Chapter 3. Meeting at the ball

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"Sister it's beautiful. I look perfect!" Appreciated happily Brianna, looking intently at her reflection in the mirror.

The white dress with the black bow at the waist accentuated her curves, and it still seemed beautiful even though the hem of the dress was pinned in several places, as it was too long for her, and there wasn't enough time for it to be modified.

Luckily, she had carefully asked around about the heir's preferences and found out that although he played around with a lot of women, he confided in his closest friends that he wished an innocent and honest girl for a Luna.

The dress she had asked her sister to make had a low cut at the breasts and a high slit at a side, so it was not exactly a dress a pure girl would wear. She got scared realizing this, and immediately came to her sister to ask her to modify the dress.

But, just as she briskly opened the door to her sister's room, her eyes fell on the dress her sister had prepared for herself. Falling in love with the design and color, she immediately demanded it from Celia.

It was a close call, she thought. She was about to make a fool out of herself, and Celia could have gained the attention of Rayan instead of her. Celia's dress was exactly a dress for an innocent and pure girl.

She finally relaxed when her look was put together. The make-up and the hairdo fitted perfect with the dress. Her sister was a magician she mused, even if she would never recognize it in front of another person.

Well nothing else mattered anyway. She already avoided the trouble, Brianna thought happily, as she twirled around, appreciating herself.

Celia kept looking at her sighing. Her little sister had always been quite willful, she never listened to her advices about the dress, but she was too cute, so she could not refuse her when she wanted to swap the dresses. As long as Brianna was happy then, in the end, it was alright. And anyway she really didn't wish to stand out at the ball, so it might be for the best to just choose a random casual one.

Her mother soon knocked on the door, just in time to see her younger daughter at her best.

"Ahhh... you are too beautiful! Everything looks good on you. They say that clothes make a man stand out, but I think you are the one that makes the clothes shine. Tonight you are a true Luna." Diane exclaimed happily, not at all bothered with the fact that, in a way, her compliment was degrading her oldest daughter's effort.

She kept on smiling admiring her youngest daughter. Diane was a beta female, but she still had to cater to her Luna. Unfortunately, that had been the situation until now, but tonight it would all end.

When her daughter would become the mate of the future Alpha, the old Alpha would have to step down and leave the pack house to ensure a smooth transfer of the rights and leadership power to the new Alpha.

If the old Alpha and the new one still lived together, the pack members would be confused if there was a conflict between the two, not knowing to whose orders they should listen to.

The new Alpha should have complete submission from his pack members. So to avoid such situations, the old alpha would normally leave for the royal palace to assume the position of a royal guard, they would at most stick around for a year longer. Then they would only return once in a while, but would no longer participate in the pack's matters.

As such, with the old couple leaving and her daughter becoming the new ruler, all would finally fall in its rightful place. The respect she would receive from being the mother of the Luna and the grandmother of the future alpha, could not compare to being the Beta female.

After all, even the Beta was in submission to his Alpha. The only equal to an alpha was his mate. Unfortunately, Diane was failing to notice that only the Luna would be an equal to her alpha, not the Luna's family as well.

"Mom, are the girls ready?" Asked hurriedly Daniel, poking his head through the opened door. He was the designated driver for the family tonight. His father was traveling for the time being, and he was the only man in the house.

"Yes, Brianna is ready." Replied immediately his mother, she did not notice the plural of the question.

"Mom, I said girls. I can see she is dressed, but Celia is still in her home clothes."

"Ohhh right. Why are you still not dressed yet? We will be late." Her mother asked frowning, aggrieved that Celia was holding them back from leaving.

"I could not help Brianna get ready, while being dressed myself. And I also have to find another dress, the pink mermaid dress I made for her is too short for me." Celia explained calmly, unbothered by her mother's attitude. It was already a common occurrence... to be blamed for something that she had not caused.

"Alright, find another dress for yourself. Anyway, the dress looks better on Brianna. Why did you not make it for her initially and prepared something else for yourself?" Diane sighed, not acknowledging her mistake, and continued.

