Chapter 2

“Riley! You need to try on the dress I got for you!” Hannah’s only focus was this stupid dance and now I was worried about even seeing next week.

“Alright, I’m coming.” As much as I tried to sound excited, I couldn’t muster up the strength.

Unfortunately, Hannah could tell. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t say.” Standing up, I was almost completely dried from my swim at this point. “I’ll be there shortly.”

It was as if the entire forest around me knew of my future. As soon as I looked at an animal, it would run away. Sierra was puffing her chest, proud of the role she was about to play. My only thought was maybe Simon would do a training session tonight. Last-minute pointers since I’d have to leave Sunday morning. The first task is as early as Monday and they didn’t give you any idea of what it might be.

“Simon?” I mind-linked him as I broke through the forest and into the open park next to the pack house.

“Are you okay? You have been gone for awhile.”

“Can we do a private training session tonight? Just going over everything.”

I could picture the surprise on his face. The stupid way his eyebrow would shoot up, but nothing else would move. “Sure. If you want.”

I didn’t reply as the sarcastic comment that came to my mind wasn’t exactly respectful. I wanted to have a say in my future. I wanted to be able to talk to Hannah or Cameron about it. Preferably Cameron. Since they hoped we would be mates, it was always him and I together. He knew more about me than Hannah, only because she could careless about fighting. Where I only saw Simon as a brother, I saw Cameron as more or I used to. I’ve been trying to get rid of those feelings.

“RILEY!” Hannah’s voice echoed out, making the birds fly away. Looking up, she had opened the window and was hanging out of it. Her smile was contagious.

“I’m coming!” Pushing down those worrisome feelings, I tried to replace them with excitement or acceptance, anyway.

“Hurry up!” I heard her call out before the window slammed shut.

It only took me a minute to get inside and make it up the four flights of stairs to Hannah’s room. “I’m he-” tossing the door opened, I stopped when I saw Simon, Cameron and Hannah all standing around. “Why are you guys here?” The carefree attitude was gone quickly and replaced with something more defensive.

“They needed to try on their suits, so I made them come over. Since we are going together, I want all of us to match.” Hannah smiled at me before twirling around and looking at the rack of dresses.

“Avoiding me?” Cameron asked in the mind-link.

I wasn’t sure he even had feelings for me from the start. “Nope.”

I made it a few feet before Hannah grabbed a dress and pushed it out to me. “Try this on.”

There wasn’t any arguing with her. Taking the dress, I went to the bathroom to change. The biggest reason I hated wearing dresses was because I hated how I looked in them. I wasn’t body builder status, but I was ripped. Where the other girls have curves, I had muscle, and that didn’t look pretty in a dress.

However, as I pulled up this dress, I had to hand it to Hannah. I’ve always had hips, but this dress really made me feel pretty. Maybe a little much for this dance, but I still surprisingly liked it. It had a small corset under my breast. The V neck was wide, really showing off my cleavage. The off the shoulder trap was perfect. The mermaid style bottom has a huge slit to my upper thigh and really brought out my hips.

“Are you dressed yet?” Hannah yelled.

“Yes.” I yelled back as I grabbed a hair clip and put my hair up. It dried with a gross covering, making me really need a shower.

As I stepped out of the bathroom, I wasn’t disappointed in their reactions, but it did make me blush. “You need to take that dress to the tournament.” Simon said in the mind-link.

“Holy shit! I am good!” Hannah clapped her hands in front of her.

“What do you mean?” I replied to Simon.

I could see him frown out of the corner of my eye. Cameron had walked forward with an expression I couldn’t read. “I guess I can return all of these!”

Simon didn’t respond, but Cameron grabbed my hand and twirled me. “Isn’t this a little too dressy for the party?”

“No! She is the beta’s daughter. It’s our job to be over dressed!” Hannah put her hands on her hips. Cameron didn’t like something, but kept his mouth shut.

“Can I go change? I need to shower and get this lake water off of me.”

Hannah rolled her eyes, but nodded. “I need to steam it anyway. What are you doing tomorrow before the dance?”

My body froze for a second as I wasn’t exactly sure what, if anything, I needed to do. “I’ll have to ask my dad. He hasn’t told me of anything yet, though.”

“I was hoping to lay out at the pool. Let me know if you are free! Oh, are you eating here tonight?”

“Um, probably not. I’ll let you know what my dad said for tomorrow.” Not waiting for her response, I just ran to the bathroom to change. I really just wanted a quiet evening to figure out how I felt about it all.

After slipping out of the dress and hanging it back up, I was forced to put on my dirty clothes. It just felt gross, and my desire for a shower was pretty strong. I knew I would probably get sweaty with Simon, but I’d just take another shower. The life of a warrior.

“Okay! I’m headed out!” I didn’t give them much option as I exited the bathroom and bee-lined for the bedroom door.

“Riley?” Hannah soft voice was like stone in my veins. Making me instantly stop and turn.

“Yes?”

“What is going on with you?”