Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Once the small group stepped out of the palace, Anita dismissed her two pack members with a simple flick of her wrist. The men seemed to know exactly what the gesture meant and they took off in separated directions, leaving a wondering Belle to follow the lone pack leader. They sauntered through the palace’s market in slow, relaxed pace. Belle would nod left and right when people greeted her, a fake smile plastered firmly on her face. If not for the anxiety gripping her heart, the walk felt no different than her usual afternoon strolls.

Anita continued to wander through the market place, halting every once in a while on some stands, she did not notice that Belle had stopped following her. The princess took her time, closing her eyes whilst breathing deeply. The smell of baked goodies mixed with freshness of fruits and vegetables and a whiff of sweetness from the candy stands. The sounds of sellers trying to coax buyers, kids running around, and simply everything, came together into a beautiful orchestra. The princess took it all in, ignoring the fact that she was standing on the middle of the street. Belle craved every single detail deep in her memories, because it would be the last time she was there. When the real severity or the situation hit her, she could not stop the tiny beads of tears from flowing down her cheeks.

“Belle!”

Instinctively, the brown haired girl wiped the telltale sign of her tears before turning on her heels. But the person marching at her direction only broke her heart more. “Mrs. Potts!” She cried back, opening her arms to engulf the woman in a hug.

“What were you thinking, young lady?!” The middle-aged woman scolded, she rubbed her charge on the back soothingly nonetheless. “You shouldn’t have to sacrifice yourself like this. We can ask Prince Phillip for help, we can try asking Queen Abigail or even Queen Regina...” She suggested whilst softly pushing Belle away to wipe her tears. “A girl shouldn’t sell herself to the beast...”

“I’m not going to be eaten, Mrs. Potts...” Belle joked, trying to lighten up the situation, but the disapproving look on the woman’s face told her that she had failed miserably. “Anita seems okay and she just wants a tutor for her child, I should be fine.” It was said more for her own sake than to reassure Mrs. Potts.

Of course Belle had doubts and worries; she had just agreed to teach a werewolf, for God’s sake. There was no guarantee that she would not be devoured through the process or after it. But it only took her one look of her surrounding, of her people, to solidify her determination. If she was going to die, she was going to die protecting her kin. Not because it was the right thing for a ruler to do, but because she had chosen to do so.

Mrs. Potts chuckled when she noticed the renewed fire burning in Belle’s blue orbs. “You’re as hardheaded as your mother.”

“Papa said the same.” The smile on Belle’s lips was bittersweet.

“And we both know she would be so proud of you.” The woman wiped Belle’s cheeks then tucked her hair behind an ear. She then brought up the small duffle bag she had been carrying since the beginning and handed it to the princess. “I’ve packed some clothes, toiletries, and your favorite book.”

Belle hugged her again. “Thank you so much, Mrs. Potts.”

“Don’t thank me yet, love. The werewolves don’t seem like they fancy traveling in carriage so I only managed to pick two of the most basic dresses.”

That downed yet another aspect of the situation into the princess. Questions like where she would live, what she would eat, would they make her eat raw animals like she believed they did, and more were swimming freely in her head. The thought gave her headache, so she stopped thinking about the ‘what-ifs’ at once. Belle would take it head on when it finally happened and she had read of the eastern empire eating raw fish on daily basis, so it should not be so bad.

Mindlessly, the noble girl nodded. “It’s fine Mrs. Potts, I will-“

“Belle!”

This time, Belle tensed up when her name was being called. She knew who that deep, manly voice belonged to. “Mrs. Potts, thank you for everything,” she squeezed the woman’s hand, “I love you. Please tell Papa that I love him too. I’ll miss everyone. Now, go.” The princess urged.

“But Belle-“

“Go, go before Gaston arrived.”

