Chosen by the Alpha (#1 of the Denali pack)

Getting prepared by the Makers

I must have sat there for about 10 minutes, trying to breathe normally while holding on to my stomach for dear life, rolled up in a ball on the cold and tiled floor. All the emotions of the past day were too much for me to bare at that moment. If only my mom had been here right now.

How did she get through this ritual?

I had to be strong for her.

Block it out, just like she said.

So I finally pulled myself together and picked myself up from the bathroom floor. I took off my clothes and got in the shower quickly, because the last thing I wanted right now, was for one of my makers to get in the shower with me, because I was taking them too long. The hot water soothed my body and I looked at the supplies I had to work with. There were two bottles, one with ‘shower gel’ on it, the other one labelled as ‘shampoo’. I took the shampoo and started washing my hair. After a couple of minutes, I felt myself getting calmer and more relaxed.

Wow, I don’t know which shampoo this is but I need this at home!

Using the shower gel, I felt myself relax even more.

Wait, is there something in these things?

I inspected the bottles but found nothing alarming on the ingredient list. After a couple of seconds, I just shrugged at myself, it didn’t matter really.

It could only help me feel better, right?

I washed off all the soap from my body and turned the water off. I took a towel and wrapped it around my hair, drying myself with a second one. When I was completely dry, I looked at the underwear that was placed on the dresser for me, being left behind by my makers.

How in the world did they know my size?

I shrugged once again and put them on anyway. The material felt really soft and fitted my body perfectly. All white, no lace or anything special. I checked myself in the mirror,

all good to go, I guess?

I slowly opened the door and popped my head inside the room. Amanda and Caroline were putting everything ready. Amanda saw me first and smiled a perfect toothpaste smile at me as our eyes locked. “Hi honey, feeling better now?” she asked as she looked at me, her head tilted just a bit.

“Actually, I do feel a lot better. Is there anything in that shampoo? Because wow, it works!” I said, smiling back at her, my body still standing in the bathroom, so only my head was sticking out. Amanda laughed out loud and walked over to me

“Just a little bit of lavander to calm you down dear. All the girls get the same. Don’t worry. We just want everyone to feel OK, instead of sad. We don’t want the nerves taking the upper hand. Tonight is a good night, so no room for any tears” Caroline walked over to us with a white dress in her hands.

“Hannah, would you mind putting this on for me please? I think this will fit you like a glove.” I nodded at her as I took the dress from her hands.

Amanda and Caroline helped me in any way that they could, and when I was done, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I was wearing something that almost looked like a summer dress. Just white, and again, very simple. Spaghetti straps, showing a bit of cleavage, but not too much. The skirt stopping just above my knees.If it was longer I could’ve sworn that it was a wedding dress. But I had to say, I looked really good in it. I looked at myself, turning from side to side.

“You like it?” Amanda asked, smiling towards my reflection in the mirror.

“I do!” I said, smiling back at her,

“As you should.” Caroline said, putting her hands on my shoulders.

“You look like an angel dear! Now, let’s do something about that hair of yours.” she spoke as she guided me to a chair. She started on my hair, while Amanda did my make-up, forcing me to close my eyes the entire time. I felt so relaxed at that point I could have fallen asleep in the make-up chair. After some time had passed, Amanda said I could open my eyes again. When I opened them, I first had to adjust myself to the bright light inside the room. After a couple of times of blinking my eyes, I saw Amanda looking at me like a mother would be looking at her newborn baby, full of pride and love. Then I saw myself in the mirror, and I had to look at myself again, to check if the person in the mirror was really me. The blonde girl looking at me in the mirror had her hair in beautiful beach waves, falling down over her shoulders. Her make-up was absolutely perfect, it made her greyish blue eyes pop out even more! The rest of the make-up was natural, subtle, but absolutely beautiful! Just how I liked it but was never able to pull off myself. I had to smile at myself,

Was I able to look like this?

Wow!

Caroline went to the back of the room and got me a pair of white pumps. We went to the mirror one more time to see the final result, and the three of us were all smiling and clearly happy with the way it turned out.

“Thank you so much, you guys.” I said, looking at myself from different angles.

“You can do this every day from now on, thank you.” The makers both laughed and clapped their hands in excitement.

“I’m happy you like it.” Amanda said while taking my hands and facing me.

“Now I need to ask one thing of you, and then we are done and you are good to go.” I looked at her, raising one eyebrow, not knowing what she would possibly want from me.

“I need you to take off your necklace dear, we can’t have you wearing that.”, My forehead frowned as I heard her words.

“No!” I answered while I placed my hands over my necklace, shaking my head left to right.

“You can’t take that away from me, it’s all I have left of my parents. You can ask me anything, but I will not take this off.”

Amanda looked at me with guilt in her eyes.

“I am so sorry Hannah, but this is not up to me, these are the rules from the mayor, we simply follow them. The girls in the ritual need to be pure, like they were when they were born, which also means no personal belongings.” The relaxing feeling I had been having since my shower washed away in one full second.

How could they ask me to give up my necklace?

I had a chance of losing my entire life as I knew it, by the end of tonight. What harm could it be, to just hold onto one tiny necklace? I started to breathe harder and stepped back, holding onto my necklace for dear life.

"No!" I said again, louder this time.

“Amanda, you shouldn’t have put it out like that.” Caroline mumbled, stepping back as she took a bottle of perfume out of the closet.

“Here dear, one spray of perfume will be enough, they will be here to get you shortly and you need to be ready by then.” She sprayed some perfume on me and immediately stepped back with the bottle, giving me no chance to see what brand it was that she used on me.

“Thank you for spending time with us, Hannah. We wish you good luck tonight during the ritual.” Caroline spoke as she placed the perfume bottle back inside the closet.

“Good luck, Hannah.” Amanda said, guilt still present in her eyes. And as I kept looking around the room, slowly, everything went dark before I totally passed out and got lost inside the darkness.