Chapter Thirty-Two

If I’d been told a few months ago I was going to be in a formal gowns store along with eight female wolves who were somewhat nice to me, or even paying attention to me, I would’ve laughed in their face.

But it was what happened.

Cora, Samantha, Megan, Rachel, Melinda, Maria, Adria, Sally and I were shopping for dresses, a few hours before the New Year’s Ball occurred at the Alpha’s mansion. The girls took me with them because a) I needed a dress, and b) they were dying for some gossip. The news about the Mating Race had reached the Alpha’s circle.

When the eight found their dress and were already dressed (the ball was only a few hours away), they started helping me look for some dress that would fit me.

“I think black won’t do you good,” Cora said when Sally studied an elegant dark dress. “It will make your slightly broken nose a little more apparent.”

“White won’t do, too,” Maria said, “you’re pale enough as it was.”

“You need a strong color,” Megan said, “something that would make your eyes pop out.”

“Or the red hair,” Samantha murmured. She was the only one who was only halfway with us. I was scared spending time with her at first, considering Apollo was in this stupid Race with me as well, but while she seemed off, she said nothing to me or about me, from what I could hera.

“I don’t have red hair,” I mumbled back, and it was the truth; my hair was honey-brown with reddish highlights.

“Oh, shut up,” Rachel snapped at me, sending me a glare. She was keeping her dislike for me the most evident out of them all - Samantha included. “Your hair is ginger. Deal with it.”

I want to snap at her in return but Adria said then, “Red.” Her eyes were a little faraway. Everyone turned to look at her, but she wasn’t with us; she was staring into some other space. “She will war red, he will wear green. They’ll dance, past and future.” Her voice was a little unstable, her expression closing off.

“Er, Adria?” Megan touched her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Adria blinked and came back to herself. She looked at us, confused, and asked, “What’s going on?”

I felt the blood draining from my face. “You said something,” I muttered, “about someone wearing red, someone wearing green, and past and future… or something.”

Adria looked directly at me. “You need to wear red.”

I didn’t know how to take this need to wear red statement, because I would decide eventually what I would wear. Tempest growled in agreement.

“Now that I think of it, red will suit you best,” Sally said, “let’s find you one!”

The odd moment with Adria passed, and the girls went into mission; finding me a red dress.

After trying on many dresses in many shades of red, we finally found one that fit me like a glove. It was tight in the chest, and flew down to my ankles loosely. It made me feel sexy, something I’d never felt before.

We paid for the dresses, and left the store. I noticed Adria looking at me, her eyes wide and scared. I wondered what she was Seeing - the future or the past, considering she was an All-Seer. But I guess it wasn’t that important.

At the barbershop, the wolves and I had our hair down. The barber was a nice werewolf, and he finished with the wolves first before coming to me. When he studied my hair, his face turned disappointed. “So much potential,” he hisses, “and a great color - but you ruined it!”

“Excuse me?” I asked, shocked he was speaking to me like this.

“Be quiet and let me work, human,” he barked.

I scrunched my nose but said nothing when he washed my hair and drowned it in creams. I decided I didn’t need to watch what he was doing to my poor hair and closed my eyes. After a while, when he finally let me go, I sneaked a peak.

My hair was not to the same, and it made me gasp. Its curls were opened and turned into brushed waves that felt like satin over my head. Its color was much brighter than before, its red highlights gleaming. It was stunning. I was stunning.

“I had no idea your hair could look like this,” Croa scowled. “It’s prettier than I thought.”

“I don’t understand why it angers you so,” I sent her an angry look.

She glared but didn’t respond.

After the barbershop, we went shopping for shoes. I found myself black elegant Mary-Jane shoes with low heels. We had our make up done next, and then we walked outside of the mall where a limo was waiting to pick us up for the mansion.

“Where are the guys?” Melinda asked when the limo began driving and all nine of us tried not to tear our dresses, we were sitting so close to each other.

“They’re greeting the guests,” Samantha explained, “all the important people who’ve been invited - politicians, Millennium Forces’ convoys from the east and the south, and so on. They need to be there for them.”

“We’re going to make an entrance, aren’t we?” Megan giggled

“I think Angela needs to enter first,” Maria said with a small grin. “After all, three gentlemen await her.” She winked at me and I felt myself blushing - thank God I had enough unnatural blush on my cheeks to hide it.

“I still can’t quite grasp how you managed to capture the most eligible bachelors in the world,” Melinda told me with an arched eyebrow. “No offence, but you don’t look like anyone special.”

“None taken,” I said with honesty. Because I knew I wasn’t as pretty as the female wolves in this limo with us, and I wasn’t as cool as them, or as badass. I was aware of myself, really. “I can’t tell you what they see in me,” I told her quietly, “I wish I knew, but I don’t.”

Silence stretched in the limo and I saw the girls exchanging glances. Only Adria stared out the window, lost in thought.

We reached the mansion and left the limo. Werewolves in formal clothes were on their way inside the mansion, which seemed very pretty in the darkness, with lights lighting her up all over. We were walking behind a group that apparently Sally knew - after all, with her being all kind and nice, she was still the Head of the local Millennium Force. “Alessandro!” she said with a wide smile to the leader of the group and jumped on him with a smile. “It’s so good to see you!”

Alessandro laughed. “Kiddo!” he said fondly, hugging her back. “I feel like it’s been years since the last time we saw each other!”

The two chatted while the rest of Alessandro’s Force nodded at us in acknowledgement and moved on. We did so too, leaving Sally with Alessandro.

We entered the entrance hall, where the ball took place, and saw it was crowded. People stood in groups, drinking and dancing, and it made me feel like we were somewhat inserted into a Jane Austen novel or something.

“Here they are,” Cora murmured and I turned to look at the guys, who were currently talking to Alessandro’s Force. As though they felt our eyes, they turned to look at us. I found myself walking toward them first, as Maria suggested, and found Strider’s blue eyes staring at me, wide with shock. Apollo’s mouth was agape and he looked like he’d been struck by lightning. Fred, who’d always been so indifferent, chose to express his emotion this time and looked at me so intensively, I felt like he was seeing me naked.

The three of them wore nice tuxedos. Strider’s was blue, Apollo’s dark brown and Fred’s wine-red that fitted, very coincidentally, to my dress. My cheeks heated up, thinking we looked like we arranged mutually to dress the same.

Then I remembered Adria’s earlier words. She’d said I would dance with someone who wore green. None of the men wore a green suit.

Who the hell did Adria See me dance with?