Fate of the Lycan Alpha

Chapter 4

Esme

We didn’t learn much more from our research yesterday. Not that I was giving up, but there was so little information it was frustrating. Ariana said her friend was going to do some digging on her side and see what she could find. There may be more in England where this all started. We have never had to deal with any of this over here so there has never been a reason to keep much information. We knew enough to know we wanted to stay away from them. Now it didn't seem we had a choice. The meeting wasn't until next month, so it gave us some time to figure it out. Some time for me to pretend like this all might not come crashing down on me.

The last few weeks seemed too good to be true. I should have known better. The relief that flooded me after I fulfilled the prophecy couldn’t last forever. My grandmother warned me that there was more to come. Planning a wedding and preparing for a pup seemed surreal but also everything I ever wanted. Time for Lucas and I to just be together and connect. Freedom of not having a curse over our heads and fear filling our lives. That time seemed to be short-lived. I could feel the pressure building already.

Lucas was meeting with our allies today to go over what was going on and give them more details of the situation. They knew we had a war before and they sent help. They weren’t really told the specifics since we were trying to keep everything as quiet as possible. That no longer seemed like an option. They needed to know about Lucas’s wolf evolving and the danger it was bringing. This would have a larger impact that just our pack. The lycans would want more. My phone beeped and I pulled it out of my pocket to look at the screen.

Kenzie: Meet me in your office.

I smiled, rolling my eyes, and turned to head over to my office. I completely forgot she said she wanted to do wedding plans today. I opened the door expecting Kenzie to be impatiently waiting. Instead, the room is completely full of racks of dresses. It looked like the bridal shop threw up in my office. My mom sat on the couch with a huge smile on her face along with Hailey while Ariana and Kenzie stood with flutes of mimosas, looking through the racks. Gwen walked up to me with two flutes in her hand, handing me one.

“We get the non-alcoholic,” she pretended to pout. I took the glass in my hand as Kenzie turned around.

“Surprise!” She giggled.

“What is all of this?” I asked, my eyes wide in surprise still. I looked around the room and spotted another woman coming from behind one of the racks.

“This is Melissa,” she smiled and motioned for her to come forward. She was a tiny woman with olive-colored skin and gorgeous dark brown hair.

“Nice to meet you,” she smiled timidly.

“You as well,” I smiled and looked back to Kenzie in question.

“Don’t look at me like that. Lucas is bound and determined to keep you locked up and we have a wedding to plan. So I brought the planning to you,” she smiled like she was proud of herself.

“This is too much,” I said looking around and sipping my drink, wishing it could be alcoholic. I think I may need it to get through this.

“We need to find something before you get much bigger since she will be here before the wedding,” Kenzie smiled and turned toward the dresses. I smiled at the gender reference, Lucas would never live it down if I was right.

“Honey, do you have any idea of what you are looking for?” Melissa asked quietly.

“Honestly no,” I frowned.

“No worries,” she smiled and turned. “I will pull a few that I think will look great on you in different styles and you can get a feel for what you might want.” She disappeared into the racks and my mom came to my side, pulling me in for a hug.

“I can’t believe my baby is getting married and having her own baby,” she said, her eyes pooling with tears of joy.

“I’m not such a baby anymore,” I smiled at her, trying to hold back my own tears.

“You will always be my baby,” she smiled at me and grabbed one of the flutes filled with mimosas from the desk. “I guess you chose blush pink for your bridesmaids?” she added, motioning to the wall with the rack of blush pink dresses.

“I mentioned it, Kenzie ran with it,” I laughed.

“It suits you,” she smiled, walking toward them.

“I have one pulled,” Melissa called from behind me. I turned to her and she led me behind a makeshift partition. “I think your body type would be perfect for a mermaid style, so that is what I pulled first. No pressure at all, you should get a feel for all of them first and we will go from there.” She said as I started pulling off my clothes and she grabbed something that looked like a strange strapless and backless bathing suit with a huge cut down front. My face must have shown my confusion. “It's adhesive to stay in place but no matter what we put you in you won’t be able to see it so this just makes it easier to put on first,” she smiled. I took a deep breath and slid it over my legs and she helped me adjust it before holding the first dress for me to step into.

Countless dresses laid in the pile of disappointment. Nothing seemed quite right and I felt like I was wasting everyone’s time. Melissa walked in with a smile on her face holding another dress. “I think this is it,” she said cheerily.

“Let’s try it,” I smiled but felt completely hopeless. I stepped into the nude-colored trumpet dress. It was glittery tulle, with white lace all over it and a plunging neckline. The back was sheer with a line of buttons up the center. She stood behind me buttoning up the buttons as I looked at myself in the mirror. Tears filled my eyes. I loved it. “This is a good start she smiled at me through the mirror. I just nodded my head, taking in the dress. “It gets better,” she smiled and pulled a huge white piece of fabric from behind her and began snapping it around my waist. In seconds my trumpet turned into a ball gown. I felt like a princess. The skirt was white with lace all over and shimmered in the light with a small train. “Best of both worlds, one for the wedding and Luna ceremony, one for the reception,” she winked at me. I turned to walk back out and she grabbed the skirt from behind. I walked back into the room with everyone now looking through the racks. Melissa fanned out the skirt around me and I cleared my throat. They all turned at once. My mom’s eyes instantly flooded with tears. I knew in that moment it was the one. They hadn’t even seen the best part. Smiles covered all of their faces and my mom brought her hands to cover her mouth.

“This is it?” Kenzie asked with a smile, trying to repress her excitement in case she was wrong but I could see it in her eyes.

“Kind of.” I smiled and turned to Melissa to have her help me unbutton the skirt. She pulled the last button off and took the skirt to the side, leaving me in the trumpet dress I started in. Kenzie’s eyes shimmered with tears, a huge smile covering her face.

“It’s perfect,” my mom finally spoke, her voice soft and full of emotion.