The Women Between

Chapter 12: Dressing to Please

Cassandra stood looking at herself in a full-length mirror of a fitting stall. Frustration filled her as she struggled to choose a dress. The one she has on is the umpteenth dress that she crossed out as wearing to the Luna Ceremony. It was black while the others were light or dark colors and different designs that should have perked her interest. There are holes where the shoulders should be before continuing with the sleeves that reach past her elbows. The hem of it cuts just above her knee with a small slope at the chest that does not tease the kings with her ample breast. She wanted to say this is the one, but it looks like something she would wear on a date not for something ceremonial.

“Ugh!” she groaned, lolling back her head.

She plopped down on the white, wooden bench amongst the many silky and satin clothes, causing them to puff around her. She put her elbows on her knees and her cheeks on her fists, feeling like it was hopeless to find a dress. It has become exasperating to find the right dress that screams her after two hours of looking through silk, satin, and cotton. Then, there is the business attire and casual wear, but each time it seems to be for one or the other of her mates.

She does not want to lose her identity while mated with someone. Nothing so far has said that she is still her, when everything that pops into her mind is for them. It seems like she has no mind of her own, right now. The bond wants her to appease them instead of herself, she knows, which adds more frustration to her. But most of all, sadness filled her that she could no longer choose something for herself. She can feel herself gradually becoming nothing.

Gregory’s and her fight kept surfacing in her mind, too, which made it worse. She kept getting more sadness over his anger and her sharp words. An alpha wolf of his status would feel the pain deeply when his priority is to protect, cherish, and love his mate. It pained her heart to know that she could be like that when she should feel special about his attentions like she had with Thomas, so far. She had to push the maddening thoughts away every time they popped into her head, so she could focus on her task, except she felt bad.

Cassandra is not even sure if it is her or the bond between them. She is trying to fight the mate bond to keep the person she has become in the last two years. She does not want to turn into something weak willed, again, where wolves stomp all over her. It will hurt in the long run, when she comes across someone that wants her place or speaks harshly about her. She needs to be able to brush it off with a laugh while crying in her bedroom, so they don’t drink up her hurt.

“Cassandra,” Thomas called softly as he gave a knock on the white wooden door.

“I’m fine,” she called gruffly when she is anything but that.

“If you talk about it, then you will feel better,” he coaxed gently.

His voice sounded like he cared. A string plucked in her heart that made her look at the door a moment before wanting to open it. She wanted to lean into his body, taking in his warmth, just to feel better about everything ounce of chaos in her head. She knows it will ease the burden of her mind and sooth the pain inside of her with his arms around her. She just could not let herself become weak enough to do it, even when her heart was breaking from her refusal to go to him.

“It’s frustrating is all,” Cassandra admitted, giving him half the truth. She is not going to give everything to him that is bothering her, until she can feel like she can trust him. “The mate bond is screwing with me, and I just would prefer to be me.”

“Let me guess,” he chuckled, which made her frown at the way he thought this was funny. “It wants you to dress for my brother or me.”

“Yes, and I would prefer to dress my way,” she told him firmly. She frowned harder as her voice sounded like a pouting child. “I will not feel like I have chosen which one I like more.”

She knows that is not entirely a lie. She wants to try this mate bond, but she would have liked to have tried it without being marked first. It only makes her question everything instead of feeling sure about herself. Now, she has to figure out which are her feelings, and which is the “nudge” from the bond or them. It is too confusing to figure out.

“I see,” Thomas said softly, still sounding amused by her dilemma. “I am going to give you a dress that I think is you. Just stay there.”

She said nothing as she sat there glumly trying to find something inside of her that was still her. She knows that she is over analyzing it, but she feels like everything has gotten out of control in her life. It is like nothing is her choice anymore, including the need to make up with her mate. She would rather stay mad at him for a little while longer just to make her point about his actions. He was overbearing with her and acted like a father versus someone that was supposed to care about her.

Her words of Gregory being an ass made her hurt, which she did not know if it was from him or if she genuinely hurts. She knows that he is right about her need for more food to be able to withstand everything expected of her today. She knows that it is an alpha's priority to look after his mate in every way. It is encoded in their DNA, but he started correcting her words. That is when she felt like a child being scolded by Daddy, which ticked her off.

“Here,” Thomas called, drawing her from her misery. “I think you might like this one.”

Cassandra looked at the midnight blue dress held over the door, seeing the lace that would cover the chest. It looks almost like a hose with how thin it is before the cloth takes over to cover her breasts with no V point. There are no sleeves on it with a high hem cut that teased both men about what may be underneath. It looked perfect, but she did not know how it would look on her.

