chapter four

“Prince Asher, its nice of you to visit us,” Malachi said with a smile upon seeing the young man in the courtroom. “How have you been?”

“Very well, Chief Malachi, and you?” Asher asked, following the man softly as he led him to a seat.

“Very good,” Malachi replied, sitting next to him. “Is there a particular reason for your visit?”

“Nope, not at all. I heard from my father that you are having a little party in the council and I decided to invite myself, I hope that is not bad?”

“Of course not, you are welcome here anytime, any day.”

“Thank you. And yes, you should know that Anita is with me, the Blue Moon’s pack alpha’s daughter.”

“Sean’s daughter is welcome anytime,” Malachi smiled and then stood up, “I shall have your rooms prepared,” then he frowned slightly, “and find someone to make dinner for you.”

“Oh don’t worry about me, I am sure I will be filled in the party, as for Anita, she had something before coming.”

“Then, it is settled,” Malachi smiled, “please, enjoy your stay with us.”

“I hope to,” Asher said and Malachi left just as Anita was stepping in. They met at the doorway and with a bow from Anita, he nodded in response before leaving the room. Anita walked up to Asher then and took the vacant seat beside him, scrunching her nose. “What now?”

“Dead plant cell, everywhere,” she sighed.

Asher chuckled, “you invited yourself, remember?”

“As your Beta, I am not supposed to let you go anywhere alone.”

“Females are not betas.”

“Oh please, that mindset has long been vanquished.”

“There is no alpha female.”

“Only a matter of time, trust me.”

“Ha,” Asher scoffed, “I can’t wait to see the day.”

“Trust me. If my father was an alpha before conceiving me, I am pretty sure I would have been born with the alpha powers and not Micah, making me the first alpha female. And who knows, maybe it would teach Micah some respect as well.”

“Oh please, cut the boy some slack. His eighteen, he is in his rebellious stage, not that Micah is even rebellious, at least, not like a certain someone,” he said, glancing at her and she glowered at him, making him laugh. “Seriously, I pity the man that is going to live the rest of his life with you. You are not ladylike at all.”

“Then it’s a good thing that I am still better than all your bimbos. Trust me when I say that I would be giving your mate an earful about your sex-capedes.”

“Trust me, she would like it more because it means that there is no position I won’t give her,” he winked.

“Oh God, please I don’t want to hear about it now,” she covered her ears with her hands and he laughed.

The door was pushed open and a young nightwalker entered. Asher knew she was still very young as she looked to be eighteen, at most, nineteen with the aura he could sense from her. She smiled shyly when her eyes met with his before she bowed softly, “Prince Asher, High Chief wants me to let you know that your rooms are ready.”

“Thank you, uh…”

“Brianda,” she filled in for him.

“Brianda,” he smiled. She was a beauty which he is not surprised about, he has never seen an ugly vampire but there are some who are truly beautiful beyond description and Brianda was one of those. He instantly scanned her features, she had long black hair —the most trending hair color among the vampires— and beautiful hazel eyes. She was petite in nature and reeked of feminine energy, the kind of energy that always leave men wanting to protect her from any harm. “Will you be in the party, Brianda?”

“Of course, my prince. And also, if your need help preparing for the party, I will be more than happy to offer assistance,” she smiled shyly, purposely avoiding his gaze.

“Ah, just tell him you want to fuck him, please. I am tired of the high sexual tension in the air,” Anita groaned with a roll of her eyes.

“Forgive my friend, she has always been so…vulgar,” Asher rushed to say, granting himself a glare from Anita.

“Of course not, my prince.”

“Good, I will be expecting you in my room then, Brianda, to…help me prepare.”

“But of course my prince,” she smiled and walked out of the courtroom then.

“Really, we just arrived and you have already picked a bimbo?” Anita asked.

“Oh come on, would you deny a man his fun? Hmm?” he raised an eyebrow, making his puppy face.

“I just don’t want to hear about it,” she said, getting up and walking to the door. Asher chuckled and went after her, draping his arm on her shoulders as they walked out together while he promised to fill her in with every detail.

***

Naomi placed the plate of food on the table and her eyes went to the grandfather’s clock in the living room. It was five minutes past seven, she was sure that Justin and the rest of the class were already in the woods or on their way there. Her father wasn’t back yet which was good and so, she quickly cleaned up the kitchen and went to her room to prepare. She doesn’t know but she really wanted to attend the party. Ever since twelve grade when everyone started calling her psychic, she was mostly on her own and hardly attend any parties —not like she was constantly invited anyway— and now, she was invited to attend a party and not just by anyone but Justin.

Justin was the most popular boy in school and not only was he the quarterback of the football team but also the team captain and that alone with his handsome features, made him every girl’s dream and sadly, she was one of them. But she has never imagined herself having anything to do with him. Not only was she the school’s psychic and everyone loves to bully her, she didn’t have the looks to hold down a boy like Justin. With her long black hair and black eyes, she was considered plain as anything plain. Her look wasn’t fantastic and she has always known that, always and because of that, she never embarrasses herself by trying to go after him nor even fantasize about him.

She stared at the rolls of hoodies in her wardrobe and finally settled in a jeans and black blouse, one of the few normal clothes she had been able to lay her hands on in a thrift store. She let her hair down and tried to apply a little bit of makeup, a powder and lip gloss. Something she had found in her father’s room one time when cleaning it. The powder, she constantly used, especially when she needs to hide the bruises on her face but the lip gloss, not so much.

When she was done, she stared at herself, there was no much different, in fact, there was no difference at all and so she wiped the lip gloss off and washed her face in the bathroom. However, when she walked back into her room and stared at herself in the mirror, she noticed her face looked pale and ended up reapplying everything again. Staring at herself, she sighed and left the room, after making sure that the kitchen window was open so that she can climb back in the morning without waking her father up, she left the house.

She didn’t bother going to school and just went straight to the camp ground. The camp belongs to their principal, she usually holds summer camping there and always ask them to volunteer to look after the children with some payment obviously. And it was usually that time, that she would make some money to afford some things she needed.

Arriving at the camp site, there was a big bonfire going on and loud music. Someone had obviously came with their big JBL Bluetooth speaker. Students were dancing around and she found it hard joining and quickly scanned around for Justin. If not for anything, at least let him see her in something different but hoodies and also to know that she came.

“My, my, my, if it isn’t the psychic looking all cleaned up,” a voice said and she closed her eyes and wished the ground would open up and swallow her rather than let her speak with the three she-devils. “What is the matter, why the sudden glow up?”

She turned and came face to face with Rebecca, Trisha and Tiana, the three she-devils of her school and self-proclaimed queen bees.