His Broken Mate

Chapter 12

YOU GUYS I'M ALIVE

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My trembling fingers clench themselves into fists around little patches of my dress as Cat coaxes me forward, waving her hand in a 'come hither' motion.

"Come on Elly, it won't be too bad. And we can leave at any time, so if you start feeling really overwhelmed we can just go back home," she offers. I gnaw on my bottom lip as I consider asking her to just drive me back to her - our - pack house.

"Okay," I shakily whisper, biting down hard on my lip.

"Cool, then let's go," she says, taking the lead and starts walking towards the entrance. I follow closely behind, staring down at my brown leather boots, noticing how the tips aren't even scuffed. I don't deserve this. And now I'm going to get new clothes and new furniture for a new room? What have I done to deserve this? Nothing. These people barely know me and they're already trusting me enough for me to live in the same house as their Alpha. What if I was an assassin? I mean, I'm not, but this just shows what kind of trouble trust can get you into.

My eyes scan over my entire outfit - all probably new clothes - and realize how selfish I'm being. I don't even have a job, how am I supposed to pay Cat and her family back for all these new things they plan to get me?

I glance up at Cat and just watch how confidently she walks, head up and looking straight forward, looking happy and proud of who she is, without seeming arrogant. She's even brave enough to shoot a smile at passerby, whom I, however, ignore in hopefully the least disrespectful way possible, my eyes glued to the ground. I don't even deserve to walk near Cat, let alone let her buy things for me. "Cat, wait."

She turns back to me with wondering eyes "What's up?"

"Listen, we don't need to go and buy stuff, I have enough from my last pack. So we could just . . . I don't know, just get stuff for you?" I ask, hoping she'll agree so I don't need to worry about paying her back or spending even a second in the changing room, looking at my gross body and ugly face while I try on stuff that will probably look terrible on me. If we just focus on her, she still gets to shop, and I won't have an anxiety attack in some store if anyone tries helping me with getting stuff.

"I think we should just go in and try shopping for a bit. You can't spend your whole life hiding from people who might hurt you. Besides, nobody here knows you. Let's just try, please?" she asks, a couple yards from the door.

I ball up my hand into fists and release them, stretching out my fingers. I repeat the kind of calming motion a few times while taking deep breaths. In. Out. Inhale, exhale. I can probably do this, I reason with myself. Besides, I really hate disappointing people, and I know Cat wants to go shopping pretty badly, so I just take one last breath, huffing it out. "Okay."

The sliding glass door opens automatically as we near it, freaking me out a bit. I've only gone shopping a few times, mostly just to get groceries, and usually, the doors were manual, so the whole "doors moving by themselves" thing? Yeah, so not used to it. I cautiously take a few steps inside, feeling a sudden rush of air conditioning, a change from the fairly hot day it is outside. I grip my left elbow nervously and look around. There's so many stores, how do people not get lost in here? I look back at Cat, deciding to stick close to her. I'd rather not get lost in an unfamiliar place, and I instinctively step a bit closer to the only thing even close to a friend I have.

The door closes a couple feet behind me and I feel like my doomed fate has been sealed. I feel trapped for a minute so I just look back down at my boots. Well, five steps into the building and I haven't died yet . . .

"So, where to first?" I ask Cat, and she looks back at me with excitement in her eyes.

"Hungry?" and I raise my brow in interest.