My Genius Mate

Chapter Eight

Catherine de Medici reinvented high heels for women, and I hate her. These black, red bottoms that Luna let me borrow had been on my feet for twenty seconds and were already filled with blood. I looked at myself in the mirror; my dress was back on, Katie had done my hair in gorgeous curls, and my makeup in a way that surprised me. My eyes were a dark, which made my green iris' look bigger. She also gave me a red lip, making me realize my lips were plumper than I thought they were.

I looked good, and I had a newfound confidence. Katie came into my room with her pink dress on, her hair curled, and some of it had been braided. Her makeup looked great, as usual, and her white heels sparkled. She looked a million times better than me, but we looked great, standing next to each other like we owned the room. "Here you go. I found a clutch to match with a strap for you."

"You're the best. I don't wanna be the weird one carrying my phone and wallet around." I took it, adding my phone, wallet, and bandaids for my ankles. I also snuck in my lipstick for later in case a certain black-haired boy wanted to ruin it.

"That's why these exist, honey." She grinned before she headed down the stairs. I stood at the top of the stairs, unprepared to come down and let the guys see me. I was way out of my comfort zone as my stomach turned. Henry and Gabe were sitting on our couch watching the TV when they heard her heels hit the wooden staircase. Henry wore a black suit, a white undershirt, and a matching pink tie for Katie. He looked good and mature. Gabe was also in an all-black suit with a red pocket square to match me, courtesy of Katie, I was sure. We walked down the steps, and their jaws dropped. Henry rushed to Katie's side, kissing and twirling her in the air. "You look too good to take that off by yourself later."

"Henry! We haven't even left yet." Katie blushed wildly as she fixed his crooked tie.

"Don't care. I'm willing to risk it all and skip it for you." Henry chuckled.

I turned to Gabe, who was staring at me. I took a deep breath and took slow steps down the stairs, careful not to break my fucking ankle in these shoes. I walked up to him, smiling at the drool dripping from the corner of his mouth, and placed my finger under his chin, closing his mouth. He swallowed and then cleared his throat. "Wow, um, y-y-you look, um, damn."

"Thank you. You clean up nicely yourself." I turned to the rest of them. "Ready to go and get this whole thing over with?"

"Really? Are you going to enjoy yourself at all? Look at you! You deserve to have a good night and have a good time. For one night, just for tonight, can you try to have a good time for me?" Henry held my shoulders as he leaned down to kiss my head. "You're adorable. Have a great time. Relax."

I nodded. There would only be a little time for relaxing as I was given a few assignments from Alpha. Mainly, I was told to have a good time mingling and chatting with everyone. At some time in the night, he wanted me to talk with or dance with Elliot. There was an unconfirmed rumor of him wanting to take over Alpha. Of course, it wouldn't be a surprise if it were true. Elliot was known for being a big mouth and not knowing where the line was usually with these types of things, especially with mates. Elliot had never met his mate, so he didn't think they were real. The hot head flirted, messed around with, and did what he wanted with whoever he wanted. There was a time he even tried to hit on Luna, who shut him down pretty quickly.

Elliot, if I remembered correctly, was an older and bitter man. I was nervous about running into him again. I wouldn't be able to take him in a fight if one broke out. He would overpower me in any form, which was my only concern. Besides this being a public event, I only had a little bit of the upper hand in my town besides being faster than him.

"Ok, fair enough. I will try to have an amazing night with a good date." I turned to Gabe, who stood and grinned from ear to ear, his dimples deeper than I had ever seen them. "But, I will forever hate these fucking shoes."