Of Beasts and Wolves

Chapter Nine: The Mall Pt.1

Breakfast was a casual affair, and they took their time eating their food. The waitress came by several times to refill their drinks – coffee for Gavin, apple juice for Max – and to make sure everything was all right with their food. Max’s mouth was stuffed full to the brim every time she came by, so it was left to Gavin to assure their waitress that everything was delicious.

Once Max had stuffed herself full of all the French toast, eggs, and bacon she could hold, Gavin paid their bill and led her by the hand out of the restaurant and into the mall.

Having never been to the mall that she could remember, Max wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but the sounds and smells were almost overwhelming as they stepped out of the relative quiet of the restaurant. Still, despite the assault on her senses, she was looking forward to exploring this place with her mate. She quickly realized, however, that she had no clue what each of the shops held, and she turned a panicked gaze to her mate.

As though sensing her unease, he was quick to reassure her, “Don’t worry. We can just wander around, and if you see something in one of the window displays that catches your eye, we can go in and look around.”

“But what-“ she started, but Gavin squeezed her hand and interrupted.

“And if you want to go into every shop to explore, we can do that too. Today is your day. Just say the word.”

The thought of leading him around, deciding which shops to go into and which ones to bypass was rather intimidating for her, but she was determined to enjoy herself anyway. So, she glanced around at the shops nearest to them, and pointed to one that held a display of mannequins wearing beautiful summer dresses. She’d seen other she-wolves wearing such pretty clothing, but she hadn’t had the opportunity to do so in the last five years. So, she lifted a finger and pointed reverently to the lovely dresses, asking quietly, “Can we go look in there?” Specifically, a lovely off-the-shoulder sundress in a deep yellow was what caught her eye, and she desperately wanted to try it on.

Gavin followed the direction her finger was pointing in, and grinned in obvious excitement over her desire to go look before gripping her hand in his and dragging her into the shop she’d indicated.

Making a beeline toward the dress she’d spotted through the window, Max reached out to touch the pretty fabric, then jerked her hand back as though she’d been burned when she caught a glimpse of the price tag. When Gavin reached past her to pluck the dress off the wall rack, Max grabbed his arm and tried to stop him. He glanced down at her in question, and she shook her at him and mouthed the word ‘expensive.’

Not bothering to keep his voice down, Gavin shrugged and said, “So? I don’t recall mentioning a price limit.”

“Will you keep your voice down?!” she hissed, glancing around the shop to be sure that no one else had heard him.

“Why?” Gavin wanted to know.

“I don’t want us to get kicked out of here!”

“We won’t,” Gavin assured her. “Just go try the dress on and quit worrying about the price.”

“But I-“

“No buts! Go!” Gavin took the dress off the rack, pushed it into Max’s hands, then placed his hands on her shoulders to turn her around so she was facing the curtained-off dressing rooms. She tried to dig her heels in and refuse to move, but the tiled floor made that difficult, and it only took a moment for Gavin to gently push her toward the curtains.

The girl working in the dressing rooms looked Gavin and Max up and down, then offered them both a smile.

“Just trying on the one thing?” she asked politely, reaching under the counter for one of the number tags to hang outside Max’s dressing room.

“Just the one for now,” Gavin answered smoothly. “I’m hoping she’ll find more pieces to try on.”

“Gavin!” Max hissed at him, hoping he would listen to her this time. That price tag was far too expensive for a single dress!

But either he didn’t hear her, or he chose to ignore her, because the next thing Max knew, the girl was introducing herself as Jolene and ushering Max into one of the several rooms.

Once Jolene snapped the curtain closed behind her, Max was left staring at herself in the mirror. She had to admit that even holding the yellow sundress in her arms, the color looked beautiful against her skin.

“So try it on, doll!” Beryl coaxed. “There’s no harm in just seeing how it looks.”

Her wolf had a good point, and Max couldn’t think of a good argument for why she shouldn’t try it on, so she shrugged at her reflection and began changing out of her clothes.

Just as she was pulling the dress over her head, she heard Gavin holler, “Hurry up! I want to see!” But she could hear the smile in his voice and couldn’t help her own answering smile at his teasing.

“Hold your horses!” she hollered back. “I’m almost done.”

She heard him chuckle, and after taking a moment to glance at herself in the mirror, Max finally pushed back the curtain and stepped out so Gavin could see. Jolene was also standing nearby, and she grinned at Max while clapping her hands. But it was Gavin’s expression that she most wanted to see, and when she looked at him, the smile on his face was everything she needed.

