Chapter 10

Nothing could surprise me any more today. First our not-so-lonely frollock in the woods, then finding about my bloodline, then Alpha Brock wanting me to call him Dad and now Luna Kae subtly telling me to call her Mum. Is my next surprise already lined up and waiting or do I have to go out and find it?

“Do not feel any pressure to, I just feel the same as Brock does about you.” Her hands moved from mine to cup my rosy cheeks. “Since the day you were brought to us, I have considered you a part of our family. Since then, I have always thought of myself as having three children and not two. You are mine, Olivia, and I would never let you or anyone else think otherwise.”

Her sentimentality had tears cascading down my face before I even knew that my eyes had filled. She saw that as a cue to grip me in one of her famous, loving hugs that no wolf could resist. We could never find a better Luna for our pack than this amazing she-wolf right here.

There was no doubt about it, I wanted to call her Mum. Everything that she had just said was a mirror to my own deeply hidden feelings. It was a lot of change and one hell of a step to take, but it is a step in the right direction for once in my life and exactly where I have always wanted to be; home surrounded by family. And friends of course, I could not forget Poppy in all of this. I do not know where I would be without that bloody muppet. I just hope that she survives today once Marthe is done with her.

“I believe that you know me better than almost anyone and that you already know my answer.” I avoided directly saying it, keeping her in limbo unintentionally because of my fear to say it out-loud.

Luna Kae’s face looked on at me, hopeful but fearful at the same time, waiting to hear my approval or denial at her subtle request.

“Mum.” I tried the word out, sounding very much alien to me. But it also felt familiar, like it would not take long for it to just roll off my tongue, without worry and not ever remembering having called her anything else before.

Mum’s face softened; her eyes misted as the tears gathered. I reached up and ran a finger under both of her eyes gently to stop any from escaping down her flawless makeup and beautiful face as she sniffed.

Gripping my hands and swinging my arms and with a small cough to clear herself of her overflowing emotions, she spoke on to me. “Right young lady, it is now three pm, so we need to get a move on. We have got a party to attend, but not before we get this shit sorted here first.”

At that, mum spun on the spot and started giving commands to everyone in the room. Every single wolf looked at her with the utmost respect and hung onto her every word and movement. Every command she gave was followed to the letter and within an hour, the room was finished and in all its gorgeous glory.

It was stunning to look at; ivory organza flowed from each of the chairs, tied off in bows that complimented them perfectly. Mixtures of white lilies, roses, gypsophila and other assortments of natural-coloured flowers adorned and overflowed each vase around the room. The DJ was already doing a test run of some of the songs he was to play later.

The ballroom was perfect and all because of mum. I am glad she came to help me; it would never have looked anything like this without her. It also would not have been ready for some time yet.

All that was left to do, was to send all these hard workers to put on their war paint and armour for tonight and celebrate this amazing life that we all have.

My excitement for tonight was building rapidly and so was Beaux's. She had been quiet so far this afternoon, I was getting really worried for her. I guess she just needed her rest from all the running because now she was back to being the annoying bouncy pup that she always is. If she does not give me a headache, I will just leave her to it.

“Thank you everybody! Let’s wrap it up now or none of us will leave and we will still be in our rags when everyone arrives. See you later, and enjoy yourselves!” Mum announced to the room as she as always does, whilst she gracefully floated over to me.

All the wolves finished what they had been doing and disappeared almost instantly, eager to get ready for the celebrations later.

“Belle cannot be late for her ball either.” She looked at me with a knowing smirk, what she knew though? I have no idea. I just raised my eyebrow quizzically to her, to which she returned with a wink. “Happy birthday Oli, I hope that you find your mate tonight.”

With her hand rested on my shoulder, she gave me a kiss to the forehead and left the room with a couple of guards that I had not noticed before now.

Then I remembered mine. My smile faltered as I turned to find him sat at the table closest to the doors, seemingly bored shitless. Not that I blame him.

Being the last wolf left in the room, besides my shitty shadow over there, I felt like a bit of a tit, so I scarpered out of there quickish and headed for my room.

