Song lyrics: Fall Again by Glenn Lewis.
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A small orchestra tuned their instruments while people were still gathering. Catering tables lined in white were along two walls of the grand patio, and round dining tables were layered in white and blue cloth with a candle centerpiece placed between four place settings. They were found scattered to the opposite side of the patio. A dance floor was right before the raised stage of the orchestra, found beneath a pergola that was decorated with lights and a disco ball that illuminated the area with blue and white.
The rest of the patio was well lit with the buttery glow of ivory and blue lanterns strung from the corners of the patio posts and were hung from support beams overhead. People wore blue, white, and black, signifying the colors of the first moon of spring. Now Cynthia understood why Markus wanted to choose her attire.
Cynthia felt the rush of hundreds of eyes staring over her, giving her a full sense of awareness that she was suddenly in the spotlight of several werewolves. Her hand released Markus' when she felt a familiar gaze looking in her direction. Through the sea of unfamiliar faces, she spotted Valefar and held his gaze until he looked away. He dipped away from the crowd, unwilling to see her standing next to another Were.
With her gaze holding little to no shame or embarrassment among being the center of attention for those few moments, the crowd stopped staring, and the orchestra began to play. Conversations were now overlapping on the patio that continued to fill with guests.
As a server passed by with a tray of champagne, Markus lifted two glasses from the tray and handed one to Cynthia. She gathered it expertly to her grasp and tipped the edge to chime against his and took a light sip. He was nervous and drank a little more than two full swallows. She lowered her glass with a grin and gazed up at how sweet he looked with that nervous edge.
"What's the matter?" She said with an amused chuckle.
"I was concerned how you'd adjust to a gathering like this."
"I'm fine. Same old boring routine. You should know that I only came here for you." She assured him of this by reaching her hand to fit into his. He usually was the one who had to calm down his date, not the other way around. She had such a grace about it that he didn't even feel one moment of humiliation in her assurance. He leaned in and kissed her champagne-flavored lips, whispering softly.
"And I wouldn't enjoy tonight without you. I'll be back, however."
He dipped away from her when she nodded for him to leave her side. She stood casually where he left her and took occasional sips of her champagne watching Markus approach the security guards that were on duty. Her eyes would occasionally drift to movement at her side when males passed by her. She showed them little attention at all, guessing that they were only interested in her because she was in heat. She saw the Alpha in tow with a gorgeous woman and offered a nod to them respectfully as they approached.
The female, not much older than Cyn, parted from the Alpha with his blessing and came up to her. She wore a midnight blue silk dress that hugged around her breasts and flowed to the floor with a round train, and the whole dress was overlapped with black tulle that was stitched with tinsel-thread roses that shimmered in the soft lighting. Her hands were gloved up to her biceps in white, and a tiara crowned a mess of raven curls that spilled behind her neck and overflowed onto her right shoulder. She was so beautiful that Cyn took a moment to admire her.
"Good evening, Alpha Sara."
"No, Cynthia," she corrected, "please just call me Sara. I can't believe it's been over a year since you first moved here. I'm happy to see that you attended this year's Hunt." Sara's hands stretched out to Cynthia, and a server passed by just in that moment to take her glass.
Cynthia set her hands into Sara's and the two women fell to the traditions between status. Cynthia kissed her cheek, and Sara did the same, showing an equal respect to her. Every woman on the patio with status now glared daggers at Cynthia, who was being shown the highest respect from the Alpha's wife. It was the first female that Markus had brought to the Hunt that was acknowledged at all by either Alpha.
The gossip started early.
"I'm glad to be here. It reminds me of home, except that I'm not on display this time." The two of them chuckled, Sara nodding lightly.
"Believe me, I can relate to that." Sara's eyes looked over to Karus, lust filling her body with a deep hunger while her hands were still clasped in Cynthia's. "But don't be so sure. I haven't seen Markus this happy in almost two years, and all eyes
are
on you."
Sara's knowing eyes cast over the congregation pretending not to watch, seeing many of them direct their subtle stares away from them before she looked back to Cynthia with a proud smile spreading the lips of both ladies.
"I'm perfectly fine with that for now."
"Good. Excuse me, Cynthia." Sara offered a wink to her and dipped away as though she knew that Markus was approaching on her left side to return to her. His arm wrapped around Cyn's waist, firming his embrace as though it'd been forever since he last saw her. Pressing a light kiss to her temple, she leaned against him comfortably.
"Did you miss me?"
"With every bone in my body," Cynthia commented softly.
"Every bone except mine, right?" He teased her, and felt her body burn beneath that blue dress. He smiled, taking in his reward with her immediate understanding of what he implied.
"I am going to eventually call you out on all of your teasing," she said softly.
"I certainly hope so."
A slow song started the evening out; a female vocalist took the stage wearing a narrow white evening gown with black sequins in patterns at the hem of her skirt. Markus looked to the small dance floor and guided Cynthia there with an interest in dancing with her for the first time. Surprised at how bold he had become when the R&B beats slowly set the mood, she smiled.
"You don't strike me as the type to dance," she said playfully.
"I don't, but this lets me get away with holding you for a while."
As the music blossomed into the full song, Markus placed his hands at her hips and Cynthia set her hands at his biceps for a couple minutes until she mildly chuckled at the space between them.
"What?"
"Are we in eighth grade, Markus? This is not how you dance with a woman."
"Well, then why don't you show me?"
Cynthia looked around at everyone on the floor while the two of them were still figuring out their own motion. Cynthia looked back to him, and gently stepped into his frame.
"Hold me like you're never going to let me go," she said softly.
He guided his hands once more, moving one to wrap beneath her shoulders, and the other around the small of her back. As he curved to compensate for his height, she leaned herself against his chest and held him around his back beneath his own arms.
"That's it...just like that, Markus," she whispered as she closed her eyes.
"Feels like a fire that burns in my heart,
Every single moment that we spend apart.
