Chapter 3
I didn’t dare look at the dress that isying on my bed still inside the garment bag. I want it to be a
surprise until the very end. Cici already agreed toe and do my hair and makeup, so I’ll let her peek
at the color, so she knows what she’s working with. Other than that, she’s got to wait to see the dress
as well.
Stepping out of the shower, I wrap a towel around me and stand in front of the vanity. Using my hand, I
swipe at the mirror, leaving a clear streak to see myself through. As I look into the baby blue eyes that
are identical to what my mothers were, I can’t help but tear up. Three years ago. I was celebrating with
my family. Now, I’m celebrating with a new family because mine was torn from me. I wish I knew what
advice my mother would give me if she was here with me now. Turning eighteen as a she-wolf is
supposed to be a huge deal, and yet, I feel no excitement. I take that back, I’m excited to be wearing a
new dress and getting myself dolled-up to go spend time with my favorite people
Looking more closely at myself in the mirror, I notice that my arms and shoulders are more toned, and I
can see muscle where it was once just skin and bones. You see, for thest six months, I’ve been
training with the others. Den didn’t want me anywhere near the training field at first. I had to beg and
plead for him to let me train. He finally gave in, but only with a personal trainer at first. For thest
month, though, I’ve been training alongside all his other warriors. Why, you ask? Because one day, I’m
going toe face-to-face with the Alpha of the Desert Sand pack, and I am going to kill him, it’s that
simple. Of course, I would never reveal that to Den, or anybody here for that matter. The Alpha’s
death is mine and mine alone.
“What the hell, Quinn, did you fall in or what?” Cici yells through the door to the ensuite.
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch!” i holler back.
“Ha, jokes on you! I’m not wearing any panties!” Sheughs from the other side.
I fling the door open, “Seriously, TMI, Cici!” I look my friend up and down. She’s looking super cute in
her mid-thigh, body-hugging purple dress. She definitely made the right decision in not wearing panties.
“You likey?” Cici smiles and does a slow spin.
I mustugh. “Yes, I likey. I won’t be the one getting hit up because they have mistaken me as a ***.”
“Hey!” Cici inspects herself in my full-length mirror, “I can at least pass as a high-end escort!“ We both
burst outughing, because we know that she ispletely serious when she makes that statement.
“Okay, can we please get me ready, preferably not ***-like?” I wink at her.
“No way, it may be your birthday, but I’m the one that’s needing a ***-up! You can’t look better than me.”
Yeah, my bestie is far from being a virgin, unlike me. Even though she’s dying to meet her mate, she
doesn’t believe that we should have to wait and only have sex with one person our whole lives. Me, on
the other hand, I’m not in a hurry to meet my mate, but I am saving myself for them.
Rolling my eyes, I take a seat in the chair to my vanity, so Cici can begin her masterpiece. I love
dressing up and putting on makeup as much as the next girl, but I cannot for the life of me figure out
how to put any of it on my face, hence why my best friend is doing it. She loves doing this stuff, though,
and I want to help her open her own salon once she graduates beauty school. The closest salon is over
in the human territory, thirty minutes away.
From N?velDrama.Org.
She somehow made it so my baby blue eyes pop with all natural and shimmery shadows, some
mascara, a dusting of blush and nude lip gloss. My hair is swept up in ab on one side and drapes
over my other shoulder in waves. Now all we need is the dress reveal. Hanging the bag up on a ***, I
unzip it and pull out one of the most gorgeous dresses that I’ve ever seen. It also causes me to blush
just a tad.,
“Well ***,” Cici ces her hands on her hips, “Guess I’ll be going home alone tonight.”
“Oh stop!” i chuckle, taking the dress with me into the bathroom. First thing I say when Ie out
wearing the dress is, “I cannot go out wearing this!”
“Holy ***, Quinn, you’re hotter than ***!” My best friend exims.
“Oh gee, it takes a barely there dress for you to tell me that I’m hot?” I shake my head.
“Well, no, but seriously, you have to wear this dress!” Cici just gawks at me as I twist myself back and
forth trying to see myself in every angle.
“I can’t believe that Amelia picked this dress out.” I stand there, staring at myself. The dress is
gorgeous, but I feel more naked than anything. It’s an off-white dress but there’s a golden shimmery,
sheer material over it, like chiffon or something, and the top has a plunging neckline all the way to my
waist. The rest of it fits like a glove and ends mid-thigh. My back ispletely bare. I am so d that I
have been training because my back looks so awesome in this dress.