I had no idea if Pops was done in the kitchen yet, but I had a feeling that she was not as she would have mindlinked me having a bitch and a moan by now. She will catch up with me in my room when she is finished. For now, I will start getting ready and get her dress and things out so it will not take her so long if she is late back thanks to Marthe.

I practically sprinted up the stairs with my guard in tow, right up my arse. He was probably really appreciating having finally left the chaos of the ballroom. Being a warrior, it most likely is not his cup of tea sitting through all the decorating.

I got to the door of my room and went in, shutting the door on the guard's face and toes with a grunt from him. Oops, his fault for trying to come in here I suppose. I did not need him inside my room, just outside of the door was close enough to keep me safe, I think.

I dashed to my bathroom before Poppy showed up and hogged it. If she did, then I would not have time to even dip a toe with how long she would take, primping and pampering herself for all the men that would be around for her to flirt with at the Mating Ball. She is going to be in her absolute fucking element tonight.

Halfway through my third and glorious shower of the day, I heard Pops enter my bedroom and only because I heard her talking to someone in a not-so nice way. I strained to listen, but I could only make out the odd word over the beating water from the shower. “No... naked...tits...fanny,” Yeh, that sort of thing from her mouth did not surprise me at all. I grew used to her gob years ago, it is a wonder her mum and dad never washed it out with soap.

Her mum and dad are still around; Poppy just chooses to live at the Packhouse for some independence. They have a good relationship; Pops visits them every so often in her spare time and so do I. It is probably the closest I have ever had to a family dinner.

I carried on with my shower, reveling in the warmth and it making me feeling clean. I did not need to shave or anything special, just wash myself as I did most ‘prepping’ in one of my earlier showers to save time now.

Barely had I finished washing, did Pops strut in, in a pissy as well.

“Fucking pervs were trying to come into the room!”

“Well, hello to you to.” I answered her sarcastically, earning the middle finger from her in return.

“Ha ha fucking ha, so fucking funny.” She clapped her hands as she blatantly replied, obviously not in the right mood for playful banter.

I was washing the suds off my body and still needing to rinse the conditioner from my hair when through the steamed-up glass of the shower enclosure I could see Pops stripping down, seemingly too impatient to wait for me to finish and get out of her way. Within seconds, she had opened the door, told me to scoot over and went straight for the shower head.

“Oi, fuckface! This is my time!” She just ignored me and continued. “Well ok then, I guess that I am rinsing my hair in the sink then.” I muttered to myself, knowing that she would hear me anyway.

Once her hair was soaked through, she moved over to apply shampoo to her long and sleek hair, so I took that as my opportunity to quickly finish up and get the fuck out, so I did.

I was gone in a flash to the bedroom wrapped in a huge fluffy, grey towel. As I finished up drying my whole self, including my hair, she strutted out of the bathroom in what looked like a hand towel.

“Fucking hell Pops, you do know that you can cover up a bit just to dry yourself, right? You can strip down again afterwards?” This she-wolf had a lot of confidence and just loved to always bare as much of herself possible.

“Yup, I know.” She also did not give a rat's arse about what I thought when it came to her baring all to the world. She just carried on pottering about getting bits arranged before using the hair dryer.

“No bending over and playing ‘eye spy’ with me then.” I smarted back to her just before she turned the dryer on, earning a brief screwed up face from her in acknowledgement.

Shouting over the noise, Pops showed me some of her usual urgency to get out and flirt. “We need to move it, or we will never be ready in time! I’ve seen a nice bit of talent about the Packhouse today!”

I just shook my head at the typical horny behaviour of my best friend. She had a one-track mind, but I still love her for it. I also want to kick her up the arse so hard, but what can you do?

I put a cami top on and some shorts; the dress will go on last. But for now, I wore this so makeup and hair products did not ruin it.

About an hour later, after much makeup and hairspray had been passed around and applied, we were ready to put on the last couple of touches to complete our looks for the night. We looked at each other and grinned; we had been looking forward to this part the most.

After slipping into our dresses, a small amount of jewelry and our shoes, we were ready. We stood together in front of the mirror at the same time, analyzing ourselves and the other.

