Prisoner of Posessive Love

Chapter 11 - The Preparations

I heard a knock on my door. Wow, is someone actually asking my permission for something here?

 "Come in," I say coldly. 

  The door opens and I see a pretty girl walking in. She is about 17 years old with long blonde curls, dressed in a very simple grey dress and black T-bar shoes with a small heel.  The girl is trembling and I can’t help but warm up to her a bit. It’s not her fault her Alpha is a monster, right?

  She doesn’t say a word and I feel like she is going to pass out any second now.

 "What do you want?" I say calmly and give her a little smile.

"M-mam," she starts trembling even more, "I- I was given a task to prepare you for tonight’s dinner."

  She is still looking at the floor and I can’t help but feel bad for her. She is even more terrified of this place than I am.

 "What is your name?" I ask carefully.

"Arianna," she replies quietly.

 "Okay, Arianna," I stand up, "My name is Alyssa and I am new here as you probably know.."

"Of course, Luna," she mumbles.

 "Arianna, don’t take any offense at what I am going to say, but I am not your Luna."

   A little tear rolls down her face and I know she totally misunderstood me.

 "I know Luna, I am not deserving…", she falls to her knees and I gasp as she breaks into tears. I run up to her and help her up.

 "Goddess! That’s not what I meant!" I bring her to a chair and sit her up. She is looking at me in shock, while I wipe her tears with my hands. 

  "I am sorry, m-mam," she whispers clearly not knowing how to react anymore. I am sending her mixed signals, aren't I?

 "Dear," I smile, "What I meant is that I am not a Luna of this pack. I am not a Luna at all, to be honest. I was lied to and manipulated. And now I am imprisoned here by your Alpha. But I have never agreed to become his Luna in the first place. And, please, don’t call me Mam. We are almost the same age."

  She looks at me in disbelief.  I wonder what she’s been through. She doesn’t look what a Crimson Moon pack member should look like… At least she is not what I imagined. Then again, maybe she is not one of them...

  "Tell me, Arianna, what was the name of your pack?" I sit next to her.

  "Black Night Pack," she says and I see tears rolling down her face again. I hug her and she breaks, sobbing like a child in my embrace. And I get it. Everyone heard about how the Black Night Pack seized to exist within one night. They were my pack’s allies, but we didn’t even get a distress call for them. It all happened so quickly. My Dad went to see the scene one day after we got the news and he returned…different. He never told me or Dan any details, but we knew that whatever he saw there changed him forever. And we are talking about the Alpha who went through the Great War and lost his mate in the process. I clenched my teeth thinking about what this girl went through.

 "I am really sorry, Arianna," I finally bring myself to say, "We were your pack’s allies. I know what happened to your people and how quickly… We didn’t even have a chance to..."

 "I am glad you didn’t come," she says quietly, almost whispering, "You would just be dead like everybody else. There was no chance…"

  We sit in silence for some time and then, after a while, I feel like I could ask her something else.

  "But how did you find yourself here? I heard they killed everybody."

 "Not exactly. To the few that survived they gave a choice. To join them or die."

   A chill goes down my spine. Everybody knows that Crimsons wipe out the packs completely. Women and children included. There’s no chance to survive if you cross their path. This is the first time I hear about any kind of choice for wolves from the submitted pack. 

 "And you..." I start saying, but she interrupts me immediately.

 "I didn’t want to," she raises her head and for the first time I see a spark in her eyes, "My mum made me swear that I would join them. I did. But then she… She chose death herself when I was already in the car with other pups." 

 "Oh, Goddess," I exhale heavily and hug her again, "I am so, so sorry Arianna. Noone should go through something like this..."

    She jumps to her feet as if she remembered something:

 "Luna... I mean Alyssa," she says frightened, "I need to prepare you for the dinner with the Alpha."

  "There’s no need," I say, but she does not look convinced.

