Chapter 23 Celebration

**Valerie**
Once the grand feast started, there’s no time for us to take a break. We had to bring out a mountainous plie decadent dishes of finest cuisine to all the guests with hearty smiles to show our respects.
Celebratory chatters echoed in the air with flavors of delicious food. The guests, laughing and toasting in pride, all seemed to enjoy themselves, except a group of vampires seated near the Alpha families that, if I didn’t take it wrong, would be Mr. Lang’s relatives as Benjamin had mentioned, royal vampires from The Lang family.
The wineglasses served in front of them were filled with animal bloods, which they seemed to have no interests in tasting. They didn’t talk, smile or even take their black robes off, as if they just came here for a rest stop. Despite their gloomy faces, they still got the decency not to flare in public.
I had seen either Mr. Lang since the feast began. There’s a spare seat next to the only female vampire, which I supposed was kept especially for Mr. Lang.
Obviously, it’s not only me who was bewildered by his absence. The North Alpha, Felix Woodland, raised his goblet and turned to the female vampire for a toast.
“Oh Mrs. Lang, nice to meet you again. You’re even more beautiful than you were when I last saw you,” He said in a tipsy tone, “Don’t be so restrained. Cheers for our victory.”
Mrs. Lang didn’t reply but her dainty face darken with sulkiness.
Alpha Felix drunk up the wine as he stumbled to the Mrs. Lang. He leant forward to her in a rudeness and smirked, “Look at you, Emily. You’ve got the face on. Where’s your son Lucas?”
He paused deliberately to look around then laughed sarcastically, “Oh I forgot, he’s your…step son right?”
Mrs. Lang scowled as her lip corner twitched. Grabbing the armrest on chair tightly, she was about to jump up at raging vehemence.
But the male vampire on her right side stopped her. He pressed on her hand softly while turning to Alpha Felix with a cold reply, “thanks for your consideration, but it’s our family business.”
“Oh Mr. Lang, or shall I say Lord Kronos.” Alpha Felix sneered, “Since you’ll soon be the new leader of Royal Council.”
The crowds fell into silence. Widening their eyes, they turned in unison to look at Kronos Lang. Tension grew in the air as the vampires’ faces darkened.
“Why do you hide it from us? Lord Kronos? It is good news, isn’t it? I’m very curious. How did you get it with all your scandals? How did you manage to convince the council?” Alpha Felix scorned.
The vampire’s face set hard in a horrible countenance, eyes flashing with a light of redness. Fangs grew in his mouth as he snarled sharply at Alpha Felix.
“Alpha Felix, I’m afraid it’s not the right occasion for such serious topics.” Xavier cut in with a stern voice, before the tension developed further into a fight.
Hearing this, Alpha Felix rolled his eyes while Kronos Lang remained silent, pursing his lips in smothered anger. The blazing fire between two sides seemed to be put out.
But it wasn’t.
Much to my surprise, Caser Murphy glanced at his son and raised from the seat. He walked toward Alpha Felix and put his hand on Alpha Felix’s shoulder, then he spoke in a rather sarcastic tone, “Mr. Lang is our guest, representing the vampire force, which did make some contributions in our battlefield. You should show more respects, Felix.”
What he said was undoubtedly exacerbating the tension.
Before anyone could make a proper reaction to this, Kronos shot a glare at Alpha Felix before turning to Xavier and speaking icily, “Alpha Xavier, I suppose you understand perfectly the reasons why we have to be here. We had no patience to tolerate wanton behaviors from idiots.”
Xavier frowned at his word.
“You fuck —” Alpha Felix bellowed at Kronos Lang. Muscles on his back tightened, furs growing. It looked like he was about to shift before making a dash towards the vampire.
“Enough!”
A powerful growl thundered up, bringing the imminent fight to a sudden halt.
“It’s not a place for quarrels!” Xavier bellowed, eyes blazing with intensive rage and dominance, “You are in Red Moon now, Alpha Felix. If you can’t behave yourself, then please get out of my land!”
Alpha Felix was stunned, gawping at Xavier with his body recoiling obviously. And Caser Murphy, who stood beside him beholding his furious son, froze with an inscrutable expression.
