The satisfaction of seeing what I told them slowly sink into their minds tickled my senses way more than the ridiculously expensive golden chocolate at the party. Ah, the sweet taste of victory! Before I had a chance to truly enjoy the moment though, I heard a loud squeal and someone practically jumped on me from behind.

"You are here! I am so happy that you made it- I've missed seeing you this week!"

Natalia was such a sweet girl. Being the Alpha's daughter and an Omega that could sense the feelings of others didn't allow her to make many friends but as I was completely unphased by either of those things, we had bonded pretty quickly since we met.

"Hey you! I missed our coffee dates as well", I said as we hugged.

"I see that you have met my brother and his best friend." Her brother? Wait, was the dark-headed idiot Rafe Macalister?

"I haven't really. I was just introducing myself." I smiled sweetly at both guys, as I didn't want to ruin the moment for Natalia.

The dragon shifter was the first one to make a move, as he took my hand and brought it to his soft lips. I wondered if fire dragons could control their body temperature because I felt his lips warm up the moment they touched my skin, sending a shiver down my spine.

He looked straight into my eyes, as his lips lost contact with my hand. His green eyes were mesmerizing, adding to the suavity of the gorgeous man in front of me. For a moment I wondered what it would be like to spend some time alone- would he charm me to the point of forgetting my name or would he fail to capture my attention? Yet, I somehow doubted that the latter was actually an option.

"Aiden Hayes, Beta of the Fire Dragons clan. Pleasure to meet you, Miss Moreau!"

"Call me Riley", I smirked and so did he. This was clearly a man with refined tastes, intelligence and elegance, and yet the twinkle in his eyes had me convinced that there was a mischievous side to him too. "I met your Alpha earlier tonight. He sure knows how to make an impression."

Aiden laughed and a beautiful smile settled on his face." Don't worry, I tend to be more relaxed than Cyrus is."

"That's a relief. I would have been disappointed if that wasn't the case." I found myself batting my eyelids at him as I spoke. Okay, I might have been attempting to flirt but I couldn't help myself. This man was extremely hot and clearly had way more going for him than just his looks. I would have had to be dead on the inside not to feel attracted to him.

In the meantime Natalia was just beaming with happiness as she watched our interaction, while Rafe looked a lot less pleased. Did that guy have a stick up his arse or was he just never satisfied?

"Rafe", Natalia scolded her brother, "don't be so rude and introduce yourself. Riley helped me after I got caught in that trap, so you should be extremely nice for her."

I had to say that as much as Rafe Macalister had rubbed me the wrong way so far, seeing him melt a little at his sister's request touched my heart. I wondered if Lucien and I would ever be like that.

Rafe stretched his hand out for me to shake it and I had to oblige for etiquette's sake. "Rafe Macalister."

"Ah, the future Alpha. I hope that when you take over the position, you remember that it's not always a good idea to make assumptions about people based on very little information." I squeezed his hand to show him that I still meant business and I was actually happy to find him squeezing back just as hard. Good, he didn't let go just because I was a woman. That was something that I respected.

I still couldn't figure out how I felt about this man- I wanted to strangle him; yet, I also wondered whether being with him would be as dynamic and rough as our interactions.

"Anyway, Riley, I think there was a mix-up with the tables because I don't think you were meant to sit with these two." Natalia jokingly pointed at Rafe and Aiden, who gave her a teasing nudge in return.

"Hey, come on now, Nat- be nice to the old guys! Who is going to scare off your suitors otherwise?" Aiden told her and I could feel the brotherly love in his voice, even if he was not related to her.

"That's exactly the problem, Aiden- I'm nineteen years old and you two keep on messing up all of my dates. You need to at least let a guy dance with me without scaring him off!" I could hear the slight annoyance in Natalia's voice but it sounded like she understood that they meant well. It still didn't stop Rafe from growling, probably to make it clear that he did not like the idea of his little sister with a guy.

"Listen, why don't you let me be your wingwoman tonight? I can't promise to be way more relaxed than these two, as I will not allow anyone to take advantage of you, but I do promise to be a lot less scary and a lot more subtle." Natalia nearly jumped out of joy at the idea but it's Aiden and Rafe's reaction that I was looking for. And there they were- an encouraging smile from the dragon, and a serious yet grateful look from his wolf friend.

"Yes! We are doing it. Come sit with me- the guest next to me never showed up and if I have to listen to Aunt Marge one more minute, I will die of boredom tonight." And before I knew it, she was dragging me by the arm to her table. Damn, she was strong for a fragile nineteen year old! As we walked away, I turned around to look at the guys one last time.

*****

The dinner was rather enjoyable as I spent it chatting with Natalia and finding out about the guests through the many stories she told me. There were speeches and tributes in honour of Alpha Macalister and the man of the hour even gave one himself, cementing my already bad impression of him with his pompous address to the guests. He might as well had held a sign next to him telling everyone how great he was.