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Cicies out of my closet with a pair of glittery gold strappy heels and holds them out to me, “These
are perfect for that dress.”
I take the shoes from her and put them on one at a time. When I nce at myself, I have to say that
Cici was right, I am hotter than ***. My calf muscles are pronounced with the heels while the rest of my
legs look long and toned. The dress gives my skin the look of being golden brown, but that could be
how it normally looks but I never notice it.
My phone pings and Cici grabs it, “Alpha wants you to meet him in his office before you go downstairs.”
“Oh.” 1 pluck my phone from her hands. “I didn’t realize that your name is Quinn.” 1 chuckle and shake
my head. I grab a clutch that Cici also found for me and head towards the door. “You better go make
sure that your brother is ready, because I don’t want to bete because he can’t decide which watch to
wear with his shoes again!”
Ciciughs, “Like brother, like sister!” Sheughs and heads for her brother’s quarters while I head
down to the second floor where Den’s office is.
After doing my knock, I open the door and peek my head in, “Hello, Den, are you in here?”
“Yeah, over here.”
I still don’t see him, so I walk in and close the door behind me. As I get closer to the desk, Den pops
up and scares the ***out of me, “What the hell, Alpha!” My hand to my chest, I take a moment to settle
myself.
“I’m sorry, I was grabbing stuff from the safe.” He says softly, and that’s when I notice the way he is
looking at me.
I do a little spin, “Do you like?” I smile.
“Uh, um yeah, you look very beautiful,” his eyes roam up and down my body, “My mom bought you that
dress?”
I chuckle, “It’s the one that was on my bed.”
“Hm, she’s got good taste.” He praises.
I notice that his tie is crooked, so I walk over to him, “Of course, she does. She’s Amelia Storm!” I muse
as I fix and straighten his silk tie, which coincidentally, matches my dress perfectly, “New tie?”
“Yeah, mom bought it when she bought the dress.” He smirks and I can’t help the bubble ofughter
that slips from my mouth as well.
Taking a step back, I sp my hands in front of my body. “Your text asked me to meet you here?”
“Uh, yes. I have part of your birthday gift that I thought you may want before we leave.” He holds out a
blue velvety box, wrapped with a white ribbon, “As you will see, they aren’t brand new, but I think you
will love them more.”
I nce between Den and the blue box as I untie the ribbon. Opening it slowly, it takes a moment for
my brain to catch up with what my eyes are seeing, but then I gasp and lose feeling in my legs. Luckily,
Den is here to catch me before I fall on my ***. He holds me up while I gaze at the pair of diamond
teardrop earrings that my father gave my mother for their twentieth wedding anniversary just a few
months before the attack
I look up at Den, “How? I mean…”
“Quinn, I put all your family’s things into storage, so you can go through it when you are ready. I have
everything here, it’s all yours. I wasn’t sure if these meant anything, but they looked like they may have
been special, so I wanted to give them to you for your birthday.” He swipes at a tear that escaped.
“They are special. My father gave my mom these for their anniversary just before the attack.” I throw
my arms around Den’s neck, “Thank you so much Den. You don’t know how much this means to
me!” “I think I did, that’s why I did it.” I can hear the grin in his voice, so I push myself away from him
and p his chest.
“You’re such a ***, Alpha!”
He catches my hand and kisses the top of it, “Happy Birthday, Quinn.”
“Thank you, Den.”
He ps his hands together, “Why don’t you go grab Cici and touch up your makeup,” he does a little
hand motion by his face, “You have a little mascara running down your face.”
“Ugh! Why did you have to make me cry?” I hurry out of the room to go find Cici as I hear the Alpha’s
laugh all the way down the hall.
RUN VNNNNAARRA
The Italian restaurant that we go to is one of my favorites, and we are seated in the VIP area. Since I
am a wolf, I can now legally drink at the age of eighteen, since it takes longer for our bodies to
metabolize the alcohol. Den orders a few bottles of wine and some sparkling cider for Cici, although
she steals sips from mine all night long. When the waiters are done clearing the table, they start to
bring our dessert
19:08
out, but there is a slightmotion just outside the door. A momentter, Les waltzing through
the doorway with a smug smile on her face
“I’m so sorry I’mte! I couldn’t remember what time it was, and my invite got lost in the mail.” She
leans down and kisses Den on the cheek as he stares in shock at her. L grabs an empty chair and
squeezes it right between mine and Den’s chairs.
