CHAPTER 182: CHAPTER 182: THE NOTE

After a while, Serena found herself slipping away from the crowd. The laughter and the loud music were too much, so she moved toward a quieter corner near the bar.

She didn’t want to drink anything strong. The people here were already half drunk, laughing like they had no worries. But she couldn’t afford that. Not tonight. She ordered something soft... just a light drink, enough to keep her hands busy.

As she took a slow sip, her thoughts drifted again to the three names she had found. She knew these three names were very important to her—Alpha Drevan! Alpha Corvus! And... Alpha Merek.

She whispered the names under her breath like a child trying to remember a spell. Those names meant something. They had to. Maybe they were clues or people connected to the truth she was searching for.

She sighed, staring into her glass. "I have to find them," she murmured.

With that thought, she decided to move again. She started mingling through the crowd, pretending to be just another guest. Every now and then, she smiled politely or nodded when someone looked her way.

When she reached the counter again, she leaned slightly forward and caught the bartender’s attention. "Hey," she said softly, "do you know who Alpha Drevan is?"

The man paused, clearly surprised. His hands stopped mid-motion as he wiped a glass. Then, slowly, he looked up at her. "Girl," he said with a half-smile, "you must be new here."

Serena blinked. "Why do you say that?"

He gave a small laugh. "Because everyone knows Alpha Drevan. He’s one of the Alphas of the Werewolf Council. If there’s anyone you should never cross, it’s him."

Her heart skipped a beat. "I knew that," she said quickly, trying to sound casual. "I just don’t know where he usually stays. I was just asking, you know, casually."

The bartender raised a brow but didn’t press further. "He comes here sometimes," he said after a pause. "Not often. But when he does, everyone knows it. The place goes silent."

Serena smiled faintly and thanked him before turning back toward the crowd. She tried to act calm, but inside her chest, her heart was racing.

So, Alpha Drevan was real. And he was someone important... powerful enough that even a simple question about him drew attention.

She moved back into the crowd again, listening carefully to passing conversations, hoping someone would mention one of the other names she had written.

She tried to look calm, but inside she felt uneasy. Everyone seemed to know each other, while she felt like an outsider who had stepped into a world that didn’t belong to her.

As time passed, she almost gave up hope of finding anything useful. But just then, a sudden noise spread through the crowd.

"Alpha Drevan is here!" someone shouted.

The whole atmosphere changed. People started turning their heads, whispering to each other. Serena froze, her heart beating faster.

From the next table, she heard a group talking excitedly.

"Today is such a lucky day!" one of them said. "Prince Vaelen is here, and now Alpha Drevan has arrived too. What’s going on tonight? All the big names are showing up!"

Another man laughed. "I should call my father here too. He can’t miss this opportunity. All the big shots are gathering in one place!"

Their words kept echoing in her head... Alpha Drevan...

Serena’s eyes moved through the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of the man everyone was talking about. Then suddenly, she saw him.

A tall, middle-aged man stepped through the doorway, surrounded by quiet respect. He didn’t have to speak for people to move aside... they just did, as if pulled by his presence.

She didn’t know how, but something inside her told her that this was him, the man she had been searching for.

Alpha Drevan.

For a brief second, her mind flashed an image—a younger version of the same man, smiling brightly with cruel eyes. That face had been carved in her memory long ago, though she could not remember when or how.

Her hand tightened around her glass so hard it almost cracked. The sound of it made her snap back to reality, and she quickly loosened her grip before anyone could notice.

She took a slow breath, forcing her expression to stay calm. But her heart was pounding wildly, and her thoughts were spinning.

The crowd cheered as Drevan moved deeper into the club, and Serena’s eyes followed him in silence.

When she looked at him, something cold opened inside her. It was like seeing a corpse wearing a man’s face. The sight of him filled her with a hatred so sharp it hurt. She didn’t know why... she couldn’t explain it, but every pulse wanted to end him there and then.

