Bora's Diary - The beauty and the beast
Chapter 9

LORYS

It turned out that Little Red Cap was the bad wolf and I was Little Red Riding Hood.

Linda confirmed the maid's name as Aurora, so I decided to put that thought aside. What I couldn't put aside was Bora's diary.

After a hard day's work, I held it in my hands again.

I decided to read her diary tonight and bury it in the ground with Bora. I didn't want anyone else to read it.

BORA

The time had come. Tonight I would take the opportunity to get out of here.

Gabriel was too busy preparing for war, which gave me the perfect opportunity to get out of here.

I had packed the most important things in a small bag and even if my she-wolf was at the end of her tether, I would take the chance. I could die afterwards for all I cared if I failed - at least I would die with the thought that I had tried.

An alarm sounded and Marga came into my room.

She signaled me not to say anything and just waved her hands for me to follow her.

Marga was my golden girl... She would run away with me too. That much was clear.

She helped me escape through the castle of Gabriel, leading me along various paths without being noticed.

"Take the horse and ride south... You will return to your pack in that direction. Don't look back, is that clear?" Marga had told me.

I had stood frozen "Aren't you coming with me?" she smiled weakly at me and shook her head "Unfortunately not... I'll hold down the fort here," she whispered softly and hugged me tightly.

"Please Marga, I can't leave you here, they'll kill you."

She shook her head again and hugged me once more before handing me the reins of the horse.

"You mustn't look back until you're safe, do you understand?"

There was a sad smile on Marga's lips and it tore at my heart.

I swung onto my horse, took the reins and rode off.

Oh Marga... How could I leave you? What am I supposed to do without you? What if they hurt or even kill you because you helped me escape from here at that moment?

I did what Marga had told me to do. I didn't look back and galloped as fast as I could.

It wasn't long before I heard a wolf howling. Gabriel knew about it and would hunt me down until he found me.

I rode into the dark forest and heard the howling getting louder and louder. He had to be close by, somewhere...

Dear diary, my journey will be long and I only hope to see you alive again as soon as possible. This will be my last entry and whoever reads this diary will be damned for having read it. So you owe me the death of Alpha Gabriel, the pack of the Blue Moon.

Kill the monster.

LORYS

Goosebumps spread all over my body as I read Bora's words.

Her instructions were clear-to kill the monster, and I'd done Bora justice that day when I ripped off its head, rammed my claws into its belly, and shredded each of its limbs with my fangs.

I closed the diary and thought about Marga's words. She really didn't know where Bora was, because she had helped her escape and had stayed with her pack to protect her...

Marga was lucky to be alive, because what she had done was treason. A reason to die.

To me, Marga was a hero, she had helped an innocent soul to escape.

I put the book aside and sighed softly. Leonardo had found Bora badly wounded on the border, not far from the battlefield... Gabriel must have tracked her down, and since he must have thought she was dead, he had left her behind.

Leonardo found her badly injured and she later died of her wounds, because she had the wolfsbane in her blood and the wounds could no longer heal.

That was the only explanation I had for what had happened.

I got up and got ready for bed. I lay down and pulled the blanket towards me, which reminded me of the smell of peaches. Marga probably washed my sheets with peaches...

In any case, it worked. The smell gave me a sense of calm that I can't describe, and soon I closed my eyes and fell asleep peacefully.

A week later

BORA

The preparations for the ball were complete.

We had worked every night on the decorations and were now faced with the result. The whole garden was decorated and everything was to take place outdoors.

I was woken up by the warm rays of sunshine streaming into my room.

Good morning, princess, time to get up," she giggled and looked at me.

"Mhm, I'm coming," I mumbled sleepily and got up.

Being in the circle had taught me a lot. I didn't take the maids' work for granted, although I was always grateful. It was hard work and after a week of sore muscles, my body slowly got used to beating the carpets, mopping and much more.

Like every morning, I got up and washed my face. I put on my dress and fastened the corset.

"Sit down, I think a plait would be appropriate again," Marga said and I sat down on the chair before she started to plait my hair.

"How far along are you with your dress?" I asked her, looking out of the window.

"There's not much left to do, it should be finished today," she said, beaming.

As a thank you, Linda had given us both fabric made from baroque and silk. Marga and I set to work sewing our ball gowns. It was a lot of work, but we managed it.

"There, now you can get up," she said, looking at me.