“Or do I have to remind you all,” Xavier paused as he looked around to see the crowds stilled in nervousness, “who’s the Alpha now.”
He glanced at his father shortly before slightly softened his tone, “Now Alpha Felix, you can bring up the issue of The Eclipse that you claimed to be critical to all of us. I believe The Lang family will be interested to hear you out.”
Alpha Felix’s chest heaved as he eyed Xavier dismissively. Glancing at Kronos Lang who sat there skeptically, he uttered, “It is an emergence, Alpha Xavier. It’s supposed to be kept within wolves. But since you consider the vampires should also acknowledge it, I will just speak frankly.”
“As we all know, there has been quite a few uproars in the North this month, the number has exceeded the highest record since the war ended. Several weeks ago, The Eclipse was violently attacked by a troop of human soldiers. Though with the help from The Red Moon Pack we quelled it and captured the leader, something behind it, believe me, will shock you all.” Alpha Felix exhaled as his voice turned serious.
Everyone stared at him tentatively in silence.
He continued, “The human told us that in the far North area, there exists a human organization named as Akard, which was planning on resurrecting humans’ domination. And we found most of their soldiers, despite being pure-blood humans, have supernatural powers.”
The crowds gasped and flustered in noise.
“That’s not yet the whole story,” Alpha Felix raised his voice and hurled roughly, “He also said that their spies has already blended in, in a huge number, mixed with the free humans who had vowed to surrender and serve us after the purge.”
What he said was like a thunder, blowing up fiercely in everyone’s mind. As I anxiously looked around, I saw fear, regret and fury crawling on their faces. The guests seemed to be both horrified and agitated by all human servants in presence.
My knees buckled under intensive stares from irritated wolves.
“What do you think, Mr. Lang?” Xavier asked as Alpha Felix finished his utterance.
Kronos Lang adjusted his posture and replied carelessly, leaning against the seatback, “Have you got any evidences for your claim, Alpha Felix? Otherwise, it just sounds like a one-sided claim from our sly enemies. This might have been made deliberately to stir panics among us.”
“You don’t believe this?” Alpha Felix flared.
“It’s not the point whether I believe it or not. I wonder what’s your intension is by sharing this unverified information with us.” Kronos Lang exclaim indifferently.
Alpha Felix pursed his lips, scowling at him.
“I believe we have made it very clear since the war ended five years ago. Do I have to remind you, Alpha Felix?” Kronos Lang continued with a snort, “If you are trying to make up a funny story to justify your sinister purpose against alliance’s principles, stop it.”
“How dare you!? You fucking rat—” Alpha Felix roared violently.
“Cool out, Alpha Felix,” Xavier cut him off with a placid but dominant voice, “There’s a point in Mr. Lang’s answer. Have you got any evidence?”
Alpha Felix clenched his fists and remained silent for a few seconds, before shaking his head in reluctance.
“How could him?” Kronos Lang laughed sarcastically, “Because it’s nonsense. Let’s be honest. The reason Alpha Felix tells us this horrible story is because he needs a reason to unite The Red Moon, which will undeniably level up werewolves’ power and top the world, though violating the—.”
“We all know it’s not, don’t we?” Alpha Felix suddenly interrupted in as he sneered with a vicious voice, “Caser, you and I. We all know it’s possibly achieved, don’t we? We’re just afraid of admitting it. Oh, don’t pretend, Kronos. We all know it’s unforgettable.”
Kronos Lang’s expression turned severe. Though he managed to hide it well, I still caught a trace of awkwardness on his face.
Xavier switched his glance between Alpha Felix and Kronos Lang, brows furrowed suspiciously in contemplation. He seemed to have no clue about what they were referring to.
“You’re drunk, Felix.” Caser Murphy sighed before breaking the silence coarsely, “It’s ridiculous. Stop the farce.”
Alpha Felix eyed him coldly before walking back to his seat and flopping on the chair.
“Sorry for the fuss, friends.” Caser Murphy turned to the crowds and proclaimed calmly, “The Red Moon will help The Eclipse to investigate thoroughly and clarify the situation.”
Then he switched the topic, raising up the wineglass to make a toast, “Shall we get back to the celebration now?”