"Riley!" I heard that familiar voice say my name once again. I turned around and there he was, looking dashing in his suit.

"Callum! It's lovely to see you." It really was. I know that we just had one night of fun but I did feel that aside from the great sex, Callum and I connected on a personal level.

"Alpha Andrews!" Natalia blushed the moment she looked at him. Well, I didn't see that coming- my friend had a teen crush on him.

"Natalia, you look beautiful as always. Hope you are feeling better since the trap incident." I really appreciated how sweet Callum was with Natalia and I fully understood her crush. "Would you mind if I steal Riley for a bit? I hear that the Macalister garden is impressive, especially with all the party decorations, so I was hoping that we could check it out." Now it was my turn to blush as I knew exactly where Callum was heading with this.I just hoped that Natalia was still too young and innocent to realise.

"Of course. It's time for the dance floor to open and I promised my cousins to bust some moves with them."

"I promise to be back in time to be your wingwoman, my dear, so don't go looking for the hot boys without me." I gave her a kiss on the cheek and made my way out of the ballroom with Callum.

Before we got too far, yet far enough to have some privacy; he pinned me against the wall and our lips met without wasting any more time. I granted him entry to my mouth, so his tongue delved straight in and I could taste the premium whiskey that he was enjoying earlier. I tangled my arms around his neck, while one of his hands glided up my exposed thigh before it slipped underneath the slit of my dress. His fingers gently stroked my core through the fabric of my panties and my pussy clenched at the memory of what they were capable of. I felt my arousal surge and I let out an involuntary moan.

"I've been dying to do this all night", Callum whispered as he finally slipped his fingers underneath my panties.

"Mmmmmm, Callum, we really shouldn't." Another moan escaped my lips.

"Tell me you don't want this, Riley?" I really wanted to make it clear that this was not the place or the time but I could barely remember what we were talking about as he started circling and rubbing my clit with his digits.

Yet, before we could get any further, I heard a loud scream of pleasure from the room next to us.

"Rafeeeeeeee!"

Callum chuckled as the scream was followed by a loud male groan. "Looks like someone else was already having fun."

His fingers kept on moving between my folds before they darted inside my pussy. I swear, I think he was turned on by the idea of the other couple having sex so close to us but I didn't really want to get caught making out in the hallways of the Macalister mansion.

"Callum, didn't you promise me the gardens?" I was trying to convince him to change location, as he was kissing my neck.

Damn it- that was my kryptonite, and this time it worked against me, as I had no time to push him away when the door of the room next to us opened.

Out came out one of the busty blonde waitresses from the evening and no other than Rafe Macalister himself, both looking rather disheveled. Talk about awkward- Callum might not have had his hands between my legs any longer but it was clear that we were doing more than just touring the mansion.

"Rafe." Callum spoke first. "I see that you continue to maintain your reputation."

"Callum. Riley." Rafe growled with annoyance, although if I didn't know better, I could have gotten confused that he was growling at what Callum and I were up to than Callum's comment.

I remembered that Lucien told me about shifters, and wolves in particular, having heightened senses and, so I found myself inadvertently pressing my thighs together as I wondered whether this wolf could smell the arousal that Callum had caused me. Not like he could judge anyway though.

The blonde girl tried to straighten her uniform, as if to make a good impression. "Rafe, aren't you going to introduce me?"

"Babe, I think your break is over, so we better hurry up and get you back inside." Wow, I wasn't sure what was worse- the fact that he clearly just fucked her for his own release or her believing that this was something more. "Enjoy your evening", he said to us, although I could sense that he was not being genuine about it.

They finally walked away and Callum grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the glass door that I could see at the end of the corridor.

"Come on- the gardens will be more private for what I have in mind", he winked and opened the door. Before we could go out though, a huge, muscular older man with grey hair in a ponytail nearly ran us over as he walked into the mansion in a rush.

"Watch it, arsehole!" Callum growled as he grabbed me to protect me from the guy. The other man seemed ready to start a fight until he recognised Callum's face and immediately backed down.

"I'm sorry, Alpha Andrews. I didn't mean to run into you or your companion." His eyes flashed with surprise when he saw my hair, like it reminded him of something.

He put his hand forward towards Callum as a sign of apology and the sleeve of his shirt rolled up just enough to reveal a flying eagle tattoo on the inside of his wrist.

"Be careful next time, wolf!" Callum barked with his Alpha tone, as he shook the guy's hand and let him go. The man made himself sparse in no time, while Callum turned around to me and smiled. "We keep on getting interrupted, beautiful."

I smiled back but my mind was not quite there. Instead, I found myself going in overdrive thinking about that damn flying eagle tattoo. It felt so familiar and yet I couldn't remember ever seeing it before- not like it was something common for people to tattoo on their inner wrists. And then it hit me! It couldn't be true though, right?

"Callum, we have to get that man immediately!"