Becoming His Queen

Chapter Three

I quickly used the bathroom and washed my hands. I opened my contact case and started to take my contacts out. I slipped my glasses on and stared at my reflection in the mirror. I stared at my deep mahogany brown eyes, watching the light catch the gold ring around my pupil. I stretched out a strand of my hair, watching the curl unravel itself to its full length from my massive crown of thick curly dark hair. I pulled it down and saw that it reached the bottom of my neck. I let it go and watched it bounce back into place with the rest of my curls.

I sighed, pushing the strand back into place. I would consider myself average looking, maybe somewhat pretty, but not the type to draw attention from men, especially with my chubby and dark appearance. I mean have dated in the past and the relationship was comfortable and nice, but I never felt that heart-pounding attraction that you would hear about in movies. If I did end up getting a mark, I wondered if they would accept me or deny our bond to go find someone skinner and knew how to wear makeup.

Get out of your head, Layla. Nothing has happened yet. When it does, take it in stride and stop worrying about it. You’ll get nowhere if you continue like this.

I gave myself another once over before walking out of the bathroom and joining the girls again. They had started clearing the table of food but left the bottles out so that we could keep drinking. I sat back down beside Jaz and took the shot she held out for me.

“To what’s to come and getting our own Prince Charming,” she said, holding her shot out for a toast.

“To what’s to come,” I mumbled, clinking mine against hers and chugging it back.

I coughed as my chest was lit on fire, more so than usual. I looked down at my glass and saw that the little bit of liquid inside was a watery brown color.

“What did you give me?” I coughed.

“A little bit of vodka, rum, and some shine,” she shrugged, taking my glass and putting it back on the table.

“Why?”

“Just trying to finish off the bottles faster. Everyone else had their share. You were the last one as usual.”

“I would’ve liked a warning before I knocked it back.”

“You’re fine. You’ll survive.”

I rolled my eyes at her as I watched her go about remaking the concoction. I watched as she poured small amounts of each in everyone’s glass before handing them off. Nic grimaced before she drank hers. Her whole body shook as if trying to reject it with all its might.

Note to self: don’t let Jaz come up with new shot recipes, I thought, taking mine and shuddering against the fire.

For the rest of the night, we continued to drink and talk, joking with one another about what our mates could possibly be. We talked about our ideal types and apparently the alcohol made my lips loose because I talked about what type of guy I wanted and all I wanted him to do to me. After I let all that spill, it was dead quiet as everyone stared at me with wide eyes.

“Holy s**t!” Nal laughed.

“Kinky girl!” Raq roared, falling back onto the floor.

“Woohoo! Didn’t know you had it in ya!” Nic clapped.

“Damn. We need to get you drunk more often if you’re going to confess things like this. What else are you hiding or secretly fantasizing about?” Jaz inquired.

I shook my head, knocking back another shot. I was not going to talk about anything else, whether drunk or sober. What I said was a slip and I wasn’t planning on slipping anymore.

“I’ll figure out what else you’re hiding. I have my ways.”

“I’ll lend a hand as well,” Nal said with a Cheshire grin on her face.

I rolled my eyes. Those two combined would put Sherlock Holmes and Watson to shame with their sleuthing skills. I glanced down at my watch and saw that it was getting close to midnight.

“Just one more minute,” I said, trying to distract them.

“Oooh, I can’t wait. I wonder what they are going to look like.”

“As long as it’s not on my face, I’m good,” Nal sighed.

Just as the clock hit midnight, we all sat there and looked at each other. I hissed when my forehead began to burn suddenly. I rubbed it, trying to wipe whatever it was that was making it burn.

“Ouch, what the hell!” Nic exclaimed, grabbing her shoulder.

She pulled her sleeve down and my mouth dropped as I watched glowing yellow lines appear on her skin. The glow dimmed a bit to show that the lines formed into lines of waves that wrapped around her upper shoulder like a band.

“Is that your mark?” Raq said before grabbing her collar and yanking it away from her chest. “Son of a b***h!”

Across her collarbone, blue feathers formed and decorated her collar like a necklace. I reached out to touch it, mesmerized by the sight of it. It wasn’t rigid and didn’t have the faint feeling of raised skin like a tattoo.

“That’s kind of cool looking,” I whispered.

“At least I’ll be able to cover it up with my shirts. I just can’t wear any V-necks at work,” she said.

“What the f**k! Why does it have to be on my hand?!” Nal growled.

“But the red vines and leaves look amazing,” Jaz said.

“You’re not the one that’s going to get bitched at by your manager for having it. Yours is on your forearm and that’s easy to hide. Why are the flames green? That’s weird.”

“I don’t know. You might be able to get away with it better than Layla here,” Nic said, pointing at me.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your forehead. Go look in the mirror.”

I got up off the floor and walked around the corner into the den. It was a small room that had been set up for a third guest to stay in. All that was in there was a day bed, a 32-inch TV, a small closet and a wide dresser with a vanity mirror sitting on top. I stepped closer to the mirror and stared in shock at what was reflected.

Sitting along my hairline were white flowers on vines that twined themselves in the center of my forehead into a heart with a black diamond in the center. The others had come in and were crowding around to look. I reached up to touch it, awestruck by how simple and beautiful it was.

“It’s pretty, but how the hell am I supposed to hide this?” I mused, pulling my hair curls down to try to cover it. “I don’t need people to be staring at it while I'm trying to perform their pre-testing. “

“You could straighten it out and wear bangs,” Raq suggested.

“Do you really think bangs are going to fix this? All it takes is for me to move my head a certain way and then non-stop questions about who my mate is and how excited am I about becoming a mate. It’s going to annoying fielding those questions.”

“Why don’t you look on the bright side? There’s someone out there that meant for you,” Jaz said, trying to be optimistic.

“Sure, but what if they say no or find me unappealing?”

“If they find you unappealing, then they’re blind and missed out on having a wonderful person by their side.”

“Yeah, so do us a favor and have a positive attitude about all of this. You never know what’s going to happen in the future.”

“Fine,” I sighed.

They had a point. Worrying about this right now was going to get me nowhere fast and I should stay optimistic about what’s to come. Who knows, maybe I'll be swept off my feet by my own Prince Charming.

“In the meantime,” Nic said, “let’s get drunk. I brough some gummies to share.”

“Drunk and high?” Nal said, smiling. “That’s something that I can get behind.”

They all whooped in excitement, filing out of the room. I stayed and stared at my reflection. I turned my head from side to side, looking at the mark. I didn’t hate it at all, I just wished it wasn’t right in the center of my forehead. I hated standing out and this would make me stand out the most.

One day at a time, Layla. One day at a time, I told myself, going out to join the others.