She snatched it from his hand and put this retro dress on, wondering if maybe she was behind the current fashion. That is not how a queen should be, she scolded herself. But she has always liked the older styles versus the newer ones. Or maybe, it is her cautious nature that has her unwilling to accept new things?

She paused for a moment after removing the dress, realizing something. She is unsure of the double mating because it's new to her. It made her wonder if that is why she antagonized her mates this morning. Her mind circled around this until she wanted to smack her head for being a b***h. He was trying to look after her in his own way, which made her feel like an ass.

The things that are new to her cause her to repel it immediately when forced onto her. That is how she has become after the excitement of meeting werewolves wore off. Their treatment of her made her cautious, but she knows it is more than that. She knows of no one mated with twins for her to speak to, and it makes it harder to adjust.

She is a helpless romantic about things like lovers from afar. Soulmates, and even damsels in distress with their knight in shining armor have always held a place in her heart. She is now in a similar situation to all those romantic stories that she has read, and the fantasies that she has had over years about this kind of relationship. All those things she had almost given up on when the incident happened at Red Moon Pack are now presented to her. She is rejecting it, but there is a small part of her that wants this to be like her fantasies and the stories. That was why she had not rejected them. It is the piece of her is afraid to trust that is causing the problem.

Quickly, she put on the dress and looked at herself, noticing how it cut high on her thighs. She is not entirely comfortable with it, but it looks good on her, if she can figure out how to style her light brown hair. It seems to want to be limp today with a bit of a wave in it. The golden tint wants to be dull, too, to hide itself away from everything. She struggled this morning to make it look decent with the help of Felicity, who tried to get her to braid it down her back. She wanted to leave it on her back for some strange reason.

An epiphany came to Cassandra, suddenly, as she looked at herself. She chewed on her lip for a moment to think about the pros and cons of doing what was in her mind. She is unsure if she truly wants this. At the same time, she does not want to repel these men, at least, not until she has made up her mind. They will only take so much of her resistance before giving up their want of her. But this idea… It may save her a lot of grief in the long run.

“Thomas,” Cassandra called with a wobble in her voice.

“Is something wrong?” he asked worriedly.

“No, yes, no,” she winced at the uncertainty in her voice cursing the mate bond for doing this to her. She breathed in, then out steadying her nerves to say what she had to say feeling slightly bashful for some reason. “I was just wondering if you thought Gregory had calmed down now.”

“He should be,” Thomas said, trying to sound reassuring to her. She had doubts, though. “Do you wish to see him? I can take you to the Council Chambers.”

“Yes,” Cassandra said quickly, feeling relief at his offer, “but I… I, I would like… to look nice. Could you pick out a dress for me for him?”

“Sure,” Thomas chuckled.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

He was starting to make her feel insecure about her idea, but she knew she had to trudge on with it. This is about potential love and happiness that she may miss out on, even if she is scared to death by it. She must see what this is like before rejecting it out right or damaging the relationship before it can flourish. She would hate herself if she did anything like that, especially when the regret settles in to make a nice cushy home. That would make her cry and become angry at herself for doing something irrevocably stupid.

It did not take him long before he came back with a knock on her door, ending her thoughts. She unlocked it to take whatever he gave her when he pushed it open and slid inside. A gasp slipped out of her, wondering what he was thinking. She barely saw a package in his left hand with that devilish look on his face that showed he was unrepentant. If he had not had that smirk on his face, she was sure she would have gotten mad. His lips looked too juicy for her to resist smiling back at him shyly while his closeness urged her to taste them. It made her graze her tongue over her lips, moistening them for a kiss.

Her desire is building and there is no escape for her in this stall. The thoughts swirling in her head made her want to try to taste him, again, like he should have done that day. The memory of that chaste kiss he gave her right before he marked her pounded in her heat. Caramel. He had tasted like caramel, one of her favorites when she went to a carnival. That memory was not enough to satisfy her craving, right now.

Although Cassandra wonders why she feels like this when she had not all day until now. Is it his animal magnetism, or is it the closeness of their bodies? Is he producing something that will make her like this? She is sure the mate bond has something to do with it. Maybe it is the fact that they have to be not really been this close to where they are practically an inch apart all day.

Thomas had pretended to be a girl and pranced with a dress against his body to make her laugh in each store. They both agreed that he would be an ugly woman, but it made her loosen up towards him. He made this trip fun, so far, and even the omega with us was giggling at his efforts. This, however, feels like there is more between them than jokes and laughter. Now, something is different that she just could not put her finger on.

