ROSALIA’S POV
With only a week until the wedding day, I spent the rest of the days dealing with final wedding preparations.
The final dress fitting, order of events for the day.
I had been so excited for the wedding preparations the week before, and now it felt like I was preparing for a funeral.
Alphonso expected me to continue playing the dutiful fiancé and give him affection.
It was quite jarring.
Then when he was done with me he would turn to Patricia.
Patricia who was at the estate for her healing duties.
I would catch Alphonso and Patricia give each other longing stares.
They probably slept together again already.
I still couldn’t believe he expected me to be okay with us sharing him.
Moreover, I would catch Patricia glaring whenever I was with Alphonso and she happened to be around us.
She stared at me in contempt at my dress fitting.
So, following up on the heated exchange we’d had in the Ramirez gardens, I started playing things up.
I would be especially affectionate with Alphonso whenever she was around.
To give her even more motivation.
You want affection from me, Alphonso?
Fine, I’ll give it to you.
I went back to the old Rosa he knew.
Then I noticed she was plotting something.
She started acting a little strange.
At home, she received packages that she didn’t want anyone else to see.
I got a sneak peek at one of them, though.
To get a sense of what she had in mind.
So I could prepare around it.
**********
The day of the wedding was nerve-racking.
With no idea how things would turn out by the end of the day, my heart was pounding hard in my chest.
I hugged and snuggled into Alphonso as we stood in the central hall of the Moon Goddess’ temple.
The bonding ceremony was in 45 minutes.
Guests were already arriving and making their way toward the ceremony room, and I still hadn’t even gotten dressed.
Alphonso was already dressed in his suit for the ceremony.
I leaned against Alphonso, holding him tightly as I kept eye contact with Patricia, who was standing nearby with our father and mother.
Patricia had that usual agitated look in her eyes whenever I was with Alphonso.
“Rosa, you’ve been so excited lately. I’m glad you’ve gotten over our situation from last week,” Alphonso laughed as he wrapped his arm around me.
“I’m just excited, that’s all,” I said.
“Well, I’ll go get dressed. See you soon.”
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you too,” I replied and left with some of the Ramirez servants.
The dressing room was on the first floor.
My mind was all over the place as I made my way.
As I turned into a hallway, I bumped hard into someone.
I looked up and was met with golden eyes and fiery red hair.
I barely heard their footsteps, and I didn’t pick up a scent.
“I’m sorry,” I quickly apologised.
It’s fine,” his voice was deep and gruff.
He continued walking after a moment.
Once in the dressing room, the servants started getting me dressed.
My makeup and hair were already done before coming to the temple.
I only had to put on the dress.
I was nervous as I looked in the mirror, staring at the beautiful white, flowy gown once it was on.
When is Patricia going to act?
I thought to myself.
I was running out of time.
“We are done preparing you, ma’am. Alpha Moncaro is waiting for you in the hallway,” they told me.
“I just need a moment, and I’ll be out,” I told them.
The servants bowed and left me in the room.
Moments later, the doors suddenly opened.
I turned to look.
“Patricia!” I exclaimed her name.
However, a wave of relief came over me.
had feared she wasn’t going to do anything.
She had four servants from our house with her.
“Take the dress off her now,” she instructed the maids.
“What are you doing, Patricia?” I asked.
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m getting married!” She said as she walked up to me at the dressing table.
She turned to the dressing table and took my phone.
“You won’t be needing that,” she said.
“You can’t be serious!” I faked shock.
The maids grabbed me and began to remove the dress from my body.
She then picked up one of the clothes I had been wearing earlier and began rubbing it all over herself.
It took me a moment to realise she was rubbing my scent onto herself.
“No! No, you can’t do this!” I yelled, then pretended to fight against the maid’s grip on me.
“Sorry, Rosalia,” she said.
She reached into her bag and took out a wig.
It was the same brown colour as my hair.
I knew from when I peeked at the many packages she had been receiving at home.
I pretended to resist the two remaining maids who held me down.
Patricia began doing her makeup to make it look more like mine.
“You can do your makeup, but Alpha Ramirez will know it’s not my voice,” I continued, pretending to be upset.
Patricia smiled at me.
She placed her hand on her throat, and her healing hands began to glow.
“You mean this voice?” She said in a voice that sounded eerily similar to mine.
My eyes genuinely widened; I did not know her healing powers could go that far.
Then I recalled when she’d corrected the tone and pitch of that dog’s voice the other day.
Nice.
“You’ve been so confident that you and Alphonso will be bonded, but we’ll see how confident you are after this ceremony. Even he can’t change this,” She laughed.
“But he doesn’t want you. If you bond with him, you’re only going to regret it,” I said.
“Men are easy, Rosa. He might want you now, but who’s to say he’ll want you tomorrow.”
Patricia, now dressed in my wedding gown, quickly left the room.
“Wait! You can’t do this!” I tried to follow, but the door slammed in my face.
I heard a key turn in the door lock.
They were locking me inside.
I began banging my fist against the door as if demanding to be let out.
After several moments, I stopped once their footsteps were far enough away.
This was my last attempt to get out of this engagement.
Whether it would work or not, I wasn’t sure.
I couldn’t stay in the room, though.
There’s one last thing I needed to do to complicate my engagement to Alphonso further.
I went to the drawer to get a second phone.
I had been using it to communicate with David secretly.
Didn’t want to leave evidence behind.
I texted him to come to the dressing room.
Patricia and Alphonso will hopefully form a bond soon, but I had to hurry before they finished.
“Ms Rosa, are you okay?” David called out to me from outside the door moments later.
“Yes. Can you get me out?”
“Yes.”
After a moment, he broke down the door.
“Are you okay?” He politely asked.
“I am. Are you?”
He nodded his head.
“You said you would tell me what you wanted after this,” he reminded me.
“I want you to form a bond with me.”
His eyes widened in shock.