Her Mates by Tamara White
Twenty-Two
“So, what do you think?” Mitchell inquires, while Jonnie and I sit back on the mattress. I’m still shocked at how incredible I look.
“I don’t know. It must be some kind of trick. I doubt I could have changed that much just from my shift.”
“Or you just really look that beautiful because you were supposed to be that beautiful. Don’t get me wrong, I thought you were gorgeous when I first met you, but now it’s like you’ve gone from a butterfly to an even more gorgeous butterfly,” Nate adds, blushing.
“Aw, that’s so sweet. Thank you, Nate.” I guess if I keep picking at it, I’ll probably go back to the ugly caterpillar. “What about my wolf? What’d she look like? Was she pretty?” I ask nervously, biting my nails. I’ve been waiting years to find out what my wolf looks like, only to be disappointed when I was supposed to shift.
Now that I can actually shift, I’m excited to find out what we look like.
“She’s stunning. Your coat is a glossy black with white and beige markings. You have markings around your face and ears, much like a mask. Then you have beige marks around your midriff, like a saddle. You are also huge compared to the others. If I had to guess, I’d say you are only an inch or so shorter than Cam, which is pretty impressive,” Jason details with a note of awe in his voice.
“Cool. So she was badass, right?” I press, provoking a few chuckles.
“Yes, Dani, extremely badass.” Pete grins back.
I’m glad to know what she looks like, but maybe next time I can get someone to take a picture for me.
Getting back to our quality time together, I question, “So, what movie did you pick?”
“You’re going to love this. Pete told us about this awesome spaceship movie he found the other day. It’s called The Fault in Our Stars. I’m so excited,” Cam replies, splayed out on the mattress.
Trying hard not to laugh, I seek out Pete and see him smirking at me beside the DVD player. He knows it’s not a sci-fi movie, but it is a really good movie, so I’ll let this play out. It may be sappy, but I love the tragic lovers’ storyline. It’s so sad yet so sweet.
We’re halfway through the movie when Nate gets suspicious. “Pete, are you sure you put the right movie in?”
I grin, hiding my face in Pete’s chest. If Nate sees me smiling, he’ll know straightaway that Pete was up to no good.
“Yeah, man, it’s the right one. It gets good soon, I promise,” he tells him over my head. Lying between them, I know I’m going to be stuck when the fight breaks out. No sooner do I think it, I feel Nate reach over my back and hit Pete.
“Dude, what was that for?” he asks, offended.
“I just googled The Fault in Our Stars. Guess what it said? A tragic romance. No space, no aliens, no fighting. You tricked us, you ass,” he accuses, a note of laughter in his voice. It’s a good sign he can joke about it.
“Well, how else was I going to get the group to branch out into new things if we’re all watching action shit all the time? In case you guys haven’t noticed, there is a lady present. She doesn’t want to watch action movies every night,” Pete says, relying on me to back him up.
“Oh, no you don’t, buddy. Action and horror are my favorite genres, then comedy. Romance is nowhere near the top of my list. That’s all on you,” I retort, smirking.
“You traitor. I try to do something nice and you betray me like this. How will my heart ever recover?” he laments, clutching his chest.
I laugh at his dramatics and wiggle my body close enough so I can look into his eyes. He hides so much of his internal pain with his humor, but when I look into his blue eyes, I see how much pain he’s holding back. I hope one day when I look, all I’ll see is hope and joy.
His father has screwed up his life so much, and without the soft touch of his mother, he uses humor as a defense mechanism.
There’s nothing I can do to fix it now, but in time, I hope we get close enough so I can erase that pain. For now, I can distract him and hopefully make him feel more at ease. Though I don’t know if what I do next is for him or me.
I lean close, my lips barely an inch from his, but near enough that if he moved we’d be kissing. I caress his lips softly and let my wolf rise to the surface so she can comfort him. She sends some of our essence to his wolf, and I feel a weight lift from his heart. He’s finally content. Not completely happy, but not mourning something he can’t change.
“Dani! No kissing until you’re mated!” Laura chides, breaking Pete and me out of the moment, finally remembering we’re not alone. The others are all watching. Blushing, I look up at the doorway to see Laura staring at us disapprovingly.
“We need to get you ready. The dinner will be hosted earlier at the elders’ request,” she declares, briskly turning on her heel and leaving.
Sighing, I get up, prepared to face whatever lecture she’s ready to dish out, but first I want to gauge the others’ reactions.
“Sorry, guys, I didn’t mean to make things awkward between us.”
