Second chance love

T w e l v e

Holly turned the shower on and pulled the plug out of the bath. As she stood to wash her hair she basked in the warm feeling left by her o****m and smiled as she rubbed her honey scented shampoo into her scalp. She gave her armpits a quick once over with her razor and stepped out before the bath water had even half drained. She was running a towel over her head when she heard a knock at her bedroom door. Blowing the candles out in the bathroom on her way she walked to the door. Before she had made it half way however, the unmistakable voice of her best friend shouted through the keyhole, “I don’t care if you’re naked, I’m coming in!”

Lisa burst through the door to see Holly stood in the midst of every item of clothing she owned, smirking as she towel dried her long dark hair. Lisa gasped in mock-horror at the sight. 

“What happened in here? A wardrobe monster? The fashion police?” Lisa took a step backwards into the doorframe and smiled widely, “what would you do without me, hey?” She asked as she pulled a dress bag from the corridor and all but threw it at her half-dressed friend. 

Holly caught it, dropping the towel to the floor in the process. She looked up, her eyes narrowed in confusion. Lisa simply smiled, folded her arms and leant against the doorframe. “Lis, what is this?”

“I am offended that you think so little of me!” Lisa mocked, pouting and putting her hands on her hips. “Caleb is being initiated tonight, he still hasn’t claimed you as his mate, and if this doesn’t make him want to claim you right on the platform in front of the whole pack, then nothing will!”

Holly smiled and laughed in relief. She hadn’t meant to hide her feelings about Caleb from Lisa, but she also didn’t want to have to talk about the lack of any form of relationship when she knew how quickly Lisa and Finn had consummated their mate bond. 

“You’re the best,” Holly smiled at the girl stood smugly in her room. Lisa made her way to her bed and threw herself down on it. 

“Just wait until you see what’s in the bag, my friend.” Lisa pulled her phone out of her back pocket and started tapping away as Holly went to her drawers to fetch some underwear. 

“Taken care of my child, taken care of,” Holly looked quizzically at Lisa who hadn’t looked up from her phone. “It’s all in the bag. Now go and get dressed please!”

A few moments later, Holly stepped out of her bathroom fully dressed. Lisa had retouched her lipstick and fluffed out her hair whilst waiting for her. She looked up and wolf-whistled. 

“Man I’m good!” She laughed, as Holly blushed. 

Lisa had thought of everything. She chose matching laced turquoise underwear, the bra being a perfect fit pushing up her modest bust to fill the green jumpsuit that she wore over the top. The legs were flared slightly, covering almost all of her foot that was in a white, open-toed sandal. The top of the jumpsuit had long flowing sleeves with a lace back that sat perfectly across her shoulders, with a sweetheart neckline at the front. She had even included jewellery, a simple sea shell charm on a long necklace that hung over her breasts and sat in the middle of her torso, with matching earrings that dangled just short of her collarbone. Holly had left her hair to dry naturally so it fell in waves down her back, and applied a quick layer of lip balm to her lips. 

Lisa walked to Holly and grabbed her hands. “You are going to be fine. The Goddess made you for him. It is inevitable that you two will end up together. Just let it happen.” She popped a light kiss on her forehead then stepped back to look at her. Holly smiled, took a deep, steadying breath in, then spoke. 

“Let it happen,” her smile widened. “Let’s go!”

***

Caleb stood in the shower, leaning his hand against the cubicle wall and letting the water run on his head and down his back like a waterfall. He wasn’t nervous about the ceremony later, he was next in line to be Alpha in his father’s pack so he was used to having some sort of responsibility within a pack. This was somewhat of a step-down. He didn’t care, so long as he could get his revenge on the Black Hart pack he would live happily. 

Caleb thought about Holly, and felt his c**k stir. He was remembering their encounter this morning, the rush of electricity as their hands brushed together, the smell of her arousal. By this point Caleb’s d**k was as hard as rock. He looked down, and thought about giving himself a quick release.

“My god I wish you would,” rumbled Blake, his usual grumpy self. Caleb rolled his eyes at the wolf, and switched the water to ice cold to dampen his erection. 

“I wouldn’t be so grumpy if you would just take Holly as your mate already,” Blake snapped. 

Caleb understood his frustration, and part of him was more than ready to stake his claim on the beautiful brunette that was beginning to mend the broken pieces of his heart. The smaller, sadder part of him however, knew that once he marked her, she could be used as a weapon. A weakness. He couldn’t allow the Black Hart bastards to take her from him too, so he settled the anxiety by choosing to get rid of the enemy before opening his heart fully to Holly. 

“You’re damn lucky that she has the patience of a saint,” snarled Blake. The longer he denied himself the true mate bond, the more Blake resented him. 

“Save that anger for the real enemy. Once they’re gone, we will have her all to ourselves with no distractions,” Caleb reassured his wolf, shutting off the water in the shower and grabbing a towel from the rail. 

He stepped into his makeshift room, grabbed a pair of long khaki shorts and a plain loose fitting blue t-shirt. It was still warm in the evenings, and he was going to have to shift anyway so there was no need to wear too many clothes. He shoved his feet into some flip flops and ran his hand through his hair. On his way out of the door he turned to glance in the mirror. He almost didn’t recognise his gaunt face, with large nightmare-related bags under his eyes and lines on his forehead that had never been so prominent before. 

He ran his fingers through his hair again and turned away from the mirror; grief clearly had a way of affecting you on the outside as well as the inside.