Louisseena

Chapter 36

A chauffeur drove Beckett and me to the palace’s library. It was a building on its own. In it were levels and levels of book shelves. I bet they even have underground ones. They even had a librarian here. He greeted us at the sight of us. “ Your sisters are here princess Beckett.” 

Beckett pulled my hand and ran along a corridor. We came up to a table where her twin sisters were seated. “ Hi Becky. I see you brought her along.”, both sisters spoke together with a pleasant smile.

What? Can they still smell Bruce on me? It surely has already faded. I facepalm in my mind.

“Hi Loulou. I’m Amanda.”

“And I’m Amelia”

“ Welcome to the family”, the twin sisters spoke. I was getting a small chill at how fluently they spoke together. I guess twins do have a good bond with each other and I understood why Beckett treated me like her elder sister that she never had. It is hard to come between a twin’s bond.

I left Beckett with her sisters and said that I was going to just look through the library. I went back up to the librarian at the front. “ Hi. Do you have any books regarding black wolves? Do they exist?” 

The librarian was an old man. He looked like he was taking care of this place the past hundred years. “ Yes Madam. The knowledge is in here” he said as he pointed towards his temple. He motioned me to follow him as he continued speaking. “ Once upon a time, the moon goddess blessed the land with an all white wolf. To make balance, she created an all black wolf too. They were happy being by each other’s sides. Both of them were all magical pups of the goddess.” I listened to him silently.

“ As time went on, people favoured the white wolves as if they were the light of the goddess. They shun out the black wolves as if they are the darkness. You know how people can be Madam.” He led me to a shelf and stopped. “ These are the books you are looking for. I shall leave you to it.” 

I thanked the librarian and made my way closer to the shelf of books. 

I was pulling out books after books, reading and gathering information on black wolves. These books were so thick and I'm really a slow reader. I must have been here for hours. I didn’t even know when Bruce came here. “What are you reading?” his voice startled me and I dropped the book I was holding. His quick reflexes caught the book and he brought it up to see the title. “The Powers of Black Wolf”

“Raven?” Bruce tilted his head towards me. “Yes.” I sigh as he has figured it out. It was easy to find out what colour wolf is, seeing how much I like black cats.

“Raven’s fur is all black. I’ve heard stories when I was young about the white and black wolf. I just...”, I was holding onto my arm.

Just like how I didn't like my name, Louisseena, I didn't really like that I am an all black fur wolf. I don't want these kind of attention from people. I just want to blend in the background. If only I was pretty...

“ What did your mother sa-?” Bruce asked but his sentence seems to have cut short.

“ She doesn’t know. I never shifted in front of her.”

I didn't get my wolf on the days nearing my 16th birthday or after my birthday. Normally we get our wolf between 16-18 years old. But I got Raven pretty early. It was a day when I was still in my 15th year on this earth. That day, my mother had cooked prawns and other dishes for dinner. Prawn is one my favourite seafood but she rarely buys them. She had cooked about 10 pieces of prawn for the both of us. Usually my brother doesn't eat dinner at home. He eats at the pack main houses there. But my mother said that to leave 5 pieces for him while I get 3 and she gets 2. This got me mad. Why do we need to keep prawns for someone who isn't eating dinner at home? And it pains me that my mother gets to eat so little. It didn't matter if I got 1 more than her. I just couldn't understand that we had to keep so many for a person who doesn't even like prawns in the first place.

We had a mini quarrel and it became worse when my brother came home. Because I was still upset over the fact that my mother had kept the prawns for him. He flung the plate of prawns at me and shouted, " nobody ever ask you to keep for me. if you want just eat, not like I asked you to keep it for me. Don't try to blame it on me."

I rushed out of the house and into the woods after those words. The words...the pain...The things we do, the sacrifices she makes for him, yet he doesn't even care. That was the first time in my life I couldn't stop crying for hours. And that was also the night my wolf, Raven came to me and comfort me.

After all these years, the memory from that night is still fresh. The way his attitude and words were towards me. They said time can heal wounds. Even though afterwards we eventually got okay but I never got over it. It still hurts me till this day.

Bruce put the book back on the shelf. “ Come Loulou, join us for a family dinner.” 

I looked out to see that it was quite dark outside already. I didn’t realize it’s dinner time. “ The books are always here. We can come back later”. I nodded in agreement and left with Bruce back to the palace.

We went back to the dining place where I had my breakfast. This time, the table is filled with everyone. I counted, someone seems to be missing. I whispered to Bruce and asked where his brothers were. “ Albert and Dave already have their mates so they don't stay here. The rest of us mostly stay here together.” 

Richard spoke out after the first course of the meal was placed in front of us. It looks like tomato gazpacho, garnished with edible flowers. “Welcome Loulou to our residence. Please enjoy your dinner. I’ve specially asked the chef to prepare some of your favourite food but it seems Bruce doesn’t know any of them” Richard tried to poke fun of Bruce. I can see where Bruce got his jovial side. 

I chuckled in my mind. “ It’s fine. I am not a fussy eater. I eat almost anything except celery, parsley, coriander or anything that smell or taste like those.”

“You heard that Mrs Jackson? I want nothing of those in here tonight.”, he said loudly as if hinting for Bruce to listen.

As the meal went on, Meredith brought up that they had received an invitation to a ball tomorrow evening at one of the other royal palaces. It was to celebrate the birthday of one of the lycans coming to age. The whole Lorleans family was invited.

I was curious to know what these kinds of parties looked like. “Loulou, you’re also invited.” Meredith turned and smiled at me. 

“ It’s okay Meredith. I’m not part of the Lorleans. I don’t mind staying here.” I quickly added. I’ve never been to these kinds of balls, much less know their etiquette. 

“Oh c’mon Loulou. Who will be my brother’s date?” Beckett said. “Well, you can be.” I replied. “No, I’m accompanying Charles already.” Beckett gave me the puppy eyes.

I don’t even know why I agreed. No, actually I do. If I were to stay here, I’ll be over thinking that some female lycan will be dancing with Bruce. Since the time I started staying with the boss, I've never see him go dating or anything. Maybe his lover is here in this land. I got to go and peek for myself. Wait, why am I going again? It's not like the boss is related to me in any way. Why do I feel... jealous?