  "I’ll get punished if you are not ready…" she breaks her sentence looking at me apologizingly, "The way he wants you to look…"

 "Of course," I sigh angrily, "He would use someone as innocent as you to pressure me into doing what he wants.Typical for a monster!"

  I look at her and smile reassuringly. I wouldn’t let her suffer because of me. And I need to speak to Demitry anyway, so I guess there’s no need to fight that damn dinner.

 "That’s fine. Help me to get ready. And we can speak while we do it," I rub her shoulder and for the first time she doesn't flinch.

  Arianna smiles and I feel happy. She almost broke my heart with how hard she was crying. And I finally have someone to talk to and ask questions about the Crimson Moon pack. I need to get as much information as possible.

  Arianna starts to feel at ease with me. She brings me a nude lace underwear set and a beautiful golden Christian Dior dress. I haven’t seen it on the runway or anywhere else, but it’s definitely a Dior dress. It’s long and very delicate. Sheer beige fabric with sequins, very tasteful and light. It’s short at the front, but the fabric cascade to the floor in waves at the sides. I love it. But I would never admit it out loud. Not to him.

  Arianna does my hair and make-up. We talk and even have a few laughs together. I now know that she is a maid here. But not a regular one. The lowest kind, doing the dirtiest of works they could only find. Almost a slave. Anybody in the pack can order her around. Even the pups. Which is ridiculous.

  I also find out that it was announced to the pack that I am their Luna, but they can’t see me yet, as I am not ready for the official ceremony at this point in time. But it will take place very soon. The same was told to my pack hence they left without me. I wonder if Dad or Dan ever bought it. I doubt it. And Arianna knows nothing about warriors sent to my pack. But there definitely weren’t any fights recently anywhere. Which is a relief. I have time.

  Meghan tried to get to see me but was told to enjoy her honeymoon. And basically was told that I am resting and spending pleasurable time with my mate. And I am sure no one knows that Rafael is also my mate as Ari doesn’t mention him even once.

  "We are done," she looks at me definitely very proud of her work. And she should. My make-up is beautiful and natural, just the way I like it. My hair is all shiny and up in a bun made out of several  effortlessly-looking braids. 

 "Girl!" I smile at her, "You have some real talent!" 

  And it’s true. 

  "There’s something we forgot," Arianna disappears in the walk-in wardrobe and returns with a smoky diamond set of earrings and a matching necklace."

 "No," I object and she is looking sheepishly at me.

 "The Alpha said that you should wear at least two pieces of jewelry…" she mumbles and I sigh.  He knows that I don’t want to use any of the things he provided so he is using this sweet girl to make me do it. He is good at this game we are playing. I have to submit once again and Arianna helps me to put all this on. 

  "You look very beautiful," she smiles sadly. She probably already figured out that this is not what I want. I turn to her and give her a hug.

 "Don’t worry, I can take care of myself. Everything is going to be fine," I lie to her.

 "He wouldn’t hurt you, would he?" Arianna looks into my eyes, clearly worried, "He is your mate, after all, right?"

"Of course, he wouldn’t," I lie again. A few more days here and I'd become a professional!

 "Why don’t you want to accept him?" she finally asks the question that was in the air the whole time.

 "Because I have principles," I say firmly,  "This is not what I wanted and I told him. But instead of giving me time and space to figure things out, he imprisoned me here. This is humiliating and disrespectful. But I guess that’s how he is. So now here we are..."

  She puts her arm on my shoulder and squeezes it lightly as a sign of support.

 "I need to go now," she says, "Also, I would have to call you Luna if we meet in front of other people. Please, understand."

 "Of course," I put my hand on hers and give her a light squeeze,  "I am glad I met you here."

"Me too," she smiled before knocking at the door. The door opened and I saw two guards outside. None of them dared to look at me. Arianna walked out, but before the door closed again I raised my head and said, "Tell the Alpha that I am ready!"

  "Of course, Luna," one of the guards replied, while both of them bowed at the sound of my voice still not looking at me. 

  The damn door closed at my face again. I hate all of this. But the game is on!