“Dani, wolves have shared partners before. Our whole race knows we’re dying out, so we have no choice but to share sometimes. What happened here didn’t bother us. Please don’t let my mother frighten you into hiding yourself. We all care about you, if she doesn’t understand that, then too bad,” Nate tells me, pulling me in for a hug.
“Thank you. I’ll see you guys at dinner,” I say, leaving them to their thoughts while I mull over my own.
They reacted a lot better than I thought they would. I expected jealousy or a refusal to acknowledge what happened, but they were very calm about it, which gives me high hopes for the future.
Once I reach my bedroom door, I take a big breath before facing Laura. I don’t know what she’ll say, but I have a feeling it’s not going to be good. I’ll try to be respectful, considering we’re staying here. There’s only so much judgment I can take though. I didn’t want more than one mate, but six were thrust onto me and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Laura’s fussing around my room, running from side to side, moving things and putting them down elsewhere, before rethinking the decision and putting them somewhere else. I guess decorating must be her de-stress activity.
“Laura, please just calm down and talk to me,” I plead, sitting on the edge of the bed, watching her go back and forth.
She stops at my dresser, her back facing me, and slumps her shoulders. “Why did you kiss Pete? I thought you told them you wouldn’t kiss any of them after what happened with Jason. Then I walk in to see you kissing Pete in front of the others. Are you really so heartless that you’d play with them like that when you haven’t made a choice?”
Is she serious? How dare she!
“Look, Laura, I understand you’re just looking out for the boys right now, but you have no right to speak to me like that. I’ve already told them I want them all if the elders will allow it. We are still getting to know each other though. We have to learn not just our human sides, but our wolf sides too.
“There’s no way in hell I’ll force a lifetime commitment with someone until I’m sure. It can’t be taken back, and it’s unfair for me to rush making a decision that will affect us all,” I boldly tell her.
She refuses to face me for a moment, and when she does, I’m shocked to see tears trailing down her face. Shit, I didn’t want her to cry!
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to cry, it’s just overwhelming. You may not want to admit it, but you love them. No one cares for someone so much that they risk everything to make them happy rather than themselves. Whatever happens, I’m here for you,” she promises, swooping me up into a hug.
I pat her back awkwardly, not sure how to deal with someone crying on me. The only time I’ve cried in my life was when I was a hormonal teenager and some bullies at the school were teasing me about not having a mom. This situation has me completely flustered.
“Sorry, honey. Just having one of those days. Come see the dress I picked out for you,” she murmurs, wiping the tears from her face and walking to the dresser.
A garment bag is hanging on the hook beside it. I’m so excited to see what she picked out. Laura has beautiful taste, so I’m sure it will be worthy of a princess.
She slowly pulls out the dress, and I barely contain my gasp. It’s breathtakingly stunning.
Laura beams when she sees my reaction. “I figured since we’re showing you off as the next Alpha Queen, we better dress you like one.”
Butterflies are going crazy in my stomach. We’ve spent two hours getting ready for this dinner to officially meet the elders. Dad and Tim came in about ten minutes ago and have been reminding me of everything I need to do or say to get the elders’ approval. Meanwhile, Laura is putting the finishing touches on my makeup before I slip into the dress.
The dress itself is an exquisite emerald green, with embroidered gold thread around the loose, flowing skirt. It’s strapless, but has a good built-in bra, so it will hold my boobs up properly. It’s absolutely magnificent. Then, there are the shoes. They’re a beautiful pale gold to match my dress, and they look like something straight out of a fairy tale—only two-inch heels, thankfully. Anything higher and I’d be falling over all night. At five-foot-six, I should be tall enough anyway. Any shorter, and I might consider wearing a bigger heel, but even then, I doubt it. Heels hurt.
“Dani, are you even listening to us? This is important! You can’t afford to screw up tonight,” Dad barks, grabbing my attention.
“Yes, I heard you. Don’t do anything to embarrass myself, don’t eat without a knife and fork, don’t pee without someone accompanying me, don’t disappear by myself. No swearing, no farting, nothing that can be construed as impolite or unladylike, blah, blah, blah. Did I remember everything?” I ask, holding back a smirk.
Tim hoots with laughter, while Dad’s expression is a mixture of amusement and frustration. It’s sweet that he’s worried about me, but if I can’t do this by myself, I don’t deserve to lead. I won’t always have someone holding my hand.
“Fine, Dani, do it your way, just don’t come crying to me if you screw things up,” he retorts, throwing his hands in the air, exasperated.
