Louisa's POV
The truth was, I wanted to see Lucas and dance with him in front of everyone.
I hadn't seen him for a while and I started to get increasingly nervous.
I wish I could fly to the Grand Hall and be with him right now. I thought to myself.
I looked at the man and said, "I have to bring my friend with me."
"You mean that vampire boy? Sure. He's light and he can ride with us," he nodded.
I walked to Will, who was playing with Snow, and held him up.
"Come with me," I said.
He looked a bit confused and asked, "Where are we going?"
"We're going to the Grand Ball," I replied.
"Really?! You mean, I can dance with you in the Grand Ball?!" Will looked overwhelmed.
At that time, I realized that he had wanted to go to the ball all this time, but he just didn't mention it to me.
He was such a sweet boy.
I nodded and said, "But you have to protect me. We'll ride with that man over there." I pointed at the tall, slender man.
Will looked at him and frowned.
"He looks like someone that I've seen. But I don't remember who this person is..." he said.
"Really? Is he a bad person?" I felt a bit nervous.
Will shook his head and said, "Not really. I remember all the bad people's faces. He's definitely not one of them. Don't worry. I'll protect you."
Mick walked to me and asked, "Miss Louisa, where are you going?"
I answered, "I'm going to the Grand Hall. Will's going to come with me. I need you and your brothers to come with us as well. All you have to do is to follow us in distance and wait for me outside the Grand Hall."
Mick looked a bit reluctant.
"But Miss Louisa, we're not supposed to let you go anywhere without Alpha Lucas' permission..." he said.
"You work for me, not for him," I said and tapped his shoulder, "Don't worry. I'll explain it to Lucas,"
"OK. I'll get my men ready," Mick nodded.
When I got to the stable, I saw that man waiting for me with a giant horse next to him.
It looked like the same breed of horse as Alpha Zackery's horse, Blanco. But it was a black horse.
It was so beautiful that I couldn't help myself but touch its mane.
It snorted and said, "Are you the human lady that Blanco kept blubbing about? The one who's able to understand and talk with us?"
"Yes. My name's Louisa. What's your name?" I bowed to him.
"My name's Midnight. Glad to meet you," He lowered his head.
"Can you communicate with Midnight?" the man asked. He looked a bit nervous.
"Yes. I can understand and talk to animals," I said.
"Amazing. I hope that Midnight doesn't blab about bad things about me. I'm the one who's taking care of him all the time," he said.
"You're in charge of Alpha Zackery's horses?" I asked as he held me up and put me on the back of Midnight. He was surprisingly strong for his weak appearance.
"Yeah," he answered briefly as he got up on horseback and sat behind me.
He lowered down and stretched out his hand at Will, but Will ignored his hand and changed into a bat. He flapped his wings and landed on my shoulder, staring at the man. Snow climbed up along Midnight's leg and sat on the mane of his neck.
"Are you ready to go, Louisa?" the man asked me.
"Yeah," I nodded.
He wrapped his arms gently around my waist and took up the reins.
"Let's go, old chap," he said.
Midnight snorted and pawed his hove into the ground before taking a leap.
I felt that I was about to be thrown off the horseback, but the man grabbed me tightly in his arms.
It was almost dusk and I could see the clouds on the horizon burning silently.
The gentle breeze started to get strong because we were advancing at such a high speed.
"Do you like riding, Miss Louisa?" I heard the man's gentle voice behind my ears.
"Riding? We're flying!" I exclaimed.
The man laughed out loud. It was so strange because I felt instantly happy when he started laughing.
His laugh was so magical and contagious that I started to laugh out loud with him.
The trees and buildings on both sides of the road receding so fast that I couldn't even distinguish them clearly. Before I took a breath, we already stopped right in front of the main entrance of an old edifice.
The man jumped off the horse and stretched his arms at me.
"Come down here." He smiled and said.
I looked around and said, "This is it? The Grand Hall?"
He nodded.
"But... This is the main entrance. Shouldn't we look for a more reclusive place? The secret passage?" I got off the horse with his help.
"When I say it's a secret passage, what I really mean is... Well, let's just say it's a secret between you and me," the man winked at me and said.
Snow jumped off Midnight, climbed up, and sat next to Will.
I turned back and saw some soldiers take Midnight away.
"Where are they taking him?" I asked.
"Don't worry, little girl. He'll be taken very good care of." The man smiled at me and winked.
He called me "little girl"... just like Alpha Zackery...
At that moment, I finally realized why I felt that he looked so familiar to me...
How could I be so stupid to ignore such an obvious fact? I mean, he was basically...
"Do you want to see some tricks?" he asked.
"What tricks?" I frowned.
"Through our secret passage, wherever we go, the door opens itself." He smiled as he gave me an arm to hold and walked with me towards the giant gate of the Grand Hall.
Just as we were about to get to the gate, the fully closed iron gate opened by itself like magic.
As I walked into the gate and looked back, I saw two doormen shutting the gate.
Then, more doors in front of us opened by themselves along the way as we were climbing up the marble stairs.
I saw some security guards, dressed up in tuxedos, walking towards us. I thought they were trying to stop us, but they didn't.
Instead, they stood at both sides of our way and bowed deeply at us.
"Did you enjoy our secret passage so far, Louisa?" he asked.
In a trembling voice, I finally managed to ask the question that I had always wanted to ask since I met him -
"Who are you?"