He spun on his heels and marched off, leaving me alone by the oasis, the roar of the waterfall matching the roar of anger pulsating in my ears.
Chapter 6 - Emma
“And you just need to put on these bracelets and this necklace, and you should be good to go!” Rachel placed the necklace over my head and slipped the silvery bands around my wrist.
“You look gorgeous!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands together as she stepped back.
“You really do,” Mom said.
To my surprise, there wasn’t a hint of animosity or a hidden barb in the words. I gave my mother a cautious look, but she glanced away and busied herself with putting some makeup back in the bag.
“Thanks,” I said as Rachel ushered me over to the mirror.
“See for yourself!”
I turned to look in the mirror and blinked. Over the years, I had grown more confident in my body and in my looks, though my chubby figure still bothered me with obnoxious regularity. I would sometimes wear baggier clothes to hide some of the worst of my flab.
This dress did the opposite. It hugged my figure, accentuating every curve. Instead of looking repulsive as I had expected, it complemented my body. The low-cut V did nothing to hide my breasts, and the way it clung to my hips left little to the imagination. The white worked with my freckles (though Mom hadn’t been a huge fan of the color, considering Grace was living proof I wasn’t a virgin). The necklace and bracelets, traditional jewelry for the luna to wear during the ceremony, glinted silver whenever I shifted my weight.
“You guys did a good job,” I said in what might as well have been the understatement of the century.
“Damn right!” Rachel said.
“I’m going to make sure Grace is ready,” Mom murmured as she finished packing her things.
I pursed my lips, but said nothing. Part of me didn’t want my mother anywhere near Grace after everything that had happened. Except I had seen that she genuinely seemed to want to get to know her granddaughter, even if Dad had no interest.
“No worries!” Rachel said. “I’ve got it covered in here.”
Rachel waited until the door closed behind my mother before going over the finishing touches.
“Are you nervous?” Rachel asked, fixing my veil.
“A bit,” I admitted. Something about Rachel made it easy to open up to her. I didn’t feel like I had to be ashamed that I was anxious, or that everything that had happened in the past week was so overwhelming that I could barely keep track of it all.
“Don’t be,” Rachel said. She hesitated, biting her lip as she glanced around, even though we both knew we were alone now. “Look, I know that Elias can be…well,Elias… but he’s not that bad when he’s not trying to be tough for the pack. I don’t think you really get just how our dad sometimes treated us, but it was worse for Elias. Just give him some time to adjust to everything.”
“I know how to handle Elias,” I said, without realizing I was going to say it.
Rachel cracked a grin as she made some final adjustments. “And that’s why I think you were fated to be his mate all along,” she said. “I know that you’re going to be goodfor him. Just give him a bit of time. He won’t admit to it, but he’s adjusting to the new situation just as much as you are.”
“I don’t really know him well enough to tell one way or the other,” I said absentmindedly. “Though I guess I will soon enough, once the mating bond snaps into place.”
“If it’s worth anything, I’m glad it’s you instead of someone else,” Rachel said. “I think you’re going to be a much better luna than any of the other girls in the pack.”
“I never wanted to be luna, though,” I said. “I never cared about it.”
Back when I was in love with Elias, I wanted to be with him because he was Elias, not because of his station. Honestly, I would have preferred it if he hadn’t been slated to become alpha.
“Which is one of the reasons I think you’re perfect for it,” Rachel said. “Way too many women have gone after Elias over the years, at least in part because of his station.”
That shouldn’t have made me jealous. But it did.
“Believe me, you’re way nicer than any of them,” Rachel said as she helped me slip into the high heels. “I can’t tell you how many of the girls who came sniffing around were deliberately rude to me because, well…” She shrugged, trailing off.
She didn’t need to elaborate. I knew through the grapevine that she’d had similar issues to me growing up. She had never been seen as particularly strong. But she was sweet. And that, to me, was far more important.
“They’re idiots, then,” I said.