“That dress looks beautiful on you, Sprout.”

Quirking one eyebrow at him, Max paused and questioned, “Sprout?”

But Gavin just shrugged at her and said, “What? You’re tiny, and you remind me of a bean sprout.”

Max just shook her head and him, then turned to the full-length mirror on the wall to see her reflection.

“He’s right,” Beryl purred at her. “The dress is beautiful on it’s own, but it’s absolutely stunning on you.”

Distracted by the conversation with her wolf, Max didn’t notice when Gavin sidled up next to Jolene, nor when Jolene slipped out of the curtained-off area with a small, secret smile. When she looked up and caught sight of the way Gavin was smiling at her in the mirror, her cheeks flushed with color and she dropped her gaze to the ground, unsure how to process everything she was feeling.

“Why do you drop your eyes?” Gavin wanted to know. “You look beautiful, Max, and I like looking at you.”

But Max only shrugged at him and scuffed her toe, feeling silly now for being so self-conscious around her mate. “I don’t know,” she told him honestly. “I guess I’m just not used to this much attention.”

“Especially positive attention,” Beryl added in her mind.

“You may as well get used to it,” Gavin replied, coming closer to her and turning her to face the mirror. “I think you’re beautiful, I think that dress is beautiful, and I think it’s even more gorgeous on you. I saw the smile on your face when you came out here, and I love seeing that smile because it means you’re happy.”

Max wasn’t sure what to say to that, and Beryl was being uncharacteristically quiet, which wasn’t helping at all. Settling for a nod to show that she’d heard him, she couldn’t help the easy smile that bloomed when Gavin leaned down a bit to press a series of gentle kisses across both shoulders.

“You’re going to have to get more sundresses like this,” Gavin said quietly, his warm breath tickling her throat and sending goosebumps chasing down her body. “Your shoulders fascinate me.” Using a feather-light touch with the tip of his index finger, he traced an invisible line between her freckles. “I never realized how attractive shoulder freckles can be. I wonder, if I were to connect the dots somehow, if there would be a pattern there.” He spoke idly as he moved his finger across the dots on her skin.

But Max just shrugged. “They’re only freckles,” she told him, not understanding his fascination. “There’s nothing special about them, and certainly no patterns.”

The look on Gavin’s face as he raised his gaze to meet hers in the mirror showed his disagreement with her statement. But all he said was, “They’re your freckles. That makes them special to me.” Dropping another kiss on her shoulder, he continued, “Come on. Put your regular clothes back on and let’s go find you some more sundresses.”

“There’s no need for that,” said a feminine voice behind them, and both Max and Gavin turned around to see Jolene and another girl standing there, their arms laden with tops, jeans, shorts, skirts, and more dresses. Max stared, incredulous, but Gavin smiled at the girls.

It took some convincing, but between Gavin, Jolene, and the other girl – who introduced herself as Nina – they managed to coerce Max to put on a fashion show right there for them. Max protested that she couldn’t take up the girls' time like that when there were other customers in the shop that would need help. But Jolene shook her head and explained that there had been no other customers in the store, and she had already closed and locked the front door to keep anyone else from coming in and interrupting them.

With her only argument no longer valid, Max gave in and allowed Jolene and Nina to herd her back toward the small room where she’d left her jeans and t-shirt in a rumpled pile on the floor. She tried on outfit after outfit, including shoes, and wore each one out into the sitting room for Gavin to see. Somewhere around the third or fourth outfit, Max began to enjoy herself, and even posed for Gavin in each of the outfits she tried on, making him cackle with delight at her ridiculous antics.

By the time she finished trying everything on that Jolene and Nina had chosen for her, Max was exhausted. She didn’t think she’d ever seen so many clothes in one place, let alone tried them on. In fact, she was fairly certain that several of the outfits she’d tried on hadn’t even been out on the racks in the shop.

When Max finally finished putting on her old jeans and t-shirt, she realized exactly how ill-fitting they truly were, especially since she’d just spent the last 45 minutes trying on clothes that did fit her properly. Wrinkling her nose at her reflection in the mirror, Max reminded herself that she only had to wear these clothes until they got home again, and then she could get rid of the baggy, misshapen jeans and t-shirts she’d lived in for the last five years.

“You can get rid of anything and everything that reminds you of those people,” Beryl chimed in. “Gavin said he would get you whatever you needed.”

