Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 1243 - 154 : Sweet Sixteen

Chapter 1243: Chapter 154 : Sweet Sixteen

*Ayla*

I took a spin through the Great Hall as my parents decorated for the upcoming birthday party. My mom was ordering people around. They hung moon decorations on the walls and over the windows. Silver curtains were put over the windows and string lights were strung back and forth from one wall to the other.

“Ayla, what are you doing here?” my mom asked.

“Just looking around.”

She put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “Go get your sister. Your Aunt Eva will be here soon with your dresses.”

“But—”

“No, Ayla, go. We still have a lot to do here before the Great Hall is ready. The party starts in a couple of hours.” She pointed sternly toward the double doors.

“Fine, fine.”

I shuffled out of the Great Hall just as some workers came in carrying a soda fountain. Behind them, more workers came through with tables and covered dishes. It smelled amazing as steam wafted off the covered plates, tickling my nose.

My parents were going all out for our sixteenth birthday. That meant all our favorite foods were being served.

It wouldn’t be long before guests started arriving. The whole pack was invited. Cousins Aster and Tarik were coming too. All our friends from the Queen’s Academy were invited. It was going to be the party of the year.

I found Selene outside on the porch, watching people carrying decorations and party things into the mansion.

“It looks pretty wild in there,” I said, plopping down beside her on the porch swing.

“Isn’t it supposed to be? We only turn sixteen once.” She laughed and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

“Sure. I don’t know. I kind of miss the good old days when it was just you, me, our parents, and our cousins, small and low-key.”

“Pfft.” Selene waved me off. “Don’t be silly. We have so much time left at the Queen’s Academy and this party will help elevate our status.”

I scoffed. “Selene, we’re the daughters of the Alpha and Luna. It’s not like we need to try that hard.”

A car pulled up and Aunt Eva got out of the passenger seat. The driver went to the trunk and pulled out two dress boxes.

“Ready to see your dresses, my dears?” she asked excitedly.

Selene jumped up and went to hug Eva. I played with the dampening charm bracelet on my wrist. If it were up to me, I’d be off practicing my magic. The party was important to Selene, and I couldn’t let her down. Besides, it was my parents’ way of “launching” us on society—not that we needed a coming out party because of who our parents were.

“Come on, Ayla. We have to get these dresses fitted before the party.” Eva’s words pulled me from my thoughts.

I nodded and followed them upstairs.

The dress boxes were set on the bed and Eva pulled the lids off.

“Tadaa! What do you think, girls?” She waved her arms over the dresses.

“Oh, my Goddess!” Selene grabbed the pink dress and pulled it from the box. “This is gorgeous!”

Selene’s dress was pink satin with a dusty rose chiffon covering. The straps had roses on them and there was a pink bow on the back at the waist.

My dress had a lavender, satin sheath with jade-green chiffon overtop. The straps had purple roses entwined with green leaves.

“Did you make these?” I asked, plucking at the chiffon.

“I did. So, you better like them. Put them on and we’ll have them fitted.”

The dresses were stunning.

Selene chatted away as she posed in her dress and the seamstress pinned it to fit her perfectly. I stood in front of the mirror and ran my hands down the bodice of the dress.

Eva knew us so well. She’d made dresses that suited each other but also matched our preferences.

After the fitting, Eva put Selene and me side by side. She touched our cheeks.

“You two are absolutely stunning. I always wanted a daughter.” She smiled and then snapped her fingers. “I have a few gifts for you before you go to the party.”

“Oh, yes, presents!” Selene clapped her hands together.

Eva handed us each a box. “I know you two don’t love wearing your dampening bracelets, so these should help.”

We tore the paper off the boxes and looked inside. Selene had a pair of pink, silk, elbow-length gloves. I had a matching pair of lavender gloves. They would hide our charms.

We each got a tiara, too. They were both silver. Selene’s had pink gemstones and mine had jade and amethyst.

We had our hair done with the tiaras folded in just as the music in the great hall started.

“Alright, my little princesses. It’s time for your big day.” Eva took our hands and led us down to the party.

At the top of the stairs hung a large, full-length mirror. I pulled up short in front of it and gasped, touching my cheek.

With the dress, the gloves, and the tiara, I barely recognized myself. I looked so sophisticated and elegant. This was our first grown-up celebration, and Aunt Eva had made sure we looked the part.

Mom and Dad were already greeting our guests when we got to the bottom of the stairs. There was a table just inside the doors piled high with presents. More kept appearing.

“This is so exciting,” Selene said. She looped her arm through mine. “Don’t you just feel like a princess?”

