An Unexpected Wolf Rank

9 - Pampered

Samantha

"I can't believe you found your mate!" I squeal at Jen, my face hurting from smiling that much. I truly missed just being a teenager, acting like I have no care in the world, other than how my hair looks today. And speaking of hair, mine had seen better days.

"I know, right? Ryan is so perfect and I am absolutely head over heels in love with him." I have never seen Jennifer so happy. We both start jumping up and down giggling and cooing at how great it is that she found her mate. And a Beta, of all. And even if I would never dare say this to Jen's face, her mate is not bad to look at either, but his Alpha is even more good looking, if I'm being completely honest.

I feel a blush creeping up on my cheeks and push the thought about Carla's brother away from my mind. It would have been nice to have him as my mate, but I'm positive the one for me would be even more amazing. Or even better, maybe, just maybe, the Moon Goddess will perform a miracle and when I turn 18 I will find out that Luke is indeed my mate. Yup, that would be a cute little bow to wrap my life up nicely.

Jennifer is busy telling us all about her mate and Marie and I are just standing there smiling and listening to her. We're both happy for our friend, at least I think we are. If I'm being completely honest, Marie has been acting a bit strange lately. I think it's because she's not happy about her aunt and uncle asking me to stay away from her and in return keeping a very close eye on her. I feel the same, but this whole thing would die down eventually. The pack will find something else to focus on and Marie and I can go back to being friends out in the open. Now she's just being eerily quiet. It's not like her at all to be this way when we're talking about boys.

Since Jennifer will be turning 18 next week, we decided to plan a girls day out as a treat. Because her birthday will fall on a school day, we figured that today would be perfect for our day out since it's the weekend. And luckily Carla agreed to give me the day off on the promise that I would make it back to the pub in time for the Open mic.

That's right, it's Saturday and The Hound is hosting it's weekly open mic night. With lots of encouragement from Rudy and Carla I have become a regular at singing there, mostly in closing the night. I didn't actually tell the girls that, yet. I'm still unsure about my singing and I would rather keep my performances a secret.

I'll be honest, this whole 'birthday treat' is mainly because Jen point blank said she absolutely does not want a birthday bash. I get it, Jen has always been the quiet one between the 3 of us, and she never did like parties, especially if she would be the centre of attention. And as she has repeatedly told us for the past 2 weeks, she is mostly excited to be moving in with Ryan and officially becoming part of Blood Moon pack.

I know from Luke that Ryan has arranged everything so that Jen starts her training as a pack doctor as soon as she moves to Blood Moon. Obviously Jen doesn't have any idea just yet, but I know Ryan is preparing a birthday dinner for her and the news will be his gift. That's surely going to make her cry, happy tears, of course.

In the short amount they've known each other, Ryan has absorbed every information regarding his mate and he is so considerate, making everything he can do to help her dreams come true. That is true love, that is the mate bond and that is what I crave. I'm jealous in the best way possible of my friend. Jen and Ryan have truly raised the bar high when it comes to mates.

Marie suddenly stands up with a serious look on her face. Well, she looks angry, mostly and we look confused.

"Guys, I have to go, my uncle just texted me."

"Oh." Jen and I deflate at the news. This was supposed to be a fun day in honour of Jen's birthday.

"Don't worry, I'll go see what he wants from me and then I'll meet you at the salon for our hair appointments. I'll be there before you guys finish and surely I'll still have enough time for a blow dry." She says before bolting out the door.

Jennifer and I shrugged not letting this minor setback ruin the day. Even though I can't shake this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Let's go, Jen. My hair has been dying to get back to it's pink glory." She laughs and nods knowingly before taking my hand so we can be on our way.

We got to the salon and told the hairdressers what we ideally wanted done. I just wanted my pink hair back, so the hairdresser was more than excited to do that. She told me over and over how tired she was of doing the same hair style for every client. We decided on a pastel pink and got started. Jennifer wanted to also cut her hair and get some highlights, so she went and sat on a chair further away from me explaining to her hairdresser where she wanted the highlights.

While getting pampered with having my hair done, I mentally started counting all the money I knew I had left. I imagined this day would cost me a pretty penny, I just hoped I had enough not to embarrass myself. I will probably have to only eat at the pub for a week or so, and not spend any money and I should be alright.

"Wow, that's really pink!" A gruff voice pulls me out of my mental banking system. I look up between the foils that are piling up on my head and see Luke standing next to me. The hairdresser bats her eyelashes and introduces herself, but he doesn't even spare her a glance. She then starts talking about the process of turning my hair pink, hoping that would do the trick and he would talk to her, but it doesn't work. She mumbles something about needing more foils and scurries away.