“You must be mistaken, L,” Amelia speaks up. “This is a private birthday party. There were no invites
sent out. The only ones invited are already here.”
Either L didn’t understand what Amelia was saying or she chose to ignore herpletely, because
she giggles and sits down in her chair. There is no room for either Den, nor , to move over, so we
are squished together, and the **-scented perfume that blondie is wearing is already giving me a
headache.
I stand up. “Excuse me, I just need to grab some air quick. I’ll be back in two minutes.” I smile at
everyone but the intruder before I leave the room. When I step outside, I take huge gulps of air,
needing the clean air to clear out the poison that she’s wearing.
“The audacity of that ***!” Cici’s voice is low and menacing.
“Yeah well, it’s not the first time today that I had to deal with her. I got in her face this morning and told
her that if she ever treated me the way she did this morning than I’d be doing more than getting up in
her space.” I tell my best friend.
“Good for you! I don’t know what he sees in her, but I’m sure there are better ***throughout the pack.”
My friend snorts.
“Who, like you?” I ask jokingly.
She pulls a disgusting face, “Ewe, no! That’s gross, he’s like my big brother!” She moves her body like
she just shivered in disgust.
Iugh and shake my head, “Come on, I better get back in there.”
We make our way back to the back room and would you believe that the /***has pushed my chair out
from the table, not leaving any room for me. I’ve had enough of this ***; I don’t care how ***Den gets
at me. This she-wolf is not going toe in here and ruin my birthday!
I tap her shoulder, “Um excuse me, L, but I’m pretty sure that you’re in my seat.”
She sneers over her shoulder at me, “Actually, your seat is right there, sweetie.” She points to the chair
that she pushed back.
Den is about to say something, but I hold up my hand and walk out of the room, only to return with
two of the security personnel. I point to L and they each grab one of her arms, dragging her from the
chair.
“What the hell! Do you know who I am? Den, tell them that I’m your girlfriend!” The she-wolf
screeches.
“L, shut up already!” Den sighs, “You are not my girlfriend, you’re just a warm body that I use for
my own needs. I’ve told you this since the beginning.”
“Den!” L calls out for him again.
I hold up my hand, stopping the security guys, as I walk over to them, “I told you this morning that
unless he is in your nasty ***, you are to call him Alpha! Have some respect, L.” I wave my hand and
they take her away kicking and screaming.
The room is quiet for a moment, and I begin to think that I’m going to get my ***chewed, but then the
room erupts inughter, the loudest being Den, himself. My face turns red in embarrassment.
“I am so sorry, Quinn. I never thought that she would actually show up here!” Den runs his hand over
his face, “I should have ended it with her a long time ago when I first started seeing the signs.”
“I think you may need your eyes checked son. I had seen all the signs the very first time that you
brought her home.” Amelia chuckles.
“Come on, Mom, she wasn’t that bad in the beginning.”
“Hm, you have your opinion, and I have mine. Let’s agree to disagree.” She smiles and then holds up
her wine ss, “To Quinn, the beautiful birthday girl! May all your wishese true tonight, and every
night after!”
“Here, here!” They all say, and I smile.
When I nce over at Den, I can see that something is bothering him, but I don’t broach the subject
right now. Instead, I hold my ss up and toast to the man who made it possible for me to be here.
**I want to toast Alpha Den! I wouldn’t be here with all of you had he not saved me that day. Thank
you for bringing me home, like a stray little puppy, and giving me not only a new home, but a new
family.”
“Cheers to the Alpha!” We all say in unison.
“Actually,” Den speaks up, a stray puppy would have been cuter and a lot less of a sassy loud-
mouth.”
gasp, but I see that he’s trying to hold back his smile, so I shrug. “At least I don’t get fleas.”
Den spits out his wine all over the table as heughs, everyone joining in with him. My birthday is
officially back on track! When we leave the restaurant, we tip them well for having to deal with L and
then we head home; all of us in a great mood all the way back. Amelia is in charge of the radio, and
surprisingly, she’s got some great taste when ites to listening to good tunes. We are all belting out
the words to the songs ying on the radio, acting as if we are all still in high school. And to think, the
night is just beginning.