12 Chapter 12

Ever since Ethan informed me that he was taking me as his date to some fancy party, I can't stop smiling. My wolf and I feel like giddy schoolgirls. I woke up early to exercise and get ready for Isa's arrival. I'm excited to finally get to go out and explore a little. Suddenly I hear the ding of the elevator before Isa's voice carries down the hall. "Scarlet! You ready?! Let's get this show on the road!" she calls.

I quickly run out of the bedroom and towards her. When she spots me, a wide grin spreads across her face and she instantly wraps me into a tight embrace. "Hi Isa! How have you been?!" I question happily as she loosens her grip on me.

"Doing better now! It's about time you convinced my pigheaded brother into letting you spread your wings a bit," she says with a wink before throwing an arm over my shoulders. "Alright boys," she adds, addressing Levi and Tony who are my guards at the moment. "Time to take this girl on a shopping expedition."

I smile and roll my eyes at her. She's making it sound as though we are about to go on safari. In reality, I'm really excited. This will be my first time to go shopping like this. Growing up in The Scourge, all my things were always scavenged, made, or hand-me-downs. I've never had money to spend anyway. Not to mention that all the malls and stores are within pack territories so I wouldn't be allowed to go there anyway.

Isa drags me towards the elevators and swipes her ID card once we are inside with my guards. We descend to the main floor where I am led to a black SUV. Within ten minutes we are pulling into a parking garage and getting out. When we walk into the large building my jaw drops. I have never seen anything like this before. There are so many stores lined up with displays in giant glass windows. The floors are covered with shiny, white tile and everything looks so clean and sleek. Large light fixtures hang from the high ceilings and railings wrap around each of the higher levels. It seems to go on forever.

As I gape, Isa loops her arm around mine. "So, where do you want to go first?" she asks with a toothy grin.

My eyes widen. How am I suppose to know? I don't even know my options. I don't even know what brands still exist since The Great War. "Umm..." I begin as I look at her.

Her smile grows as she waggles her eyebrows at me. "Too many to choose from? Don't worry. We have plenty of time to hit them all. We are going to get you completely stocked up and I'm just the girl to help you do it," she exclaims before dragging me into the first store.

I begin browsing and my fingers lightly run over the items hanging along the aisle. Soon I come across a nice black dress that I like and I look for a price. My eyebrows shoot up into my hairline when I find a tag hanging from the neck of the dress. "Oh my goddess! Is this a typo?!" I question, astonished. Isa simply laughs at me.

"Girl, we're in Selene LaCroix. What did you expect?" Selene LaCroix is a very famous and very expensive designer. She is a Luna of one of the many werewolf packs in France. I had come across an old magazine that talked about her when she was first starting out after The Great War. She was compared to designers such as Dolce and Gabbana and Versace. Elegant, stylish, and meant for the extremely wealthy.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else...."

"Nonsense. Don't worry about the cost of anything. My brother can afford it. He wants you to get a gown for the gala, but he also said they'll be having a nice dinner when the Silver Shadow Pack arrives, so we'll want something for that too. Plus, you have a whole walk-in closet that we need to fill. You're going to be Luna one of these days, so you need to look the part."

I am feeling a bit stunned as I continue further into the store while Isa is shoving garments into my arms. As she piles me up with dresses, skirts, and blouses a saleswoman comes over and offers to get a fitting room started for me. I gratefully accept before she takes the items that are weighing me down. Eventually I go try everything on.

Twenty stores and eight hours later all our bags are being loaded into the cargo of our SUV and my feet are on fire. I'm exhausted. Isa leans her head back with a lazy smile on her face. "I can't wait till my brother sees you in that dress for the gala. He's not going to know what hit him," she says as she turns to face me without even bothering to lift her head from the headrest.

I smile shyly back at her. I hope so. I haven't decided my feelings for Ethan, but my heart still races whenever I think about him. I want to impress him. I want to feel wanted and desired by him. "I want to mate with him and mark him. When is that going to happen?" my wolf chimes in, interrupting my train of thought.

"Oh shush. I'm in no hurry for that. Besides, he apparently needs to finish dealing with the Silver Shadow Pack and their alliance treaty before any of that can happen," I quickly remind her. My wolf doesn't have any doubts about our mate, but I'm still struggling. We didn't exactly hit it off in the beginning and frankly we've barely spoken. I feel as though I don't know anything about him.

"Then why don't you ask him. You are finally out of the penthouse. Find him and make him talk to us. Then you'll see how perfect he is for us."

"I guess that wouldn't hurt..."

"Of course it won't! He's our mate! He probably wants to see us as bad as we want to see him!" my wolf insists.

I'm lost in thought when we arrive back at the penthouse. We drop my bags off before Isa leads me down to the floors that belong to the pack house. "Isa, where would I find Ethan?"

"He's probably in his office. Do you want me to show you?"

"That would be great. Thank you."

After a short elevator ride, she leads me down a hallway to a closed door that has Ethan's name on it. To my astonishment Isa bursts in without knocking as she exclaims, "Oh brother dear—" but she stops as her eyes widen in shock. I freeze, rooted to my spot as my gaze lands on Ethan kissing another woman.