Mrs. Potts finally gave in, nodded once, before she vanished among the crowd. Belle’s relief was short lived as Gaston grabbed her arm and forcefully turned her to face him. She tugged her limb out of his grasp, making him more furious than he already was, but he knew better than making a scene on public.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” The knight hissed, face dangerously close to Belle’s that she could smell his scent and it was not so nice. “How dare you making such foolish decision by yourself?! You should’ve asked me. I’m your fiancé!”

Belle could not believe Gaston’s audacity. “I am not your fiancée.” She stumbled back. “Just because my father suggested it once, doesn’t mean you are already one.”

“You...” Gaston gritted his teeth to contain his anger. Instead, he pulled a small seethed blade from his hips and pushed it to Belle’s hand. “Silver dagger.”

The hardened look on the princess’ face changed into a horrified one in an instant. She knew silver was werewolves’ weakness. She tried to push it back into Gaston’s hand when she noticed Anita was making her way towards them. It would turn from bad to worse soon. Belle did not want to make the pack leader’s doubt her sincerity of the deal. She might not have experience in battlefield, but like her role model, she would put honor above everything else. Finding herself with a silver dagger was obviously not showing any respect of the werewolves she had a deal with, especially when their leader had trusted her enough to let her wander around the market without being guarded.

“Take it, Belle!” Gaston shouted, causing the people around them to stop and stare at the princess-knight duo.

“Get away from her, young lad.” Anita warned as she stepped to Belle’s side. Her leather messenger-bag was filled with fruits and bread she had bought for the short journey.

Gaston, being the arrogant man that he was, thoroughly ignored Anita’s presence even though he did take a step back. “Belle, I promise I’ll come and save you.” He spoke out, hand across his chest.

“Maybe I don’t want to be saved.” The princess muttered back. “At least not by you.”

Anita laughed merrily. “You heard the girl. Now shoo.” She waved him off.

The knight nodded once in acknowledgement at Belle, after she denied him her hand to be kissed, then walked away in his typical proud stride. It was only after he was nowhere in sight that the princess realized that she still had the silver dagger in her possession. She bit her lip hesitantly before facing Anita, ready to explain.

“Uum... I... It’s...” Belle slowly, carefully brought the blade into view. It was still safe in its sheath, but she knew better than surprised Anita, even more when the older woman had a lot of animal instinct within her. “Gaston gave it to me, I never want to-“

Surprisingly, Anita took the dagger and unsheathed it. She hooked her forefinger through the hole on its hilt, letting the blade swing left and right, studying the silver blade which gleamed dangerously. Belle held her breath. She had no idea of what Anita would do. For all that she knew, the woman could have stabbed her on the eye with a mere flick for her wrist. Thankfully, Anita put it back in its sheathe and handed it back to Belle, whose jaw slacked at the action.

“You can keep it.”

“Why...?”

“It’s too small to cause any permanent damage on us.” Anita motioned Belle to move along with her, to which the latter did. They walked side by side this time, with the princess looking curiously at the older woman, waiting for more explanation. “There is a lot of misguided information about us.” Anita cackled. “But it does hurt like a bitch to come in contact with silver, so you’re going to need the dagger to protect yourself.”

Belle froze on her track when she heard the words. “Why would I need to protect myself?” Her tone held a nervous edge on it. “I thought I’m just going to be a tutor for your child...?”

Anita threw a wink at Belle. “You’ll understand later.”

Belle stood on the massive front gate along with the three werewolves and a horse. The two men, Quinn and Peter, had brought back the horse and some more foods and daily necessities. Those, along with her duffle bag, were safely strapped on the backside of the horse. The brown-haired princess had wondered why they only had one horse with them, but she did not bring it up. She was too focused on her kingdom behind her as the guards slowly opened the massive gate; it had been kept close since the ogres’ attack.

Holding her tears at bay, Belle nodded back when the guards bowed at her as the group stepped out of the kingdom. This would be the last time for her; she probably would never come back. Hot beads of tears finally spilled out after the gate closed behind her. This was it. Belle felt her heart clenched painfully in her chest, but she would never cry openly. Quickly collecting herself, she turned then walked to where the werewolves were waiting for her, head hung low to hide her bloodshot swollen eyes.

