The night of the ball has finally arrived and I am so nervous it's not even funny. This is because, this would be the first time a lot of these alphas are going to see my face and I wouldn't be forced to hide my face so as to not steal the attention from Seraphina.
However, this didn't stop my pack mates from making snide comments upon seeing my face. Thankfully, they kept the mockery to a manageable minimum as my dad had issued a stern warning promising severe punishments on anyone who spoilt the night for him.
Even though I knew it wasn't done out of sheer love for me, it gave me much needed respite and allowed me to focus on turning the dress my mother rescued from the bag designated for donations to the goodwill in our region for less fortunate people. This obviously meant that the dress wasn't up to par for an alpha's daughter but I didn't have a choice other than to make the best of a bad situation.
Nevertheless, Ace and I got much closer and worked harder to make sure our bond was as strong as possible. I also continued to snoop around to try to figure out what could help her break out from her bonds completely.
It was in the middle of this stealthy research that I discovered that the key to freeing her from the chains was an explosion generated from a merging of my physical and emotional energies that generated enough force for her to break free. This explained why my dad ignored the beatings Seraphina's goons inflicted on me and why he preferred to tear me down emotionally when it looked as though I was almost recovered from the injuries, they had inflicted on me.
I honestly had no idea how to feel about that. That explained why I was able to meet Ace though. Because, now that I think about it, I was working out frequently but emotionally I had been pushing down a lot of the emotions. It was my dad's attempt at putting me in isolation that gave Ace enough energy to break through.
Since all those emotions bubbled over when he went a step further in his ploy to break me emotionally without realising that I had come to my metaphorical limits with everything that I'd been going through at the pack and his preventing me from seeing Lyra especially was the tipping point for me which led to my decision to give it all up which consequently set my wolf free enough to prevent me from doing something stupid.
So, in a plot twist of fate that actually felt like the universe was giving a giant 'fuck you' to my dad. He unintentionally helped Ace break through her chains enough to talk to me. Each time I catch him squeezing his face at my presence, it feels like a sweet petty revenge for me and makes me smile more at the frustration on his face.
Although, I can't say I'm enjoying hiding Ace this much. At least, that's one thing I have, to thank Seraphina for. The fact that she hates me having any kind of attention has actually worked in my favour and I know it would drive her absolutely crazy if she knew what I was hiding from her.
The ceremony was big enough that it required my dad as the alpha to pay a closer attention to the preparations for the ceremony and also ensure that the security around our pack was as tight as possible as we couldn't afford to be lackadaisical about the security around this particular event.
This tightening of security meant that those of us that were undergoing training to be warriors were then pushed to our physical limits as often as possible as failure to secure our pack was tantamount to us giving our enemies a peek on how weak we were as a pack which wasn't what we wanted. So, intense training sessions was the answer.
Although, I can't act like I got a shot of energy thanks to Ace's growing strength in the presence of the other warriors -in- training as I'm supposed to be generally weaker than an average wolf. This means a lot of sleepless nights for me but, thanks to the hustle and bustle of the preparation for the ceremony, it generally goes unnoticed.
The one thing that has been weirding me out is Ace's excitement which is an actual mystery to me. When I tried asking her, she just told me that she's expecting the other half of her soul, so I guess it means that my mate is coming for the debutante ball. The only problem I have is that my witch of a sister keeps giving me the snide eye like she knows something I don't and it's making me super uneasy.
I keep having this unease inside me that I'm not sure how to interpret exactly. Though, a part of me wants to believe that it's probably my paranoia borne of years of having my sister practically take something that it looked remotely like I loved it.
Despite the incessant worry I feel, I can't seem to shake the fact that I am going to meet my mate and I'm honestly cautiously optimistic about it since nothing seems to work in my favour of recent.
Thankfully, I have managed to make my gown moderately presentable with the little accessory I have, which my mum gave me as my birthday present when I turned 16 that reminds me of happier times so I don't look hideous in front of my fated mate.