I giggled. “Yeah, I do.”

There was a chocolate fountain on the table with all our favorite foods. In the center of the room was a real water fountain I’d seen them carrying in earlier. The lighting in the room was low, and all the moon decorations glittered and glowed in the strong lights.

We chatted with some of our friends from school. Everyone wanted to congratulate us and celebrate this moment of our coming of age.

After tonight, we wouldn’t be kids anymore. We would be women.

The music picked up and Selene grabbed my hands.

“Come on, we need to make the most of tonight.” She pulled me onto the dance floor, and we started dancing together.

A lot of our friends joined us and soon we were a whole mass of dancing and swaying bodies.

My cheeks hurt from grinning so much.

I heard a tinkling sound as my mom hit a knife against a glass when the band ended their song.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’ll let you all get back to dancing, soon,” she said, holding her champagne glass up. “I just wanted to make sure we got this party started right. Ayla, Selene, where are you?”

We looped our arms together and stepped in front of her. She sighed and came closer, touching each of our cheeks.

“My beautiful daughters. You truly look like princesses tonight, as you should.” Tears glistened in her eyes.

I had to suppress an eye roll. I didn’t want my friends to see my mom cry over us.

“Tonight is your night, Ayla, Selene. Tonight, you stop being children and become women, a powerful transformation. Seeing you now, you two have truly blossomed into the amazing young women I know you are. And I can see the talented, powerful women you’ll become. So, I’m going to celebrate your accomplishments tonight instead of feeling nostalgic that you are no longer my babies.”

She raised her glass.

“Here. Here.” Other guests raised their glasses and cheered for us.

My cheeks burned from the attention, but Selene waved to everyone and thanked them.

The music picked up again and the night took off. Dancing, drinking, festivities took over. I danced with my friends until my feet hurt.

As the night wore down, my mom had the cake brought in—a four-story hand-decorated confection. It had pillars holding up the different layers and fancy frosting dripping down the sides. It was fancier than any wedding cake I’d ever seen.

When the guests started to leave, Selene and I went outside to say goodbye to everyone and thank them for coming. I was exhausted and full to the brim with cake, but I was beyond happy.

After everyone left, Selene grabbed my hand.

“Come on, the night is still young. Let’s get out of here for a bit.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea? Mom and Dad will be pissed.”

She laughed and shrugged, tugging me off the porch. “It’s our birthday. Mom said so herself, tonight is our night!”

I couldn’t deny that. I ran down the porch steps and followed Selene around the mansion to the yard in the back. There were a few outdoor lights in the garden, but she led me past the back patio to the old swing set at the back of the yard.

I gave her a look as she sat on one of the swings. She kicked off her shoes and started swinging higher and higher.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s my last night as a child. I want to make the most of it!”

I laughed and kicked my shoes off, joining Selene on the other swing.

The sky was littered with stars and as the swing carried me up, closer to the sky, I felt like I was drifting through another world. Was this what it felt like to get older?

“I’m going to miss being a kid,” Selene said when we stopped winging and just sat next to each other on the swings.

“You are?” I glanced sideways at her.

Selene held onto the swing ropes but was leaning back as far as she could without falling off.

“Yeah. Think about all the mischief we used to get into—catching butterflies, popping magic off, and surprising Mom and Dad.”

A smile split across my face. “Yeah, we did have a lot of fun.”

“Now, we’ll be expected to be all boring, responsible, and stuffy.”

“Ugh, I doubt that.” I kicked at the ground, swaying back and forth slightly on the swing.

“What do you think it will be like? Mom made it sound like we’ll have all these expectations now that we’re adults.”

I shrugged. “I guess we’ll just have to figure it out. We could always ask Aster and Tarik. They went through it already.”

“They can’t understand. We’re the eldest children of the Alpha and Luna. That’s a lot more responsibility. If we do anything wrong, it could seriously jeopardize Mom and Dad’s reputation.”

I frowned. “I never thought of it like that.” I played with the dampening charm through the gloves Eva gave me.

“The good news is, Lucian is more likely to mess up than either of us.”

“Don’t be like that. He’s trying.”

Selene shrugged. “Despite the need to be responsible, I am grateful for our family. We’ve got a lot of support.”

“Agreed. We’ll always have them to depend on. But you’re right. It is going to be a bummer leaving childhood behind.”

I jumped up and grabbed Selene’s swing, spinning her around really fast. She shrieked and laughed. When the spinning stopped, she stumbled off the swing and grabbed me.

“Ack!”

We fell to the ground, laughing and staring up at the starry sky.