Chapter 8

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 headed 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, appeared just as we sat down with our milkshakes. As we started to slurp, Sienna spoke up.

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

“What?” Abby and I shrieked 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 glanced 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 looked at Sienna, who seemed 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 started to dig in. I had just taken a massive bite when the door opened, and I nearly choked. Sebastian Blackwood and a bunch of friends walked in.

Great. Just great.

He glanced over, and I blushed furiously as I tried 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-rolled. Smooth, guys, super smooth. There’s no way he doesn’t know we’re talking about him now.

He smiled and waved and headed 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 croaked out, blushing again. I shot a panicked look at my friends.

“Hi,” Sienna said, 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 said, 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 pointed over his shoulder to where his friends were sitting, all of them looking over at us. I saw his Beta, Max, and his other friends, Noah and Ralph, looking interested. But the two girls with them were giving us evils and looking stony-faced.

“Erm,” I hesitated eloquently, looking like my intelligence had left the building again. Abby glanced at me, and I gave her a wide-eyed grimace.

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

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

“It’s okay,” I quickly interjected, 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 lit up, and he flashed me a full megawatt smile, and I swear my heart stuttered. “Okay, cool. Well, enjoy your food and your celebration, and hopefully see you in a bit.” He turned and sauntered back to his friends, and OMG, his ass is as perfect as his face. Shit I can’t believe I just thought that !