***Auri’s POV***
Maddie had woken me up around 10am pounding on my door. Our parents had already left and wouldn’t be back for the rest of the day. We would meet them at the ball since they were the hosts. Ty would have to take us in his car later in the evening. She was bounding around the house as I got a brunch ready for us and she ferried me, with brunch, up to her room.
“Auri, do you want me to do your make-up? I won’t do a lot, but at least a little eye shadow?”
I chuckled. “To what Maddie? Bring out the grey in my eyes?”
She scoffed. “I mean, I could match it with Kai’s eyes. Are you going in blind to the ball?”
I nodded and looked out the window, Kai giving me her vision. I first was assaulted by Maddie’s choice of pink and white stripped wallpaper and ridiculous amount of red heart pillows, but I settled my vision on the forest outside. The lush green soothing my eyes. Usually, I went blind just about anywhere unless I was unfamiliar with the surroundings. This was different. I didn’t want to hid behind her eyes. If my mate was gonna reject me, they were gonna see all of me.
“Well, I think I can still make something happen. Cause sometimes if you look in your eyes long enough, if feels like you could see a galaxy in there.”
“Maddie, the romantic in you is admirable. But you focus on you. How’s the dress? Did Father let you get ‘the one’?”
She huffed and put her hands on her hips. “No! Daddy was such a hard-ass when he saw it. ‘No daughter of mine will be walking around like a skank’. And mom couldn’t fight him. So I had to settle for this one.”
I did laugh at her impression of our father. She had picked out a very skin tight red dress that did look absolutely gorgeous on her. But it also made her look like she was twenty-one and would have brought all the boys to the yard. Maddie wasn’t curvy by any means, but she was definitely more developed than your average fifteen year old. Hell, even your average seventeen year old.
The dress she did settle on, the one she was pulling out, was a midnight blue. It did hug her but it flared out into a typical ballgown. The sticker price on the dress had been astronomical and I knew the last three months I had worked went to that dress. But I felt better that it didn’t go to another designer purse for Melissa. It was Maddie’s first Gathering and she should have something special.
“You know, maybe the Alpha from the Harvest Moon pack is coming. Maybe I’ll be his Luna. He’s been waiting for me this whole time.” She twirled, holding the dress up to her.
“Poor guy. I would laugh if he gets stuck with Suzie or someone.” I chuckled. “What is he, like 30 now? And his mate ends up being 13! Imagine!”
Maddie started to laugh as well. “Oh how cruel the Moon Goddess can be.” She plopped down at her vanity and started a skin routine that I didn’t envy. “What about your dress? I know dad didn’t give you any money for one.”
“He brought home some fabric and said to make it myself.”
She turned around, half her face covered in a green paste. “WHAT?! Don’t tell me it was that ugly pastel blue bag!”
I nodded. “The amount of fabric brought home wouldn’t even cover half my body. But it’s not like I can say anything.”
“So what are you doing?”
I smirked. “You remember Melissa and fathers old comforter. During Melissa’s metallic phase?”
“The shimmery silver one? God that thing hurt my eyes. A king size silver blanket. As though we don’t have a weakness to silver.”
“That one. Its been in my closet for like four years. So I used that to make something.”
She gave me a look of ‘I don’t believe you could make something nice out of that color’ but she didn’t say anything. She turned back to the mirror. “Well, at least you should try and look hot. You might find your mate.” Looking at me through the mirror, she waggled her eyebrows. “Maybe Alpha Logan is YOUR mate.”
I made a gagging sound and she laughed. We spent most of the day in her room. I made a late lunch since I knew that Maddie would insist on not eating dinner because one, there would be food there, but also that she would not have a food baby in her dress when she walked in.
Maddie was finishing her makeup when I head the front door open and close. I leaned my head out and heard Ty coming up the stairs.
“Cutting it a little close Ty. We need to leave in an hour or so.”
He scoffed. “Says the one not even in her dress.”
I stick my tongue out at him. “Maddie’s dress takes like 10 people to get her into. I may need your help. I only count as five people.”
He waved me off and went into his room and I heard the shower start.
“Alright Maddie, let’s try to get you into this thing.”
It was another 15 minutes but just as Ty came out, dressed in black slacks, black shirt, white tie and a white dress jacket, I managed to get Maddie in and laced up in her dress. Her breasts were just under her chin but she said thats exactly how she wanted it. It was one night and who needed to breathe, were her words.
“Auri, now would be time to get your dress on.”
