away. I looked around and found Kieran letting the queen go, his face stoic and his body stiff, much like the queen herself.

My lips went up into a stupid smile at my silly mate. He was quite awkward when it came to strangers. I approached him and the relief on his face was evident.

"My wolf is getting antsy around so many vampires," he frowned, murmuring lowly so only I would hear. I placed my hands on his chest, leaning up.

"How about we go the gardens in a bit? Get some fresh air?" He nodded, and I pressed a kiss to his cheek.

It was still way too early to leave without looking rude and this whole ball was just politics. We represented the whole wolf species to the vampire nobility.

I felt bad for him, he hadn't shifted in days and it was getting to him. Plus being away from our pack and being around so many vampires was only adding to that frustration.

"Just hold on for me okay?" I asked, squeezing his hand. He sighed but nodded, giving me a small smile.

"There you two are. Come one I have some people who want to meet you," Viktor guided us through the crowd, stopping at a group of vampires.

"Artemis, Kieran, these are my siblings. They each have their own clans and would very much be interested in joining forces," I beamed at the vampires, shaking hands as names were introduced. "Please, let us sit at our table and drink," Viktor gestured to the side where there were several round tables arranged.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

I followed the group, speaking to Vivian, Viktor's older sister, when I felt Kieran trail behind. I turned around, giving him a confused look but dropping it once I saw how uncomfortable he looked. "I'm sorry," he mouthed. I gave him a reassuring smile.

"Go. I'll find you," I replied. He gave me a grateful smile in return before quickly making his escape. I watched him leave, disappearing into the crowd and outside.

"Artemis?" I snapped back to my group, catching up to them.

"My apologies. Where were we?" I gave the vampires a reassuring smile. I found a seat besides Vivian and she continued telling me a tale about a young Viktor and explained how they had all separated to form their own clans. My mind drifted over to Kieran so I mindlinked him, wanting to see how he was doing.

His lack of response was quickly worrying me, but I tried to calm down my paranoid thoughts and focus on my surroundings.

I was a spirit wolf and I could easily track anyone down. I would simply find him once I finished my discussions with the vampire siblings.

I'm sure he's just busy.

And busy he was when I found him.