Solar imagined that, in the old days, the grand ballroom was packed with Alphas and Omegas who were eagerly looking for their respective mates. Now, there were only Alphas in the room; no Omegas in sight.

Yes, the Alphas were all there to mate with each other.

Solar had heard that it was an old practice, to mate Alphas with Alphas, but it had been abandoned for some reason or another. She hadn’t thought to ask and even if she did, her question would go unanswered – she wasn’t like them, after all.

Solar was a human before she was bitten by an Alpha and was consequently mated to him. As a bitten wolf, her status in the community was even lower than that of an Omega. She had had her fair share of insults and physical injuries, but she persevered – she had learned long ago that she had no one but herself to rely on.

After she had killed her mate and taken over his pack as the new Alpha, Solar thought things would change; that the wolf community would give her the respect she deserved now that she was an Alpha. But they had only resented her more – the fact that she killed one of them and the fact that she was the first and, so far, the only bitten wolf who had reached Alpha status.

Solar was proud and a little intimidated by that fact – she had never been the first at anything. But she didn’t let that deter her – she was never a quitter, not when she was human and not now even as a wolf. She resolved to embrace her Alpha status and pave way for the other bitten wolves to become whatever they want to be in this community. Her determination and stubbornness had isolated her from the community, but thankfully, Solar’s pack was steadfast in their support for her – even though they were suffering from the consequences as well.

That was the sole reason Solar was standing in this ballroom right now.

She was ready to abandon her pride and integrate herself back into this entitled wolf community for her pack; she wanted to repay them for their loyalty – even if that meant she had to be mated to an unknown wolf for the second time in her wolf life. Her friends and confidants had assured her that she didn’t have to do this, but it was the least that she could for them; for her family.

Solar knew it wouldn’t be easy. Even now, as she stood at the refreshment table, quietly enjoying her cocktail, she noticed the disapproving looks and the menacing snarls thrown in her direction. She knew it wasn’t her dress they were criticizing – it was a midnight blue dress with a hint of glitter scattered across it and the best one she ever owned – so, she ignored them and continued sipping her cocktail, her gaze never wavered as she studied every single Alpha in the room, committing their names and respective packs to her memory for future reference.

After all, this was not a simple matchmaking party and Solar wasn’t the only Alpha here with a purpose – every Alpha in the room had a reason to participate in this matchmaking and each of them were carrying the burden of their pack on their shoulders; each match made would affect not just the Alphas, but their packs as well.

It was Solar’s main concern about this matchmaking: what if her future partner was a cruel and violent Alpha just like her previous mate?

She didn’t want her pack to suffer through all that again because of her. But everyone had assured her that they believed in her and her choices. Their assurances consoled her a bit, but Solar was also concerned about herself – she didn’t know if she could stand another abusive relationship, even though she was now an Alpha and stronger than she was when she first became a wolf. She knew it was greedy and selfish of her, but she wanted happiness and peace for herself and her pack.

“Herro~”

Solar looked over to her left.

A woman with dirty blonde hair, tied back from her face in a low ponytail, had appeared out of nowhere and was now standing next to her. Her eyes were focused on the rest of the room, brown and missing the glow that comes with displaying one’s wolf eyes; her hair was also missing the blood red streak that marks a wolf as an Alpha.

At the thought, Solar unconsciously touched the red strands threaded in between her midnight black hair and narrowed her glowing red eyes on the slightly shorter woman. She wondered if the woman was working with the Council since they were the organizers and were the only ones not required to display their wolf eyes at this party. But she didn’t recall any Council member with a scar running through their left brow, ending just above the eyelid , and Solar was proud of her ability to remember faces, especially ones with scars.

She took in the plate of puddings in the woman’s right hand and the scone in her left while her cheeks were fully stuffed with chocolates (there were even smudges of chocolates in the corner of ) and swiftly changed her mind – no proud Council member would allow themselves to appear as anything but perfect in public; this woman was definitely not with the Council.

Solar watched the woman curiously as she chewed and swallowed the chocolates in before scarfing down the scone. She was too engrossed in her study of the smaller woman that she almost missed the question directed at her.

“Are you a new Alpha?”

Solar raised a dark brow. The question was a little disorienting because almost all the Alpha at the party (and some Council members) recognized her on sight and had been very hostile towards her in response.

