Chapter 2

Isabella's pov

Early next morning.

Awakened by a sharp ringing, I fumbled for my phone without even opening my eyes.

"Who's that?!" I asked impatiently after the call got through.

"Go meet the pack elders immediately!" My father's cold voice sounded from the other end of the line. He went to attend the regional council meeting before I flew back.

"Everything all right, Dad?" I asked nervously before figuring out what was going on.

“Amanda had told me everything!” My father continued to rant, “How could you fool around out there with a random guy when your mating ceremony’s around the corner?!"

What?! 

I did a double take on my screen to check the caller ID and make sure it was my father speaking on the other side.

“Whatever Amanda said, I want to tell you that I haven’t fooled around with any guy, Dad.” Suppressing the anger in my chest, I tried my best to keep my voice steady before continuing.

“About the mating ceremony with Bruno, it won't happen anymore. But I’m not gonna go meet the elders now.”

"You have disappointed me so much! You are far less thoughtful than Jasmine! She'll make a better Alpha than you! Let me tell you, you’ll get expelled if you don’t go meet the pack elders right away! You'll no longer be a member of the Watson Pack!" 

His words made me chill.

“Dad—”

The phone was hung up before I even finished my words. My heart sank to the bottom. 

He was so cruel!

My father had already planned it out: using my marriage to profit for the Watson Pack on one hand, while making his beloved daughter Jasmine the next Alpha on the other hand.

After hearing that I was gonna cancel the mating ceremony, he realized that I was of no more use to the Watson Pack. So he took off his disguise and revealed his true colors.

How could he not know what being expelled from the pack means to a werewolf? Not to mention that I didn’t even have a wolf in me.

As my hand held the phone tightly, my eyes roamed around and finally stopped at the ceiling. 

Then something hit on me: I was in a hotel! 

And the crazy night with the call boy began to surface bit by bit in my mind.

I sat up from bed immediately, only to realize that the call boy was nowhere to be found. 

Now I was all alone in the hotel room.

“Bzzzzzzt!” Another sudden ring broke the silence again, awakening me from the trance.

It was a message from Amanda, Jasmine’s mother.

“What does she want?” I thought to myself as a bad feeling rose in me.

After clicking the message open, I saw nothing but a photo of Ruth!

My blood froze instantly. Ruth was my grandparents’ adopted daughter and grew up with my mother. 

She had been there for me like a mother after my mother passed away.

Whatever Amanda’s trick was, she was using Ruth as a tool to threaten me.

I wanted to ignore Amanda, but that would risk Ruth’s life.

Without further hesitation, I called Amanda back immediately.

“Where’s Ruth? What do you want?” I asked in a huff.

“Ruth? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Amanda raised her voice on the other side of the call, playing dumb. “But I think the pack elders would be more than willing to help you find Ruth together.”

I saw where this was going. My father and Amanda had talked after he hung me up. Now Amanda was forcing me back to meet the elders.

“Okay, I’m gonna go meet the elders now.” After taking a deep breath, I agreed. 

I didn't do anything wrong anyway. Bruno and Jasmine were the cheating ones.

I decided to take this opportunity to expose their dirty deeds.

After the truth was made clear to the public, I’d ask Amanda to hand Ruth out.

“Good. Come to Sky Hotel at 1:30 pm.” Amanda’s nasty voice sounded again.

When I arrived at the banquet hall on the second floor of the Hotel later in the afternoon, all pack elders had been well seated. 

Jasmine and Amanda were, of course, there as well.

“Miss Isabella, so may I ask why you cheated on Mr. Bruno Sandall?” After I walked up on the stage, an elder shot a sharp question directly at me.

“Cheated on Bruno? Are you kidding me?” I sneered, “Bruno’s the cheating one! I caught him sleeping with Jasmine behind my back!”

“Stop slinging mud at me!” Jasmine didn’t expect me to launch a pre-emptive strike against her, her eyes widening in fear.

“Miss Jasmine’s right. That’s a serious accusation. Do you have any evidence?” The elder approached.

“I…” I stuttered as I regretted not taking photos of them sleeping together.

“That’s a no I guess?” The elder saw through me. “But we do get some evidence on you cheating.”

“Show me then!” Irritated by his words, I really wanted to see how they would make the story up.

Just as I stopped speaking, the big screen behind me started scrolling through photos of me getting into Room 419. There were also scenes where a man got out of this room early this morning.

In an instant, the crowd erupted into chaos. All eyes focused on me.

Bruno rushed into the hall out of nowhere, his face ashen, saying, "Isabella, you! How could you...!"

Bruno's questioning made everyone even more excited.

"Excuse me, Miss Isabella. Could you tell us who the man in the photo is? Judging by his physique, it shouldn't be Mr. Sandall, right?"

"Miss Isabella, since you’re about to have the mating ceremony with Mr. Sandall, don’t you think what you did is cheating?"

"Miss Isabella, you are so disappointing! As Alpha's daughter, you have disregarded the interests of our pack! You have brought shame to the Watson Pack!"

"Miss Isabella..."

Bombarded by a flood of accusations, I felt like falling into the abyss.

As I looked around the hall for help, my eyes caught a hint of barely noticeable delight at the corner of Amanda's mouth. 

After a brief pondering, I managed to cool myself down and quickly figured out what was going on.

This was a trap!

They wanted to mislead the elders to believe that I was the cheating one and not qualified to be the successor of Watson Pack's Alpha, so that Jasmine'd become the future Alpha of my pack and Bruno's Luna.

"Isabella, speak up! Who's the man in the photo?!" Bruno urged irritably.

Looking at the crowd with curious expressions, I took a deep breath, about to speak, when a slightly teasing voice rang out.

"Is my name really that hard to utter, Bella?"

The hall went instantly silent.

My heart skipped a beat the moment my gaze fixed at the entrance of the banquet hall.

It was him! The call boy! Even at such a distance, I could still smell the faint scent of cedar from him.

He was in a bespoke black suit today. With impeccable features, he attracted all eyes glued onto him.

“Why is he here?” I thought to myself, not sure how the call boy found me here.

"It's Joseph Parker!"

"Joseph Parker?"

"Yes. He’s the Alpha of the Parker Pack and CEO of the Parker Group, the largest financial conglomerate in this region!"

Shocked and excited, several elders couldn’t help but shouted out.

“Wait! Alpha of the Parker Pack?! Isn’t he just a call boy?” A thousand questions popped into my mind.

When I was immersed in the shock, Joseph walked straight to my side with a smile, holding my waist with one hand and facing everyone together with me...