“You already have the dress needed to make the apology,” Thomas pointed out hurriedly.

He searched through the ones hanging on the hook with her eyes, never leaving him. They were dewy with a side of yearning in them as she watched every move that he made like she was a predator now. A charge filled her stiffened body that wanted to run her hands on his body. His abs, every muscle that molded him into this godlike figure, and his lips played on her mind far too much for her tastes. He was handsome before, but now, he seemed like a godsent to her that was going to help her with an apology to Gregory.

“Were you thinking about this while looking for your ceremonial dress?” he asked curiously as he held it up.

She wanted to answer him, but she had none to give him. Did she really decide to do this unconsciously?

She wanted to take things slow with the brothers and not jump them the minute one nears her. That is exactly what the urges are demanding for her to do. It is more than just a taste of his lips that she wants from him, which drives her crazy. She is trying to fight it. She knew that it was going to be hard to keep to a certain line, but she did not know it was going to be this hard.

That is when she realized that the bond between Thomas and her bond had grown.

“Cassandra,” he called, turning his head towards her.

“Huh?” she said, jerking her head slightly to look into his eyes. She realized that he had asked her a question. She shook her head and turned around to keep herself from being tempted to do something she may regret later. “I think I was, but I believe it was the mate bond’s urgings that I did so.”

“I see,” he mused as his eyes roved over her body.

She could not help looking in the mirror at him wearing a smile on his face while holding a black dress. It is one of those that she considers for dates and to tease her mates into bed. She is not sure about wearing it when it is broad daylight. And she only wanted to apologize to Gregory no more than that. It made her face scrunch up, confused by what he was trying to do to her.

“My brother has a tendency to stay angry,” Thomas explained nonchalantly. “You might want to make him forget about the anger.”

“Oh,” Cassandra said, giving a nod.

The next thing she knew, he was unzipping and pulling her dress over her head. He moved so quickly that she barely had time to react other than to gasp. She did not even get to hide her breasts or anything else as he put the other one on before she could even blink. Her body was frozen in place, but she noticed that she did not feel uncomfortable. His eyes grazed over her quickly in that time and it only charged her more to feel like a predator needing her mate. But the worst part is, he did not seem to care about her nakedness.

She tried to focus on the dress, instead of her needs that had tightened her body. It has a hole that circles around her chest going from the sides to slope down a little to her hollows, then up to leave a strip at her neck. It cuts high on her thighs with no sleeves, leaving her showing a lot of skin. She was sure that everyone could see her bra poking out of it, but one look at her mate, and he shook his head at her. That had her confounded if she did not feel sexy as hell and ready to give him a taste of her, if she could muster up the courage.

He must have sensed her insecurity through the mate bond, which made her blush more. She keeps forgetting that they can sense each other’s emotions through the bond. She almost blushed, again, when she realized that her neediness was felt by him, too. Her eyes traveled down to his waist, noticing the bulge in his jeans that made her body decide to heat up. She jerked her eyes back up and took a breath through the thumping of her heart. She is mixed between fear of his size and the need to wholly be his .

Then, he opened the package that made a crunching sound that caused her to jump in place. He smirked as he pulled out black lacey thongs that had garter straps hanging on the sides and in-between. She was going to remove her panties, but he smacked her hand away and did it for her. That caught her breathe, feeling his thumbs so close to her rear and his breath right near an area that needed touching to ease the ache. He is stripping away the one thing that could keep anything from happening between them, right now, too. Wild thoughts of them in this stall started filling her head, adding to her arousal that pounded on her waist. She wants it to happen while she fights for it not to happen at the same time. Her breaths are slightly heavy and her chest is heaving with each one. The tension filled the small gap between them to the point where she did not think she could take it.

She had to take a deep breath in, then out to keep herself from shaking with her needs. It moistened her somewhere she is trying not to think about right now. Her knees wanted to lock together, especially when he put the thongs on her by lifting one leg at a time. Her stomach flipped too with the thrill zipping through her. More dirty thoughts pumped into her head that made her bite her lip to suppress the moan lodged in her throat. She wanted it to come out of her mouth so he would know what he was doing to her body.

This is the most excoriating and sexually charged dressing she has ever been through. And he had not even touched her inappropriately!

