Chapter 3: The Best Friend

Chapter 3

Reyna

If Warm Springs was a rural suburban gem, Deer Lodge was an immense, glittering urban sprawl.

Reyna had never seen so many people. Had never seen buildings so impossibly tall. Everything was concrete and metal and quick-moving. She had no idea a place like this existed in Montana — let alone so close to her home.

She hated it.

“Hold still.”

Her hair tugged against her scalp as Samantha, Reyna’s lifelong best friend, pulled and manipulated it into a fancy, convoluted twist at the back of her head. She secured it with pins and pulled a few wavy strands free to frame Reyna’s face.

“There. All done.”

Reyna’s hair was long and thick. She used to take the time to curl and style it, now and again, but with her job at the hospital, it stayed in a braid or bun or both more often than not. It was odd to see it so full and soft-looking.

“Thanks, Sam.” Reyna tilted her face this way and that, checking the gentle makeup they’d applied, eyes catching on the glint of diamonds dangling from her ears. “What time is it?”

“About that time, I’m afraid. You ready for the dress?” Sam flopped down onto the king-sized bed at the center of the suite and, propped on an elbow, eyed the floor-length garment bag dangling from the closet door. “He bought it, didn’t he?”

“He bought everything. Shoes, jewelry, dress.” Reyna glanced at the obnoxiously large diamond engagement ring he’d left for her on the vanity. “My parents think he’s being generous.”

“Did he at least ask your opinion?”

“Nope. Hadn’t seen any of it until now.”

And she still hadn’t seen the dress. So thinking, she stood and crossed to it, pulled the zipper from top to bottom. She sighed. It could have been worse, she supposed. At least she’d be fully covered.

“I half expected it to be see-through,” Sam groused.

“Alphas are territorial. Putting me on display would be problematic for him.”

“If that’s the only reason you think he picked out something decent, he’s going to be problematic for us.”

Reyna snorted. “Help me with this thing?”

“Bitch, of course. Zip it, burn it, and a one-way ticket to Canada. Ask and it’s yours.”

Sam pulled the dress down as Reyna slipped out of her complimentary robe. She stepped into the opening and let Sam slide it over her hips, her stomach, and her arms, and sucked it in as she zipped up the back.

It was a black floor-length number with a cold-shoulder silhouette and short, draped sleeves held with diamond clasps. The neckline dove to the top of her stomach. Reyna shivered a little. The silk was buttery and cold against her skin.

“I can’t leave,” she told Sam, and herself, one more time. “I can’t back out of this. No marriage, no business, no Warm Springs.”

“And how the hell is that your fault? Your responsibility? You didn’t screw up the money and use pack reserves to try and fix it, or —”

“ — Doesn’t matter. This is where we are now. This is how everyone wins.”

“Everyone but you.”

Reyna shifted to look at herself in the vanity mirror. It was a beautiful dress, and it was certainly flattering. Samantha appeared in the mirror behind her. She looked good, too, in a royal blue, midi-length sequined dress, her hair elaborately plaited into an updo.

Sam had always been gorgeous; ash-brown hair and blue eyes, freckles, long eyelashes, and even longer legs. She had a bright smile and the kind of laugh that made everyone around her happy when they heard it. Sexy and subtle in turn.

It was her loyalty and grit, though, that made her such a good person. A good friend.

They stared at each other in the mirror and Reyna knew another argument was coming. This had been their daily routine since Zack showed up at her parents’ almost a month ago now, simultaneously saving her pack and dooming her.

“What happened to waiting?” Sam urged quietly. “What happened to saving up our money, buying an RV, and getting out of here, searching for our mates?”

Reyna’s throat tightened over a sudden knot of emotion. Yes, that had been the plan. Since they were little girls, all skinned knees and knobby elbows, they’d plotted to set off on their own adventure and find their ‘fated mates’.

They’d claim them and drag them along for the ride, would see the world, and then one day would settle down.

And despite having numerous boyfriends and short, shallow relationships, both of them had waited. Sam used to joke that they’d be middle-aged virgins at this rate. But it hadn’t mattered. Age worked differently for shifters. They’d had time.

Now, Reyna’s time was up.

“Well, I don’t have any money. My mate is nowhere to be found.” She pressed a hand to her stomach and inhaled. Her nerves refused to settle. “My problems are very real and immediate. Zack’s here and has a solution. I’m not exactly in a position to turn him down.”

Sam’s eyes flashed gold and her lips pulled back over her teeth as she said, “Let your parents figure it out! Maybe they do lose the business. Maybe the pack does go under, financially. Better than selling you off like this. You’re not a — a stock or a bond. You’re their daughter, a member of this pack.”

There was a quiet moment — Sam breathing with careful precision, Reyna keeping her eyes away, letting her friend try to level her temper.

“This isn’t how we do things,” Sam continued, calmer. “It’s wrong.”

Reyna shook her head and tried to smile. She couldn’t let her mind wander down that road; the denial and alternatives and loopholes. She’d drive herself crazy. And her family — the pack — didn’t have time for it.

“This is the best we have right now, Sam. Path of least resistance and all that.”

