26

"Let me guess. I have my brother to thank for your grumpy face." She hugged me warmly and then linked my arm. "Shopping will take our minds off things."

The sky was cloudy and I was glad the store was only a few minutes away, otherwise my teeth would probably have started chattering. I tried to get Jayden out of my mind as best I could along the way, but I couldn't get the bruises out of my mind.

"Did Chace say something about me?" the brown haired woman asked while standing with me in front of the store, snapping me out of my thoughts. "He asked if you were all right, that's all," I replied and she sighed in disappointment and opened the shop's door.

"Hi Misha," she greeted the blond saleswoman, who just nodded to us silently. She must have been reading a book behind the counter and I ignored her.

"Let's dress up today," Lou said, gently elbowing me in the side. "They will make eyes." I gave her a half-hearted smile because I had no intention of impressing anyone there, especially at that point I didn't even know if Ludwig would show up.

I followed her to the back of the store and looked around searchingly. It had to be a dress that would come across as simple but not too gray and I quickly found one.

It stood out with its beautiful dark red color and otherwise made something. Long sleeves, a not too daring round neckline and the back was cut out wide. "I'll try that on," I shared with Lou, who seemed to have tuned out on me in her intoxication.

In the dressing room, I undressed and looked in the mirror at Jayden's bite, which was still clearly visible. I shook my head and turned to the other side to pull the dress on and found it fit like a glove. It fell to the floor so luckily I didn't have to worry about shoes.

I quickly got changed again, put the dress neatly over my arm and ran back to Lou, who was over the moon. "You won't believe it! I found the perfect dress."

She held out a piece of black fabric that looked like it couldn't cover both my butt and breasts at the same time, and I quickly turned my gaze to her face. "You can't wear that," I warned her wide-eyed, but she didn't flinch and just beamed at me. "That's exactly the reaction I want from Chace."

She laughed and walked me to the checkout. "Don't you want to try this on?" "Bullshit," she waved off with her free arm. "I work here and I know my size." We paid the bored looking Misha and then walked out of the shop again. "Shit!" I cursed and Lou looked at me questioningly. "Wait a minute, I wanted to buy another jacket."

I carefully handed her my bag and ran back in to grab the first black jacket I found and hurriedly paid for it, then put it on and didn't keep Lou waiting any longer.

When she saw me, she suddenly laughed out loud and put the bag in my hand. I looked at her cluelessly and followed her amused gaze. Only then did I notice that a huge skull was depicted on my chest. I joined in her laughter and together we made our way to my place in a good mood.

My grandma didn't seem to be home anymore, so we turned up loud music in my room and threw all the makeup I owned in a heap on the carpet. "Would you like me to style your hair or are you just going to let it get boring?" the brown-haired woman asked me while holding a small mirror in front of her face with one hand and applying makeup to her eyelashes with the other.

"I'll let you do it," I replied, curious to see if she was any good at styling other people's hair. It wasn't long before I was standing in front of the mirror with beautiful curls and my dress and was amazed. It wasn't until I saw Lou and her fumbling that my facial expression changed.

Of course she still looked good, but a more cleavage was almost impossible and she shouldn't bend down either. "He'll send you home, you know that, don't you?" I replied to her appearance, whereupon she shook her head in amusement. "He's going to have so much to do with the other alphas in the pack and introducing you to them that I'll be off his radar completely."

I took a deep breath at the thought of spending the whole evening with him and then pulled on a white jacket as the doorbell rang unexpectedly.

"Who is that?" I asked Lou confused, who was staring at me just as puzzled. "How should I know?"

I ran down the stairs curiously and had to be careful not to stumble with the long dress and then opened the front door. "What do you want here?" Ethan stood in front of me in a brown suit and eyed me impassively as he puffed on his cigarette.

"Jayden doesn't have time, so I'll pick you up. Now don't waste my time and get on board." He turned around and I immediately slammed the door. If this idiot thought I was going to get in his car, he was wrong. Besides, he certainly wouldn't take Lou in her outfit.

