Moonstruck ✔️

chapter 24

Shay Kingsley

"Hey, Shay!"

I turned to Trinity, running towards me with her short, dark curly locks bouncing above her shoulder. I put down the bag of compost that I had been carrying to do some gardening in the back end of the house. I wasn't particularly good at gardening nor had I ever really actually done it but I needed something to keep my mind busy.

"What's up, Trinity?"

"Soo, I was wondering if you'd want to come do some shopping with me?"

"Oh, I'd love to," I said. "But I don't think Dom would be particularly happy if I left. He's been on edge recently."

"Aw, come on! Please?" She pleaded with a desperate glint in her eye.

"I'm sorry," I smiled sadly.

"Shay, I'm begging you," she said. "I was supposed to go with my friends but they ditched me and left by themselves. I-I just really need a distraction right now."

Her voice started breaking, her breaths heavy and short and her eyes filled with tears.

"Fine," I sighed. "I'll go let Dom know quickly and get changed."

"That's alright," she said. "I'll go tell him while you get changed that way we save some time."

I nodded. "Alright."

"Thank you, Shay," she smiled, giving me a warm hug. "You have no idea how thankful I am."

I hugged her back and then she rushed into the house, while I followed behind going up to mine and Dom's now shared room. I quickly changed my clothes out of my baggy shirt and shorts and into something more casual. I slipped on some jeans and put on a different shirt that I tucked into my jeans and slipped on a pair of vans.

I exited the house once more and rejoined Trinity who was already standing eagerly in front of the house.

"Ready to go?" She beamed.

I nodded.

"Dom's a bit busy right now so he can't drop us off but he said he's able to pick us up," she explained. "He should be done by then. But it's not that far anyway so we should be fine."

"Sounds good." I smiled.

We started our walk to the shopping centre, going past the pack borders and entering the fairly sized town not far outside the woodland areas we came from.

As we walked through the town the different scents from the large variety of shops and restaurants had me almost drooling. I had been to the town several times, of course, someone had to get the daily shopping but I hadn't been in a good few months at this point. I was quite surprised that in a matter of just a few months they had already opened several new shops around the area.

There seemed to be a lot more food shops and restaurants than the last time I was here and now they had a market full of fresh vegetables and fruits.

"So, what do you wanna do first?" Trinity turned to me.

Right on cue, her stomach grumbled and her face flushed instantly.

"I think we should go get some food first," I chuckled. "I'm quite hungry too."

"Well, there's about five fine-dining restaurants, three fast-food places, two pizzerias, an ice-cream shop-" she said. "I could go on and on."

"You don't happen to know if there's a Greggs around here, do you?"

"Actually, there is."

She led me not so far away from where we were into a Greggs where we both ordered a sausage roll and a different slice of pizza for ourselves along with a drink. We sat down on the outside tables in front of the building a munched away at our food. Trinity got herself a vegetarian pizza to 'try it' as she said, while I got myself a hot jalapeno and pepper slice.

"Fuck, this is a lot hotter than I thought it was going to be," I hissed in pain as the jalapeno was slowly killing m tongue with how hot it was.

"Have you never tried jalapeno before?" She chuckled.

"No, I have," I took a sip of my drink. "I just didn't remember it to be this hot."

She continued to laugh at my suffering and we continued with our food until it was all done.

                                     * * * * *

"So, how come I don't see you that often around the pack?" I asked.

We had finally gotten around to shopping after messing about and exploring the town like we were little children again. We had decided on creating outfits for each other in the other's style and trying them on. If we liked it, we buy it and if not we continue until we each have an outfit or two.

"Right, I forgot you missed out on my mating ceremony," she chuckled.

"Sorry about that."

"Nah, it turned out fine in the end," she said, groaning behind the curtain - clearly struggling with the dress I had picked out for her. "I moved out to my mate Jasper's pack, it's not so far from Dom's."

"Is he an Alpha too?" I asked.

"Nah, he's a Beta."

She opened the curtain, revealing herself in the dress and shoes I picked out. It was a simple, sleeves pale yellow dress with spaghetti straps that hugged her body and stopped midway on her thighs.

"You look great!" I grinned.

"Pff, I think it's a bit much," she shook her head sadly. "It is a nice dress though, I just don't think anyone would ever approve of it."

"Well, I can see what you mean by it being a bit too much," I nodded with a finger pressed against my chin thoughtfully.

All of a sudden I, Shay Kingsley, am a fashion expert.

HAH! Silas cackled. Did you really forget about what in the Goddess' name you were wearing before we arrived?

Shut it, I pouted internally.

You should really start taking fashion advice from, well, literally anyone other than yourself, Silas continued to laugh.

Okay, that's enough of that now, I blocked him out of my mind.

"Still," I continued with Trinity. "You shouldn't let other peoples impressions of you determine what you can and cannot wear. If you like it, wear it."

"Sure," she shrugged. "But I still don't wanna be known as the pack slag who always has her tits out or whatever. Although I do have an amazing body and would love to show it off."

"Then do it," I grinned. "Realistically, who's gonna stop you?"

After trying on a couple more outfits we ended up paying eventually and leaving the store. I brought a new cream hoodie that Trin picked out, along with a slightly oversized pale green plaid top to go on top of it and a new pair of black jeans.

Trin didn't end up buying the pale yellow dress but after trying on a couple more dresses, which seemed to be her new obsession, she ended up going with a plain beige dress that looked more like an oversized shirt. But, as she put it best, 'it would go well with sneakers.'

"Wanna go get some more food?" I asked, my tummy beginning to beg for food again.

"Ah, we can't," she said looking up from her phone and holding it up so I can see. "Dom's here to collect us."

"Ah, nevermind then."

We walked out of the town, now heading towards a parking lot. The sky was beginning to darken. I hadn't actually realised how long we had been staying out until now.

I turned to Trinity.

"Hey, so where's-"

Something hard and incredibly painful hit the back of my head, knocking me off my feet and onto the ground.

"I'm sorry, Shay. I really am," came Trinity's voice before my vision faded to pitch black.