Chapter 11

Zahra's POV

We made it out of school without anything else weird happening and headed to Sienna’s car. She turned 16 in January, and her parents gifted her a Mercedes CLA coupe. I don’t know much about cars, but it’s blue, shiny, and screams, "Look at me, I’m rich." We piled in, and Abby started scanning through the music app on the console. Putting on our favourite summer party playlist, we headed off to the diner.

When we walked into Daphne’s place; Abby’s mom’s diner, we were greeted by Stella, one of the waitresses.

“Hi girls, you here to eat?”

“Hi Stella,” we all chimed in. “Yes please, can we have the usual?”

“Of course, you know where you’re going. I’ll just ring that through for you.”

“Thanks so much, oh and can you let my mom know we’re here?”

 “Sure thing.”

We head over to our usual booth in the corner. It’s slightly hidden away, so we get some privacy, but we can still observe the other tables and see who’s coming and going. Stella -the marvel that she is, appears just as we sat down with our milkshakes. As we start to slurp, Sienna speaks up.

“So… my parents are thinking of sending me to my uncle’s pack for part of the summer…”

“What?” Abby and I shriek simultaneously.

“Which pack?”

 “How long for?”

“Only for a couple of weeks, a month tops. Blue River Pack, and it’s about eight hours to the south of here. I haven’t been in ages, and my cousins and I used to be close. I’d like to see them.”

I glance at Abby, hating the idea of Sienna going. My brother and his friends leave for the Royal Pack’s summer training camp, which is just for future pack leaders. My dad obviously doesn’t think I need to go-I’m only a female beta, the spare, why bother training me? But with him out of the house for the whole summer, I usually rely heavily on my friends. Abby has a job working in the diner for the summer, with Sienna gone as well, that means lots of time on my own. Suddenly, I didn’t feel very hungry anymore.

I look at Sienna, who seems so worried, her brows furrowed. She clearly wants to see her family.

“Well, I guess I better look for a job. I’ll have so much free time without you here. And you will have to call us every day?”  her face relaxes with relief. 

“Of course! Listen, it’s not set in stone yet. I just thought I’d let you know as soon as possible, to prepare you. I know you’re not good with change.” Sienna laughed, and I pushed her in the shoulder. “Hey!”

Just then, Stella came back with our burgers and loaded fries, and we start to dig in. I have just taken a massive bite when the door opens, and I nearly choke Sebastian Blackwood and a bunch of friends just walked in.

Great. Just great.

He glances over, and I blush furiously as I try not to die while swallowing my massive mouthful.

“Oh my god, he’s here!” I hissed.

“Who?” both girls said while swivelling around. I internally eye-roll. Smooth, guys, super smooth. There’s no way he doesn’t know we’re talking about him now.

He smiles and waves and heads straight over to our booth.

“Hey.”

Oh my goddess, he’s so handsome with his tousled blonde hair and those eyes. He’s wearing a tight dark green t-shirt and jeans, which show off his amazing body. He’s 17 but built like a man twice his age; damn alpha genes.

“Hi,” I croak out, blushing again. I shoot a panicked look at my friends.

“Hi,” Sienna says, holding out her hand. Where does her confidence come from?! I wish I could do that. “I’m Sienna, and this is Abby.”

“Hey, Sienna and Abby, and Zahra…” he says, turning those chocolate pools back towards me. “Would you girls like to join us? There are too many of us to join you here at your booth, but we have a larger table over there.” He points over his shoulder to where his friends were sitting, all of them looking over at us.  His Beta, Max, and his other friends, Noah and Ralph, are looking interested. But the two girls with them are giving us evils and looking stony-faced.

“Erm,” I hesitate eloquently, looking like my intelligence has left the building again. Abby glances at me, and I give her a wide-eyed grimace.

“Actually,” Abby says, “this is a little birthday celebration. It’s kind of a tradition of ours, so…” she trails off, her confidence fleeing as quickly as it arrived in the face of a future alpha.

“Oh, I’m so sorry for interrupting.” Sebastian looks genuinely sorry for ruining our measly “celebration.”

“It’s okay,” I quickly interject, wanting to wipe that demoralised look off his beautiful face as quickly as possible.

“It’s just a silly little thing we do for each of our birthdays. You’re not interrupting. Maybe we’ll come over when we’ve finished eating to say hi?”

His eyes light up, and he flashes me a full megawatt smile, and I swear my heart stutters. “Okay, cool. Well, enjoy your food and your celebration, and hopefully see you in a bit.” He turns and saunters back to his friends, and OMG, his ass is as perfect as his face. Shit I can’t believe I just thought that!!