My hair was already done thanks to Maddie. I looked nothing like the dark chestnut brown family. My hair was a platinum color, nearing white in the right light. It matched exactly with my wolfs color. It was almost as thick and unruly as well. Maddie had braided it to the right side and put little pins of peals. It was to be swept in front of my right shoulder. I hopped down to my closet and took out my dress. I had it covered in a bag so it wouldn’t get dirty or get eaten by moths. Running to the bathroom, I slipped off my baggy shirt and sweatpants I had been in all day.
The dress was probably my finest work yet. It looked like a greek goddess. It had a deep V-neck that also dropped low down the back. The fabric clung to me and shimmered and I made the skirt part of the dress slightly pleated to allow movement. It also had pretty high slits up the side of my thighs. Sure, it showed off all my scars, but damn did I feel good in it. It was definitely not Father approved and it made me very happy. It would be the last time he would ask me to make my own dress.
I walked out of the bathroom, adjusting my hair to over the shoulder when I heard water being spewed all over the kitchen.
“DAMN.” Maddie put her hands on her hips and swayed them back and forth. “Who knew you were hiding that body under those baggy pants and shirts.”
Ty, who was still coughing from inhaling water cleared his lungs enough to say, “There is no way you are wearing that.”
Maddie turned on him. “Why the hell not? Auri looks HOT.”
“We are supposed to find mates, not me beating off men with a stick cause my two sisters look like they just stepped out of their wet dreams.”
I wrinkled my nose. “One, I am NO ONES wet dream. And two, we all know how tonight is gonna go for me. So you can just focus on making sure Maddie is taken care of.”
He shook his head but Maddie squealed. “We are gonna be late and Mom will KILL us. Let’s go now!”
She looped arms with me and dragged me out of the house, followed by Ty who locked up. His car was a nice sedan that he had paid for himself working at the mechanics while he wasn’t in school. I helped Maddie get her entire dress into the back seat and sat in the front seat of the car.
“When’s the last time you sat in the front seat of the car?”
I chuckled. “Never?”
He started to drive and I could feel him staring, I had already request Kai to back off for the night.
“You know I can feel you staring, right?”
Ty cleared his throat. “Sorry. You do look lovely tonight though. That dress…” he paused for a moment, “…suits you.”
I smiled and Maddie leaned forward from the back. “SUITS her? She looks like a bombshell. A damn greek goddess. I should have forced Dad to get the red one.” She leaned back in the seat, huffing.
“Next time maybe?” Ty chuckled.
“I hope there isn’t a next time.”
This made both Ty and I laugh. We pulled into the parking area of the castle at exactly 6:00pm and it took both Ty and I to get Maddie out of the car. We walked into the castle and into the main ballroom where the lights were low and music was playing. And so the night began.
Maddie left our side immediately as soon as we reached the ballroom, talking to who I could only assume as classmates. Ty had stayed back with me for a moment and he graciously walked me over to a corner. The smells were a bit overwhelming mixed with the loudness of the music and chattering. I was thankful for Ty’s help. “Go, I know you got some friends here.” I felt him shake his head. I tilted my head toward him, now aware that he was stiff as a board. “You smell her don’t you, your mate?” He squeezed my hand. “I do.” “Well, what are you waiting for! Go get her! Jesus Ty! Don’t stand next to the person you know for SURE isn’t your mate.” I chuckled and pushed him further in the room. 'I don’t smell anything special.' Kai came forward for the first time in a while. Maybe they aren’t here yet, it is still pretty early. I looked around, there were a lot of people, but there were still people filling into the ballroom. It was only 6:15pm after all. Father and Melissa had seen us
***Logan’s POV*** I walked into the building with a mission. Get in, grab my mate, get out. We weren’t staying here. I finally had found her, my mate, my Luna and I was not going to stick around for the party. Bryan basically had to run to keep up with my strides. I scanned the ballroom but realized my eyes would do nothing for me here. It would be my nose and Cato that would be the one to find her. I walked around the room, people parting for me, knowing exactly who I was. My face probably didn’t show a single ounce of happiness either. The Alpha of the hosting pack tried to speak to me, but I threw Bryan at him and continued my sniffing search throughout the room. There was a corner of the room, where it smelled like her the most. Seems like she spent a good amount of time standing here. Cato confirmed my suspicious but she wasn’t here anymore. I looked around and tried to pinpoint the next location. Down the hall
***Auri’s POV*** I couldn’t function. Here I was, sitting in Alpha Logan’s fancy car, driving towards my house to pick up my things. My mind still reeling from what just happened. 'I told you our mate wouldn’t reject us.' Kai was smug and she had been ecstatic to hear that our mate was an Alpha. I was not. I was not even entertaining the idea of being a mate, let alone a Luna I had heard the confusion and anger in his voice when he asked why he would reject me. I thought it was obvious and especially coming from a man who was notorious for throwing out the weak. 'We aren’t weak though.' 'Right, but he doesn’t know that. He only can judge me by how I look. And we look like we’ve been through hell and back again.' 'And like he said, we are strong for it, strong for surviving it.'Kai was chastising me as we drove down the road.