“The pack isn’t happy, either, ya know? They don’t like the idea of us being bonded to Deer Lodge — to Zack. They don’t like the idea of you being handed over to him like some sacrificial lamb. They wouldn’t be angry or upset if you backed out.”

“And what about my family? You really think I’d let them sink and drown if there was a way I could stop it?”

Sam sighed and stepped away. Deep inhales and exhales. She huffed a mirthless laugh. “No, I don’t.” Her blue eyes were still rimmed gold when she turned back to face the mirror. “I love them, too. Like my own family. But that doesn’t change how I feel about this.”

“You don’t have to like it. I don’t.”

Reyna straightened her spine and squared her shoulders. The dress clung to her like water and her breasts, normally hidden beneath scrubs or t-shirts, were provocatively lifted and pushed outward into a grandiose show of cleavage. Her hair and make-up were simple but elegant. Diamonds glinted at her ears, in a thin strand around her wrist. She picked up the engagement ring from the vanity and slid it on the appropriate finger.

Princess cut set in diamond-inlaid silver. It probably cost more than her car.

“We don’t have to like it. But we do have to accept it.” She gave Sam a stern look; equal parts asking and warning. “We’ll show Zack and the rest of Deer Lodge respect because that’s what’s expected of us. Anything else is unacceptable.”

Sam scoffed and turned away once again. This time, she stood before the window, looking down at the crowded street below.

Reyna could see the muscles in her back flexing beneath the thin dress straps. Her frustration was a prickly tension in the air, poking at Reyna’s wolf.

“As you say,” Sam eventually agreed, though they could both taste her displeasure.

A knock at the door drew their eyes.

“Ms. Navarro,” a man’s voice called. “Mr. Cartier is on his way up to fetch you.”

Sam’s face melted into a magnificent show of disbelief and anger. “He’s going to fetch you? Like a fucking chew toy?”

Oh, it chafed. Very much.

Reyna was no stranger to going against the grain. Her parents had expected her, like all her siblings, to jump into the family business as soon as she was able. But she hadn’t cared about wood finishes and cushion swatches.

Her mind was a busy one, and she loved puzzles. What greater puzzle existed than the human body?

She’d piggybacked into nursing school on an academic scholarship without telling her parents, and had been dealing with the passive-aggressive disappointment ever since.

Her first instinct was identical to Sam’s: hot, jagged anger and puffy indignation. A desire to say screw you. To be spiteful and petty.

This wasn’t college, though. It wasn’t something she could logic away and tell herself it’ll be for the best. No matter what Sam said, there were wolves in their pack that were barely making it. That needed the Alpha’s pack reserve fund to be replenished.

And there was an acute difference between seeking her own career and letting her parents’ generational company go down the toilet.

Reyna took a deep breath and said, loud enough for the person in the hall to hear, “Thank you. I’m ready.”

She ignored Sam’s accusatory stare as she slipped her feet into the four-inch, diamond-strapped stilettos by the closet. It didn’t escape her attention that every item Zack had put in this room for her was outrageously excessive.

While her parents, bless them, saw this as generosity, Reyna knew it was more nuanced than that. A power play.

‘Look at what I have, at what I can afford. You’d never own something so expensive without me.’

Reyna situated herself in the shoes and took a few questing steps, testing her balance. Sam opened her mouth to say something and then snapped it shut. They both heard voices in the hall drawing closer. And then the sharp snick of the card-key lock on the door.

“I hope you’re decent,” Zack called, though he never actually paused. The words were just courtesy — meaningless to him.

His eyes found her and his attention, though heated, felt clinical. Judging. Like he was ticking boxes at a livestock auction rather than seeing his fiancée and future Luna dolled up to his preference.

His black hair was slicked back and neat and his tux, like her ensemble, was all finery and cohesiveness.

A picture of money and arrogance.

Zack was undeniably handsome. Tall and lean with muscle. Samantha said he had ‘pretty’ bone structure; a rounded jaw and high cheekbones, a delicately straight nose, and soft brow formation.

There weren’t many pretty Alphas. Most were older, hardened through experience, and generally less partial to a cushy life like the one Zack had made for himself.

That artificial woodsy smell hit her nose and Reyna stifled a sneeze.

“You’ll do,” Zack finally decided. He raised a hand to one of the diamond clasps, holding her sleeve together at the shoulder. “I’ve ordered you a new wardrobe so we won’t be pressed for time with the next event. No off-the-rack nonsense like this one.”

Reyna wasn’t sure what to say. Thank you seemed inappropriate when she hadn’t asked for new clothes. When she had no interest in anything he might give her.

“Obviously, this is a formal event. The southwestern Alphas are all in attendance with their guests and I expect you, your family, your… friends,” he snuck a warning glance at Samantha, who was still indubitably annoyed, “to behave and act accordingly.”

She wanted to remind him that she was an Alpha’s daughter. That she wasn’t some pup still clinging to her mother’s skirts.

Instead, she said, “We understand."

Zack confirmed that she was wearing the ring and then offered his arm.

“Let’s go, then. There’s a room full of people upstairs waiting.”

He didn’t spare her another glance.