“I mean, this is the third party the Council has organized and this is the first time I’ve seen you here,” the woman clarified when Solar remained silent.

Solar smiled. It was refreshing to meet someone who didn’t know who she was. She deliberately turned her back to the rest of the room and focused her whole attention on the woman beside her.

“Actually, I’ve been an Alpha for a year now,” she finally answered. Then, she chuckled and added, “But I suppose that is quite recent.”

The woman grinned as she set down her pudding plate on the table behind them, giving Solar a glimpse of the lone dimple in her right cheek. Then, she extended a hand towards Solar and said, “Hello, new Alpha. My name is Wheein.”

“Hello, Wheein,” Solar firmly grasped the woman’s small hand and shook it once, “my name is Solar.” She held Wheein’s hand a moment longer and regarded the smaller woman with curious eyes. “I’m sorry if this is rude, Wheein, but are you even an Alpha?”

Wheein’s eyes danced with amusement. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” she asked, lips curling into a mischievous smirk.

“Yes, I actually do want to know.”

“Oh.”

“I want to know who I will be spending the rest of my night with,” Solar clarified.

“O-Oh...”

They stood like that for a while, their hands clasped tightly together while their eyes bored into each other’s. Solar found out that she liked the shape of Wheein’s eyes and the golden flecks scattered across her brown irises; even the scar above her left eye looked perfect on her. Solar wondered whether Wheein’s hair was coarse or soft; her free hand was itching to run through it, to free the strands from its ponytail.

Wheein was the first to break their eye contact and stepped away from Solar. She had her eyes cast down and there was even a hint of a blush in her cheeks. Solar’s lips curled with amusement, wondering if Wheein’s wolf eyes were making their appearance right now and she was purposely hiding them from her.

Everything about Wheein, in just the first minute of speaking to her, was poking at Solar’s curious mind; she was even sure that by the end of the party, she would end up going home with the smaller woman. Solar knew that the unspoken agreement in the community was that female Alphas were to mate with male Alphas, but considering the current ratio of female to male Alphas and the fact that half of the Alphas in the room just outright hated her, Solar didn’t exactly have a lot of choices; she had actually expected not to meet anyone tonight.

Wheein was the first, during this entire party, whom Solar actually wanted to know more of and that spoke volumes about her since she had put herself (and her pack) in a self-imposed exile for almost a year now. She just really, really hoped that Wheein was indeed an Alpha, despite no indication of red Alpha eyes or red strands in her hair; she also hoped that it was because Wheein was just a natural rebel and enjoyed going against the Council.

Solar squared her shoulders and braced herself when she saw Wheein taking a deep breath and then lifted her head. But Wheein’s eyes were shut tight and she muttered a simple “Sorry” before taking off towards the exit. As Wheein brushed past her, Solar caught a whiff of a strong scent – definitely an Alpha’s scent – and without thinking, her feet moved to chase after Wheein.

Solar frantically searched for the woman up and down the hallway outside of the ballroom, but they were dark and deserted and there was no sign of Wheein. Suddenly, there was a howl coming from outside the building. Solar immediately rushed through the front door, ignoring the startled Betas standing guard outside.

In the middle of the compound stood a wolf, bigger than any wolf Solar had ever seen and taller than the cars littering the driveway, with glowing blue eyes and pale blue strands weaving through its snow white fur. Its head was tilted back and it was still howling at the moon hanging in the night sky.

Just like Wheein, this white wolf piqued Solar’s curiosity – it couldn’t be a Beta or Omega since they do not sport coloured strands in their hairs or have colours other than glowing gold as their wolf eyes. It couldn’t be an Alpha either because all Alphas have red wolf eyes and red strands in their hairs. So then…what is this wolf?

As she pondered on this, Solar noticed the scar situated above the wolf’s left eye and her heart thumped with recognition.

No way. But…could it be?

She tried to reconcile the image of Wheein, who was a petite woman with dark blonde hair and brown eyes with this large white wolf in front of her, but it didn’t make sense – the only resemblance this wolf had with Wheein was the scar.

As if it finally realized it wasn’t alone, the white wolf stopped howling and turned its head towards Solar. Solar stiffened and considered shifting into her wolf form to prepare for a fight, but the wolf merely bowed its head at her, its icy blue eyes held a wordless apology, before it turned around and walked out of the compound until it disappeared from her sight.