Alpha's Substitute Bride

#Chapter 4: True Identities Revealed

After catching sight of the black metal credit card, the store manager began bowing repeatedly in apologies. She mumbled a thousand pretty words to make up for her employee’s actions and swatted the clerk on the shoulder, chastising her.

The manager threatened the clerk for her unruly behavior and demanded that she apologize. The clerk turned to me and bowed in apologies as well. She said that she would be more than glad to help me find my perfect dress, but the manager intervened.

She fired the clerk, and said that she would help us instead.

The store manager led Ethan and I to a sitting area, then scoured through the aisles of dresses. She picked many extravagant gowns and hung them up  on the racks surrounding our seats. Each one was more beautiful than the last, I couldn’t decide.

I told Ethan that I was struggling to make a choice, and he looked at the selection.

“That one.” Ethan pointed at a pretty satin white gown the manager had brought over. She grabbed it off the rack and placed it into my arms.

I turned around with the dress in hand and held it up to my body.

“What do you think?” I asked him.

He looked up from the sofa and his eyes raked over my body. I fought hard to conceal my blushing.

“I like it.” He decided.

My face broke out into a wide grin and I was led to the dressing room. This time, she helped me into the dress.

The fabric was so much silkier than the cheaper one. As I looked at myself in the mirror, I couldn’t stop gazing at myself and the way the dress fit. It was perfect.

“This is it.” I breathed. The store manager offered little compliments to fuel my ego as I changed back into my regular clothes. Once I was dressed, I handed the dress back and went to find Ethan.

He wasn’t hard to spot. Amongst the fine gowns and fabrics, he stood out like a sore thumb in his sweatpants and t-shirt.

“Did you like it?” He asked.

“I adore it,” I could feel the smile on my face stretching my cheeks so far they hurt. He followed me to the register where the manager was already waiting for us.

Ethan pulled out his card to pay. I begged him not to spend all his money on me, but he chuckled and said he only cared about my happiness not the money in his wallet.

After our time at the boutique, Ethan drove me back to my father’s house. He walked me to the door and placed the wedding dress in my arms.

“Keep it safe,” He teased,  biting his lip and smiling at me. I couldn’t help smiling back.

Ethan bid me goodnight by placing a quick kiss to the back of my hand. I pressed my mouth closed to hold back a giggle, and my entire face felt warm from blushing.

“Goodnight.” I whispered.

Once I was in the house, I was bombarded by Dora’s incessant nagging.

She noticed the extravagant wedding dress in my arms within seconds and it only pushed her further over the edge.

“He’s spending all of what little money he has to make sure this wedding entices you,” Her words were loud as she followed me all the way to my room. “Your marriage is going to be built on debt - I hope you know that! No matter how pretty your gown may look, you’re still just a wolfless nobody marrying a poor bodyguard.”

I grit my teeth, trying to tune her out.

“Just be thankful that I was actually able to secure a worthy alpha to marry me. I’m going to be far richer than you could ever dream to be!” Dora continued to jeer. I was only free from her torment when I shut the door to the servant’s room.

As annoying and cruel as Dora could be, she was right. Ethan was spending far too much money on me. It would be a miracle if he had anything left to live on after what he spent today. Despite Dora’s jabs, I had to be thankful that she was marrying rich because that was the only thing that was saving my mother.

I laid on my bed, closing my eyes to fight off a headache, when my phone dinged. My old coworker, Maddie, sent me a text asking if I was available to work tomorrow. Even though I quit, she was desperate for some extra hands for a gala that the more prominent alpha businessmen were throwing.

I accepted, hoping some extra cash may be good to partially pay Ethan back for the wedding dress.

--

Working the event wasn’t as bad as I feared it may be. I missed it, actually. The fast pace, the baking, the coworkers I loved to engage with. For the first hour, being there was the happiest I had been in a while.

I made my way over to a booth filled with men in the corner. They were dressed in expensive suits and luxury watches decorated their wrists.

As I was taking away their plates, I heard them speculating about the CEO of the Blue Moon Group. Apparently he was supposed to be showing his face for the first time publicly at the event.

One of them said that he bet the CEO was incredibly ugly. He figured that there was no other reason to delay showing his face in the industry for so long. Another piped up and said that he thought he had seen the alpha once, and that he was very handsome. Though, he couldn’t be sure if it was actually him.

I rolled my eyes at their speculations and turned to take their plates back to the kitchen. In doing so, I almost slammed into a person standing behind me.

“I’m so sorry-” I started to apologize, until I saw who was in front of me.

“You!” Dora’s face twisted in disgust, “How dare you embarrass me by showing up as an employee here.” She glowered at me. A man, presumably her new boyfriend, leered down his nose at me. He jutted his chin out and frowned.

“You’re only working here because your fiance is so poor, right?” She antagonized, and walked away before I could retaliate.

I scoffed, and tried to take the plates away once more. Dora’s boyfriend put his arm out to stop me.

“Dora didn’t tell me her sister was so attractive,” His expression morphed into something sinister. “Want to get away from all this for a moment?”

My eyes widened in response. I tried to get away from him, but he kept blocking me.

Dora turned back to look at her fiance, when she noticed how close he was standing to me. She stormed over to us.

“What are you doing?” She demanded.

“Nothing!” I insisted.

“This urchin,” Her boyfriend’s entire demeanor changed and he lurched away from me. “Was trying to seduce me to gain my fortune!”

“You can’t stand to see me happy, can you? Do you know how mortifying it is to be related to you?” Dora growled at me, gathering the attention of multiple other people at the event. “And here you think you can just climb up the social ladder by sleeping your way to the top!”

Dora raised her hand, her palm open ready to strike. A few people gasped as she swung down towards me, but someone gripped her forearm to keep her from making contact.

It was Ethan, he was glaring down at her.

“Let go of me you worthless piece of-” Dora screamed profanities in Ethan’s face until he let her arm go. She only stopped when she saw her boyfriend bowing to Ethan.

Dora tried to pull him up and tell him to stop humiliating himself, but he wouldn’t budge.

Dora threatened to break up with him if he didn’t stop bowing to a commoner like Ethan. The man slapped her across the face to quiet her down.

“That is the CEO of the Blue Moon Group, you stupid girl!” He spat out.

Ethan wasn’t paying attention to either of them. His gaze was focused solely on me.

“Are you okay?” He asked, reaching out to touch my hand. A commotion outside kept him from being able to reach me.

A slew of reporters filed into the dining room. They surrounded him and pushed me further and further away. He was thrust into the spotlight, and I into the shadows.

The journalists were asking questions about the recent success of his company and his pack. Ethan was no bodyguard.

Not only was he the CEO of the Blue Moon Group, but he was also the alpha of the newly risen Blue Moon Pack too.