Two weeks later, Back to the present.
"Aunt Marion! Aunt Marion!" Belle called immediately she entered the gate of their house, she pulled open the sitting room door, waving a white envelope with a red seal on it in her hands, looking around the room and realizing that her aunt was not there.
Belle made her way to the backyard of the house, she looked around the place where her aunt always stays during this time either washing or hanging the wet clothes. Still not finding her aunt there. She went back into the house.
"Aunt! Aunt Marion!" Belle called again, this time making her way to her aunt's room, before Belle could open the door, she quickly hid the white envelop behind her, before turning the door knob and entering the room.
"Aunt Marion!"
"Stop shouting Belle, how many times do I have to tell you, this is not how a proper lady should behave. Or is this the way I taught you to act?" questioned Aunt Marion, who was busy arranging some clothes in the drawer, Belle shrugged her shoulders, like she could care less. "What is it this time Belle?"
"Can you take a wild guess, Aunt?" Belle smiled at her aunt as she made sure that the envelope was well hidden behind her. She looked at her aunt waiting desperately for her to guess wrong so she could drop the bomb.
"I'm really not in the mood to play this silly game with you right now, all I can think about is your younger sister. So don't bother me." The woman said, having being fed up with Belle antics.
Belle was already getting frustrated, can't her aunt see that it was good news and not ruin this by bringing up the incident at the pack's territory, Belle thought but didn't let that bother her. This was the first time in weeks where she had been happy and she wouldn't let anyone ruin this moment for her not even her younger sister.
"Look what I received at the pack house today." Belle said, the girl was smiling brightly as she finally withdrew the envelope from behind her, only to bring the red sealed envelope so her aunt could see it properly. Well, right now, it couldn't possibly be said that it was still sealed because it was obvious Belle had opened the envelope and read whatever was written inside, because the seal was already broken when she brought it out.
Aunt Marion placed the clothes she had finished folding, she collected the envelope from Belle outstretched hands and read through the content, her gaze darkening the more she read through the invitation letter.
"You girls will not be going!" their aunt declared immediately, she dropped the letter on the bed and proceeded with what she was doing.
"What?! Are you kidding me right now?" Belle yelled, she had just resumed work at the pack house just yesterday and this news came today, Belle felt like it was the moon goddess that had finally answered her prayers after what happened at the pack run. She couldn't believe her ears. "What do you mean Aunt Marion?"
"You know what I mean, this banquet ceremony or whatever it is, our family will have to skip it." Mrs. Harrisstone said apprehensively.
"Wa-wait I don't understand." Belle stuttered, "This is a banquet ceremony to welcome the great lycan king and you want us to miss it. What did I ever do in my past life to deserve this?" Belle exclaimed, she couldn't understand why her aunt was refusing this once in a life time kind of opportunity.
"You girls are not out and even if you were out, you shall not be attending." She paused with a heavy sigh, before continuing, "You know your siste…" Mrs. Harristone was about to say but Belle cut her off before she could even form the word sister.
"I knew it! I just knew it!" Belle screamed. This time she was really fed up, she was fed up with everything. "It's just have to be because of Luna again. Doesn't it? Just two weeks ago, I wasn't able to complete the pack run, again all because of Luna, and now this…" Belle's voice was already shaky and sounded like she was close to tears.
"Belle, really it's not just because of Luna, it's the two of you I worry about, you girls are not ready for this kind of a thing right now, trust me I want what's best for you." Mrs. Harristone tried to explain as she finally kept the clothes back and went to meet Belle who was standing in the center of the room, she could tell the girl was close to throwing a tantrum.
"Really?" Belle paused, her hands placed on her hips as she turned to face her aunt completely, her anger close to the surface. "Whose idea was it that we go back home to cater to Luna's need on the day of the pack run?" She questioned.
"I did that for the both of you." Aunt Marion tried to defend herself. "For the love of the moon goddess, your younger sister was rejected and passed out cold, how could we leave her alone at that crucial time?" the woman almost screamed.
Belle laughed a bitter laugh. "You didn't, you did that because you only cared about Luna, it always about Luna, why didn't she come to the pack run in the first place despite how much I begged her to and decided to skip it. Only for her to show up at the peak of the ceremony fully dressed. Like who does that? Yes, I care about Luna, but I also care about myself. You should have gone with Luna alone that day and left me to participate in the pack run, maybe by now I would have found my mate and wouldn't need to bother about this banquet, but that didn't happen now, or did it? You want to also stop me from going there."
"That's not true…" Mrs. Harristone began to say before she caught herself. She was already sure that Belle wouldn't listen to anything right now. But the girls can't go to the banquet ceremony. What if he sees them? the woman thought in her head. She needed excuses. And why was he suddenly coming to Shadow Howlers Pack. Did he know they were here? She thought.
"You can't go there. And that's my final decision." Mrs. Harristone said, adamantly. Turning away from Belle so she won't see the girl's expression.