“I don’t want to take advantage of him,” Max told her wolf. “He’s already done so much for me. Asking for more seems wrong.”

Beryl wholeheartedly disagreed. “You’ve been conditioned to believe that you don’t deserve nice things, and that’s where that guilt is coming from. Did you see the way Gavin was smiling at you earlier? He doesn’t care about the clothes or the money. He cares about you, and about seeing you happy.”

Recalling the way Gavin had smiled and laughed during her silly, impromptu fashion show, Max couldn’t help but smile herself. “He did seem happy, didn’t he?”

“Yes, doll, he did. So quit hiding in here, and go tell our mate thank you!”

Beryl’s command earned a laugh from Max, and a teasing, “Gosh, you’re bossy,” which just made her wolf chuckle.

Taking one last glance in the mirror, Max left the dressing room and headed for the counter where she thought Gavin would be waiting for her. But he wasn’t there, so she made her way over to Nina, who was standing at the register.

“Hi,” she said quietly. “Do you know where Gavin went?”

“Oh yes!” Nina answered with a smile. “He went next door with Jolene to find some shoes for you. He asked that you change into the yellow sundress and wait for him here. He’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Oh. Okay.” Max couldn’t help the disappointed tone in her voice as she wondered why he hadn’t simply waited for her, but had chosen instead to go with Jolene. Her old friends Self-Doubt and Insecurity immediately began to take up space in her thoughts, swimming through her idle thoughts and subconscious.

“Stop that!” Beryl snapped, all joviality gone from her voice. “He’s trying to do something nice by surprising you with new shoes. He wouldn’t sit here and spend all this time with you just to go off with another woman behind your back. He probably just wanted another female’s opinion. Men are terrible with fashion choices.”

“How would you know?” Max scoffed.

“I just know,” Beryl insisted. “Look, just don’t panic yet, and when he comes back, you can ask him. How’s that?”

“Okay. I’m sure you’re right.” But even Beryl’s confidence couldn’t dislodge the tight knot of anxiety that had formed low in her belly.

Forcing a smile for Nina, Max accepted the neatly folded yellow sundress, then turned and headed back toward the dressing rooms to change. Unsure what to do with her ratty jeans and t-shirt once she was dressed, she balled them up and shoved them under her arm as she headed back out into the main area of the shop.

That tight knot of anxiety in her belly loosened immediately when she spotted Gavin standing nearby, Jolene and Nina talking quietly together behind the counter and stealing sidelong glances at Gavin. Rather than being upset about it, Beryl began to make sounds that sounded almost like a cat’s purr.

“That’s right, ladies. Look all you want, but you’re never going to have him. He’s all mine.”

“Beryl!” Max scolded her wolf, shocked at not only Beryl’s confidence, but also her brazen possessiveness over Gavin.

“What? It’s true. Gavin is our mate. Compared to us, those two human t**s don’t stand a chance, and they don’t even know it.”

“Those two human ‘twits’ have been very nice to me, and you’re beginning to remind me of Taylor, who was not very nice.” Beryl’s offended gasp let Max know that her words had had the desired effect. “So knock it off, please, and try to be nice. Okay? I’ve had enough negativity to last me a lifetime over the last five years, and you’ve always been so positive.”

Beryl didn’t answer, but Max could still feel her, so she hadn’t put up a block between them. That was good, at least.

When Gavin spotted her, he grinned and moved toward her, carrying a shoebox in one hand and an opaque plastic bag in the other. She couldn’t tell what was in the bag, but her gaze focused on that shoebox with laser-like intensity. She hadn’t had new shoes in ages, and she was extremely curious to see what he’d chosen for her.

“Whatcha got there?” she asked, gesturing toward the bag.

“A surprise,” he told her, handing her the shoebox but keeping the bag well out of her reach.

“What kind of surprise?” she asked slyly, reaching out to accept the box and hoping he would tell her more about whatever was in the bag.

“Wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you that, now would it?” Gavin poked his tongue out at her and wrinkled his nose, laughing quietly when Max wrinkled her own nose at him. He knew that she was disappointed, but he wasn’t quite ready to give this gift to her just yet. Instead, he led her over to the bench he’d sat on earlier, then knelt at her feet to remove her shoes and socks.

“What are you doing?” she wanted to know, attempting to pull her foot out of Gavin’s hand. “I can take off my own shoes, you know.”

