Chapter 103

Alina on the other hand had no intention of playing nice, “It’s not pleasant at all to see you, Luna Queen Claire.” She gritted through her teeth, anger in her dark eyes.
Claire frowned, sure she had never been friends with Alina but they weren’t outright enemies either. She was coming to realize that she kind of preferred Alina when she looked down on her and treated her like she wasn’t important enough to address because then she was spared situations like this.
“I’m not sure I understand you, Princess Alina,” Claire said with frosty politeness, Alina had been the one to seek this meeting out, she was the one that had gone out of her way to step in Claire’s path.
Alina took a step forward, she was dressing in a frilly, really short minidress that was a fire engine red to march her lips and heels. “How dare you make Lukas refuse me from entering his mansion? And you dared to send your assistant to insult me too? What nerve!”
Claire paused, trying to process what Alina was going on about, she didn’t remember doing any of that but it didn’t take much for her to put together that this must have happened while Lukas was injured. It would make sense that Alina wouldn’t be allowed into the mansion then, and Rosie must have been the one to get rid of the troublesome werewolf princess.
She had no interest in humoring the spoiled royalty, she wasn’t about to apologize over what she had no hand in, and even if she didn’t, she still wouldn’t apologize. “It’s funny you would say that considering that I’m mated to Lukas and it’s my home too, so I’m free to do as I wish.” She said, intending to just walk away from the conversation that had been an absolute waste of her time.
She didn’t expect Alina to grab a glass of wine off a passing waiter’s tray and dunk the contents of it over her head. Claire froze in shock, the icy cold wine seeping through her hair and drenching her dinner gown.
Their heated conversation had already garnered interest so the entire ballroom technically saw her poured the contents of the wine cup over the Luna Queen’s head. The ballroom went deathly silent, even the paparazzi seemed too shaken up to take pictures.
Only Alina was unaffected, an unrepentant smile on her face, “That’s what you get for messing with me, Lukas is mine and I’m no-”
Claire didn’t let her get the rest of her words out, she crossed the distance between them and struck Alina on the face, the werewolf princess crying out in pain as she held her face.
“Guards?” Claire called loudly and right away, a couple of the bodyguards hired by Sabrina to protect the event hurried over. “Take her away.”
This seemed to break the spell that the entire ballroom had been put under, there was applause and excited conversation, the entirety of the ballroom pleased that Alina had been put in her place. The photographers didn’t let this moment pass them by as well, taking rapid fire pictures of the scene.
The severity of Alina’s situation was starting to dawn on her, “W-What?” She stuttered, starting to look scared. “You can’t do that, don’t put your filthy hands on me!” She snapped at the bodyguards.
Claire flipped her hair over a shoulder, unhappy at how sticky she was starting to feel. “On the contrary, Alina, I can do whatever I want.” She said calmly, “You forget yourself and the fact that you’re in my country.”
The bodyguards didn’t even slow down, taking Alina’s arms and starting to take her away. It didn’t matter how powerful her father was, Claire as the Luna Queen surpassed him in her own country.
Sabrina came hurrying over as a screaming Alina was dragged away, “Oh my goodness, Claire, I’m so sorry about this.” She apologized with a most concerned look on her face, taking Claire’s hand so she could lead her somewhere private.
Claire just waved it off, “It’s not your fault,” There was no way that Sabrina could have predicted that Alina would do something so stupid.
“But it is,” Sabrina insisted, getting to a duo of butlers who stood in front of a hidden side door. “Which one of you careless butlers let Princess Alina in?” She scolded in the sharpest tone Claire have ever heard her use.
Both butlers started to sweat, looking at each other with guilty eyes. “She refused to listen to reason and barged in, making a fuss about why she hadn’t been invited.”
Sabrina massaged her temple with a single hand, she should have known that there would be no keeping Alina away especially if Claire was to be attending the dinner party.
“I shouldn’t have left you.” She said miserably when they got to a private room.
“Knowing Alina, she would have probably gotten us both stained with wine,” Claire said lightly, her mood much better now that had gotten to hit the mouthy little brat. She owed it to Sabrina too, Sabrina had been the one to explain to her how social hierarchies works and one of the things she learned was that she could lash back at Alina without repercussions if the situation called for it because she was higher on the power ladder than the werewolf princess was.
Sabrina didn’t even care that the daughter of Alpha King Costin had been hit and dragged shamefully out of her dinner party, more concerned about Claire.
Claire on the other hand was just fine; after she changed out of her sticky dress and washed the wine off her hair, she felt brand new.
Sabrina had given her some privacy to get cleaned up but now the wealthy socialite returned with a dress in her hands, “I wanted to tell you about this earlier but I didn’t want to intrude but it would seem fate had other ideas.”
Claire sat up on the comfortable sofa she was seated on, she was dressed in a luxurious black silk robe, her wet hair tied up in a towel. “What is it?” She asked curiously.
“I planned to launch my fashion brand at the last dinner party but I scrapped my plans due to your absence because I really wanted you to be present at the unveiling.”
Claire was wowed by this, she knew that Sabrina held her in very high regard but each day the half werewolf found ways to surprise her. “That’s… um… that’s very overwhelming.”
“And right now I wanted to ask that you be the one to wear my very first design but I didn’t want to intrude.” She concluded, a little nervous.
Claire rose to her feet and took Sabrina’s hand, “You could never intrude and why would I ever pass up on the opportunity to launch a friend’s fashion line?” She said excitedly.
Sabrina got caught up in her excitement, “Really? You’d do it? You would be making my dream come true.”
Claire beamed, “Of course I’d do it! Where’s the dress? I want to see it?” She asked enthusiastically.
Sabrina held up the dress in her hand, “Here,” She said in a quiet voice, it was obvious that she was a little nervous.
Claire took the dress and immediately headed for the bathroom, “Give me a moment.”
The dress was thankfully easy to put on and was surprisingly comfortable. When she first took the dress out of the bag, she thought that it looked gorgeous, it was made of some kind of feather soft material that shimmered and flowed like water.
After putting it on, she turned to look at the mirror, her mouth dropping open. She had expected a lot from the shimmering black dress but she didn’t expect it to look this good. It didn’t look like she had a dress on, it looked like someone had painstakingly glued pieces of glitter artfully all over her body.
The shimmering black glitter faded at specific spots on her body, baring her back and her midriff which was covered by a sheer black material that held the shimmering dress together.
After getting her fill of staring at the dress, she hurried out with a big smile. “Oh my goddess Sabrina, it’s gorgeous! And so comfortable…” She did a little twirl, enjoying the way the light hit the shimmering black glitter.
All of Sabrina’s nerves evaporated at how inhibited Claire was in showing her love for the design. “I’m so glad you like it,” She beamed.
“Like it? I intended to replace my entire wardrobe with your designs.” She said bluntly.
Sabrina couldn’t help but laugh at this, she knew that she was right to look up to the human Luna Queen. Her confidence had been boosted by Luna Claire’s reaction to her very first design, it made her feel like she could really do this.