I nodded with a smile, "Thank you Marga," we finally left, had breakfast and got to work.

I went into the Alpha's room, he wasn't there as usual. I shook out the blankets and opened the windows to let in the fresh morning breeze.

After tidying everything up, I looked around and saw my diary lying on his table.

My fingers tingled again to take it, but I couldn't... Desperately, I bit my lower lip and finally picked up a shirt that was lying on the floor.

The scent of the shirt caught my nose and it smelled wonderful. I wanted to take this shirt with me.

I smiled at myself and shook my head as I took the shirt to wash it.

When I had finished, I left the room. I walked down the stairs and went into the laundry room.

I saw James and waved to him, "Good morning James".

"Good morning Rora," he replied with a smile and held the door open for me.

"Thank you," I said and walked through. When he called me Rora, I had to stifle a laugh. Maybe it was a good thing he couldn't remember my name. As Linda always called me Dear, my name was hardly ever mentioned and I had no intention of changing it.

In the laundry room, I filled a bowl with water and washed his shirt before hanging it on the line to dry.

With a soft sigh, I went back upstairs to Linda to make the final preparations.

The garden was beautifully arranged and she stood in the middle like an officer giving instructions.

"Glad you could come so quickly, honey, give me a hand," Linda said, walking over to a huge vase of flowers and trying to grab it.

I grabbed it from the other side and was about to help her when the vase almost fell out of my hand.

Two strong hands grabbed the vase before it could fall to the floor.

Startled, I looked up and saw that it was Beta Leonardo. "Thank you so much," I burst out.

"That went well," Linda said and suddenly laughed.

I nodded slightly: "Lucky you. Thank you Beta Leonardo," I thanked him again as he nodded at me with a smile. "It's no big deal, you can call us if you have something heavy to carry," he finally said.

He gave me a scrutinizing look and frowned briefly before turning away from us, "Well, Linda, I'll see you later," he said and walked off.

We set to work and after we had finished everything, we looked around happily.

"Now, ladies, you can use this time to get ready for the ball. All unmarried wolves are invited to attend the ball to replace their happiness. After all, we have to provide for our offspring," she winked at me and Marga as I disappeared back into the castle arm in arm with Marga.

"Oh, I'm so excited," Marga giggled and looked at me as I nodded.

"Yeah, me too..." I was more nervous than excited and wondered if we would manage to get out of here.

We went straight to our rooms and got changed for the evening.

Linda had given Marga a dark red fabric with gold embellishments and I had a cream-colored one with silver patterns.

The fabrics were very noble and normally intended for the nobility. When Linda gave them to us, we were confused and wondered why she would give us such a gift.

She had praised us and thanked us for our work. We had never seen anything like it at the Blue Moon. There, the employees were treated like dirt, which I thought was a shame.

After an hour's work, I was finally satisfied with my dress and fastened the last button so as not to lose the thread.

"Now my dress is finished," I said proudly and looked at it.

I could sew, but my dresses were always made by a tailor.

"Me too," Marga said with a smile and looked at me.

"Come on, let's get ready, we're about to start," she said excitedly and the big women's dress-up program was on.

We decided on updos so that we wouldn't have our hair in our faces when we disappeared.

"Oh, this is exciting..." Marga giggled as she put my hair up in a banana bun. She let a strand hang forward and looked at me with satisfaction.

"What was that again with the hair out of your face?" I asked her and looked at her with a grin.

She shrugged her shoulders: "And when you replace your mate? Then you'll have to look pretty too," Marga winked at me before I set about putting her frizzy hair up.

It was much easier with her because her hair was very easy to put up.

We put on our dresses and tied each other's corsets.

When we were finished, we looked at each other in the mirror with satisfaction and smiled broadly "That feels good again," I said and Marga nodded. "I've never worn a Barok dress before... it feels almost magical," she suddenly giggled.

"As soon as we leave here and return to my pack, you can have all my clothes," I said, smiling at her.

"I already feel like a princess," Marga said, and we laughed as if on cue.

"I think we're setting a new fashion trend too," Marga said, looking at us both.

Our necklines were low and we tried to sew as few petticoats as possible to them. It had a certain amount of volume, just enough to be able to run away with.

My she-wolf was already pushing to get out of here, and we were ready to do it.

When I escaped from the Blue Moon, that was my disadvantage, not having my she-wolf by my side, but tonight I would return stronger.