Her hand around the glass tightened until her knuckles went white. The liquid trembled. Her breath came short and quick. Heat rose in her chest. The world narrowed to the man and the dark thing inside her that wanted blood.

He moved closer through the crowd, and for a moment his eyes swept the room. Then his gaze touched her. It felt like ice. For a second, he stared straight at her. She felt it, and panic flashed through her. She couldn’t let him see.

Quickly, she forced her face soft. She lowered her head and let her hair fall across her face. She made herself small and careful. An innocent guest.

A quiet smile that did not reach her eyes. She sipped the drink like someone who’d had too much of the night already. "Do not look up," she told herself.

He held her stare a beat longer, as if searching for the thing he’d seen. Then he blinked, and something like a shadow crossed his features.

He let out a slow breath and moved on. He roamed his gaze across the room once, twice, as if checking that no danger waited for him. No one else met his look.

When he didn’t find anything, his posture relaxed. He smoothed his coat and turned away. He walked straight to where Prince Vaelen stood, gave a small bow, and greeted him with courtesy.

Serena kept her head down. Her heart hit her ribs like a drum. Every fiber of her wanted to leap up and pull him down. Every part of her wanted to shout, to claw, to end him. But she did nothing. She played the quiet guest. She smiled when people looked. She pretended to be nothing.

Inside, the hatred burned. Outside, a calm face. The two did not match. The club laughed and sang on around them. But for her, the night had become a trap with one bright target.

And she waited, careful and watching, for the next moment when their paths would cross again.

Time passed. The night grew louder, wilder. Music filled every corner of the club. People were laughing, shouting, and drinking until their words blurred together. The air was thick with perfume and smoke.

Serena sat quietly in her seat, eyes empty, the glass untouched before her. Her brother, Vaelen, was laughing with a group nearby, though his eyes kept drifting to her. He noticed her silence. He noticed how her hand kept fidgeting with her dress, how her gaze never stayed still.

And then, suddenly, she stood up.

She didn’t say a word. She didn’t look at him. She just walked toward the door and disappeared into the crowd. Vaelen frowned, half-ready to follow, but something in her look before she left made him stop.

Maybe it was the strange calm in her eyes. Maybe it was the warning he thought he saw there. So he stayed.

Outside, the night was cold. The city stretched far and alive below the balcony. Alpha Drevan stood there, leaning against the railing, a cigarette burning slowly between his fingers. The red light glowed in the dark like a tiny star. Smoke curled around him.

His eyes were tired...the kind of tired that came from years, not nights. He stared out into the distance, where lights blinked faintly across the buildings. His thoughts drifted about the council, about old enemies, and about ghosts he thought he had buried long ago.

Then, something brushed past him.

A breeze. Soft but sharp, like fingers grazing his neck. He turned quickly, alert. There was no one there. Only the quiet stretch of the terrace. The wind hissed again, and that was when he noticed it... a small piece of folded paper lying at his feet.

It hadn’t been there before.

He froze. For a long second, he only stared at it. His chest tightened, and a faint chill ran down his spine. Slowly, he bent down and picked it up. The paper was thin, almost weightless, but something about it felt heavy.

He unfolded it.

His eyes moved across the short message written in delicate, slanted letters. And suddenly, his whole expression changed.

First came confusion. Then recognition.

Then shock.

The cigarette slipped from his fingers and died on the ground. His jaw tightened. His eyes darkened, burning with sudden rage. The paper trembled in his hand as his breathing grew uneven.

"No," he whispered, almost to himself.

And then the fury took over. His hand clenched, crushing the paper. He tore it apart... once, twice, until the pieces were nothing but scraps fluttering away with the wind.

But his eyes followed the direction written at the bottom of that note.

His lips moved soundlessly as he murmured something under his breath.

Then he turned with a furious expression and started walking fast, his footsteps echoing against the marble floor. He didn’t even look back. The night swallowed him whole.

And the wind carried away the last piece of that torn note, disappearing into the darkness, leaving behind only the faint smell of smoke and the trace of something dangerous about to begin.