"What is done is done. We will go on ahead, try to find something else. Perhaps, you can find your mate tonight. You are a beta's daughter, so you could optimistically find another beta, or at least a gamma. Daniel will come back after sending us there to bring you also."

At the ball, youths from other packs would also participate, so it was highly likely that Celia could find her mate, she hoped.

Celia only nodded, and did not comment on her mother's words. After all these years ... even if she did not agree with her mother, she never tried to contradict her. But, in reality, she did not want to find her mate at all.

She felt that to find a mate and settle down was not for her. She had already set her mind to only appear at the venue quickly, and then just hide in the garden or somewhere else. All her mother's attention would be on her sister, so she should be safe.

Her dream had always been to become a watcher for the Council. They were the warriors that ensured that the Alpha of a pack did not overstep their boundaries.

The individual packs could be considerate small states hidden from human sights, in forests from all around the world, but united under the rulership of the king.

They each established their own rules, but those rules should be in accordance with the guide line of the central power represented by the king of all the packs.

In fact, each alpha of a pack could be considered a high ranking warrior in the army of the king. That was also why they left their homes at a young age for the royal palace for education and training, and would also return there when a new alpha was established.

But because there were too many packs the king ruled, they could not be overseen so easily, so the Council was created. It handled the education of the alphas, it ensured that the general laws were respected and it also enforced the law and issued punishments for the alphas that had not followed them. And the Council's main agents, the ones who ensured and enforced the law, were the Watchers at the orders of the 12 councilmen.

She had heard many stories about the watchers and knew they were the best warriors, even more powerful than regular alphas. They were stern but fair people, and had saved many packs from unfair alphas. They were also the idols of all the omegas, the most ostracized members of a pack.

Dreaming of becoming one herself, Celia had tried telling her mother of her dream, but the latter did not want to hear it. She argued that she shifted for the first time late, so her wolf was not strong enough to become a warrior, she had even laughed at it, calling it a childish dream.

She was about to come clean with her mother at that moment, and tell her that she had actually shifted earlier. She wouldn't tell her that she shifted as young as she actually did, but she thought of saying that she shifted a little after her 18th birthday.

That was her plan at that time, but her words remained unsaid when her mother also reasoned that she would become a bad role model for her younger sister. What if her sister wanted to become a warrior also, because of her?

She did not think this was possible, but before her current dream of becoming a watcher, she reflected on the possibility of becoming a designer for clothes, and her sister did indeed say that she also wished to become one as well.

At that moment, her mother forbid her of ever mentioning other dreams to Brianna, and also denied her wish. At the end Diane had even said she should stop speaking nonsense. She should only prepare to become a house wife as she was good at it, and it was also the most realistic option for her.

Her mother's words did not demoralize her, but she reflected on them, and only accepted the part that she should not influence her sister. So as long as her sister found her mate, she probably would not insist on following in her footsteps and she could openly strive for her own wishes.

As much as she loved her sister, she wanted to follow her own dreams. Perhaps, she would have luck tonight, and her sister would find her mate.

With these thoughts in mind, she searched her closet until she found a white maxi dress. The dress was not exactly suitable for a ball, it was more of a summer dress, but she had no other formal dresses, other than the one Brianna took.

Inlayed with a multitude of flowers at the lowest part of the hem, which rarefied as they went upwards towards the waist, the predominantly white dress was still the only one that could barely pass as formal attire.

She speedily got dressed, only putting on the least bit of makeup, before tying a strand of her long black hair with a clip above her ear. There was not enough time to curl or straighten it, so the hair that had been put up in a messy bun until then, looked only a little wavy as it reached below her waist.

She looked in the mirror and did one last check, finishing just in time to hear the honk of the car. The ball was near their home, so in just half an hour her brother had already returned.

She grabbed her purse, and with lightning speed she was already at the front door. She was alone at home, otherwise she would have never dared use her real speed. Because even though all of them were werewolves, they would not have been able to follow her movements, shocking them.

