Bora's Diary - The beauty and the beast

LORYS

I didn't want to seem crazy, so last night I had decided to talk to Leonardo today.

I'd casually ask him if he'd heard anything about the prisoners and what the deal was with the she-wolf he'd captured.

I spent the night reading her diary, and if it had been a book, it would have been a story in the drama section.

I must have fallen asleep with her diary on the windowsill because my back ached and I could barely sit up from the stupid way I was lying.

The chambermaids came into the room and I immediately shrugged them off: "No, go", I told them and waved them straight to the door.

Actually, I should have every reason to be happy, but after what I had read, my mood was at rock bottom.

I rarely felt sorry for other people, but this diary had made me secretly suffer with Bora.

I bit my lower lip and realized that there was nothing in her diary about herself. It only talked about what had happened to her, but who was she? I could tell that Bora must be the daughter of an alpha, but who was her father?

Which pack could Gabriel have had a strained relationship with? Apart from mine, of course.

Many question marks popped up in my head and I realized that I had actually underestimated my enemy. I hadn't expected him to kidnap a woman. What kind of alpha kidnaps a woman? At least I would have hired someone in his place, but he did it himself...

"Bora..." I whispered softly and her name melted on my tongue like chocolate.

I bit my lower lip and shook my head once.

Lorys, you don't have time for mind games, you have a pack to lead and you're already late.

I washed my face at the sink and got dressed. Finally, after combing my hair back, I looked in the mirror with satisfaction. My black hair, dark brown eyes and high cheekbones made me look like Michele Morrone, a famous actor of our time.

I left my room and went into the breakfast room. The table was endlessly long and laid with all kinds of food.

I sat down at the head of the table and nodded to everyone to start eating. They always waited for me, nobody started eating without my presence, that was clear.

Leonardo looked at me and probably scrutinized me "Were you up half the night again?" he asked me, to which I shook my head "Not exactly, I was with you in the hall most of the time, while you were having fun with the women, I went to my room later", I shrugged my shoulders and began to eat.

Leonardo smiled at me and shook his head: "I can't help it if you didn't want to take it, the offer was there," he replied.

"Oh yeah, great offer..." I mumbled to myself and leaned back as I watched the other wolves in my pack eat.

"Did you manage to save any?", I asked, the majority.

I saw Leonardo stop chewing and look at me. "To my knowledge, three wolves from our pack, the rest are in the ground now, but I'd have to check again. That's the latest," Leonardo said and continued eating.

Three wolves from our pack, the answer in this case was that Bora must have died...

"Have you read the diary?" he asked me suddenly, giving me pause.

It would be a lie if I said no, and Leonardo would see right through it. We had been inseparable since we were children, which gave him the advantage of seeing through my lies.

I nodded slightly: "Yes, but it was boring. I stopped on the second page," I talked myself out of it.

"Diaries are always supposed to be so exciting and keep people's secrets ... Too bad," said Leonardo and put the cutlery aside.

If you only knew, Leonardo...

"Next up is the big Wolf Ball, which we're hosting this year. The organization is already underway and it will take place in a week... Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky," Leonardo winked at me and I shook my head in disbelief.

"Like what? The whole pack is dying to get their TRUE Luna and not some female who isn't capable of anything," Leonardo insisted, involuntarily biting his lower lip.

"You know what a Luna is made of, don't you? She has to be strong to stand up to the alpha, and not just in the marriage bed ... She has to be a leader. She has to have an overview of the whole pack and, in the worst-case scenario, stand in for you and take the reins. And then there's you as a mate... I alone would have been overwhelmed. That's not a task you can entrust to a simple woman, it would lead to chaos," Leonardo tried to make me understand.

I thought about his words and the only thing I could think of was Bora defying Gabriel, beating his crown jewels to a pulp and wanting to disappear from the Blue Moon.

The idea almost made me hard and I had to pull myself together at that moment.

What was wrong with me? Was this diary really cursed?

I declared my meal finished and finally stood up.

Followed by Leonardo, we walked through the corridors of our castle and I looked into the distance like one of the head maids showing the newcomers what to do.

We walked past them and they all bowed their heads on command. No one dared say anything, because then heads would roll, and rolling heads were bad for business.

As we walked past them, I noticed a scent. It was a scent of peach, jasmine and musk. I looked around and spotted a bunch of flowers by the window, but no peaches.

I frowned and raised my eyebrows as I walked on.

It had to be the lack of sleep playing tricks on me. We walked into the great hall where the negotiations were taking place and the current situation in the pack was being discussed.

Magnus sat to my left and Leonardo to my right. I still didn't understand why he had to be present at all the negotiations. Even sober, I didn't like him.