I burst out laughing. "I think she likes you, you should have at least said 'hi' to her."

"I only acknowledge what interests me." He says with his deep voice looking straight into my eyes, all the way into my soul. I think he.. did he mean 'me'?

"What are you doing here, Luke?" I quickly change the subject before I blush and he would notice. I had, not so casually, asked Carla if her brother had found his mate and I know he hasn't.

"Ryan couldn't bear to be away from his mate, so I just tagged along because I knew you'd be here." He said with amusement in his voice and a slight eye roll.

"Oh. Are you going to get anything done, yourself? It's quite a wait until we finish." I facepalm and notice the hairdresser cringing when she hears my pathetic attempt at small talk.

"I think we'll just wait for you guys outside, no rush." And with that he walks away chuckling lightly.

"I know, OK? You don't have to tell me. I already know!" I told the hairdresser as she started laughing.

"Damn, you are one lucky mamma. That juicy hunk of a man likes you even when you blurt out weird stuff like that. I better nail your hair, girl. You can get him that way, cause talking is not your strong suit."

I sink lower in my chair waiting for the embarrassment that washed over me to pass. I will not get into this with her. She is human and has no idea about our ways.

It took a few more hours, but Jen and I are finally done with our hair. Also, our nails have been painted and every other hair on our body, that wasn't on our heads, has been plucked. OUCH! We are finally done and it's been as much fun as it's been exhausting.

Jennifer casually lets me know that our bill has been settled curtsey to her mate, Ryan. I will have to pay him back later, but don't make a fuss out of it because I don't want to upset Jen on her special day, I mentally decide as we make our way out of the salon.

Outside it's starting to get dark even if it's barely 5 in the afternoon. With the weather we are having here in England, we're lucky if we get a few hours of daylight at best, and Jen and I have wasted those precious hours by being indoors.

We look around and I can make out the guys waiting for us across the street in a big car park so we start making our way towards them when I hear a voice whisper from behind a parked van and I slightly jump.

OK, so we have an oddly parked van, it's nearly dark out, and there's 2 young girls unaccompanied. Suffice to say, I've seen my fair share of movies with this scenario, and it doesn't look great for the girls.

Ming is on high alert, but I can't risk letting her take control since we're in human territory and the supernatural law forbids us to out ourselves. I'm already in enough trouble, I don't need the supernatural council coming after me as well.

Jen is shaking like a leaf and is in deep eye contact with her mate who's watching her while readying himself to get out of the car. I look left and right and with Jen holding my hand and I try to get to the other side of the street, and into Ryan's car.

I guess that would have been too easy, and it's been a good few days since I haven't received any beatings at school. Timothy and his brother from another mother intercept us, ready to fix that. Great, just what we needed.

"Hi there, Omega. Aww, you're gotten your hair done." He slurs a bit, like he's drunk or high on something.

"Look Roger, the Omega has pink hair again." He coos mockingly. "Do you think that looking like before will make you have the same life again? Being hot is not going to help you." He's not even making sense. We walk away not stopping to give in to their words or start up a fight.

I can already see the car door opening and Luke and Ryan getting out of their car. Unfortunately for Dumb and Dumber, neither of them, Timothy and that other i***t, who now I've learned is named Roger, didn't seem to notice the Blood Moon's Alpha and Beta.

"Jenny, scram. This has nothing to do with you. This is all about this nasty Omega." As he says that, Timothy grabs me by my hair and pulls me into his chest, trying to choke me with his free arm.

"f**k, you!" Jen spat and tried to pry him off me, but she is also being held by the other guy. "I'm going to teach you a lesson, Omega. You need to stay away from any Crescent Moon pack members before you fill their heads with your stupid ideas. We're all onto you, but unlike the others I am not afraid to get my hands dirty." I don't even have time to be confused by all the nonsense he's saying, because a loud, ear piercing, growl rips through the air. I'm certain Ryan is seeing his mate being forcefully held by another male. As I think that, I see Roger being ripped from holding Jennifer. I realise that since we are in mostly human territory the guys can't do anything that would raise even more attention or suspicion.

The two old humans that were casually strolling on the street while carrying shopping bags, have now dropped them and have run away scarred, abandoning their shopping in the middle of the street.

Before Luke's punch swiftly connected with Timothy's nose, I felt it. A silver dagger was pushed into my left side just in between my ribs.