She realized this fact, after she went to the training center to bring lunch to her brother, and witnessed the training of the best warriors of the pack. Their movements were slow to her eyes, it felt like she could avoid any of their hits. Their strength could not compare to hers, it seemed as though she could easily crushed them if she felt like it, even their training could not compare to the training she did by herself in the woods.

At first, she thought they were only joking around and restrained themselves during training, not using their top speed and strength to conserve them. But her brother had informed her that they indeed gave their best during training, when they had a casual conversation.

She briskly stopped at the door, rearranging a bit the disheveled strands of hair, before opening it, then hurried down the stairs slower this time, towards her brother's car.

"Hey, you did not need to hurry. I was just letting you know I arrived. You can still prepare if you want. The ball has just begun." Her brother said quickly.

He looked at her and felt that his older sister was even more beautiful than his second older sister. Her brown eyes looked like chocolate that fitted well with her slightly tanned flawless skin, her nose was straight and pointy, her lips were plump even without much lipstick on it, her cheeks were rosy pink and all those features fitted perfectly on her small face.

She dressed modestly and her hairdo was also not something special, but she could already compete equally with her sister that had a full make-up on her face, a complicated hairdo and a proper ball dress.

If Celia tried harder, no doubt about it, nobody would pay attention to Brianna if the two were in the same room, but she never tried to.

"No, it is alright. Thank you. We can go!" She assured him, slightly smiling.

He nodded and did not insist, seeing her honest response. Quarter of an hour later they arrived at the ball.

She went inside the ballroom without her brother, as the latter remained outside to park the car. Walking through the door, she looked around a bit, but was not interested in checking the venue. Anyway, her only purpose was to find her mother, just so she could prove that she had arrived, then quickly exit and hide somewhere until it was time to go home.

She scanned her surroundings and finally spotted her mother but, before she could move in her direction, a waiter bumped into her, spilling the last glass of wine he had on his tray straight onto her dress.

Normally, with her reflexes she could avoid him, but the pain she kept experiencing these past few days at random times, came again hitting her hard. It left her breathless, as it messed with her senses. She ignored the pain as best she could, trying to stand on her feet and look for her mother.

At this moment, her mother had already spotted Celia, so she just pointed to her dress, gesturing that she was going to clean it. Seeing the bright red on the white dress, her mother sighed and nodded.

It was actually better than she expected, Celia thought. Now she even had a proper reason for skipping the ball.

She quickly avoided the crowded places and went to the garden, where she found a bench in a more secluded place.

Fortunately, the pain had already passed, it lasted for a shorter time compared to the other times when it would torture her for hours.

Sometimes it was so severe, it woke her up in the middle of the night, even messing with her senses that usually were top notch. The only problem was that, just now, the pain that hit her felt more intense than when it took longer for it to pass.

She stayed some time sitting on the bench, while she admired the beautiful fountain.

Feeling the strangeness of the pain that came and went, she pondered if she should call Clarissa, and ask the witch if she knew what the problem was.

The main ability of her friend was healing and she should be better at detecting the type of pain than her pack doctor. And even if she wasn't, she was afraid to visit the doctor to find the cause and the treatment.

One of the main utensils used by a doctor to diagnose an illness was an orb called the Seer. When a werewolf placed their hand on the crystal orb, the Seer was capable of detecting the exact problem, but this ability came with a downside as it also showed the power of the werewolf. What would a Seer show in her case? Would it prove the anomaly she was?

After all, though she had checked countless books, she had never heard anyone with a situation similar to hers. A situation in which in reality the shift at thirteen years of age was the smaller problem, that other fact was even stranger... inside her mind was even stranger.

She sat for a few more minutes, but as she started to see other people walking in the part of the garden she was in, she had no choice but to start walking around to be able to avoid anyone who would come near.

Walking around for more than half an hour, looking at the beautiful decorated garden and smelling the multitude of colored flowers, she heard someone stepping towards her.

She had looked for an even more secluded place this time, so curious of who could have come, she turned around.

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