Talk about a shocking revelation- Riley Moreau was actually Aurelie Moreau and she was a gorgeous firecracker. Definitely neither Rafe nor I saw this coming. I wondered how she was related to Alpha Moreau- his cousin maybe? He didn't have any siblings, no living ones at least. Rumour had it that he lost his family, including his younger sister in a car crash under suspicious circumstances over two decades ago. Despite our clan being relatively new to the area by shifter standards, the Moreaus, just like the Macalisters, was an old, well-known shifter family in the UK and my family, which itself was somewhat of nobility in the dragon world, had dealings with Lucien's ancestors over the years. On top of that, stories were still being told in Scotland of the legendary Alpha Margot Moreau who was a force to be reckoned with, from what I have heard. It was fair to say that the death of Lucien's parents and his sibling were certainly felt in the shifter community in the UK and Scotland at the time.

Before we could react though, Natalia showed up and she brought all the excitement in the world with her just because of Aurelie. Nat was such a pure soul that it was impossible to feel anything but joy around her, yet it seemed like Aurelie brought out her happy, excited side of even more. I could see that even Rafe noticed the effect that the intriguing beauty in front us had on his sister, despite trying to act like a prick.

As Natalia dragged Riley away from our table, I couldn't help but feel my dragon's dissatisfaction, similar to when we drove away from the young woman on the road the week before. The more I thought about it though, the more I was starting to believe that perhaps my mind had been captivated by the same woman on both occasions, despite the different hair colours.

I was also perplexed by the fact that Riley obviously had her scent covered up. She was hiding something, that much was clear, but I had not figured out yet what. As she walked away, she turned around to look back at us, first locking eyes with Rafe and then with me. The moment her eyes fell on mine, I could feel a fire being lit inside of me again, just like it had moments earlier when my lips touched her soft skin. There was definitely something about this woman that brought my dragon to life but I knew she was not my mate as she was no dragon. The Moreau family were wolf shifters and shifters did not mix with other kinds when it came to mating.

"Well, you sure know how to make a good impression!" I said to Rafe as we finally sat back down.

"Fuck off, Aiden! It's not like I need to impress her. And either way, not my fault that she gets all fired up over the smallest thing," my best friend replied, trying to sound all cool about the whole story but I knew him well enough to know that Riley got under his skin.

"Mate, I know that most women throw themselves in your feet and pose no challenge for you. I get it, you are out of practice! Don't worry, Rafe- I will be happy to give you a lesson or two whenever you want me to. Who knows, maybe one day you will end up somehow convincing some poor girl that you actually have manners and charm." I was teasing him now but sometimes I did wonder whether Rafe and I would just live our lives as ageing bachelors. Me because I did not have the possibility to find my mate; Rafe- because he didn't want one and didn't know how to handle having one.

"For fuck sake, Aiden, are women all you think about? I'm sorry that I don't promise the stars to every woman that comes my way, although not like any of them are even interested in that anyway. But there are more important things we should be focusing on, like finding the damn people that hurt my sister, and we are not any closer to achieving that!" I could see his facial expression change from annoyance to anger.

Alright, alright. You want to change the topic. Fine! And stop being like this- not like we will find these guys tonight. You know I want to find them for what they did to Nat as much as you do. But let's just enjoy the evening, okay? Come on, the pompous speeches are about to start!"

We made it through the dinner without dying of boredom but before we could hit the bar again, I saw the busty blonde waitress from earlier catch Rafe's eye again and, in no time, she was leading him out of the ballroom and to some secluded corner for a quick hook up, I was sure. Shame that Diana was not here- I would have enjoyed her company for parts of the evening.

I saw Natalia on the dancefloor with her cousins and I wondered where Riley had gone- she was supposed to be her wing woman tonight. This was my chance though to find out a bit more about the mysterious Moreau representative. I made my way to Rafe's sister and she smiled as soon as she saw me.

"Hi, Nat. What happened with Riley?"

"Callum stole her away from me. Apparently, he wanted to show her the gardens, although I am not quite sure what they would be able to see in the darkness." She raised her shoulders in an innocent shrug, which reminded me just how young she still was, and thank the Goddess for that. Neither Rafe nor I wanted her hooking up with guys who were just going to use her for sex or her position in the pack, breaking her heart in the process.

What did Riley Moreau have to do with Callum though? And why did my dragon feel uneasy at the thought of what they might be up to?

This evening was pretty damn strange even by my own standards. I was expecting to be messing with another guy and instead, we got this woman that made my wolf feel uneasy. She was stunning and I couldn't help getting aroused just thinking about her, but it was her fiery and passionate personality that truly intrigued me. It had been so long since I had a woman stand up to me and stand her ground like that. In fact, thinking about it, I had never met a woman who challenged me like that and, to be honest, I was not quite sure how to react.

On the one hand, I wanted to have my way with her then and there, yet on the other, she pushed my buttons in such a way that I wanted to keep going with our verbal debate until she surrendered. Who was this woman and why was she fucking with my mind like this?

I had to admit that I also hated how drawn I felt to her- I was always in control with the women I was with and this woman, Riley, she made me feel anxious, out of control and way too fucking exposed for my own liking. Maybe my wolf was just horny and was attracted to her because she was different.

