Her eyes could look right into his soul, seemed to predict his every move, while everything about her was a mystery to him. 

I could see that Daniel tried to distract me from the fact that Vir was ignoring me, and I gladly accepted it. After main course, which was lovely grilled salmon with baked potato and coleslaw, I knew Daniel better than I knew Vir. 

The Beta of the Sapientiae pack was 25 years old, had been living in Sapientiae his whole life, and had not yet found his soulmate, although he was dying to. His favourite colour was blue – I had the feeling that that was kind of learned behaviour, as everything in this pack was goddamn blue – and he liked plants. According to him, he had at least 17 different kind of plants in his apartment at Headquarters.

Daniel managed to make me laugh, and in the end, it didn't even take that long before we were invited to move to another room, where the contracting and job offering would happen. I felt a bit lost when I heard that. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, so I just followed Daniel as he again accompanied me.

My heart burned with jealousy when I saw the woman from Fidem clinging at Vir's arm. She was way too old for him, so I wasn't worried they would actually become an item, but still. He could at least tell her to back off, right? I mean, he didn't really have a problem saying that to me.

"Jeez, Livia, calm down," I heard Daniel whisper in my ear. "You look as if you want to attack that woman." 

"Well," I seethed through my teeth. "I want to." It wouldn't even be that difficult, knowing that she had been with her nose in books all her life, while I had actually learned to fight during high school. She wouldn't stand a chance against me.

Daniel chuckled. "Well, what you can do, is give him a taste of his own medicine."

I gasped, secretly intrigued by the idea. "Tell me more..." I whispered back, while walking further to the conference room.

"I'm not saying you have to pretend to be that Fidem woman, but you could pretend to be really warm and take off your leather jacket and give it to me. Then afterwards, we can hang around the entire evening. Then we both don't do anything wrong, as we don't actually flirt and even make it more likely that we are in fact soulmates. But he will get insanely jealous when you are obviously having fun around another man with so much skin exposed. Maybe he will give you the attention you deserve afterwards."

I started smirking. That idea was not a bad one. "You are devious."

Daniel smiled sheepishly.

"I love it. Let's do it." And immediately, I started taking off my leather jacket to give it to him. The air was cool on my skin, and I shivered shortly due to the loss of warmth. "I'll be fine," I instantly said when I saw Daniel looking at me with slight worry. "Don't worry, I'm stronger than the average girl you'll find here."

Daniel took me to my seat, where we all sat in a long row, no table in front of us. I didn't even have time to ask what I was supposed to do now before all our escorts left, and we sat alone at the front of the conference hall, a large audience behind us, a big stage in front of us. I was seated on the second to last chair on the right, with the gross nerd from Ordinem on my left, and the sweet woman from Sensus on my right.

Classy bar tables filled the back of the stage in half a circle. At each table stood a man or a woman, their faces indistinguishable due to the dark. The spotlight was on the speakers table in the middle of the stage.

Putting my hands in my lap, I impatiently waited for something to happen. Thank the gods it didn't take too long.

Vir walked up the small stairs to reach the stage, and walked confidently to the speakers table, where he spoke in the microphone with a strong, but gentle voice. "Welcome, everybody, on this special occasion tonight. This is the evening where you, the representatives of all eight packs besides Sapientiae get the opportunity to join our pack. To work here, to live here, for the rest of your lives, must you desire so. For several months, you showed your intelligence, your wisdom, your competence. You showed that you are the smartest person in your old pack, that you are adequate, worthy, that you deserve to be in this pack. 

The last few days, you, members of Sapientiae, have all been able to get to know them, to teach them more, to show them what we can offer them here. You hoped to convince each representative to work for you, you hoped to find at least one that would perfectly fit within your company, your research, your life's work. In the past few days, you have set up contracts to propose to them. Now the question is, whether they will accept, or if they will choose another. That is what we will find out today. Before moving on, I would like you to give them an applause for their accomplishments."

A loud applause from the audience followed. There was no screaming, whistling, yelling, just loud clapping. I clapped along, applauding my fellow representatives, and saw that some were doing the same.

"Then now," Vir continued. "I would like to call the first representative on stage. He came all the way from the Tempus pack, on the other side of the continent. Aevitas Whitlock, will you please join me?"

In complete silence, the man walked up the stairs, his face the epitome of nervousness. He walked up to Vir, who shook his hand, and congratulated him. "Aevitas," he spoke. "When I press this button in my hand, a couple of spotlights will go on. A banner next to the table will show what company it is that wants you. If you choose to honour one of these companies, walk up to them and sign the contract. After that, you will be accepted in the Sapientiae pack without needing to do any further testing. If none of the companies is to your liking, you can choose to walk of the stage and sit down without signing a contract. Then you will be going back to your pack tomorrow morning. There is no going back on your choice, so choose well. Is that understood?"

The man nodded and spoke up. "I do."
"Great, then now, pick your choice," Vir said, and he pressed the button. At once, four different spotlights went on, showing three men and one woman with a broad smile, hoping that Aevitas would choose them. The man stood still for a few minutes, obviously doubting which company he would pick. In the end, he decided to walk up to one of the three men, who represented the company Sapientiae Space Agency. Under moderate applause, he shook the man's hand and signed the contract. They briefly talked, their conversation too soft for any of us to hear, after which he walked back to his chair with bright smile on his face and a copy of the contract.

Now I started to sweat a little. When my turn would come, there would be no company that would want me to work for them. What would happen then? Would I be forced to go home?

I looked to my left.

The second representative, a man from Pulchritudo, went up to the stage. After him, there were only three more before it would be my turn. Then I would know my fate.

Only five more minutes, and I would know if Vir had thought of anything to make me be able to stay.