Chapter 23- A White Dress and Tux||Part Two
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"Thanks for sharing those many thoughtful words, Thea," Alpha speaks into the microphone.
Thea nods her head politely and wipes away her stray tears streaming down her cheeks.
Seeing Alpha gaze into the crowd at us white dressed people for a moment as if in deep thought, he averts his eyes back towards the name card with Thea's mate's name.
Giving it an odd twisted expression, he suddenly throws it to the stage ground.
"I've never heard such a moving speech," he says. "Makes me wonder if these Ceremonies are actually for the good and to create soulmates, or is it destroying relationships between rogues and preventing packs from forming off committee grounds?"
Some people screamed and cheered at the end of his words, assuring him that was indeed the case.
"I am your Alpha," he continues. "I only wish for the best out of all of you to be successful and for that reason, Oliver Wilson, would please join your Luna on stage?"
My heart skips a beat for her as she jumps up and down on the stage and squeals with tears streaming her cheeks.
Her makeup was smearing all over her face as Ozzy runs up to her and hugged onto her so tight that he lifted her off her feet and span around in a circle.
Alpha steps up to the microphone after they both parted and held their hands together.
"Thea and Ozzy shall unite as one, their entwining love for each other will forever be everlasting," Alpha announces. "To express their future love for each other, they shall share a pleasurable kiss."
Ozzy grabs Thea and pulls her close right away as if he didn't need to be told twice, pressing his lips onto hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he hugged onto her waist, reeling her even closer. Their height being completely equal to each other made their kiss look peaceful and sweet as either of them had to strain themselves.
Applauding erupted from all around in the audience, the people sitting close to me still remained silent as I stood on my seat and screamed as I clapped.
Feeling Rangel grab my ankle in disapproval, I look down at his scowl and decide to step down.
"Don't cheer for such a disaster," he speaks in a low tone. "This Ceremony will never deserve a cheer, no matter the match he may give somebody out of pity."
Not saying anything to him as I sit back into my seat, I hear Alpha clear his throat which makes Thea and Ozzy release each other.
Rangel was absolutely right, this Ceremony will never deserve a cheer, no matter the match he may give somebody out of pity...
"They both now shall share a lovable night together. But first, let's announce our Alpha and Luna moving out of our committee," he says, looking up into the audience of us who were dressed in all white for a moment upon speaking. "Audrey Fawn and Daniel Green, you both may join me on stage to congratulate yourselves on leaving."
Looking over to Rangel, he only meets my eyes for a second before quickly glancing away with a stone expression that neither told me if he were disappointed or glad to be staying here.
Audrey jumps straight into Daniel's arms once on stage, the both of them smiling cheekily as the Alpha grins proudly, completely falling for it all.
To think that their relationship was actually real and not just for show...
"Audrey and Daniel have successfully showed true compassion, love, obsession, trust, friendship, and much more which proves to me that they deserve to move on from CottonWood," he rambles into the microphone as always. "They both will unite and form a pack with no problems coming in the way....."
The rest of his words jumbled together, my mind not even paying attention to what he was saying. All I knew was that I was still stuck here while possibly pregnant with Leon's baby which would officially strand me here once Alpha found out...
My life was ruined-
"Estelle Edwards and Rangel Stevens, may you both please join me on stage?" The alpha speaks out, interrupting my thoughts of my own self-pity. "I'd like to have a few words."
Knowing that meant no good, I rise from my seat anyways, Rangel doing the same but not before giving me another odd expression that once again told me nothing.
Stepping up the stairs and meeting Thea's eyes, I avert them quickly before she could give me her pitied look which I already felt for myself.
"As we all know, Estelle and Rangel were matched together at our last Ceremony," he says. "They both have encountered issues in their forming love for each other, which brings them here."
He looks to us with the microphone in his hand and fire in his eyes.
"To think that you two even had the slightest of hope of leaving this committee enrages me," he fires at us. "I've never seen a match go as horribly wrong as you two manage to do. Rather if it's abusing or cheating, you two continue to amaze me with your horribleness at bonding with each other."
Holding in sobs, I don't dare look into the audience or at Rangel. The alpha wanted to embarrass us and it was completely working...
"I've considered just kicking you two both separately from CottonWood to just save myself from your complaints," he continues on. "But what good would that be? I mean, I think it'd be more of a punishment to have you two put in consoling that probably won't even work either."
Thinking that everybody from camp was listening to this, even Leon, I clench my fists and rip the microphone from the Alpha's hands and rise it to my pink lips.