As soon as the most boring part of the evening was done, Aiden and I made our way to the bar and I knew exactly what I needed to do the moment I saw the waitress from earlier undressing me with her eyes again. I made her way to her and I could smell her arousal from a mile.

"It seems like you have a problem that I can help you with tonight......" I paused to try to remember her name. "Amy.'

Her eyes widened the moment I said her name, as she clearly didn't expect I would know who she was, but her surprise was quickly replaced by clear satisfaction.

She moved towards me, grabbing my hand and leading me out of the ballroom. "Let's put my break to good use then! Let me show you how to feel good, Alpha!"

I knew that this was a bad fucking idea but right now it's what I needed to do to feel back in my element again, although my wolf was surprisingly not in agreement with me. I was sure that he would feel a hell of a lot different as soon as I was buried myself inside her though.

We walked down the relatively empty hallway and made our way to one of my dad's meeting rooms. The moment we were inside, I lifted her and put her on the table, hoisting her skirt up. She had no fucking panties on, which made me wonder whether she was hoping to get her hands on my dick or whether she was waiting for someone else. Whatever the case though, I didn't really care.

I saw her glistening pussy in front of me and I whistled, which only made her even more turned on. She propped herself on her elbows while she was lying on top of the big meeting room table and looked straight at me, as she placed her feet on the table as well and opened her legs widely so that her pussy was on full display.

"It's all yours, Rafe- do with it as you please!" she said with a big grin on her face.

I undid my trousers and freed my hard cock, putting a condom on immediately. No matter how badly I wanted to fuck her right now I was smarter than letting my urges screw me over by leading to a pregnancy.

This was not going to be any intimate matter. No foreplay, no pretending. Just raw, fast fuck. As I walked towards her with my dick in my hand, she bit her lower lip in anticipation of what was about to come.

Without wasting any time, I slammed my cock inside her pussy and started pounding her with a desperate need to regain control of my wolf and my mind. She panted and moaned with every thrust. The whole table was shaking from the force with which I was pushing in and out of her but she was loving it. Hell, she clearly wanted even more, so I picked up the pace.

We climaxed at the same time, with her screaming my name out with pleasure as she orgasmed, and me groaning. Both of us were breathing heavily as I pulled out of her and I went to throw away the condom. We tried to fix our clothes and went out of the room.

The moment I closed the door, I saw them- Riley Moreau, pressed against the wall in the hallway and lost in pleasure, while the bear Alpha was kissing her neck. She was mostly hidden underneath him but I could avoid noticing his subtle movement as he removed his hand from under her dress. My wolf was angrily pacing inside my head and I had no clue why seeing the two of them together pissed him off so much.

"Rafe. I see that you continue to maintain your reputation?" Callum spoke first. What the fuck did that mean?

My wolf was seriously not in the mood to listen to judgemental crap from a bear and nor was I, so I growled with annoyance. The fact that I could smell Riley's arousal which was brought on by Callum rubbed me the wrong way even more. "Callum. Riley."

Out of the blue, I heard a voice next to me. "Rafe, aren't you going to introduce me?" I had completely forgotten that the waitress was still with me. In fact, I was so absorbed by the moment that I have forgotten that we even had sex. The whole purpose of hooking up with her was to take my mind off how I had felt earlier and here I was suddenly feeling all sorts of weird shit just because of the gorgeous silver-haired woman and the Alpha with her.

I looked at the woman next to me and my mind was just blank- I couldn't even remember her name right now and, frankly, I didn't see any reason as to why I should introduce her.

"Babe, I think your break is over, so we better hurry up and get you back inside," I said before I turned back to Callum and Riley, trying to keep my cool and sound as genuine as I could. "Enjoy your evening."

I walked away, bringing my blonde companion along with me. The further away we walked though, the more anxious and annoyed my wolf felt.

"Rafe, babe, this was fun. Let's do this again sometimes!" Her voice dragged me back to reality.

"Yeah, sure," I replied absent-mindedly, not quite knowing what exactly I was agreeing to.

I ushered her back to her ballroom but I remained in the hallway. For a second I contemplated following Alpha Andrews and Riley but I had to take a moment and practically slap myself back to regaining my common sense. What the fuck was wrong with me, seriously? I was not the type of guy to go and spy on other people having sex.

Movement down the hallway caught my eye and I turned around just in time to see John, one of my father's top and most secret enforcers, enter the ballroom. What the hell? This was fucking weird- John was never seen out in public to avoid that people knew who he was and what his link to the pack was. For him to be at the party, there must be a damn good reason. Was my father investigating what happened with Natalia despite telling me to drop it? If so, why the hell was he hiding it from me and telling me to stop?

I walked inside the ballroom with all these questions buzzing in my mind. Something was going on and I did not like it one bit that I was kept out of the loop. I spotted Aiden by the bar and made my way to him.

As I reached him, Lucien Moreau joined us as well.

"Fellas, I haven't seen you all night, which is a shame as there is someone that I want to introduce to you to. Although, maybe she already beat me to it. Have you, guys, happened to meet my sister yet?"

Aiden and I exchanged surprised looks before we somehow both spoke in unison. "Your sister?"