Chapter Twelve

“You’re Alpha Lukas’ guest, aren’t you? Don’t worry, you’re welcome here.” Another lady smiled, patting her back comfortingly.
Claire returned the kind smile, thinking fast. Maybe these nice werewolf ladies could help her get away from Lukas.
“I am.” She nodded. “I am merely a daughter of his business associate though and was curious about the famed ‘Moonlight’.” She lied flawlessly.
It was a skill Claire had never had to use in her life before but now she had lied several times in the span of a day. She didn’t mean the nice werewolf women any harm, she just wanted to save herself.
What she didn't know then was that her best option then was lying because the werewolf ladies were trying to fish out information from her. They wanted to confirm the rumors about her being their Alpha King’s Fated mate.
The atmosphere in the bathroom shifted to a truly cheery one, the women no longer holding inhibitions about her.
To them, she was just a spoiled human woman who got what she wanted because her father was powerful.
Murmurs of assent greeted her lies. The werewolf ladies resumed refreshing their make-up while they had a discussion with Claire.
"And what do you think of the resort?" A third lady asked coyly.
"It's magnificent." Claire breathed, her hands clasped in front of her chest. She was still going with the ruse of being the eccentric daughter of a rich business man.
"Of course!" The tallest said haughtily. "Our Alpha King personally decided on what blueprint to be used, it is enough to rival even some of the greatest human establishments."
Claire wouldn't know because she had never been to these great human establishments but she wanted to curry their favor so when she asked them for help, they would consider helping her.
"It certainly is." She agreed graciously with them. "I should know, I've been to quite a number of them."
This was clearly the right thing to say because the women puffed up with happiness, beaming.
"It's only sad that our wonderful Alpha King has yet to find his Fated mate." One sighed.
Claire remained silent at this, not wanting to out herself.
"Indeed." Another joined the sighing spree. "He is so valiant deciding to wait for his Fated mate but he must be so lonely…"
"Enough moping, we have a guest here." The tallest interrupted them, patting her chignon in place. "Do you need us to give you a tour of the place? With Alpha King Lukas' permission, of course."
Claire’s heart jumped at this wonderful opportunity to escape, she couldn’t ruin it. "Well, your Alpha King is very busy and I already feel bad that I burdened him with my presence." She said carefully like she was telling them a secret she kept close to her heart.
"I actually wanted to see the town as well but I didn't want to trouble Alpha King Lukas." She added sweetly, checking their reactions to her words.
Looks of skepticism greeted Claire which made her quickly backtrack.
"I actually have a childhood friend living here, King Lukas wouldn't let me leave the resort but I really want to see him." She added quickly.
The four ladies looked at each other and their skepticism faded away.
"You should have started with that," One scoffed, pinching her cheeks.
Claire was at a loss but she was relieved anyway that they decided to help her.
"Here, you can't go to meet your 'childhood friend' looking like that." Another chirped, bustling around her.
"W-Wait…" Claire panicked, overwhelmed.
"Don't worry, Helena is a professional make-up artist." The lady with the chignon said proudly. "She'll fix you right up for your secret date."
Claire was even more confused.*'Date?'* But she never mentioned anything about going on a date.
"B-But…" She tried to protest, feeling like the situation was fast leaving her hands.
A chubby lady interrupted her, holding her hands so that Helena could get to her face. It was rather difficult to speak when her face was being fiddled with.
"You don't need to say anymore, we all understand. You want to sneak out to see a childhood heartthrob but Alpha Lukas has been asked by your father not to allow you to do so." She sighed.
The other lady that joined her in sighing over Lukas earlier, joined in again. "We'll help you escape, don't worry. We'll make sure you reunite with your love again."
Claire decided to go quiet and let them do what they wished. They were going to help her escape after all, that was her goal, how she got there wasn't important.
Although she couldn’t help but look at the werewolf women with wary eyes, she had thought earlier that they were very nice but now she was starting to suspect that they were only nice when things went their way.
They were also dwelling too much on the made-up childhood friend. It made her hackles rise.
Claire didn't want to spend any more time than necessary around the ladies, she couldn't wait for them to be on their way.
"Take a look at yourself dear, what do you think?" Helena cooed, her startling red hair in a complicated hairstyle.
Claire blinked at the reflection in the mirror, gasping when the reflection blinked back. *'That couldn't possibly be her, right?'*
The lady in the mirror looked like a front page model, she couldn't possibly be Claire.
"One last thing." One of them brought out a perfume bottle and proceeded to empty the entire contents of it on her. "There, you're all set!"
"There's no way your 'childhood friend' will be able to resist." Helena beamed proudly at her work.
"Come, we have to hurry!" The tallest immediately bundled all of them out the bathroom with Claire in tow.
Claire shared glances with one of the guards assigned to watch over her and panicked. But she didn't even need to worry because he just looked right through her.
The second guard ignored her as well, both of them still waiting patiently like she was still in the bathroom.
Claire’s heart soared, she could actually make it this time, she could actually escape Lukas.
All five women noisily made their way to the main gate, they were avoided by everyone because of this.
Although Claire was the only quiet one, she was relieved that the other women were boisterous because it meant that no one else would approach them.
Claire couldn't help but feel like they were trying a little too hard to separate her from Lukas but as that was her own goal as well, she had no complaints.
As Claire was taken out of the gate by the ladies and then waved off happily, she didn't know then that the werewolf ladies were working to their own benefit.
There had never been a woman, human or werewolf who shared their Alpha King's private rooms. They had felt especially threatened that a measly human woman was the one to accomplish that feat.
It was why they had been so pleased to hear that she wanted to sneak out to visit a human man. There was no way that she had anything to do with their Alpha King if that was the case.
Alpha King Lukas was most likely being a respectable business associate by keeping the daughter of his colleague in his own personal rooms because there were also rumors that he hadn't slept in his personal suite and now they confirmed that he didn't.