Leonardo finally began to report back to the council.

"Yesterday's battle was a success. We were able to double our territory, capturing fields, houses and even the Blue Moon's castle. The remaining members of the pack were given the choice of either coming with us or being hunted down and dying. This allowed us to significantly increase our kitchen and cleaning staff," Leonardo finally nods to me.

"Thank you Beta, you can move on to the next item, there are no questions on my part," I replied, to which he nodded... Every single pack problem would be assessed today, right down to the problems of the farmers. I didn't just have one pack to lead. I led an entire kingdom of over five hundred wolves, all of whom needed work, food and a roof over their heads.

Sometimes I cursed myself for having been born into this position.

BORA

A bright light flooded the room and made my eyes hurt. I gasped for air and felt a burning sensation in my lungs. Where was I here? Had I made it? Was I dead? As much as my eyes hurt, I opened them wide and looked around in panic.

I realized that I was lying in a hospital bed on a ward and a nurse was running towards me.

"Stay down, stop moving, do you want to rip it all open again?" she shouted at me, pushing me back onto the bed with my upper body.

"Where am I?" I whispered quietly, feeling how dry my lips and my whole mouth were.

"You're in the Circle pack, you were brought here after the battle against the Blue Moon pack was won," she said and suddenly a flash appeared in my mind.

"Y-you have to help me... I'm not from the Blue Moon pack, I'm from the Brightstone and I was kidnapped by Alpha Gabriel...", I tried to explain to her and she looked at me suspiciously.

"Dear... You must have hit your head pretty hard. The Brightstone pack is a good fifty kilometers from here, do you know how long it takes to walk there? Not on your life. Listen, don't cause any trouble, then there won't be any consequences," she replied, giving me a devilishly evil look so that I hardly dared to speak.

Finally, she gave me an elixir to help me heal: "It looks like you've been given wolfsbane," she said and I just blinked. "I told you that..." suddenly she put a finger to my lips and shook her head.

"No, my dear, save it and now your wounds will be closed in five minutes at the latest. Take some things over there and stand with the other women. You've been accepted into our pack so that you can subordinate yourselves and get to work. Otherwise you'll be considered a loner and you know what happens to wolves without a pack... Do we understand each other?" she asked me in a stern undertone, to which I nodded obediently and said nothing more.

The nurse was an older lady and was apparently in charge here, the way she acted, she must have missed her job.

Anyway, somehow I had to find a way to get out of here. Since no one like Gabriel had me in their sights, it would be easier for me to escape from here.

Oh goddess of the moon... God knows where Gabriel is... what if he's here too?

Question marks spread across my mind and my brain was already starting to rattle. I was in the Cirlce pack, so that was good. At least our pack had nothing to do with them.

I could feel my wounds slowly beginning to heal. She must have given me the antidote to the wolfsbane, because it wouldn't have been possible otherwise. Gabriel had always insisted that I take it myself, otherwise he would have forcibly injected it into me. I never had a choice, I always had to take it. For him, it was safety, so that I didn't have the strength to run away. My she-wolf was correspondingly weakened and could hardly be woken up.

The nurse was right, because after a few minutes I actually felt better. I got up as instructed and changed into fresh clothes. I was allowed to wash and dress quickly in a small bathroom in the room.

That was a bit more pleasant.

Finally, I ran out of the room to the other women and what I saw left me speechless.

Marga, the older maid from the Blue Moon who had always tried to help me, was there. She was standing in the queue and had seen me too. A glimmer of hope flashed in her eyes at that moment and I quickly joined her as the next lady came and stood in front of us.

"My name is Linda and I'm your supervisor. You will all work in the kitchen and in the castle and do what is required of you," she continued with her explanations as she suddenly fell silent and Alpha and Beta walked past us. We all bowed our heads respectfully and didn't look at them. "Good morning Alpha Lorys, Beta Leonardo," Linda said, while all we heard from the Beta was a "Good morning" as the Alpha stopped short and looked around with a deadly serious expression on her face.

Looking at the alpha was like challenging him and I certainly didn't want that in this pack. I looked at him from the side and saw that he was a tall, well-built man.

Gabriel had a habit of talking your ears off.

This alpha seemed different. Lory's.

I could feel my she-wolf getting restless inside, but I didn't understand the point.

Linda continued with her speech and led us through the corridors of the castle before we were given our tasks.

I never thought I would fall so low. I had to clean the rooms with Marga.

When Linda told us this, I saw Marga smiling from the side. She knew who I was and I think she was amused. At least I'd learned to always work hard. I would do the same until I managed to escape. Until then, I wasn't allowed to stand out in a positive or negative way.