Chapter 7: The Mall

I didn’t sleep well the night before.  I know I acted like I took the news that my whole family and myself are werewolves in stride, but once I was by myself, I started freaking out.  My whole life I thought I was just your average human girl that was taller than most of the girls in my school and freakishly strong, so I was treated like one of the boys. 

A knock on my door pulls me out of my thoughts.  “Come in!” I say and Bren peeks her head in.  

“Hey, you’re awake,” she says softly.  

“Yeah, I just woke up.  What’s up?”  Bren runs and jumps on my bed making my body bounce up.  “Holy crap!  I wasn’t expecting that!”  

Bren giggles and says, “Get dressed!  We are going out today.” 

“Umm.  Where are we going?” I ask nervously.  

“Gloria and I are taking you shopping.  I peeked at the clothes that the Omegas were putting in your closet and I can’t let you start school with those clothes. I know they were just trying to match your style, but…”  

“Oh.”  That stung just a little bit.  Okay, A LOT!  I looked down at my turquois bedspread and picked at an imaginary fuzz ball.  

“Oh, Divina.  I didn’t mean it like that.  Shit.  That came out all wrong.”  I glance up at Bren and her eyes are wide and glassy.  She looks like she is about to cry, and I am like what the hell, she insulted me.  

She reaches out and grabs my hand and speaks softly, “Hey, don’t be upset.  Your style is fine.  I just know how harsh the pups are at school and your style is a little different than the style we wear here.  I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.  I just know how hard starting a new school will be for you and I wanted to help make it a little easier on you.”

I sigh.  I can’t stay upset with her.  She was actually being really sweet in her own way.  “No, it’s okay.  Thank you for looking out for me.”  

Bren breathes a sigh of relief and pats me on the leg and squeals as she is heading out my door, “Get dressed we leave in an hour!” 

I flopped back on the bed and groaned.  I was NOT ready to get up. I laid in bed for five more minutes before finally rolling out of it and trudging to the bathroom.  I quickly shower so I have time to blow dry my long hair and put a little bit of natural make up on.  Once I have my hair and make up done, I go to the walk-in closet and put on a pair of skinny jeans with holes at the knees and a t-shirt that says, “Good Vibes Only.”  I throw on a pair of flats and head down to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast before we head out. 

Bren and I get into her small, pink SUV and head to pick up Gloria.  She comes bounding down her front steps as soon as we pull up and jumps in the back seat.   “Hurry up and go!  Mom is threatening to make me take Jared!”  I turn and look back at her and ask, “Who is Jared?”  “He is my annoying, ten-year-old brother,” she says, rolling her eyes.  Bren quickly puts her SUV in reverse, and we head for the mall.  

My eyes bug out of my head when we pull up.  I have never seen a mall this big!  I wouldn’t even know where to begin shopping.  Thankfully, Bren and Gloria take the lead and I follow them to the entrance.  We head to the first store and the sales manager greets the girls by name and quickly assigns us three sales clerks to help us as we shop.  After I tried on what felt like a thousand outfits, Bren grabbed the clothes I said I liked, and heads over to the cash register and pulls out an identical sleek, black credit card to the one that my mom had.  

“Bren, you don’t need to pay for my clothes.  I can do that.”  

Bren turns to look at me with an eyebrow raised and said, “You have a thousand dollars to pay for all this?”  

My mouth drops open and my eyes bug out of my head.  “Is that how much this is going to cost? I squeaked.  

She doesn’t respond and just turns around and hands her credit card to the cashier.  I look over at Gloria and she is grinning from ear to ear and nudges me with her shoulder. “Don’t worry about the cost.  Alpha Zane will give you your own card when he gets back.”  

“Why would he do that?” I ask stunned.  

“You are family.” She says with a shrug.

We get my bags and head to the food court.  “I am starving!  Let’s take a lunch break before we hit another store,” Bren says.

“You mean we aren’t done?” I squeak.  

Bren and Gloria look at each other and grin and say in unison, “Not even close!’’  

I groan and head to an open table to put all my bags down.  We stand in line to get us some food and head back to the table to eat.  I take a big bite of my chicken, bacon ranch wrap and all the sudden I feel like I am being watched.  I glance up and slowly start looking around and that’s when I see him.  All six feet four of him.  My eyes meet his and I can’t look away.  Oh, god he is the most gorgeous person I have ever seen.  He is tall with lean muscles, dark skin and hair, and hazel eyes. 

Gloria glances up at me and sees that my attention is focused over her shoulder and she looks back and quickly turns back around with her eyes wide.  She snaps her fingers in front of my face and is looking at me with a knowing smile.

“Who is he?” I ask.  

Bren looks over and sighs. “That’s Warrick Ryker and just like we thought he sure has noticed you.  He is the son of the Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack.  Be careful around him. We weren’t kidding when we said that Vanessa has her sights on him, and she will make your life miserable if she thinks you are a threat.”  

I snort and look at Gloria and Bren, “There is no way he would even give me a second look, so I don’t think I have anything to worry about.”  

“You really have no idea how gorgeous you are do you?” Bren says in awe.  

“Like I said before, no one has ever referred to me as pretty or even showed interest in me like that.  I have always just been one of the guys.”  

Gloria shakes her head and laughs nervously.  “I don’t know what’s worse, someone that knows they are gorgeous and flaunts it or someone that has no clue and is oblivious, like you." 

I look back to Warrick and he is absolutely still staring at me.  He looks shocked at first , but then something else flares in his eyes.  Is that desire?  I can’t get ahead of myself.  There is no way he could find my desirable.  Despite my denial, I can feel my body heating up under his gaze and I know my cheeks are flushed, and I start fanning my face with a napkin trying to cool myself down.    

Oh, god. I have to get out of here before my body combusts in tower of flames. I look wildly around for an exit when I see him get up and start to walk over to our table, his eyes never leaving mine.  My heart is racing, and I just want to crawl under the table and disappear.  Why is he affecting me this way?  No one has ever made me feel like this before. Warrick is about 10 feet from our table when a petite girl with dirty blond hair intercepts him and wraps her arms around his waist.