Chapter 408

[ 940 words ]

Talia’s POV

Arya’s whole face lit up at that. “Really? You’d let me borrow from you?”

“Of course. You’ll be a lot more comfortable in something that isn’t trying to fall off you,” I replied.

“Thank you, Luna,” she said sheepishly.

“Thank the Goddess,” Della sighed. “I thought I really was going to have to fight you to get a dress on you.”

“Since it’s only two days away,” Arya continued, already moving toward the door, all business now that she’d decided something, “we should go pick out a dress right now.”

Della gave an offended snort. “A teenager with zero sense of romance. It’s honestly impressive. Most girls your age have a whole drawer of things they’ve never even had an occasion to wear, just in case.”

“I’ve had occasions,” Arya said, defensive. “Sparring matches. Drills. Award ceremonies. A drawer full of dresses doesn’t win you anything out there, last I checked.”

“She grew up on the training grounds,” I told Della, though she already knew it as well as I did. “She’s spent most of her life fighting alongside warriors twice her size instead of sitting around talking about boys. It’s not surprising she never built a collection.”

“That’s the problem. She has no hope in finding her mate like this,” Della said.

“Don’t be pessimistic,” I scolded.

“I’m not. She’s completed her shift and everything,” Della said, “and still hasn’t found her mate in this whole pack. That means her mate is not in the pack and she needs to be able to catch her mate’s eye.”

“Maybe she’ll meet him at the party,” I said. “New Alphas, new faces, it’s exactly the kind of environment to find a mate.”

“That would be something to see,” Nolan commented. “It would be interesting to see who the Moon Goddess chose for her.”

“Her future mate,” Della said, grinning, “is going to have his hands full for the rest of his life.”

“I can hear all of you,” Arya said, “I’m standing right here.”

We laughed and made our way back to the pack house. Nolan took one look at the three of us heading for my room and said, “I know when I’m not wanted. Enjoy your girl talk.” He kissed my temple and headed off toward the nursery.

I brought Arya and Della to my closet, and both of them stopped dead in the doorway.

“Talia,” Della said slowly, taking in the sheer number of gowns lining the walls, “I’m proud of you, but this is too much. How many dresses does one woman need?”

“Most of these aren’t mine by choice,” I admitted. “Nolan sees a style in a window and decides I’ll love it, and then it just appears in here. I’ve stopped trying to keep track.”

“That’s disgustingly sweet. I’ll have to remind Marco he needs to work harder as our Alpha is outdoing him with the affection,” Della said, and I laughed. “Can I pick one too? Please tell me I can pick one too!”

“Of course you can.”

Della didn’t hesitate. She went straight to a deep green spaghetti-strap dress, sleek and a little dangerous, and held it up against herself with a look of pure satisfaction. “Oh, this is the one.”

“It’s yours,” I said. “It’s yours. Consider it a gift.”

“You’re the best Luna ever,” Della said, already stripping off her shirt to try it on properly.

Arya’s search took considerably longer.

We tried a pink halter dress first. It was way too small. The straps cut into Arya’s shoulders, the top didn’t fit right, and the seams looked ready to pop when she moved. She kept clutching the straps to keep them up. “Absolutely not,” she said, and I agreed before she even turned all the way around.

Then we tried a dark lace dress with a deep back and a slit almost to her hip. The lace hung loose on her shoulders, showing off her sports bra, and the slit kept falling open, flashing the faded claw scar on her thigh. She kept a hand over the slit so it wouldn’t show too much.

“You can’t stand like that,” Della said. “You look like you’re about to pee on yourself.”

“It’s that, or I am going to flash you when I walk,” Arya said.

“This dress is too big for you,” Della said, circling her once, tugging at the gap across her shoulder blades. “It’s practically hanging off of you. I don’t even think it’d fit you, Luna.”

“Let’s try another one. We have so many to choose from,” I said.

By the fourth or fifth dress, Arya’s patience had worn down to almost nothing, her jaw tight, arms crossed while she waited by the mirror for the next attempt to be handed to her.

“I don’t think I want to go anymore,” she mumbled. “I can just be on a guard patrol.”

“No, there has to be a dress in here that fits you,” Della said as she searched.

I started digging through the dresses myself and spotted a red one at the back. It had wide straps and a strong, structured top. The material was thick, made for someone with real muscle.

“Try this one,” I told her. “Promise, it’s the last.”

Arya hesitated, took the dress from me, and walked into the dressing room. When she came out, Della whistled, “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

The dress fit her perfectly, hugging her shoulders with no weird gaps, and the deep red looked amazing on her. When she moved, the dress moved with her, not against her. Even her training braid looked right with it.

“That dress is going to have the whole pack turning heads, mate or not. You look incredible,” Della said.

Arya blushed as she admired herself in the mirror. “You really think so?”

“This dress was made for you, Arya,” I said.

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