𝙴𝚌𝚕𝚒𝚙𝚜𝚎𝚍

Chapter Seventeen

"There, that should do it." I took a step back admiring my sister. She looked even more beautiful than she had during the fitting.

"Are you sure this isn't too much?" She motioned at the flower crown on her head.

"That's the entire purpose of wearing it." I smiled, "You want everyone to be looking at you. Tonight is going to be your first night amongst the pack as a woman, not a girl."

"Isn't it yours as well?" Luci turned to look at me and I could see the anxiety that swirled in her hazel eyes.

"Technically yes, but no." I shook my head, "I am already twenty-one years of age, almost twenty-two, so I have been available for quite a while now. Unlike you, who's mate pheromones have just started releasing, mine have been for three years."

It felt odd telling someone who had a wolf of their own how their body worked. Almost as if I had no right. But not having a wolf myself did not detract from my sisterly duties. She was, after all, younger than me. Even if that was easy to forget at times.

"What if I stink?" She looked as if she were going to fall apart right in front of me. "What if my pheromones don't work?"

I took a step forward and gently grabbed her by the shoulders and softened my voice, "You smell like spring rain and daisies. A gentle, yet comforting scent that would drive any wolf wild."

Her eyes widened, "I smell like that?"

"Yes." I smiled. I could smell her soothing scent the moment midnight hit on her eighteenth birthday. Father smelled of cedar. "What do I smell like?"

Something flickered across her face, making a pit start to form in my stomach. "Are you sure you aren't just smelling my perfume?" She asked, voice nearly trembling.

"We both know you aren't wearing any." I forced out a laugh. "I best go start getting dressed myself."

I tried to hide the hurt in my voice, but with the way Luci looked at me, I could tell I had failed. She had all but confirmed I did not have a scent of my own, and that made my throat burn. If I did not have a special scent, then how was my mate supposed to find me?

"I'll come help." She insisted, starting to follow me out of her room.

"You are already dressed." I gave her a fake smile, "I don't want you to wrinkle your dress by trying to help me."

She looked down at her icy blue gown, "Oh, okay, but at least let me do your hair."

"I'll have Sera come get you when they've finished putting me together." I called back through the door, then shut it behind me.

It was happening again. That overwhelming feeling of losing control of my own feelings. I fought the tears that demanded to fall, trying everything I could to regain my composure as I slowly walked back to my room. It wasn't like me to fall apart so easily, yet both times it had happened, I had been thinking about not finding my mate.

"What is happening to me?" I took a deep breath. "Did the Goddess stir something in me when she confirmed I had a mate? Did I somehow manage to repress such feelings before because I had convinced myself I did not have one? Or is something truly wrong with me?"

It was hard to tell, since I was a Mutt. The only one in my family at that. None of them knew much about being a Mutt and neither did I. I could have asked one of the servants, or even Miss Alma, but part of me was scared to. Too afraid to find out the truth.

Time crept forward, as the Ball neared. There was just enough time left to get me dressed before we were to leave for the packhouse.

It was a severe understatement to say I was nervous. I was vibrating with fear as I finally reached my room, where both Sera and Audrey waited for me. They had the dress scattered in pieces across my feathered bed to make it easier. I was terrified of Alison, of seeing her again after what she had done to me. Shivering at the thought of all those glowing eyes staring back at me.