“Dad, trust me, okay? Monique and Walter will be there, and they’ve both taught me all I need to know for this. Worst case scenario, I excuse myself because I’m feeling overwhelmed. Monique said it’s an acceptable excuse based on being new to this world, so I’ll use it if I have to. Though if I can’t handle it now, I never will,” I reason, as Laura finishes the last swipe of eye shadow over my eyes.
“Okay, you can look now,” she says softly. “I’ll get your dress and help you zip it up. Make sure you put the shoes on first,” she orders, shooing Tim and Dad out the door.
She may be tiny and cute, but that woman is so much stronger than she lets on. She’s what I imagine our kind needs in an Alpha Queen. Not me, a sarcastic, stubborn teenager.
Once I’m fully dressed, Laura tells me to close my eyes and leads me to the mirror in my closet. Turns out there’s a full-length one in here too, I just missed it.
“Now, don’t faint on me when you open your eyes, okay? We can change it if you don’t like it,” she assures me nervously.
I get why she’s so anxious, I am too. This dress looked lovely on the hanger, I only hope it looks just as good on. It feels amazing, but that’s probably just because it’s made from silk.
“Hurry up and open your eyes. I’m dying to see your reaction.”
Laughing at Laura’s impatience, I open my eyes, not prepared to see someone so striking. My mouth drops in shock. Holy crap! I look spectacular.
The green dress looks amazing on my new shape and fits every inch of me perfectly. The shoes peek from the bottom of the dress, though for the most part remain hidden. What completes the effect, though, is my makeup. Laura has given me such beautiful smoky eyes with a smattering of gold flecks around them. The gold makes my new, vibrant eyes that much prettier and draws more attention to my face. She used a pale pink gloss rather than a lipstick, which looks more natural, and hardly used any blush at all. Just a light pat on each cheek to maintain a natural blushing effect.
I’m hypnotized by my own eyes! I keep being drawn back to them. If they have this effect on me, then I can’t wait to see what happens when the guys see me.
“Wow! I don’t even know what to say. Laura, I can’t believe you did this. I look…”
“You look like a queen,” she finishes for me. I’m speechless with how fascinating I look. Whatever Laura has done leaves me with a sense of power I didn’t have before. I feel confident, ready to take on the elders.
“Thank you. I never imagined I could look like this,” I whisper, watching her eyes mist up.
“You are more than welcome. You’re my family now, so it’s my job. Now, before we both dissolve into tears, I’ll invite your bodyguards in. I told the others to meet you at the dining room. They didn’t want to leave you alone, so we compromised,” she explains, before opening my bedroom door and revealing Jake and Rick on the other side.
“Whoa!” Rick exclaims, stumbling a step as he comes in. “Is that you, Dani?”
Jake’s just standing there wide-eyed, taking me in. I guess I look a lot different when I’m not just wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
Both guys are dressed in tuxes, which highlights each of their bodies. I sigh, if only they were straight. Doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the view though.
“Yes, it’s me. What’d you expect? I’d wear a frilly pink dress?” I ask, thinking back to the pack introduction. I’m so glad I didn’t get pushed into wearing that monstrosity.
“No, it’s just you’re different. Your hair, your body, your eyes, it’s all changed since we left the elders,” Jake comments, stepping forward and pulling me into a hug. After a moment, Rick joins him. These two have become my best friends since being here. They listen, they make me laugh, and they protect me. What would I do without them?
“Aww, that’s so sweet. I think I changed not long after the shift. Everything happened pretty fast, I didn’t even notice until the boys mentioned it.”
“Well, whatever and whenever it happened, it was good. You look beautiful. I can’t wait to see your mates’ reaction tonight. Rick, did you bring your phone? Maybe we should record it?” Jake suggests, while Rick just chuckles, tapping the chest pocket of his tux. I guess he does have his phone and fully agrees to take pictures.
“Fine, gang up on me, but don’t we need to go? I’m pretty sure there’s a rule about being late,” I grumble, rolling my eyes. Jakes bursts out laughing at my sarcastic tone, while Rick just shakes his head. They both know my sarcasm by now, and it no longer fazes them.
“Dani, you need to respect the rules tonight. No sarcasm unless it’s with one of us, and even then, not in the middle of dinner. It will be considered disrespectful and make everyone hate you more than they need to. Now come, let’s go surprise your mates with a stunning queen,” Rick declares, holding his arm out for me. Jake does the same, and we make our way to dinner. Between the two of them, I feel safe, but I doubt either of them can save me from this evening.
