Chapter 442

Nina

“There are humans amongst us, in disguise!”

I was standing there, my heart racing, as the wiry man held the vial of perfume high above his head for everyone around us to see. I cursed under my breath as I saw some curious and concerned party goers start to gather, eyeing the vial suspiciously.

But this could still be salvaged, or so I hoped. Lori was safely tucked away. Now I just needed to defuse the situation.

“Excuse me,” I said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, “could you please give that back? It’s my perfume.”

The man whipped around to face me, his cold gray eyes scanning over me. “Oh, is that so?” he asked, taking a step closer. “This is your perfume, is it?”

Despite the man’s height, I stood my ground. I held my hand out to receive the vial and tilted my chin up, looking at him squarely. “Yes,” I said. “It’s my perfume, and it was expensive. Please give it back.”

But the man’s response was far from cooperative. His eyes bore into me as he sniffed the air, his expression skeptical. “I can tell you’re a werewolf,” he sneered, a sly smile playing on his lips. “And you must be a pretty bad liar, too.”

I swallowed, attempting to clear the lump that was forming in my throat. “A liar?” I scoffed. “It’s ladies’ perfume. If you want a sample, you’ll have to go to the store yourself.”

But the man just scoffed in return and held the vial a little higher, turning to address the crowd. “This, ladies and gentlemen,” he said, uncapping the vial, “is no ordinary perfume. I’ve seen this before; it’s magic perfume, specially formulated to hide the scent of a human.”

All around me, the small crowd that had gathered gasped. A murmur began to ripple through the crowd, and I could see panic beginning to bubble up on some of their faces.

My cheeks flushed with embarrassment, but I kept my composure, my tone calm and measured. “Just give me the perfume,” I requested, attempting to defuse the situation. “Please.”

He laughed, his voice laced with condescension. “No,” he said. “I don’t think I will.”

By this point, the crowd had begun growing, and the people around us were shifting uncomfortably. I could see the fear and confusion in their eyes as they watched, and there was nothing I could do about it. By now, the man was holding the vial even higher out of reach in his thin hand, causing the amber liquid inside to sparkle in the light.

“Dirty humans are sneaking into the party, trying to spy and infiltrate the werewolf realm!” he proclaimed. “Who knows what they’re up to!”

His words resonated with the other werewolves in the vicinity, and panic began to ripple through the crowd. Some appeared frightened, while others grew visibly angry. Voices began to ring out, shaking and full of anger.

“And during the Moon Goddess Festival, no less!” one person said.

“So soon after our beloved Luna was murdered by humans!” another person chimed in.

“All humans have ever done is hurt us! They don’t belong here!”

I watched in horror as the situation began to spiral out of control. The panic was spreading like wildfire, and I was an unwilling spectator. No one would hear my words, no one could even hear my voice over the rising din.

But they could hear him—the wiry man. The man who had stolen my vial, and who was now glaring at me, a hungry look in his cold, calculating eyes.

“Let’s find the human!” he cried out. “Find it and send it back to where it came from!”

His words almost instantly plunged the entire party into chaos. All around me, people began to rush around, shouting and shoving and crying out. They were scared, angry, and vengeful; I had never seen them like this. I had never expected it would come to this, that the Luna’s claws had sunk so deep.

And I was trapped here, unable to even move. The crowd had grown thick with frenzy, and I was trapped, being jostled by the frantic movements of the once-peaceful party goers.

The crowd parted for a moment, and that was when I saw him. My father, from across the room, slowly stood from his chair, his stern gaze locking onto me as the chaos rippled across the banquet hall.

“Dad,” I whispered. I began to make my way toward him, hoping that he could help, but a sudden collision sent me sprawling onto the floor, and my wrist began throbbing with pain as it slammed into the floor. I winced, gripping it, but found myself unable to get back to my feet due to the chaos.

I was on the verge of getting trampled in the chaos when a strong arm encircled me, lifting me from the floor. I glanced up to see Enzo, his face a mixture of relief and concern. “There you are,” he murmured.

With his arm around me, he swiftly guided me away from the mayhem and into a safe alcove down a hallway. Once we were safe enough, we turned to each other, out of breath and taken by surprise.

“Where are the others?” I panted, my voice trembling.

Enzo’s gaze softened as he placed a hand on my belly. “They ran up to your room already,” he assured me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded, trying to stifle my fear. “I’m fine,” I said, still gripping my wrist, “but we need to get Lori out of here.”

Enzo nodded as he glanced around the corner of the alcove at the chaos that my dad’s security was struggling to control. “This is way worse than I expected,” he whispered. “We shouldn’t have done this.”

I swallowed. “No. We shouldn’t have.”

Without wasting a moment, we rushed to the storage room where I had left Lori. I flung the door open to see her standing there, wringing her hands. She looked terrified, her eyes wide with fear.

“What the hell is happening?” she asked quietly.

“No time to talk,” I said. “Just follow us.” Lori nodded and didn’t put up a fight as we ushered her out and down the hallway. However, our escape was short-lived.

The wiry man from before had spotted us. He blocked our route, his tall form almost seeming to grow in the narrow hallway. “There’s the filthy human,” he growled, curling his hands into fists at his sides. “I knew I’d find you.”

“Fuck off,” Enzo hissed. “Just let us go.”

But the man was relentless. He wouldn’t move, his gray eyes glinting with malice. Enzo put himself between the man and us, and I wrapped my arm around Lori’s shoulders, pulling her close.

“I said,” Enzo said, taking a step forward, “Let us go.”

The man smirked and began to advance on us. “No.”

Enzo stood his ground, blocking the hallway with his imposing figure. He threw a powerful punch at the man, who crumpled to the floor. Lori and I let out a shriek of surprise, but Enzo was resolute.

“Get upstairs,” he instructed, rolling up his sleeves as voices began coming our way. They were filled with anger and tossing all kinds of anti-human slurs at us, especially now that their friend was sprawled out on the floor.

“But Enzo—” I began, but Enzo just looked over his shoulder at me, his eyes glinting with anger.

“Get upstairs,” he repeated.

By now, there were three other guys coming. I knew that it was safer to get Lori out of here, somewhere safe where no one could find her. And so, despite how much it pained me to leave Enzo, I pulled Lori closer and stepped over the wiry man’s unconscious body.

And together, we ran down the hall, our hearts pounding in our chests.