Pops was stunning; there was no way that any male would be able to ignore her tonight. Her normally straight long blonde hair had small waves to it, just for a little bit of added shape, all of it pulled to rest over her left shoulder. Her makeup was light, simple you could say. Her dress was short and a rose-gold colour, skin-tight and very low-cut at both the front and back with an extra piece flowing from the waist to her heel. She wore impressive black strapped stilettos, increasing her already sufficient height. Her jewellery was a simple white gold pendant on her neck, with matching dangling earrings and a thin bracelet with a small tear-drop shaped diamond. She was a masterpiece.

As we were best friends, we went for very similar looks when shopping for tonight. I wore the exact same jewellery as Poppy, both of us going for elegance rather than over doing it and being excessive, ruining the look that we were aiming for.

My hair was lightly curled but pinned back at the sides with a few strays left to float around my face.

My makeup too was light and natural, just a slight smoky eye to give more depth to them and making the colour of my eyes stand out so much more.

The dress we had chosen for myself was dark grey with an ever-so-slight shimmer as I moved in the light of the room. It had thin straps that held it up at the shoulders, skintight but at the waist it pinched in before becoming loose and flowing to the floor. A split ran up to the top of my thigh, giving it a sexy but also classy look to it.

The scars on my back were on display for the world. I may not be able to see them, but I always remember that they are there. I rarely ever show my back; I try to avoid the chance of people staring and asking questions. But, as soon as I saw this dress when we had gone shopping, I knew that it was the one for me.

It had taken a small amount of convincing from Pops, but I had caved, there was no other dress for me.

When we had gone dress shopping, I had questioned Pops repeatedly if it was the right dress for me. Now that the time had come and I was wearing it with everything else in place too, I am more than certain that we had indeed made the right choice. It was perfect, especially paired with shoes similar to Pops’; black strapped stilettos with a slightly smaller heel than hers, but instead of a small piece tying off on the ankle, mine weaved and looped up my shins.

“Holy mother of all Goddess’! You are fucking stunning. The guys aren’t gunna know what hit ’em.” I looked to Pops, shocked she would even think of me ever being anything more than a simple beauty and easy to ignore. “Poor females. It won’t matter if they find their mates, they are gunna be too busy following you around.”

Her eyes swept up and down me approvingly, as if surveying me from a male's point of view.

“Yeh, sure, thanks for the false compliments, but I’ll just take a ‘you look nice’. It is a hell of a lot closer to the truth. Unlike you! You look fucking amazing, woman!” I threw back at her my dislike for what she had said. “You are a fucking knockout.”

“Well, don’t worry about your scars because no-one is going to notice them. You are smoking! Besides, we could stand here talking shit about each other all night, or we could get downstairs and have a little fun.” She craned her neck around me to look at the clock on the wall. “It’s twenty past seven now, we need to get our arses down there now. Nova has been quiet all day, until now, she won’t shut the fuck up now it is time. How has Beaux been?”

It made me think, she has been quiet a lot more than usual today. Come to think of it, since our little chase she had not said a word for a while either, but whilst I was getting ready, she started to pipe up a bit. And just like Nova, she too was much livelier now, just in time for the Mating Ball. I guess that all she needed was a little bit of rest.

“Did not hear a peep from her for ages. She’s bloody on one now though.” My eyebrows furrowed, as if to emphasise that I was confused by her previous silence.

With that, we grabbed our little clutch bags and off we trotted together for the bedroom door. Yet again, we had both forgotten all about the warriors standing on guard on the other side.

I jumped, my heart flying into my throat. Pops once again jumped in the air, verbally abusing them, as she does. They just laughed and scooted over to give us space to pass through, Pops giving each of them a slap on the arm as revenge.

We strode over to the top of the stairs, stopping at the top at the very top, able to hear the music and all the noises associated with parties. We looked to the other, each giving matching grins, our excitement very near bubbling over at this point.

“Here we go, no turning back now.” Pops whispered to me, gently squeezing my arm in comfort.

Straightening our backs, we started down the stairs, no idea about what was going to happen tonight. Our futures from here on, a complete mystery to us.