1288 Vouchers
Eighty–Three
Isabella’s POV
Alexander was right in thinking that I was not very
comfortable to be here right now and that I was a bundle of nerves but that did not mean I wanted him to just pull me and run away from something we obviously have to face.
Something I needed to face.
I didn’t want it to seem as though I was truly guilty and Alexander was hiding and protecting me and I told him that after making sure we both sat down.
The reception was tense. I could not tell what they were thinking exactly and while I decided it couldn’t be good, I hoped it at least wasn’t the worst.
It hurt to look at Alexander’s mom and see the absence of her usual gentle smile. Although she did ask how I was and seemed to genuinely want to know how I was feeling, I still felt jittery and I was thankful for Alexander’s warm hands coming to hold mine. It felt like he was somehow giving me strength just by the action and I appreciated it. It really did seem to help.
It was crazy how a word from just one person had warped everyone’s mind to see me as a whore and a cheat. Those people in the club had not seen me grind or dance
provocatively with any man and yet someone had whispered something to them and they had run with it.
They had run until the whole pack was now talking about the
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Luna to be and some man neither of them saw her with -or men according to some versions of the story.
Alexander was right, I should have put a stop to the rumors immediately I was accused. I shouldn’t have let that man talk to me like that. I should have taken hold of my authority and dared him to say another word to me. But the truth is that I barely recognized my authority.
Even though I heard the word ‘Luna‘ a hundred times that night, it did not yet register in my head what it meant to have that title. It just showed how unprepared and undeserving of it I was and here the former Alpha was, saying that we needed to move up the ceremony.
I kept fading in and out of the conversation after that, the only constant thing being Alexander’s hand on mine and maybe the words ‘coronation‘ and ‘Luna‘.
I always wanted to have a mate. That was my dream; to meet my mate and fall in love and live happily ever after. I had never imagined that my mate would be the Alpha and so I did not prepare for that possibility. Maybe that was why even after my mate turned out to be the Alpha, I did not realize what it meant for me.
I mean, of course, I knew that the Alpha’s mate was going to be the Luna, but it did not dawn on me what that would really mean. It did not dawn on me just how much I’d have to change myself and how much I’d have to conform to fit into those seemingly huge Luna shoes. I agreed that I might be sounding a bit too dramatic right now.
Are the ‘Luna shoes‘ really that big? Was it that hard to be the Luna and care for your pack? What exactly was it that you’re
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Eighty–Three
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giving up? I get it, and maybe for someone else it wouldn’t be as deep as I was making it out to be but the fact was that Isabella Rossi was someone before she found out that she was going to be Luna.
The way I lived and live my life was a huge difference from the way a Luna should. It won’t be easy to let it all go in a couple of days for a pack that doesn’t even like me.
I nodded quietly, like I had been doing whenever anything was directed to me and I hoped I had been doing as good of a job as I thought I was at making them believe that I was entirely present in this conversation.
It was quite nerve–wracking to listen to Alexander’s father speak today. I mean, everyone knew he rarely smiled but at least from his voice, you’d be able to tell the mood. Today, the mood was bleak and it gave me chills. I wondered what the mood would be like that day when I had dinner with them whenever I sat with them if I ever will.
Would Alexander’s father ever be glad that I was his son’s mate ever again? I knew Alexander must have defended me up to the point of almost losing his temper before I came here so they had to know that I was innocent but I guess it was still embarrassing and disappointing anyway.
How could I feel wronged by them when my own father had slapped me without even hearing what I had to say?
“So, in two weeks?” Alexander’s mom said looking at me, “We‘ re going to be very busy, you and me.” She said before her lips. stretched in a small smile.
My heart just about stopped working in that second before it picked up again. I turned my wide eyes towards Alexander
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who just smiled at me before he raised my hand that was still locked with his and placed a kiss on it.
“You’re gonna have to stop working at the gallery now, are you ready for that?”
“She does not have to be ready, it’s-” The former Alpha started to say but Alexander just glared at him until the words
died in his throat.
He turned back to me, “Painting is your true passion, right? Before you managed the gallery, you were an artist and even after you stop you will still be an artist. You can paint as much as you want from our house even after you quit and work as the Luna full time.”
“Would I be able to paint for people as well?” I asked him, remembering the couple that commissioned a painting.
“Of course. You’ll make time to and you will. Think of it as a job upgrade.”
I smile at him, “Is that a bribe?” I asked jokingly and he laughed heartily.
“If you want it to be.”
“Why, look at the both of them mind linking each other love confessions like we no longer exist.” Alexander’s mom suddenly said and my face turned beetroot red, something Alexander seemed to find funny as well.
“Enjoy your last day of rest dear, we’re going on a shopping spree soon and we’re going to shop until you drop..”
Alexander looked amused, “And you’re not going to drop,
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Mom?”
“Impossible, I was born for things like this.” She said and when I met her eyes, I could tell that she meant well.
We left shortly after that, and immediately we got outside, Alexander pulled me into his arms and hugged me tight. He then told me to go to the gallery and pack my stuff and spend the day there however I like.
He said he didn’t think it fair that I could not go back so I could spend today knowing that it was my last day there and do whatever I wanted to make sure I didn’t have any regrets later. I found it very thoughtful and appreciated his thinking.
“Then can I throw a party?” I asked, only one percent serious as I grinned at him.
“If that would make you happy.” He simply said with a smile and I threw my arms around him for a tighter hug.
“I wasn’t going to before, but I definitely will now,” I said and he chuckled.
I wouldn’t exactly call the small gathering I organized a party but it was fun and I loved it. I bought a cake and arranged for a bunch of snacks and drinks and Olivia and Tanya offered to decorate with some balloons.
I didn’t care that some of these people had probably participated in the rumors about me. I just knew that at the end of the day, we ate together, we drank together, we played a couple of games and I was happy.
I went back home in that mood and the first thing that came to mind was to call my mother.
After setting down the cake and bagels that I had snagged for Alexander on the counter, I turned on my phone and placed the call.
“Hi, Mom,” I said once she picked up.
It was like the second half of my day had made me forget what exactly was going on and it was only when I said that that everything came back to me once again and I remembered exactly how I left my parents‘ house just yesterday.
“Bella, how are you?” She asked and I instantly tried to read her voice. Did she sound like she usually did? Or were there hints that she was unhappy with me? What if people had laughed at her saying that her daughter is a whore?
“I’m fine mom, how are you?”
My mom sighed and my heart sank, “Bella, your father is still really angry. He said… he said that until the ceremony takes place, you’re not his daughter,”
I collapsed exasperatedly on the chair and my phone slid from my hand, landing on the floor with a sound that told me that I may or may not have broken it. I guess all was not well, after all.
