Ouch. Ouch. I winced as I woke up with a torturous hangover. As if that was not enough, my body was also aching all over. Everything was damn sore. Not to mention my vagina. Flashes of last night crossed my mind, and I flushed furiously. I immediately slapped my cheeks.
"It was just a good dream. No, a bad dream. Let's not think about it."
I flopped back onto the bed as images crossed my mind. The feeling of him holding me down, the way he dominated me without a single note of nervousness or hesitation. I loved that arrogance about him. I loved the way he made me feel in his grasp. Maybe I was a lunatic to love being dominated, but for a moment, I couldn't feel the weight of the world, and it was exhilarating.
I let myself savor the memories for some more time when my phone hissed at me again.
Because of the family thing, I had to ditch classes for the past couple of days, and now that I am once again back to nothing and no one, college and my art were the only things I had in life.
Forget everything and focus on the future. I took a deep breath and reminded myself.
I clicked on the notifications and was about to clear the dozen missed calls from Inara, my idiot best friend, when I suddenly noticed a couple of calls from my mother. Now, this was something unexpected.
Hmmm? What made her call me, the jinx of her life?
My interest was piqued, and especially now that I planned to run, I needed more details.
I searched to see if there were any texts from her and… there it was… just like always… a short and not so sweet one. If it weren't for the way she treated my sister, I would doubt if my mother even had a single maternal bone in her body.
Mom: Pack meeting tonight at 8 at the Alpha's house. Compulsory attendance. Formal attire.
As I read and re-read this message, a bitter smile crept upon my lips. Now I no longer had to wonder what this was about. Even though nothing specific was mentioned on there, I am pretty sure that this was some sort of engagement party.
I chuckled and got out of bed wearily. Nothing better to wake one up in the morning than the news of their mate's engagement with someone else. It was time to get ready for breakfast. I rubbed the sleep away from my eyes and looked at the clock. It was almost 11:00 am.
I stretched and looked for some clothes to wear. I was quite desperate for some coffee and breakfast, as I was hungry as hell. The guy worked me to the bone last night. I gulped as once again memories flooded my mind. Oh, focus, you slut, and get to work. I chided myself.
It took me half an hour to get out of the dorm, and I dragged my tired ass to the campus cafe. It looked a lot less crowded than usual, as not many people were here, but I was staying here for at least one more week.
I needed to collect my certificates, my transcript, my degree letter, and fill out a bunch of other paperwork before I could finish the graduation process. And after that, it would be 'get the hell out of this country' time!
Yup. I was done with my fucking pack, and now seemed to be a good time as any to get the hell out of here.
When you are a wolf, it is not so easy to run away from your pack. Though I doubt they will even care if someone like me leaves, it is still better to do proper preparations. As I was planning my getaway in my mind, a loud thud sounded to my right, and I turned around to see a familiar, angry, and yet cute face.
"Hey, Inara." I sheepishly smiled.
"Don't hey me! You jerk!" She huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"I know that you were busy with your family and stuff, but you texted me a cryptic message saying you are leaving, and then you went AWOL??"
"What the fuck, Klara?"
"Do you know how worried I was?"
I sighed, taking a sip of my coffee. Perhaps I should have called her back, but I was really not in the mood to speak to anyone. "Sorry, babe. Needed some alone time. I promise I will text you back the next time."
"It's fine. It's fine. I was just worried, that's all." She instantly switched from the angry mode to her usual warm and loving mode. Inara was such a big softie. Only the Goddess knows what I would do without her.
We both started wolfing down some calorie-rich food, and I filled her in on everything that happened. Well, everything except what happened last night.
Of course, I also left out the parts about me and my family being supernatural creatures who could shift into human form and animal form, and I called our mate bond an arranged marriage alliance. Yup, I am a shitty friend, all right.
Unfortunately, Inara was a normal human being, and I couldn't share everything with her even though I badly wanted to. But apparently what I shared was enough to make her angry.
Bang. She slammed the coffee mug on the table after hearing what happened.
"Your family is completely nuts! How could they suddenly change the bride like this?"
"First of all, this arranged marriage shit is really weird, and on top of that, they pull a stunt like this?"
I sighed softly and shook my head. I had no explanation to give to her.
"And you have to attend this engagement party today evening?"
"Maybe it's not their engagement party?" I weakly smiled.
"Ughh... Klara dear, I don't care what party that is. I definitely don't understand your weird family customs and traditions, but you are not going to go like this! Nope! No way!"
She stood up and dragged me along with her before I could gather my bearings. Soon afterward, we arrived in front of an elite boutique store in the city.
"Girl! I don't have the cash to shop here!" I freaked out as we walked in and saw the price tag on the first dress.
The dresses were, of course, legitimately beautiful and elegant, and I literally couldn't peel my eyes off of them, but there was no way I could afford any of them.
"Damn girl! You should be the only chick with a silver spoon who left the spoon at home? They put you through all this weird shit and don't even give you enough pocket money."
"I feel like if I ever meet your mother, I would probably chew her head off," Inara grumbled. She then walked closer to me and whispered. "Don't worry, I have a plan."
"One of my classmates got a dress from her and returned it the next day. As long as the tag is intact, we are gucci. Comprende?"
Ummm... Normally, I would hesitate to do something like this as I didn't give two shits about these kinds of fancy things. But I saw the naughty smile on Inara's face, and it was terribly contagious. It was not like someone was going to rip my dress apart at that party. Not like what happened last night.
A small disappointment flashed across my mind, which I quickly shoved away.
Hell with it. I am taking this dress. Who wouldn't want to look their best when attending their ex-mate's and their sister's party?