“I know you can,” he told her, looking up at her through his eyelashes. “I want to do this for you. Let me pamper you.”

Unsure how to respond, Max finally relaxed her foot in her mate’s hands and settled back on the bench. “Guess I can’t argue with that.”

“Good,” Gavin teased, but it was said with a smile, and Max couldn’t help but smile back at him. As he pulled off her old, ratty tennis shoes, he explained, “I wasn’t sure what you would like, so I asked Jolene to go with me and help me pick something for you.”

“See?” Beryl hummed, her earlier irritation with Max apparently forgotten.

But Max ignored her wolf’s self-satisfied comment and spoke to Gavin instead, saying, “I would have loved anything you chose for me.”

“I know.” Gavin shrugged and pulled one of the shoes out of the box, angling it so that all Max could see was the sole. “But I wanted to make sure that you would actually love the shoes themselves and would want to wear them, and not just tolerate them because I got them for you.” He slid the shoe onto her foot, then adjusted it so it fit better and asked, “Is that too tight?” She shook her head in the negative and watched as he repeated the process with the second shoe on her other foot. One done, Gavin rose to his feet and held out a hand to assist Max in also standing up. “Go look in the mirror,” he told her, stepping back so that she could move past him.

When she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror, Max paused, then slowly moved forward, her eyes traveling the length of her body, from the top of her head down to the tips of her toes, which were peeking through the open straps of her new sandals. Wanting to get a better look, she crouched down to inspect the sandals and let out a delighted, “Oh!” of surprise when she realized that there was a line of little yellow butterflies dancing across the top strap. When she lifted her gaze to the mirror again, Max realized that Gavin had moved silently and was now standing directly behind her, clasping something in his hands which were hidden behind his back.

Even more curious now, Max rose, but kept her back to Gavin and only maintained eye contact in the mirror. Once she was standing upright, she watched as he moved toward her until she could feel the heat from his chest on her mostly bare shoulders.

Leaning down so that his mouth was right beside her ear, his warm breath tickled over her throat and jaw and sent pleasurable shivers down her spine. Max kept her eyes on Gavin’s in the mirror, unable to look away even if she wanted. His blue eyes were utterly hypnotic, and she could easily see herself drowning in them.

“Close your eyes, Max,” he whispered, his lips brushing over her ear and working another shiver out of her. Almost without thinking about it, she did as he bid her to, and felt his hands come up to rest on her shoulders.

She couldn’t help the tremors that began to race along her nerve endings, nor the goosebumps that were left in their wake. With her eyes closed, she could feel, hear, and smell with more clarity, and it was very nearly a sensory overload. She could feel his fingertips trailing gently over the tops of her shoulders, tracing over the thin straps of her new sundress, before he pressed a kiss to her neck that made her gasp in surprise.

“Open your eyes,” Gavin instructed gently, his hands still resting on Max’s shoulders, his thumbs rubbing soft circles near her neck.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, her gaze immediately drawn to Gavin’s reflection behind hers. She couldn’t help but admire the angled planes of his handsome face, nor the contrast between them as they stood together, Gavin so tall and tanned and Max shorter and much more pale.

As she was admiring their reflections together, the overhead lights glinted on something metallic near her throat. Curious, she leaned forward for a better look and saw a tiny silver butterfly dangling from a delicate chain, its wings opened in a riot of glorious color.

Before she could even open her mouth to ask, Gavin said, “It reminded me of you. You’ve really blossomed over the last two days, and you’re finding your wings. Reminds me a lot of a butterfly emerging from its cocoon.”

His words brought a smile to Max’s lips, but it was Gavin’s gesture of the gift itself as well as the meaning behind it that nearly brought her to tears. Remembering his panicked reaction the last time she’d cried, Max swallowed past the lump in her throat and said, “It’s beautiful, Gavin. I love it! Thank you so much!”

When he opened his arms to her for a hug, Max grinned fiercely and threw herself at her mate, instinctively knowing that he would catch her.

Hugging her tightly, Gavin pressed kisses to her neck, shoulders, and face, reveling in their closeness and Max’s happiness.

“Come on, Sprout. Let’s go see what else we can find for you.”

“I’m not going to be able to get rid of that nickname, am I?”

“Nope!” Gavin told her, deliberately making the ‘p’ pop and grinning at Max when she only shook her head at him.

Hand in hand, they walked out of the shop and into the mall, neither of them paying any attention to Jolene and Nina, nor the jealousy in the two human girls’ gazes.