"Rangel and I are only truly expressing what every match does to each individual dealing with a horrid match," I spoke. "I've never witnessed or experienced such a nightmare in my life and I've been raised in a closet in my childhood years until my parents dumped me off here. Only then did I realize that I wasn't still getting a life nor was I ever going to get a one. This whole Ceremony thing is just some way to play around with us and is his idea of self-entertainment to see us fight with our mates and stir up chaos! We don't deserve to be matched with a mate as that should all be chosen by the heart!"
The Alpha snatches the microphone from me, giving me a nasty look that would lead to no good in the future. But, I wouldn't take any of it back since everything I said was the dead honest truth and people deserved to hear it.
"Escort Estelle to the chamber," he demands his guards nearby. "She needs to realize what jeopardy she just caused us all and to CottonWood."
Feeling them grasp my upper arms after nodding and bowing to him, they lift me off the floor of the stage, my flats coming off my feet as they carried me away. Looking to Rangel, he winks a cherry red eye towards me before turning away and picking up my flats while blinking them back to their usual dimmed yellow.
Only knowing that to mean something positive, I smile for once.
Even though he hates me right now, it was only us against everybody else here in this camp and he was just lifting his side of it up.
"One more holler to Ozzy and Thea!" I hear the Alpha shout from behind me, everybody's shouts fading slowly as the farther I got carried off. "And a final congrats to Audrey and Daniel!"
"You've got one smart mouth," one of the guards mutter to me through his metal helmet suddenly. "You ought to shut up under the Alpha's words."
"To only be another one of his pawns in this game?" I irritatingly respond. "It's not fun or successful and you should even see that."
"Once again you smartass your way to answer things," he tells me.
"I'd say," the other guard adds onto the conversation. "A little time in the chamber ought to deserve you right."
"It'll only be a few times in here before you realize that fighting and arguing won't fix anything," the first guard tells me. "Being a smartass will literally bite you in the ass."
Rolling my eyes, I get set on my feet outside of a huge gate that the second guard opens as the first guard pushes me inside.
There was a chamber inside the gates, tall stone walls lining around it as it sat just alongside of the Alpha's Headquarters.
He became more and more sketchy as the days lingered on that it worried me...
"You should be thankful that it's only chambers for you," the first guard huffs, the second guard opening the chamber's door to reveal an old square room with cracked stone walls inside.
A long stone bench laid on one side which I was guessing was the bed?
"How many days do I have to stay in here?" I question, stepping into the dimmed room with a musty smell.
"Long enough to the point where you won't even think about talking back to the Alpha," the second guard answers, his helmet more shiny than the first guard's helmet. "His motives aren't to be questioned, they're to be obeyed and honored."
Rolling my eyes again, I turn away as they shut the door, a small slit at the top of the door allowed me to look through if I stood on my toes.
"I suggest you take a few naps, princess," the second guard mocks. "It's only going to be a long while."
"You make me sick," I sneer.
He chuckles through his shiny helmet.
"Or is that just the mighty smell of rotting stone getting to your head?" He questions with another chuckle.
"Or the fact that there's no bathroom and piles of shit are in the corners," I grumble back.
"Whoa, don't enjoy yourself too much," he laughs. "But, be my guest, do enjoy your time."
Growling as he walked away after the first guard, my stomach churns. He had as much of a smart mouth as I might have and he gets away with being the guard...
Sighing, I slide to the floor, my white dress easily turning to a champagne dress with all the grit and dirt gathering into the soft material.
This is what I get for standing up for everybody in this committee and trying to save the future matched mates?
Not that my life ever really meant anything to anybody or anything. I mean, after all, a dark closet was my home with a raggedy blanket that was my only friend.
Putting my head into my hands, I feel tears streaming my cheeks before I rub my makeup all over my face. Tears constantly ran from my eyes anymore, my self-pity forever unending.
From day one I was a mess, a complete disaster to everybody around me and even when I got dumped here in this committee, nobody seemed to like me either. So, why not prove to them all that I'm more then just a disaster, but somebody who saved them all?
Even if that consists of me staying in a dangerous disgusting chamber for who knows how long. I'll do what nobody else could...
Which was saving the future matches from being made. A rebellion for future peace even if Thea and Ozzy were just matched together.
Nobody deserves to live their life like this with force of love and no choice on how live to their very own life with somebody ordering on who you shall form a pack with...
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