Not only is my mate not the person I wanted, but it's the son of the one who most likely ordered my parent's death; what a cruel joke. Even rejecting him would put me in grave danger, as I would have to speak my full real name when doing so. Could I just ignore him?
"No, you can't," Rhea spoke softly.
"But Rhea, he is the son of Alpha Arawn," I said, frustrated
"I know…. But he is our mate. We need to accept him or reject him, even more so despite him not knowing who we are, he still feels drawn to you," she said in a sad tone.
"The Moon Goddess must hate me a lot for doing this," I replied, anger taking over me but with a tint of sadness.
"She doesn't hate you; her plans are not always easy to understand, and some paths are harder to walk than others," Rhea replied in a low voice, and I could feel the hurt in it.
As I got home, I changed into something more comfortable and gave Luke a call. He was my best friend and my other half the moment we met in high school; it felt like we have known each other forever. We were just the same, and whenever someone would spend time with both of us, they would think we were twins. Because of how much we were alike and our strange friendship. Finally, after a quick chat and another 20-minute wait, Luke was standing in front of me, holding a pizza box and a bottle of wine.
"Spill everything," he demanded as he placed the box on the table in front of me and went into the kitchen to open the bottle, get glasses and plates.
"If I spill everything, I think you should reconsider that wine and bring something stronger," I replied, giggling and opening the box of steaming pizza.
"That bad, huh?" he placed everything he grabbed from the kitchen on the table and came to hug me.
I told him everything about my day, how I am sure I was going crazy after everything that happened, and how I spaced out an entire meeting and agreed to a project I had no clue what it was about and let out all my frustration for that day. Albeit there were some white lies there, but in my defence, Luke was human. Despite loving him to the end of the world, I knew telling him about the supernatural world would only put him in danger. Hence, I couldn't tell him I knew why I reacted like that and said I was going crazy. When I finished recalling my day, he couldn't stop laughing, but still hugged me and kissed my forehead before replying.
"Who knows, Frey, maybe you just fell in love," Luke said before he started laughing again and rolled over on the couch.
I punched him in the arm and took the glass of wine from the table
"Yeah, sure, we both know I don't have time for that, and the last human I will fall for is someone with such low morale," I replied while sipping my wine. My heart was heavy as I knew I didn't just fall, but it was my fate to be with him.
"Well, he may have questionable morale. But, he is easy on the eyes, and now officially, you have talked and thought about him for hours," Luke said, smirking at me before grabbing his own glass.
"I did that because I was angry, not in love," I said in a high-pitched voice.
"Whatever you say, now the real reason I am here for. Friday it's the charity auction, and I know you need a plus one," Luke said while throwing me a seductive look.
"I knew you didn't bring me wine just because I felt gloomy. But, of course, you are my plus one. Who else can I take?" I said, while giving him another punch for having an ulterior motive.
"Maybe you decided to bring Mr. Kissy-face this year." He said, laughing again.
"Yeah, and a gallon of whiskey with that so I don't smash everything in the gallery," I said, amused at his comment.
"In that case, I believe we should go shopping for some new clothes. We can't let those vultures see you in the same dress twice," Luke said as he lazily leaned into the couch.
"That sounds like the perfect idea for today. It's still early, so we should have a couple of hours to look around," I said while jumping from the couch, startling him.
I changed into some comfortable clothes for the outside, a pair of short ripped jeans and a baggy Slayer t-shirt paired with a small bag and vans. Despite being a businesswoman, I liked to be comfortable when shopping or doing things outside of my business. I lifted my hair into a messy bun and clasped my sunglasses to my t-shirt. I doubted I would need them, but better safe than sorry. After I was ready, I went back down and told Simon to take us to Muse Square, our favourite shopping centers where most designer stores were.
We hopped into the car, and 30 minutes later, we were entering Muse Square; the first couple of stores were a bump nothing seemed fitting. Finally, when we were about to enter the 7th store, I lifted my arms in defeat.
"No more. I will take the first dress I see, even if it's a potato sack. After that, I cannot try one more dress," I said, exhausted by so many dress changes.
"I'm sure you could pull off that potato sack like a pro, honey, but you need to remember what this is for," he said, giggling at me. But the truth is, he found nothing he liked either.
"Fine," I left out an exasperated sigh.
We walked into the store, and Sheila, the store manager who knew us given how frequently we went there, came straight to us with a big smile on her face.
"My favourite couple and the people I was waiting for," Sheila exclaimed cheerfully.
"Us?" we asked, stunned by her statement.
"Yes, come with me," she said while walking us to a private dressing room.
When we got to the dressing room, she told us to wait for a bit before coming back empty-handed.
"Now I wasn't about to ruin the surprise so soon, was I?" she laughed at our puzzled faces.
She ushered me to the cabin where I could change while Luke got sent into the other side so he can change as well.
When we got out showcasing our outfits, we were speechless.
My dress was a high-low mermaid strapless dress. Nude with black lace applique more in the upper part of the dress, up to my hips that you could barely make the nude colour underneath. Then the black lace was going down more on the margins and on the end of the tiny train. It hugged my body in all the right places and then descended into a stormy ocean full of waves. It looked like they took it out of a fairytale, and they rained it on with beautiful lace all over it. He had a black tux with nude cufflinks and a very subtle nude band around the cuffs of his jacket, a white shirt, and a black-tie. We looked like someone took us out of the cover page of the latest fashion magazine that featured elegant couple outfits.
"Damn, you look so hot," Luke exclaimed after a couple of minutes of just staring at me.
"You do not look bad yourself," I smirked at him, satisfied with what I was seeing. Luke was quite tall, and all the swimming and basketball he did, has done a great job on his body. The tux let all those muscles reveal his perfectly toned body, making him sexier than usual. Paired with his black hair always combed to perfection, those beautiful hazel eyes that could make you fall in love at a glimpse, and his perfectly sculpted features were a perfect match.
"Hmm, no, take it off, don't wear that," I blurted, trying to keep a serious face.