Even if the three werewolves knew about Belle’s sadness -which they probably did since they were blessed with sharp smelling sense and was able to pick up her tears’ scent- they did not say a thing about it. Quinn and Peter walked ahead of the two women until the group reached the edge of the thick forest. Belle heard fabric rustling from her side but still did not look up. It was only when a cloak engulfed her body that she brought her head up.

“It takes a day to reach the den.” Anita supplied as she tied her own dark blue cloak around Belle’s neck. “We won’t stop to sleep so you need to keep yourself warm.”

“What about you?”

“Werewolf blood.” Anita answered as if that would explain anything. She then climbed on the steed, offering a hand to Belle. “Let’s go.”

After a little struggle and Quinn’s help, Belle was sitting on the horse behind Anita. The saddle was too small for two people, so their bodies flushed together. True to what the pack leader had said, her body’s temperature was a lot warmer than normal human. Belle grasped the fabric on Anita’s dress to keep herself steady when she noticed their two male companions were nowhere to be found, but before she could ask the older brunette, a pair of giant wolves emerged from the woods.

Anita must have sensed Belle tensing behind her because she patted her hand to alter her attention. “Calm down. It’s Peter,” she pointed at the white-grey one then to the midnight-black one, “and Quinn.” When the two wolves cautiously moved forward, Belle spotted the bundle of clothes and cloak on their mouths. Again, as if she could read her thought, Anita provided the answer to her unspoken questions. “We have to take off our clothes before shifting, or it’ll shred beyond repair.” She reached out to take their clothes and put it in her bag. “Hold on tight, princess.” Anita warned before nudging the horse, the two wolves ran ahead of them.

True to what Anita had said, they reached the border within a day. They had moved through the night and stopped only to fulfilling nature calls. At one point, they stumbled on an ogre but they left the two werewolves to take care of it. Other than the small incident, Peter and Quinn took turns to hunt for themselves and drank from the rivers while Anita and Belle shared the food and water. With such strategy, the sun had not reached its highest peak on the sky when they halted in front of a cave of some sort that Anita had dubbed as her ‘den’.

Anita dismounted the horse easily and offered her hand for the princess, who looked very disheveled from the trip. The last time Belle travelled, it was to Aurora’s palace when they both were invited to Prince Sean’s marriage, but that was years ago and at that time she was in a comfortable carriage instead of sharing one tiny saddle of a horse. Belle groaned as she slowly slipped off the steed, her body was aching on all the wrong places.

“Quinn, go get Red.” Anita ordered while holding on the princess, who had wobbled when she tried to take the first step. “And Peter, you should rest.” The two wolves raced inside the den. Anita was watching them with a fond smile when she caught Belle in the process of taking off her loaned cloak. “No, keep it.” She ripped the younger girl’s hand from the laces. “It helps concealing your scent.”

Too tired to argue, Belle let it go, but not her curiosity. “Why would I need to con-“

The word died on Belle’s tongue when she saw a massive brown wolf on the den’s entrance. Its gold eyes stared straight at hers and she was captivated, unable to say or do anything other than stare back with wide, fearful yet intrigued blue orbs. The wolf tilted its head up to take a sniff on the air. When it took a little too long for the wolf to do that, Anita narrowed her eyes and motioned the large beast to come closer, to which it did with hesitated steps. As it walked under the sunlight, its thick coat lightened into reddish color. It stopped a few feet away from the women then sat down obediently, looking up at Anita with puppy eyes and ears flattened on its head.

Anita, satisfied with the behavior, smiled smugly as she turned to the motionless girl on her side. “Princess, meet my pup and your new tutee, Red.” The wolf barked and wagged its tail excitedly.

Belle’s eyes grew larger than it already did and her jaw dropped. What did I get myself into...?