Once A Princess, Now A Slave

24- New Agenda

Kelsie's POV

With my chin held up high and my back straight, I grace my way to the hallway of the corridor. The event was smoothly ended by the hosts. Gladly, the commotion that happened in the comfort room did not greatly affect the coronation night.

Nox made another quick goodbye to me by giving me a kiss on the forehead. I know there’s no romantic sh*t when he did that, but I doubt that was how the people who saw us understand it. He did it in front of the crowd when we got back on our table!

“Sorry if I took advantage. The thought that this would probably be the last time we will see each other makes me sad. I hope you can visit us sometimes. You won't need my invite. You're always welcome," he said.

I smiled. "I will. Thank you too. Take care," I replied.

That was our last conversation before our Sentinels guide them out of our territory. I sigh. I can already see the door of the meeting room. I can hear my heart beating. I am certain that the news about Nox kissing me spread like wildfire here in our pack. Given the commotion earlier and the issue that I had with my stepsister recently, I doubt I am already off the radar.

I saw two omegas resurfaced from the other corner. They are heading in my direction while talking to each other, giggling as if something was funny. One of them saw me. She quickly elbowed her friend. When her friend's eyes landed on mine, their smiles faded. They slightly lowered their head and glued their eyes on the floor while walking past me.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. I slightly shake my head. I am used to people in this pack either ignoring me or intimidated by me--

"Have you seen what happened earlier in the coronation? The Alpha from the other pack gave her a kiss!"

"Really? I didn't see it!"

... or gossiping behind my back.

"She's really a b*tch. I can't even see Kristine with a random man around her!"

... or secretly hating me. Although it's not really a secret since I know they do hate me.

If this is a normal day and I hear them gossiping like that, I will definitely kick their asses off. However, I think I already drained of the patience from the high-ranking officials. I've been in a lot of trouble lately. I have to rest from all these sh*ts.

I completely ignored the two and walk straight on the door. My mind is busy controlling myself and persuading it to stay calm that I forgot to knock on the door before stepping in. I twist the doorknob and push the door open.

The meeting hall is a big rectangular room with a long oval table in the middle. It has 26 chairs. It has chairs on the both ends and 12 chairs each side. There is one vacant chair across my stepsister... and beside Mrs. Coral.

I gulped.

Everyone's staring at me. Connor is sitting on the middle chair while his father is on the other end. On Connor's right is his mom, and beside it is the vacant chair that I am talking about.

"S-sorry for not knocking," I said.

I held my chin up high and walk towards the vacant seat. I slowly lift the chair and sit down.

The room is still silent. No one's speaking. Aside from the smug look from my stepmother, a smirk from my sister, and a cold look from Connor, I receive nothing.

I hate waiting and I am not comfortable with this silence so I decided to break it.

"May I know why I am invited on this? I heard this is an important meeting for the high ranking officials--"

My statements were halted when my eyes darted at Gia who is siting on the far seat away from me.

'What is she doing here?'

She smiled at me awkwardly. Well, I guess this isn't for high-ranking officials only.

I silently cleared my throat and straighten my back as I roam my eyes to all of them. Even some of the elders are here.

"May I know what the meeting is all about?" I asked. I even slightly tilted my head to display confidence.

"If you got here on time, then you would probably understand why this meeting is being held," Kristine answered. She reach for the glass of water on the table and took a sip from it while avoiding her eyes at me.

I scoff. So they already started the meeting? If that so, then my presence here is not that important. Why did they even invite me? Tss.

Kristine placed her glass back on the table and looked at me with a playful mocking smile on her face. She then raise a brow.

"Or if you were not flirting with a random man, then you would have been here on time," she added.

My brows furrow. Before I can speak, the woman behind me speaks.

"Kristine," Mrs. Coral meddled. Her soft spoken voice stopped the two of us from engaging into a fight.

Mrs. Coral sighed and looked at everyone in the table.

"Shall we continue what we are talking about? I know everyone here and busy. Hence, we should respect everyone's time by following the given time schedule. We cannot end this meeting at exactly 9 in the evening if we keep on fighting and talking about senseless things."

"Coral, my daughter isn't fighting anyone and talking about senseless things. She just pointed out that we should prioritize meeting like this instead of flirting with a man, not to mention, and Alpha from the other pack that caused commotion and almost killed two of our pack members," my stepmother replied calmly.

She plastered a smile on her face, but given the years that I am living with her, I already memorized every inch of her muscles. Why am I even surprised that she can give a fake smile to the mother of the new Alpha.

I don't have to ask her to clarify who was she pertaining to. She said 'daughter', not 'step daughter'.

"Enough," the cold voice of Connor echoed in the room.

He roam his eyes to all of us before darting them to me. My hands under that table slightly quivered when his eyes turned colder. I maintained my eye contact to him while my fingers started to play with each other to somehow calm myself.

"I don't want this to happen again," he said without removing his gaze on me.

I am not certain if he's talking about me being late, or the other one that everyone's talking about while I'm gracing my way here. But in the end, I replied along with everyone sitting on the table.

"Y-Yes, Alpha."

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Unedited. English is not my first language. My apologies for the grammar, sentence construction, and wrong spelling.

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Once A Princess, Now A Slave

By: Joanne Cristel

©2023