"Was that Ethan?" she came down the stairs excitedly, tying her long hair into a high ponytail. "Yes," I answered her annoyed and winced when there was a loud knock on the door.

"I'm not knocking again!" the Beta warned us and I opened the door again, wanting to snap at him, but Lou put her hand on my shoulder and walked past me smiling. "Let's drive it," she said and sat down in the front of the black jeep.

Ethan looked from her to me and rolled his eyes. "If you don't have anything in your head, then at least in a snippet," he laughed, but he stopped laughing when I slapped him in the face out of sheer anger. "I'll only tell you once! Don't talk about your alpha's sister! It's disrespectful and absolutely disgusting."

He held his cheek and glared at me, but there was no further reaction from him. He threw his cigarette on the ground, growling, and preceded me to the car. Lou, who was sitting in the front, smiled and gave me a thumbs up before I got in the back, which also made me grin in amusement. He definitely deserved it and I didn't want to think about the consequences of my slip-up that evening.

During the car ride I got more and more nervous, which was probably due to the fact that no music was playing and I could only concentrate on the breathing of the two in front of me.

It was already dark when we arrived in front of the Wialtrama, where there were many people in pretty dresses and suits. Eddie was in his element, standing in his usual spot, conversing with the men around him.

"Get out," Ethan told us, whereupon I opened the door and got out immediately. "Nothing better than that!", I heard Lou say to him, who then stepped next to me and seemed visibly nervous.

"I don't think that was a good idea," she said, half hiding behind me while the people in front of us began to scrutinize us curiously. "I told you so," I whispered to her, still standing there frozen.

"There she is! My beautiful mate!" I couldn't believe my eyes when Jayden emerged from the crowd and kissed my hand. There was nothing left of the bruises and he had his black hair stylishly to the side while two buttons of his white shirt were undone.

I didn't know how to behave at all and just looked excitedly at the men who were watching us curiously. "Hello," I whispered, blushing, but luckily Jayden didn't pay any more attention to me, because he must have spotted his sister. "Are you out of your mind?" he asked her quietly, but even quietly he sounded like he was about to rip her head off.

"I'll be right back," he said loudly to the others and took Lou's hand to disappear down the street with her. I was left alone and smiled sheepishly at some people while some nodded at me and others lost interest in me.

I was about to carefully walk past them into the Wialtrama when someone grabbed my hand and I stopped breathing in shock. "Where are you going pretty lady?"

Before I turned around, a smile appeared on my face. I turned around and looked Ludwig straight in the eye, who was pulling my hand away from the others. "I don't have much time," he began. "I just wanted to see you and wish you a lot of fun."

He looked me up and down and then beamed from ear to ear. "Why can't you stay?" I asked him, looking at him pleadingly while he only had eyes for my dress. "Oh, this isn't for me, we can go eat something tomorrow. I really need to talk to you."

I looked at him questioningly and frowned, but he just shook his head and laughed. "I said tomorrow."

He hugged me tightly and when he was about to pull away I pulled him even tighter into my hug, causing him to rub my back pleasantly. "You really should go now," he whispered in my ear and I reluctantly pulled away to watch him disappear into the darkness.

It was only when he was out of sight that I reluctantly turned and ran back to the black double doors, this time actually going inside.

It really looked beautiful. There was nothing more of the gloomy club. The large room was brightly lit and on the tables, on which otherwise only empty glasses were collected, there were now beautiful little baskets with colorful flowers peeking out.

The whole room was gleaming and it was almost prom-like except it seemed to be adults only and they were drinking hard liquor. At the thought of alcohol, my eyes fell over to the bar, on whose counter a buffet was taking place. Everything was full of bowls and when I put my nose in that direction I also caught the fragrant smell of the food.

"Ready?" Jayden startled me, suddenly appearing next to me with two glasses of champagne. I took one of the glasses and emptied it in one gulp. "Yes," I answered without even looking at him, waiting for him to introduce me to the people.

I'd last one night, I told myself, and followed him over to the tables.