She wants him to, though. She wants his fingers to slip somewhere naughty while pretending to dress her. When he lifts her leg to put the sheer black stockings on, she feels like he is going to take a taste of her folds. His lips are brushing the skin of her legs, making her bite a little harder on her lips to keep quiet. He just needs to go a little higher. It was her desperate prayer that was repeated over and over in her mind, hoping that it would be granted.

The sparks and tingles be damned, she thought desperately as she tried to fight it. His hands on her body were enough to make her desire an hour alone with him somewhere cozy, where their bodies could get sweaty. She wants to see him without his shirt on, again, but this time, his pants have got to go. Now, she does not care so long as they are together with him touching every part of her body that makes her cry in pleasure. The sight of him in her head made her ignore the clicking sound of the hooks clamping onto the straps connecting them together.

“Done,” Thomas proclaimed in her ear.

She opened her eyes, not realizing that her hands were on the wall beside the mirror. Her nails had dug into the wood and her breath was heaving harder in her chest than a moment ago. Her breasts looked like they were going to pop out at any moment with her face flushed from desire. Flames are dancing in her widened eyes, and it is all aimed at him. They are on his lips that are by her ear listening to his whispery voice. It replayed in her head, hearing the sound of his needs made her body so tight that she felt ready to let him inside of her.

She pried her clenched teeth open to lick her lips as she struggled to calm down, tasting a bit of blood on them.

Did he do that on purpose?

“I’ll do your hair,” Thomas continued to whisper in her ear.

A groan came from her, especially as it felt like his lips were feathering her ear lobes. He is the devil, she thought, after his light nibble made her clench her thighs together and lock her knees. She could feel something wet pooling into her thongs. He is wreaking havoc on her body and is craving his hands on her.

Then, his fingers raked through her hair. It is no different than her own fingers, and yet, she cannot help the moan of ecstasy slipping from her.

What is wrong with me?!

“Thomas, Thomas,” she called softly before his name turned into a moan.

She is trying to get him to stop enticing her. They are in a fitting stall, where anyone could hear them. She does not really care about that as much as she cares about what his brother would think of them together like that. They have not even talked about this portion of the relationship, yet. She is not sure she can be shared, like they want to do, and he is making it hard for her to think straight.

Another moan slipped through her lips when his hands pulled strands of hair to braid it down the side. It was going to cover his mark and not Gregory’s, which made her feel a pang in her heart for him. She does not want him to feel excluded in this relationship. Still, she could not stop him from doing it with her mind buzzing and her body yearning for him to pull harder on it. She wants him to get a little rough with her inexperienced body.

“Thomas,” Cassandra called softly, hearing how breathy she sounded. She hopes that it is not inciting his wolf, but one look in the mirror and she can tell it is. His eyes are orange and blazing at her as he puts a band on the end of her braid. “That… That was…”

“I know,” he said, equally breathy and needy as her. “I think we should get out of this fitting room. We still have to get you shoes.”

“Yeah,” she nodded while still looking at him in the mirror, but she did not trust herself. She wanted to kiss him and to rake her hands over his body. “You leave first, and I’ll follow.”

Thomas nodded, then straightened his jacket before opening the door and walking out. She took a few steps from the wall before turning around and finding a struggle inside of her mind. She was cursing herself for being a chicken with him over a simple kiss, but she knew it would be more than that. It would lead to them paying for damages in this room when she opens to let him have her. She is not ready to go that far, yet. Her body may miss his heat and want his touch on it, but she must keep it from happening too soon. She has no idea what she wants yet.

Cassandra stepped out to find Erin, a blonde haired omega assigned to help her shop, standing by one of the tables near the fitting room. Her head is bowed, but she could still see the rosiness on her tanned cheeks that says she knows what happened. It made her blush at the thought of anyone else knowing. Her eyes roved around hoping that people would not hear her, but she saw a few glance her way with a smirk on their faces. They are browsing through racks of clothes like it was their main focus while flicking a glance her way. Her blush deepened at the thoughts flitting through her head, making her wish she would not have let him do that to her.

“Umm,” Cassandra said as she turned her head back to the omega. “Erin, I found a few dresses that I would like for various occasions. Could you help me get them while Thomas gets me shoes?”

“Yes, Luna,” she said quietly as this woman struggled to keep her composure.

She knows now that she is going to have a rough time accepting werewolf hearing when they begin to mate. Or even when they make out, it will be rough on her knowing that they know what she has done. She likes her privacy. This is just another thing on her list that she is going to have to adjust to if she chooses to stay with her mates. She hopes that she can make a decision soon before she goes down the rabbit hole too deeply.