“What’s your favorite breakfast food?” I smiled. “French toast. What’s your favorite hat?” Logan laughed. “Fez.” Laughing as well, I asked “A fez, really?” He nodded. “I look damn good in a fez. Don’t knock it till you see it.” We had been paying ’20 questions’ for an hour now. We were well past 20 questions and had moved on from the regular favorite color or candy. “What was your mom like?” Logan was quiet for a bit before he asked. I took a deep breath and leaned back in the seat. “From what I remember? She was like sunlight; you just wanted to be with her and soak up the warmth. But at the same time, she was the forest. Proud, mysterious, and magical. We used to take walks in the forest, just us. Sometimes she would take her wolf form, sometimes not, but we would alway go and walk.” It took me a minute to think of another question. “I know the stories of how you took o
***Logan’s POV*** We had spent the last hour and a half of the drive asking way more than 20 questions. It made me realize that she was not as shy or meek as she seemed at first. Auri was strong, independent and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. At least not with me. I loved it. I knew her wolf Kai and Cato were talking in the background but I was enjoying her, basking in the moonlight that was coming off of Auri. We had finished a few harder questions when I heard her curse for the first time. It surprised me and sent me in panic mode. But when she asked to borrow my phone, I thought about warning her not to call any of her family. I was going to deal with them in the morning when we got back, through Alpha Leo. But I trusted her and didn’t say anything. Goddess, forgive me. I couldn’t contain my laugh when she had no idea what to do with my phone. I wondered if she was expecting a flip phone from the early 2000’s and thought it would be approp
***Auri’s POV*** I had been upset that I woke up to an empty bed. The sheets, the pillows, the whole room smelled like Logan and I was in overdrive. I could barely breathe with how much I wanted him. But the bed next to me was empty and cold. The shock of the night must have pushed the mate bond out of my mind. The shock and happiness of being free, of not being rejected, seemed to push the pure desire for my mate back. But now, alone, in his room, I felt like a train had hit me. Kai said to tease him a little, make him pay and regret changing us and not staying. Apparently it didn’t take much as he quickly picked me up and threw me onto the bed. Logan gave one last option to stop but the throbbing between my thighs and the fire that had spread through my limbs wouldn’t allow me to stop. I couldn’t think anymore except about this man in front of me. I wanted him and when he kissed me it was like someone fanning my flames. My body heated up and I ran my
I woke up to the sun streaming into the windows. Blinking and covering my eyes against the sun, I looked around the room. Trying to orient myself, the memories of all yesterday and last night came over me and I blushed hard. I had passed out mid-sex. I pulled my knees up and buried my red face in them. 'To be fair, you passed out during round five. Not bad.' Kai winked and I pushed her to the back of my mind. The last thing I needed was her giving me sass about what happened last night. Controlling my heart, I knew Logan wasn’t in the room when I woke up. His side of the bed was still warm, so it hadn’t been long since he had gotten up. Gingerly, I got off the bed and put weight on my legs. The soreness wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. Pushing Kai back meant that I would just have to feel around for the door. Walking slowly, I felt the door next to his dresser, remembering that it was the bathroom door. I was still naked and so I just turned on the
I heard Bryan’s warning but I didn’t move. I held Logan, my body covering his back and my arms wrapping around his neck. “It’s okay Logan, it’s okay.” I whispered into his ears, my eyes shut against the onslaught of emotions. “You took me away from there. I’m here with you now. That’s all that matters.” His hand came up, holding onto my arms and his shaking lessened. “There we go. Come back to us, Logan. I’m okay.” I cooed, nuzzling my face in the crook of his neck. “Auri.” I heard him breathe out in between his deep breaths. I nodded, happy that the emotions I was just drowning in were allowing me to breathe again. Logan sat up a little bit and leaned his head against mine. Bryan whistled and we both looked over at him. “No one has been able to stop him from shifting when he gets that mad. At first, I didn’t know if you were brave or stupid but then it worked. Damn.” Bryan picked up his spatula and tossed the pancake that he had left